Hi , I am new here, you can probably tell from the title. I know that this game is probably not going to appeal to the majority of you here but I think it has a lot of potential and so it's something I want to do and think some others may take up the challenge of beating. Firstly, please don't dismiss the game without doing a bit of research. Starting on reddit would be a good place.
So I have an idea that a moderately long run (several hours) could get you to level 20 and I am proposing a ruleset for that here. I have no idea how to get a game adopted and I don't want to lurk here for months waiting to find out.
So I have posted my draft of a ruleset on pastebin http://pastebin.com/QaQV0yZ0 I'd like some comments and would be interested in anyone who thinks it sounds like something they would want to do.
Level 20 is way too high. I'm currently level 21 as day one player who did quite a lot of XP farming. Maybe rather Level 5-10.
Can you briefly explain how you level-up in PkMn GO?
I heard that there aren't battles, and I haven't gotten a straight answer when I ask people.
I honestly don't think this would work since you need a new email or whatever every time you would do a run. Why not instead do a run for a certain pokemon? I would do that
Wouldn't that limit certain people's ability to run the game? Aren't certain pkmn only obtainable in certain locales?
You need a new account which is a few minutes to set up each time, yes. You can do it as a new gmail account or a PTC account, either is fine. You gain XP like this XP AWARD ACTION 10 CURVEBALL BONUS 10 NICE! THROW BONUS 50 GREAT! THROW BONUS 50 POKESTOP INTERACTION 100 SUCCESSFUL POKEMON CAPTURE 100 EXCELLENT! THROW BONUS 100 CATCH YOU 100TH POKEMON OF A SPECIES 200 HATCH AN EGG (2 KM) 500 HATCH AN EGG (5 KM) 1000 HATCH AN EGG (10 KM) 500 ADD NEW POKEMON TO POKEDEX 500 EVOLVE A POKEMON 0-50 TRAIN AT A GYM (LESS FOR USING AN OVERPOWERED 'MON) 100 DEFEAT ENEMY POKEMON AT A GYM (PER POKEMON) 50 BEATING EVERY POKEMON AT A GYM
There are items at various levels which can help such as double xp egg which works for 30 mins, you get one at lvl 9 one at lvl 10 one at level 15 two at level 20 (too late!)
A couple of fast ways to level have been discovered so I think level 20 is about right. On Saturday I watched a stream of a guy who just got 650000 XP in 13 hours, you need 210000 for level 20. Playing casually level 21 is where I am now, though I have putzed around making some other accounts to try stuff out.
This link http://pokemongo.gamepress.gg/bubblestrat (but more likely modified versions of the strat) shows a way that you can theoretically grab upwards of a solid 30k an hour xp with no xp boost items. It would get pretty boring but you need to hit level 5 first which should be about 30-40 mins and the eggs to boost xp after level 9 will double this rate of XP for 1.5 hours which is around half the target, so halfway in about 2 hours play .... There may be ways to boost this I am looking into, but you can do a version of it with just one player which is a little less effective
As far as local variations are concerned, yes some people are favoured by living in certain areas, but you have to get out and about to play anyway and finding an optimal spot locally is part of the challenge.
And I'll say it again, look at the site above and better still on Reddit to get more idea of the game.
It won't be the most interesting or competitive run because it will just be about whomever lives near the most optimal grouping of pokestops and which of those have lures on them at the time of starting your run, and then just sitting around them, but feel free to go for it and request the game. It's better to discuss it there in that sub-forums for the game rather than here because you'll be able to find more like-minded people.
Only thing I'd suggest is putting a run together before requesting the game, because otherwise it has a lower chance of being accepted, since they're trying to combat boards that'll get no activity or runs submitted.
There's a phrase that many in speedrunning conveniently forget:
Just because you CAN speedrun a game, doesn't mean you SHOULD.
I shouldn't really need to explain why this is a stupid idea, and whilst I obviously can't stop you from doing what you want and you can run whatever you want, don't be surprised when nobody else takes you seriously.
I understand some of the issues, but it seems like something I would enjoy doing, so I probably shall. I have to agree to disagree with you on the stupidity of doing it. I think I'll have to head back when I have tried it and see if there are any others who thing they want to try to do better. I think without looking into the detail of it you will find that its probably more than being near an optimal grouping of stops. All other things being equal then yes a bit better layout of stops/spawns will help but part of the whole thing is doing what you can with what you get. Anyway , any comments on the draft for a ruleset? I want to make sure if I do a demo run , that I use a set that makes sense and conform to it myself.
I disagree with Drakodan, and I feel that it is unreasonable to call your idea stupid.
Sure, just because you can doesn't mean that you should. I can eat Doritos, but I won't, because I don't like them. But if you want to, and if you would have fun doing it, then you should at least consider it. That is all that THEoleum is doing here.
Just because you can call someone or something stupid, doesn't mean you should--nor does it mean that it actually is stupid. Is it unrealistic? Maybe. Is it unlikely to be competitive? Maybe. Those are both points that people have brought up to explain why they are critical about THEoleum's idea, and none of those things make it stupid.
Outside of game mechanics:
-
There is no easily practicable way to stream Pokemon GO live without putting in a lot of money and effort as I understand it, so you would be heavily encouraged to do this without streaming.
-
This would be entirely subject to server stability, which is never guaranteed.
-
You would not be able to do this single-segment without using power banks since you can't even get enough battery life out of any existing device to do this in one session. Unless you're playing on PC and GPS spoofing, in which case what is even the point?
tl;dr it's not just the nature of the game and mechanics that make this a dumb idea in my eyes. Some games just aren't MADE for speedrunning.
Those are all valid points. Still, none of those points make the idea stupid or dumb.
Those are certainly valid reasons for why PkMn GO may be inappropriate for SRC to host, but they are not reasons why the idea is stupid or dumb. Just because a game may not be competitive doesn't mean that an individual shouldn't consider the idea or even take up their own personal challenge. Though SRC staff may not host a game, speed running itself isn't defined by the standards of SRC or by the level of competition that a game might cultivate.
It is possible to express your feelings and to explain your criticism of an idea without being dismissive and disrespectful.
And realistically, very few games are made for speed running, at least not in the competitive sense. A lot of games have timers and time-based achievements, but few games prioritize those aspects. I do understand the point that you are trying to make, though. PkMn GO is less able to be optimized for competition than other games.
Good points, well made, both of you. I won't keep trying to justify what I'd like to do. But here are a few thoughts. Livestreaming is tricky and not really something I am too bothered with. Data required is something like 2Gb/hr so its a bit expensive unless there's some kind of unlimited data plan or I can piggyback on someones Wifi (might be possible if the run happens in a geographically small area) More practical is to record the run for viewing afterwards. @Drakodan... And hmmm, is there anything wrong with powerbanks... or doesn't everyone have access to one? Is that a problem? Not everyone has equal fair access? Is that the case with most of the other things people stream and how they do it... capture cards, modded gameboys and software not ¤everyone¤ can get for free? Anyway I didn't intend to parachute into your community and start questioning things you do so apologies if it came over that way. I stopped by to see if anyone else was interested. Next step is to schedule some time to get some kind of attempt recorded, I have some rough plans on how to go ahead and if anyone wants to get involved and help please get in touch.
"Anyway I didn't intend to parachute into your community and start questioning things you do so apologies if it came over that way."
From my perspective, you have no need to apologize :D This is a forum for discussing speed running, in any capacity.
SRC staff does take some discretion when accepting games to be hosted here. I personally don't know what the exact parameters are, but I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem with you simply proposing your idea.
As I say you're perfectly entitled to speedrun what you want, I just don't personally see the point in this. This is kinda like when people 'speedrun' World of Warcraft by getting to cap level, yeah you can technically DO it, but... Why? Not my thing.
That's fair. I feel the same way about speed running regular Pokemon and RPGs in general. RPGs are far beyond being "less speed friendly" than other games. Pokemon even has a battle system that I find much more worthwhile an endeavor than speed running the game, but there is a huge community of Pokemon runners and fans who would tell me otherwise.
To answer your question "why?"--it's because they want to do it, and they have fun doing it. That is reason enough, even if you or I wouldn't want to.