Pokemon Go Update Removed Sightings and Spawns When Traveling at Higher Speeds

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Pokemon Go Update Removed Sightings and Spawns When Traveling at Higher Speeds

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1291/1291911.jpg

The newest update to Pokemon Go appears to have disabled Pokemon spawns and sightings when players are traveling at higher speeds.

As reported by Forbes [http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2016/10/16/pokemon-gos-newest-mystifying-change-erases-spawns-and-sightings-while-driving/#54489bd331ad] (and verified by yours truly), the latest Pokemon Go update appears to have disabled both Pokemon spawns and sightings while traveling at higher speeds. Previously, a player could indicate that they were a passenger, allowing them to continue to play the game while in the passenger seat or on public transportation.

The full change log can be viewed below, and while it includes catch bonuses and improved gym training options, the inability to play at higher speeds is not mentioned.

Catch Bonus: Trainers can earn a catch bonus for a Pok?mon type as they catch more of a specific type.
Updated Gym Training: Trainers can now bring six Pok?mon to battle at friendly Gyms. The CP of the Pok?mon you are battling may be temporarily adjusted lower for your training session.
Egg & Incubator Screens: These will periodically update the distance walked without the Trainer needing to close and reopen the screen.
Fixed several audio issues.
Decreased the evolution animation time.
Minor fixes


Permalink

 

[linkblade91]

"Previously, a player could indicate that they were a passenger, allowing them to continue to play the game while in the passenger seat or on public transportation."

Thereby screwing over all of those people :/ I mean, I know there's no way to sort out true passengers versus drivers who just hit the okay button, but straight-up removing any + all Pokemon seems like a rude thing to do.

 

[iblis666]

great they are screwing with my bus route

 

[RaikuFA]

Wow, fuck you Niantic. As someone who can't drive, I have it on and now there's no excuse for me to have out on.

Well that and no more pokemon popped up from that white circle.

 

[Fensfield]

Gosh what are they playing at? It's like they're trying to offend people..

 

[Erttheking]

They REALLY don't want people playing this in vehicles. Kind of fucks over people who take public transportation.

 

[Saelune]

Yeah, how dare they try to not cause accidents! Fuck them right?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, how dare they try to not cause accidents! Fuck them right?

Don't they know the more people that die in Pokemon related accidents, the more headlines with Pokemon in them?

 

[Wrex Brogan]

Alright, I'm fine with that as a patch, but... could they maybe fix the thing where it thinks you're traveling at 5000mph while sitting in your living room, not moving?

 

[Elijin]

Yeah, how dare they try to not cause accidents! Fuck them right?

Right? The nerve of them, disabling a feature which allowed drivers to play their game while driving that was gated behind an honour system. The game, which is based on walking.

I'm going to say people who would violate laws about using their phones while driving, are definitely going to falsely flag as passengers. Plus, again, the game is based around walking.

 

[Headsprouter]

I walk everywhere but...it was nice to be able to play in a bus or car...that's how I caught that cubone a while ago.

I don't know...it's near impossible to play while driving but I really don't think you should screw innocent passengers for the sake of a few lazy idiots.

 

[Saelune]

I walk everywhere but...it was nice to be able to play in a bus or car...that's how I caught that cubone a while ago.

I don't know...it's near impossible to play while driving but I really don't think you should screw innocent passengers for the sake of a few lazy idiots.

I can understand some people being fairly miffed like public transportation users or kids in the backseat, but the idea is to not screw over a few innocent victims of people too stupid to not use their phone and drive. When someone kills themselves due to idiocy, good riddance, but when they kill others cause of their idiocy, thats not ok.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

BIG EDIT: If you cannot walk yourself, or do not have any means of playing Pokemon Go other than being a passenger, this post does NOT apply to you! My heart goes out to anyone who could only play this game thanks to the ability to play as a passenger/on a bus, and as such, this provided me a much needed perspective on the issue. I'll keep my original post intact, but know I did not intend to offend anyone with the below response. My apologies!

_____________________________

On the one hand, whiny cry-babies who can't play while driving anymore by tapping "I'm a passenger" when they're not. On the other hand... Passengers that used the feature of confirming you ARE a passenger as expected are now not able to do that. This in turn goes against the honour system they put there in the first place.

This game is based on walking. Niantic wants you to get out and walk places to catch your Pokemon. So, by making your passengers be unable to catch Pokemon for you while you drive, this encourages the expected way of playing the game. This also applies to people who ride the bus and check their game while riding. Which then brings out the folk (That we've seen here) that say "You mean I can't catch Pokemon by sitting on a bus/car and doing NOTHING anymore? Awww fuck you Niantic! Making it so the game is played like they wanted! What a bunch of dicks." I kinda find it hard to gain sympathy for that fact...

Like, fuck me if they want you to play the game as expected by going out and making the effort to catch the Pokemon yourself, while disabling a feature that was based on an honour system that I bet some hardcore folk don't care about... in order to avoid accidents and DEATH. And not just their own death either, but other people too.

I started this off being kinda torn on the issue, but nah. I'm not really sympathetic about it at all. The honour system was useless enough for Niantic to see it was still a problem, and passengers of cars/buses that use that to their advantage aren't exactly playing the game as Niantic wants, because it's meant to be about going out for a walk and doing it yourself. So I say... quit being so damn entitled and go for a walk.

(Inb4 people telling me they have to ride a bus for hours on end everyday just to get places. That's fine. Go walk during your free time or something, or check the game when the bus/car stops and see if something pops up)

 

[Headsprouter]

I can understand some people being fairly miffed like public transportation users or kids in the backseat, but the idea is to not screw over a few innocent victims of people too stupid to not use their phone and drive. When someone kills themselves due to idiocy, good riddance, but when they kill others cause of their idiocy, thats not ok.

Certainly not. Perhaps I'm being too naive to people's desperation and stupidity but I don't know how people can play while driving, I can barely play in a slightly busy street.

I'd suggest just removing the sightings list or any future iterations of it, but really it's probably for the best. Once they've done this they won't go back. It'll be bad publicity among the masses.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

great they are screwing with my bus route

As I said above in my response post, the game expects you to make the effort and walk to catch your Pokemon. So Go do it.

Wow, fuck you Niantic. As someone who can't drive, I have it on and now there's no excuse for me to have out on.

I assume you mean "Have it out on the bus." If so, then the above still applies. Cause fuck them, right?

 

[kordo]

They are doing their utmost to totally kill off their own game, but it's pretty much dead already.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

They are doing their utmost to totally kill off their own game, but it's pretty much dead already.

As opposed to having more people be killed, like the ones that are dead already. Mhmm (That'll do for my contributions for the night. See you all in the morning!)

 

[Yopaz]

great they are screwing with my bus route

As I said above in my response post, the game expects you to make the effort and walk to catch your Pokemon. So Go do it.

Wow, fuck you Niantic. As someone who can't drive, I have it on and now there's no excuse for me to have out on.

I assume you mean "Have it out on the bus." If so, then the above still applies. Cause fuck them, right?

As someone who does walk a bit I still find this stupid. It's Winter here now and while it's jsut getting started (about 0 degrees) it will soon get so cold that it will hurt if you go outside without thick gloves. Touch screen friendly gloves is not sufficient. What's more is that I usually have the app open when I am taking the bus so that I can catch Pokemon while I'm on the go and then continue using it as I walk from where the bus drops me off. It's not like I only use it on the bus, I still need to hatch my eggs and the buddy system also encourages us to walk even if we could catch Pokemon while staying on the bus. This actually punishes those who live in a cold country. It's about 5 months until I can walk outside without gloves or else fear losing mobility in my fingers.

Also if this was about playing the game as they intended then they should bring back a tracking feature. I saw a Pikachu and a Nidoqueen in my sighting list today and no surprises, I could not find any of them. They haven't really given that much effort after they said they would fix that "soon".

As opposed to having more people be killed, like the ones that are dead already. Mhmm (That'll do for my contributions for the night. See you all in the morning!)

Yet guns are still legal. Alcohol is still legal. Sending texts is still legal. Playing better games is still legal.

OT: Overall this update is quite good so I am actually quite satisfied with this update. I tested out the gym thing earlier today and I thought it was a glitch, but I was able to raise the level of a friendly gym to level 9 thanks to it without taking too much time. I think this may be their best update yet.

 

[Makabriel]

Alright, I'm fine with that as a patch, but... could they maybe fix the thing where it thinks you're traveling at 5000mph while sitting in your living room, not moving?

Dude, I'd kill for my GPS tracking to be that bad in this game. Couple guys at work can have their phone sitting at their desk and hatch eggs all day long.

 

[Scarim Coral]

They just really turning the greatest app game to the worse now aren't they?