The Corona crisis massively influences Pokémon GO and normal playing is only difficult. However, our author Noah Struthoff is inspired by the exceptional situation. He caught over 20,000 Pokémon in April.
The Corona crisis weighs heavily on everyone. In the worst case, one has infected oneself with the virus or a relative suffers from the insidious disease. But even those who are spared from the virus feel the effects indirectly in the form of contact restrictions and further limitations in daily life.
I did not expect much from my favorite game Pokémon GO during this time. After all, you have to go outside and interact with friends. That is quite difficult when you can no longer do just that.
But at the end of April, I was quite surprised to have set a new catching record. I caught over 20,000 Pokémon in just 30 days. The reason for this is solely the Corona crisis.
How I was able to play more effectively thanks to Corona
Here’s the situation regarding Pokémon GO: The AR game was initially quite severely affected by Corona. It was actually not really possible to maintain the game principle of Pokémon GO. However, Niantic made numerous adjustments that enabled playing:
- More spawns appear everywhere
- Incense lasts for one hour and attracts a Pokémon every minute
- Gifts bring more Poké Balls and in general, more gifts can be opened
- EX-Raids were canceled and the return of legendary Pokémon was postponed
So Pokémon GO was designed for playing from home. Even from the couch, you can now catch a ton of Pokémon.
This has inspired me: In March, I was unfortunately restricted due to a ligament tear and only realized in April how strong these adjustments really are.
My usual routes, which I walked before the Corona period, yielded about 150 Pokémon per hour. Now, with incense and the increased spawns, I quickly get 300 Pokémon.
I therefore fully concentrated on catching Pokémon, because I can do that alone and at the moment it is simply the most profitable.
Maintaining distance is top priority
This is how I played: Every day I went through my usual routes, but I made the following changes while playing:
- I often walked alone and otherwise only with one other trainer and enough distance
- I used incense more often, because it is really strong at the moment
- I completely stayed away from raids because I did not want to encourage group formation
In addition, all other activities are virtually halted. I cannot meet friends, go to the cinema, or spend an evening in a bar. All time that I invested more in Pokémon GO in April.
These events helped me: In April, the Safari Zone took place, which was actually planned for Liverpool. I had a ticket and could play from home. On that day alone, I caught over 2000 Pokémon and collected 33 Shinys there.
There was also the Community Day with Abra, which this time lasted twice as long. There, another more than 1000 catches were added.
I was this successful: I like to set monthly goals and therefore track quite closely what I catch in a month. I originally expected to catch 15,000 Pokémon for April, but in the end, I caught over 20,700 Pokémon in total. That is an average of 690 Pokémon per day.
Never before have I been so successful in a month as I was in April. Here are a few more numbers for the month:
- Over 120 Shinys I was able to catch this month
- About 8000 PokéStops I was able to spin
- In total over 1500 quests I have completed
This is what I want to show: While many trainers may think that during the Corona time they are restricted in Pokémon GO, I want to prove the opposite here. I believe that especially because of the Corona crisis and the numerous adjustments from Niantic, you can play better than ever before.
Nevertheless, I want to emphasize here that I have always adhered to the Corona guidelines in my state, and I can only urge everyone to do the same. Especially now you can even do raids from home and Pokémon can also be caught easily alone.
