Walking through downtown Calgary tonight I decided to login to Pokemon Go for the first time in several months and catch some spooky monsters from the Halloween event. My usual walking route contains approximately 20 or so PokeStops including a few Gyms, so when walking it forward & back, filling my item bag is usually par for the course. Except for tonight I noticed something odd – every Stop/Gym was only giving me two items. What the hell…
After some sleuthing (e.g. Using Google) it turns out the Niantic has been messing with the drop rates of both PokeStops & Gyms for at least the past two weeks. Back on October 11th Reddit user, vtmcouver reported that they had begun to see Stops/Gyms drop only two items. Over the course of that evenings one particular user collected 250 spins from across the Reddit community (that’s a lot of walking) and came to some interesting conclusions:
Gyms will only drop 2 to 3 items (not including bonuses for your team controlling the Gym or daily streaks).
The differing drop rates may be tied to individual trainer accounts rather than be based on other criteria – say trainer location.
If your account is affected there is only a %10 – %12 chance that you’ll receive a bonus third item per spin.
Some players report never receiving a bonus item at all.
These numbers aren’t exact, and I don’t expect that Niantic will comment on the item drop rate. It is a bit of a bummer – as a casual Pokemon Go player I kind of relied on regular PokeStop drops to provide me with enough Pokeballs to play. If these changes are indeed account wide, I guess all I can do is a shrug and I’ll be less inclined to play Pokemon Go as we head into the Winter months.
Are you experience fewer item drops from Gyms & Pokestops? Let me know in the comments.
Today is a big day for Overwatch fans as the mid-September patch bringing additional damage to the Starcraft playing D.VA, a major rework for the German doctor Mercy and our first playable glimpse of post-apocalyptic Australia with the Junkertown map.
Junkertown
We previously covered this brand-new escort map which introduced us to one of the fandom’s favorite new (off-screen) characters – the Queen of Junkertown. Junkrat’s former home also played host to the last Overwatch animated short ‘the plan’ which hilariously featured Junkrat and Roadhog scheming to gain re-entry into this locked down settlement, only to fail spectacularly. You too can now escort an adorable Pachimari with a golden crown to the goal.
Here is Blizzard’s official description of the map:
Junkertown is located in the harsh and unforgiving Australian Outback. Constructed from the remains of a destroyed omnium, it’s now the home to a band of lawless scavengers known as the Junkers, led by their cutthroat Queen. When they aren’t pillaging the omnium’s skeleton for anything of value, the Junkers blow off steam in the Scrapyard—a massive gladiatorial arena whose combatants fight for glory, riches… and to survive.
D.VA Changes
Our favorite pro gamer has her damage mitigation nerfed in favor of additional DPS thanks to the addition of a brand new ‘micro missile’ ability. This new ability fires a volley of missiles in a straight line towards the center of D.VA’s vision. According to the patch notes Blizzard’s developers felt that Defense Matrix was too strong and reducing its up time without compensating would make D.VA too weak. This rectified with the addition of micro missiles and the fact that D.VA can now continue to fire her canons while using her boosters.
D.va is ready to get her enemies in her sights. – Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Micro Missiles (New Ability)
D.Va fires a barrage of small rockets that detonate on impact, dealing damage in a limited radius around each explosion. These can be fired while D.Va is using any other ability or firing her Fusion Cannons
Defense Matrix
Defense Matrix’s resource meter will now deplete twice as quickly
Energy regeneration per second has been increased to 12.5% (formerly 10%)
Boosters
Fusion Cannons can now be fired while flying
Mercy Changes
Probably the most striking in change in this update is the rework to Mercy – instead of her ultimate resurrecting an entire team she has a new ultimate called “Valkyrie”, she does, however, retain the ability to resurrect players with that ability becoming a single person rez every 30 seconds. While in Valkyrie mode Mercy can fly in 3 dimensions for the duration of the Ulti, she does additional damage with her blaster pistol and both her damage boost beam and healing beam chain from one teammate to another if they are within proximity. Will her new ulti be enough to clinch a last-minute overtime victory? Time will tell.
Resurrect (Formerly Mercy’s Ultimate ability)
Ability now targets a single player, instead of every player within a radius
Radius reduced to 5 meters
Ability cooldown is 30 seconds
Mercy is no longer granted invulnerability while Resurrect is active
Valkyrie (New Ultimate Ability)
Valkyrie unleashes the full power of Mercy’s Valkyrie suit, enhancing her weapons and abilities for 20 seconds
Caduceus Staff: Mercy’s healing and damage boost beams now affect all allies near the targeted teammate, and the staff’s effective range has been extended
Caduceus Blaster: Now has infinite ammo and increased projectile speed
Guardian Angel: Increased range and movement speed
Resurrect: Cooldown is instantly reset when Valkyrie is activated and reduced to 10s after the initial cast
Hover: Mercy gains the ability to fly freely, at increased movement speed
Regeneration (Passive): No longer interrupted when Mercy takes damage
Wrapping Things Up
It is going to take some time for these major changes to two of Overwatch’s mainstays to work its way into the meta and for the community to adjust to them. While I’ve played a few games as both the damage dealing D.VA and reworked Mercy but I’m going to leave my impressions unwritten for a few days while I let the changes sink in.
Let me know your thoughts on this latest Overwatch patch in the comments section below.
