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Two of our fab summer interns, Tucker and Hannah, have embarked on a mission to cover the advice that eager Pokemon catchers are looking for while playing the new Pokemon GO app. 

So far so good in getting a few good articles put together, but there’s a lot of stuff to cover and include, and I was hoping that a few folks out there might be able to review/test the steps and/or add in any advice you’ve found helpful in playing so far. Is anyone game to do a bit of quality testing here? 

There’ll be more to come but here’s what’s up so far:

Of course, if you have any ideas for other titles in this area, you could always start them, too!  Anyone Pokemon hunters around?:slight_smile:

EDIT: See my full update below, but I made  this list  - if you’re able to verify the steps on any of those topics, please do sign up! 

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I GOTCHU ANNA. First article is totally on point. Only issue is this game glitches like mad. For example, it’ll put you in the ocean, it won’t record your steps, like…Maybe note that you’ll get the best GPS signal outdoors? There might be a demand for a troubleshooting article or articles because out of the 3 phones I’ve played on only 1 has worked right.

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@Marina Ah yes, that could be great to add. Might even be worth a whole article on troubleshooting, if it’s so glitchy!

I passed that onto Tucker - he’s game to research and add either a method or a whole article on troubleshooting. If you want to add any points, too, def go for it! 

Slightly less focused side note… How are you liking the game? I downloaded it but haven’t had the time to actually, you know, leave my desk, hahhaha, so I haven’t actually *done* anything with it! Can’t say I’m a huge gamer these days but with all the hype I figure I should give it a whirl at some point:slight_smile:

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I actually downloaded the app today, so tomorrow I’ll probably go out and see what I can find and confirm, or point out anything that could be a good article candidate.:slight_smile:That is, if the servers don’t crash first…!!!

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I’ve been playing this since I was a beta tester for it =) I’m literally the PERFECT candidate for it =)

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“Gotcha! Lugia was caught!” In all seriousness, I haven’t played it yet, as big as a Pokemon fan as I am. It’s been getting a lot of attention in the media lately, though, and not the good type of attention. As in, some people are using it to commit crimes.

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^ Yeah, I’ve heard about that. So for all Pokémon GO testers, I’d advise exercising caution.:confused:As I mentioned before, the servers crash a lot, too. It’s very buggy.

@WarriorOfEden , I don’t think it not being an official release is true. The app is available in the App Store, and I would think it’s on the Google Play store, as well; the release date was also slated for July so it doesn’t make sense for a “bad” download to be up for several days on official download areas, what with its popularity.

Aaaaanyway, I’m about to head out on a walk for some GO testing… Maybe Pokémon GO will be the thing to get me outside for once.:stuck_out_tongue:

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I just caught a TV news station broadcast about this app. There seems to be a weird problem with this app, that makes the problems seem awkward. People end up dwindling outside of police stations, catching Pikachus and sometimes people end up heading into churches nearby that they weren’t intending to go into just to train their Pokémon, and just walking down the street while looking at the device can pose a safety problem (people tend to not look around them anymore when they are walking with their smartphone - myself included, though I admit I do keep an ear to listen for traffic before crossing.)

I don’t feel it right that we provide these unsafe situations without the reader understanding that they should never play the game without keeping an eye on the road condition and traffic situations.

Even a pothole on the side of the street, can cause an harmful safety situation that can hurt the person’s health in some respect.

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@Byankno1 - For sure, people do silly things when they have their heads deep in their smartphones! But that can probably be the case with any app (guilty as charged on that myself, at times… usually when I’m looking at something on wikiHow, hah). I do believe Tucker has an article about “How to Stay Safe Playing Pokémon GO” on his list to try to tackle, so that’d probably be the best place to cover most of the concerns or warnings. I think most of the activity/task-focused guides can just focus on the main goal of each article, lest we end up way too wikibloated:slight_smile:

I was thinking we might actually be able to tackle this topic by topic and get some user reviews up, like Krystle used to do with our Tech Team (see @Jordan ’s review of Set-an-Alarm-on-an-iPhone-Clock   if you’re not sure what I mean!). Would any of you guys be game to sign up for an article and test it thoroughly in that way?

I think the basic requirements would be to test it as written, step by step, to verify its accuracy. Then either you or our interns can edit if needed, to get it looking good. Then if you can provide a screenshot to show you got the end result done, using the steps given, we can put a user review stamp up. Could be neat!

I’ll add more as they are written, to this list  - if you’re able to help, please do sign up! There’ll be more to come, too… oh, and we’re working on visuals for these as well, right now, so watch this space on those!

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I’d be willing to help out with the reviews, so long as they don’t involve in-app purchases or Android phones.

On How to Play Pokémon GO, though, there’s one thing that I’m slightly concerned about - it says you can sign up with the Pokémon Trainer Club, but because Pokémon GO is in ridiculously high demand, I think they’ve actually had to disable the PTC right now. At least, that’s what happened when I tried to sign up using it. Right now, it seems the only option is to use Google, unless you get lucky with the timing.:confused:

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@Galactic-Radiance - bummer they’ve having some stability issues. Tooo many folks, I guess! I was just able to sign up with the Trainer Club, though, without any problems - so if it’s just an intermittent thing, we probably wouldn’t want to take that option out. If you wan to add a note about Google sign-in being more stable, though, that seems helpful:slight_smile:

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@Anna , it seems to be down most of the time - I had to do mine with Google. I’ll add a note, then I’m off to actually go find Pokémon.:slight_smile:

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Too much time commitment required honestly. As much as I hate a game that requires you run through a long tutorial, one that has hardly any tutorial is rough lol. Better have a good data plan, GPS signal, time, and patience! If you’re okay with missing the release hype, it might be worth waiting a month while they iron out the kinks…But if you wanna see, go through it haha.

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It’s on Google play in some countries but not all.

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@Galactic-Radiance thanks for the additions on How to Use PokéStops! How’s it looking to you now? Have you had a chance to try each step - think there’s any promise for an official review there, or more things we need to adjust or add? 

@Marina @Lutherus-Shyrilser and @Lugia2453 - if you are interested, there are a few titles in there now that are a little more specific and therefore hopefully easier to review/test out now. I know the overview on how to play is a bit epic to tackle all at once! But there are some more specific ones in there now, like how to level up, how to catch Pikachu, how to use the PokeShop. Any takers to give them a once-over?

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@Anna , I’ll be heading out with my sister in 10 to a PokéStop, so I’ll do some more reviewing there, and then check back when I’m done - but from what I saw yesterday, it seems to be pretty accurate. I don’t know about all the item drops though, because I only got to Level 5 yesterday, so I’ll have to spend more time on that, ahah.:slight_smile:

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The Playing Pokemon Go article is actually wrong on XP points. At level 13 (me currently), you actually get 600 XP per new Pokemon and 2000 XP per evolution.

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Ooooh interesting @Lutherus-Shyrilser - does that change as you level up? I see some other guides around online listing the same values that Tucker did but maybe it changes as you get better. I bet we can add a note about that if so! Ignorance is bliss over here for me - I tried searching but didn’t find an answer. But I’ll ask him, and let me know if you think that’s the case!

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I was playing it for 12 hours yesterday, and about 12 the previous day. Each new catch gave me 600 XP, so it may have to do with higher level = more XP. Sometimes you’ll get 1000 XP for an evolution. Also each PokeStop gets you 100 XP, not 50.

I edited the tip to include turning on Battery Saver and turning off Music and Sound Effects to maximize battery life.

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12 hours?! Gosh the game sounds addicting