After several several, constant event failures, Niantic still hasn’t offered up a November blog for Pokemon GO. But it did release another homemade infographic and sent press the details after posting it. You’ll have to forgive the sour notes here, as anyone who followed our October updates saw constant warnings of broken features, including the disabling of the Go+, which wasn’t officially announced in-game until October 31st, a full four days after the fact and on the final day of an event. Worse is that the event had a paid version I can tell you no one will be refunded for, or I’ll throw away all my max potions.
With it being November, we’re now down both the August and October dev diaries, which is only a mixed bag if seen through rose-tinted glasses. The Go+ is now working (and first announced by an unofficial channel rather than Niantic) but only after one event ended and a second being half over. Niantic is pushing sticker “fixes” when so much else is broken. And naturally, there’s no word on what, if anything, the company will do for the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Violet games.
So what’s Niantic doing in November to make up for all the fires in October? Fair question.
First, we have the Dia de Muertos event from November 1st to 2nd. While this event was announced weeks ago, even before the second part of the Halloween event, the studio didn’t answer our questions about the event, which has historically cut out most of the world and required specifically spelling out which countries could participate.
Día de Muertos – Event Summary and Field Research
Full Details: https://t.co/yvQwYZ6A4h pic.twitter.com/2DqPMQU3H2
— Leek Duck (@LeekDuck) November 1, 2022
The event doesn’t offer much more than costume unless you’re still looking for a great Litwick to evolve (which is fine, as it’s very useful as a Ghost and a Fire type), but to what extent you can hunt them is still unknown because, again, Niantic hasn’t explained who can participate, only that certain countries will get more than others. At worst, if it’s like the previous Day of the Dead events, players outside “Latin America and the Caribbean” will at least get timed research quests and a free (or maybe paid) avatar item. It’s not exactly a huge loss since the event was largely a good way to get Litwick when it was rare, but I think that concern’s less a priority with its Community Day done and the December CD round-up coming soon.
11/1 Update: For those looking for a stardust boost, grab the “Win a Gym Battle” quest, complete it, but flee from the Houndoom so you can stack rewards and catch them on Saturday, Nov 5th, for triple stardust. As a side note, Niantic also forgot to active the paid Day of the Dead face paint “mask” for over 9 hours after the event went live.
When the Dia De Muertos ends incense duration returns to an hour and the costumed Duskull/Dusclops is no longer able to evolve
— PokeMiners (@poke_miners) November 2, 2022
11/2 Update: And we’ve already got another bug. For those not yet affected, you may want to consider evolving a Duskull to its preferred form soon. We’ve reached out to PR and support for clarification, but poor communication has plagued Niantic for months now, so players may need to make a decision before we hear anything back.
11/2 Update 2: And now it’s been fixed.
11/3 Update: There’s no been no talk of compensation or makeup for the issues during the Halloween or Dia De Muertos events, but Niantic did somehow screw up the game for 20 minutes today, causing pokemon, pokestops, and gyms to completely vanish. No acknowledgment of the issue from Niantic or their support as of yet.
Speaking of which, November 5th (2 p.m. to 5 p.m. local time) is Dratini Classic Community Day. The event move isn’t great, so if you’ve missed it in the past, maybe just grab it on one or two pokemon. Otherwise, Dragonite is still a very useful raid pokemon and PvP choice, and more so without it’s CD move. Use the event not only to farm the pokemon but XL candy. I’d recommend Mega Charizard X for this, as you can still get XL Candy in Giratina raids and boost raid damage with it. There’s also triple stardust, so you may want to save some research pokemon for that.
11/4 Update: Heads up, there is a post-Dratini CD event. Here is a link discussing it, but bear in mind it does contain spoilers. Without going into detail, it may be best if those who are coming to CD late ensure they’ll have item space. That being said, there are reports that Rocket Grunts have disappeared. It seems unrelated to the event, but as Niantic gave no warning of this, we’ll count it as a bug.
11/6 Update: If you missed yesterday’s post-event tease, there’s still time! Niantic’s put up a page about Gimmighoul, its connection to Pokemon GO, and that POGO will connect to Scarlet and Violet sometime in 2023. Gold Pokestops are still around so you can get tons of items and possibly more coins, plus Rocket Grunts are back. On a side note though, there’s yet another bugged event: Today’s (shiny) Miltank PvP rewards have been extended to 8pm local time due to a bug Niantic once again slipped through and had to repair.
The normal Community Day will be on November 12th (2 p.m. to 5 p.m. local) and for Teddiursa. Of note, it will also have its third, Hisuian evolution, Ursaluna. The jury’s still out on this one, so stay tuned, but I should note that this will be the first pokemon that evolves based on moon phases. As Niantic has screwed up almost every new addition recently, I’d advise all readers (especially in New Zealand) to follow social media before evolving their pokemon. Again, the December round-up event is soon anyway, so even if you forget to evolve one of your bears, you’ll have a second chance in about a month, and hopefully any kinks will be worked out by then if Niantic screws over your time zone.
11/11 Update: We’ve got our first confirmed Community Day bug: players are able to buy multiple Community Day boxes, which are rather expensive but grant the rather rare Elite TMs. Normally you can only buy one per CD event, get one of each type per season, and rarely they are an award for certain events.
As you can see, the rest of the month is not exactly looking bright. Guzzlord, the next new Ultra Beast, isn’t really something to write home about, in PvE or PvP. Origin Forme Giratina’s still useful, and Nihelego at the end of the month is too. For Megas, I’d hope most people have Mega Gyarados already. Mega Houndoom is fairly useful too, not only in terms of damage but in typing as well, especially if you live in a sunny area of the world.
The November 1st spotlight hour will be good for shiny hunting costume Duscs and making some stardust, but again, if you’re low on Star pieces (this month’s research reward, along with Starmie, which gives some extra dust itself), save it for November 5th’s CD. November 8th’s not bad for PvP fans as Croagunk’s line has some PvP value. November 15th is basically catch-up night, as Porygon’s not super useful but not exactly common (though it too has had a Community Day), and if you’re full on candy for it, there’s always your meltan box to use. November 22nd is a bit more interesting, as Petilil has a Hisuian form. You may want to find one for future investment, and the double candy from transfers should help make you ready for its eventual release (and making room for the December round-up event). November 29th’s Hoothoot is mostly for fans of the owl pokemon or evolving whatever new pokemon you’ve got laying around.
The issue causing Teddiursa to appear instead of Hoothoot for some Trainers during this week's Spotlight Hour has been fixed. We apologize for the inconvenience and will be extending Spotlight Hour by 30 min for affected regions.
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) November 29, 2022
11/29 Update: As usual, Niantic got something wrong, so the final Spotlight Hour of November will be 90 minutes long instead of 60. There’s not much of a benefit unless you really like Hoothoot or have tons of pokemon to evolve.
Admittedly, that’s all a bit underwhelming, but there are some other considerations to be made.
November 9th to 17th is the Greedy Gluttons Event, weirdly the day after Guzzlord arrives. As always, we have no info on this event, but I figure at least Greedent will be involved, and it’s a useable if spicy Ultra League pick. It’s a bit early for Thanksgiving, but it’s hard to deny the influence from the title, plus it’s November, when America has its turkey day.
Greedy Gluttons event and #TeamGORocket Takeover for November
Ultra Beast Guzzlord arrives 🐲
New Shinies ✨
New Rocket Rotations 🚀
New Shadows 😈
including Steelix with Early Analysis from the Meta Team! 👇 #PokemonGO https://t.co/jeVPsWwWIdhttps://t.co/2cvfnk2dck pic.twitter.com/RpD4RPGZlb— GO Stadium 🗞️ Play! Pokémon & GBL Information (@GOStadiumPvP) November 7, 2022
11/7 Update: We’ve got official info on the Greedy Gluttons event, and the name is appropriate. As with many additions Niantic has made to the game, the Egg Widget has been around for nearly a year and used by a major minority of players (many of which noting that the widget doesn’t even work), so Niantic is promoting it by giving the first three eggs hatched while the widget is active to increase hatch speed by half. Assuming you want to help with a year-too-late beta testing in a live product without pay, you may want to wait until Nov 14’s Rocket event though, as I’ll expand on in that event section below.
Greedent is one of the featured pokemon, as we’d guessed, but of note, Lickitung and Snorlax are also featured. All are useful PvP picks, but only Snorlax is of some use in gym defense and Rocket Battles. Shiny hunters can look for Munchlax in 7k eggs, Cherubi in 7ks and research quests, and Swirlix only in research tasks.
While Mega Pidgeot or Mega Lopunny will get you extra candy from the swarm of Normal types we’re seeing, raiders should probably stick with Mega Gyarados if they want event candy and bonus XL Candy from Guzzlord, which is looking good in PvP for Great (after trading) and Ultra Leagues, though is comparable to previously released Deino evolutions.
11/11 Update: Unsurprisingly, there are reports of the Widget’s egg-hatching reduction for the first three eggs of the event being bugged. Hopefully this will be solved before the Nov 14 Rocket event, but as always, keep expectations low.
Frightfully enough, there are Elite Raids planned for November 13th. This could be Hoopa again, but who knows. It’s also unknown if Niantic learned anything from the last rocky event. All we can do is make sure our local communities know it’s coming and hope for the best.
／#ポケモンGO 今週のスケジュール
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11月12日（土）はコミュニティ・デイ！こぐまポケモンの「ヒメグマ」が野生でいつもより多く出現します。 pic.twitter.com/PJV8QbkhWf— Pokémon GO Japan (@PokemonGOAppJP) November 7, 2022
11/7 Update: The Japanese POGO Twitter confirmed that, as we guessed, the event is Hoopa again, but that’s about it. Remember, the problem last month was that Niantic pulled this the day after a Community Day which created a lot of planning problems. We’ll see if Niantic announces any bug fixes or changes to the event, but expectations are already low.
Nov 14th to 17th will be a Team GO Rocket Takeover – and it’s a much-needed one too. We figure there’ll be a new shadow pokemon from Giovani and the ability to TM some of those Shadow Pokemon you’ve been hoarding, but those are just guesses. Still, have your shadow ‘mon ready, especially any that you want to evolve in December that have Community Day abilities.
11/7 Update: As mentioned above, we have new official info on this event. As we guessed, TMing away Frustration is part of the event, but the big news is the return of Shadow Mewtwo. Players who managed to snag and save an extra Super Rocket Radar should be using this during the event. The 12k egg pool seems to have Salandit at the same rarity level as other pokemon, so maybe it will be easier to finally get a female, as only females can evolve. They’re also much rarer, with Silph Road research putting it at 5% odds if you even hatch the species. At least Shiny Pawniard is a possible reward, so get hatching!
The event also introduces some new Shadows, as you can see above. Of note is Shadow Onix, as its Steelix evolution is a nice addition to some Ultra League teams.
Something called “Astral Eclipse Event” is coming from November 23rd to 28th, and it most likely has to do with Cosmog’s final two forms. We’ll once again have to wait and see.
11/21 Update: As predicted, Niantic’s revealed the event and it does involve Cosmog’s final forms via evolution. So far, neither evolution is looking great, but Solgaleo may have some limited PvP use, if your single Cosmog got the right stats. Aside from some cool (most likely paid) avatar items, the only other major thing to focus on for this event is Staryu from research, which you can hoard until the next Stardust event for even bigger dust bonuses.
Finally, November 27th is a mystery event. The date’s too late for Scarlet and Violet’s Nov 18 release date, so I don’t think they’re related, but as always, we’ll have to wait and see.
11/21 Update: Niantic’s announced an “Ultra Beast Arrival” event. It actually kicks off on November 26, 7pm local at Riverside Terrace in London and the Ovation Center in Los Angeles. They’re free ticketed events, and PR notified us that the event includes, “special Pokémon encounters in the wild, a commemorative in-game badge, and a chance to catch all seven Ultra Beasts.” The problem is that, for non locals, the Ovaition Center is actually right off of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It’s a major tourist area with little to no parking, and as tickets aren’t reserved but given out on a first come, first serve basis, I can’t imagine many people wanting to travel for such mystery event, especially if players aren’t given Raid Passes to catch said pokemon should this be raid based. We’ve pressed PR to clarify the full in-person event and will update this should we hear back.
11/23 Update: Niantic released new information that the in-person event for the Hollywood event will be linked to a Twitch Stream with a code being given out during the stream, so have your Twitch spam filter ready. The code only gives Nihilego candy if you catch a Nihilego, which is also already the current (and only) legendary-level raid available right now, so it’s something.
As for the event proper, as you can see in the above infograph that those of us who skip the event at least get a chance to catch everything via research, plus five free raid passes during the Sunday event. Guzzlord will sadly still be around globally, though so will Nihilego and it’s very much worth the effort for raids and rocket battles. From there, everyone will have access to two other options depending on where they live:
- Americas: Buzzwole
- Asia-Pacific: Xurkitree
- Europe: Pheromosa
- Northern hemisphere: Kartana
- Southern hemisphere: Celesteela
High-priority targets should be Buzzwole for PvP, Xurkitree for raiding, Pheromosa for raiding (though it’s a major glass canon so invest wisely), and Kartana for raiding. Remote Raiding should be available, but keep in mind that the event is from 11am-5pm Nov 27 local time for that area, so coordinate wisely. Of the after-raid spawns, Scyther, Machoke, and Frillish are usable. Minccino will have a higher chance of being shiny (again), but it’s not a useful pokemon.
Niantic is also hoping you’ll use this event to refer friends for possible rewards:
- 50,000 Trainers referred: all Trainers will receive a Lure Module via a bundle in the in-game shop.
- 100,000 Trainers referred: all Trainers will be able to use Beast Balls when facing Ultra Beasts during Ultra Beast Arrival: Global.
Beyond the fact that the company once again isn’t able to read the room, I’ve personally tried to refer friends several times and though they came back, we never got bonuses. Either they forgot to put in the info (the window of time is quite narrow) or there were too many hoops for them to jump through with bugs as well. I personally don’t expect we’ll be seeing either bonus, but I’d like to be wrong.
By all accounts, players should keep expectations low for this month. Poor communication hasn’t let up, bugs have increased (and are unofficially being tracked), and disappointment seems be the norm. We may have to hope Santa brings us something to be excited for next month.
Massively OP’s Andrew Ross is an admitted Pokemon geek and expert ARG-watcher. Nobody knows Niantic and Nintendo like he does! His Massively on the Go column covers Pokemon Go as well as other mobile MMOs and augmented reality titles!
