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Posted by: Zerxer Dec 11 2017, 10:53 PM

It's December! This post is pretty much the same as 2016's "https://forums.gpx.plus/index.php?showtopic=74480" thread, just without the nostalgia hook.


The Hanukkah event

• Begins: Tonight, December 11th at 11:55pm EST (site reset), which is one night before Hanukkah begins.
• Ends: Saturday, December 23rd at 11:55pm EST (site reset), which is three nights after Hanukkah ends.

We're again bringing back our Hanukkah event. In the past we've given 1 Coin for every Fire-type you hatched, and last year we gave 1 Coin for every Generation 1 Pokémon you hatched (oh that nostalgia theme), but this year we're excited because Pokémon GO has continued growing and recently released Generation 3 Pokémon!

So this year, you'll receive 1 coin for every Generation 3 Pokémon egg you hatch. You'll also earn 20 coins for completing a daily Scavenger Hunt task. These coins are completely separate from all other currencies on the site and are used to determine the prizes you win in the end (as well as for http://gpx.plus/dreidel).



Scavenger Hunt
This month's Scavenger Hunt will start tonight, running through the rest of the month, but you'll only earn 20 coins for completing a task until the Hanukkah event ends (so tonight to the 23rd).

Explorations
The two Christmas explorations, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and "Secret of Christmas", have been activated and will run through the end of the month.

Secret Santa Exchange
Yes, this is happening again! Deposits will be open sometime on Saturday the 23rd and will last thru Monday the 25th, with the exchange itself happening after reset. I will post additional information around that time, but it'll work about the same as https://forums.gpx.plus/index.php?showtopic=74512.

New Year's Raffle
This will work the same as it did last year: you'll have a day to be as active as possible, and for every 2018 points of Activity Score earned, you'll get one entry. We'll then distribute a certain number of vouchers for a new Pokémon, and you'll have a chance to get one based on the number of entries you earned. I'll post more information about this later, as always.

Posted by: x Sam Dec 11 2017, 11:19 PM

My mother always told me not to gamble.
I probably won't be thaaaat active due to work and revision but I'll give things a go. I'm also not about New Years so rip me paha.

Hope you all enjoy the wonderful events!

Posted by: Level-X Dec 11 2017, 11:24 PM

Ayy, lots of fun activities. Going to be as active as I can be and will be clicking a great bit, so be sure to start your Hoenn hunts! Good luck to everyone in these events, I hope you all get some good luck. Thanks for making things possible. Happy holidays!

Posted by: Luneon Dec 11 2017, 11:27 PM

Sounds like a lot of fun!
Thank you so much for giving us events this year as well!
I'll be doing my best

Posted by: Cycloneblaze Dec 11 2017, 11:31 PM

Hurray, more coins... I guess we all know how this goes by now? Even though I'm finished college until well into January I still don't see myself being active enough to get anything good haha! But I'm glad to see that events are back regardless.

Posted by: Gryphaena Dec 12 2017, 12:36 AM

I am glad I don't start my semester until January 29!

I want to try for some sweet, sweet Prize Points. :]

Posted by: Moonlit Dec 12 2017, 03:00 AM

Wow, oh wow there are a lot of events happening in the latter part of this month. I'll have to get on a lot to really see how everything has worked (since I just got back into GPX+ around August, say).

Posted by: Synx Itax Dec 12 2017, 09:48 AM

Enjoy the events, everyone.

Posted by: Esc Dec 12 2017, 11:55 AM

Time to be active again (:

Happy holidays everyone

Posted by: Tallamar Dec 12 2017, 12:05 PM

Secret Santa Exchange hyyyyyype! I already know what I'm putting in, heh heh. And fingers crossed that my job schedule will allow me to be thoroughly active on New Years...

Posted by: Sportsfan666 Dec 12 2017, 12:10 PM

I have a few extra shinies sitting around so I'll toss one of them in~ Merry Christmas everyone.

Posted by: timeerkat Dec 12 2017, 12:29 PM

Yahoo! I'm super excited for the Secret Santa Exchange!

Now I need to refresh my own memory of which Pokemon are in Gen 3. (I've only played Red/Blue and a tiny bit of Yellow, so my knowledge of Pokemon beyond that comes from this site and VDex Project (RIP), hahaha. So the later generations tend to blend together for me.)

Posted by: Zerxer Dec 12 2017, 01:11 PM

It will most likely be Sunday, December 31st. New Year's Eve itself.

Posted by: Cycloneblaze Dec 12 2017, 01:21 PM

There's a neat list of 3rd gen Pokémon that have less that 5120 egg steps on veekun https://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/search?hatch_counter=%3C16&introduced_in=3&evolution_position=first&evolution_position=only. Myself, I'm taking this opportunity to continue my Ralts-hunting goal

Posted by: Tyranisaur Dec 12 2017, 02:49 PM

I guess I can preface this by saying that I will be a bit pedantic about this, but I want to address the specified bold text.

Talking strictly about the stats we actually do keep, which is the daily record and not the total number of accumulated coins, it seems strange that you would consider it fair to extend the event to compensate for the removal of earning coins by hatching pokemon with the specific sprites. Me being me, I don't really care about how many coins I accumulate during this event compared to last year, especially because that stat was reset. In that regard I think it's fortunate that we don't let old stats haunt us when it is unclear whether it is fair to expect numbers of the same size as we had last year, or before that. Meanwhile, we do keep the daily record, which I think is going to be very hard to beat when the numbers aren't going to be amplified by the same mechanic as last year. To some degree we have the same kind of problems on other stats as well, because it is harder to achieve high numbers in them since the site activity has decreased over the years. From a fairness perspective, I don't like that.

Also, considering the ...noise... we have had over the prizes from this kind of event previously, I have a gut feeling that it might not have been the wisest idea to encourage us to compare our coin totals for this year to the coin totals we have had previously. As someone who has received the top prize for this kind of event twice, I want to stress that the prize brackets are determined late, because they are based on our totals. If you want a certain type of prize, you need to look at everyone's coin totals in this event and not the brackets from last year. If anyone wants to get a sense for what the brackets might be, I'm going to advise you to look at the ranks, but also look at potential gaps in how many coins users have earned. Like if everyone in the top 10 have coin totals that are very close to each other, but then the 11th one has a substantial amount less, then the staff might decide to put the cutoff between two prize brackets right between 10th and 11th place. I think that's what you should have in mind about the prizes.

A note about the Dreidel. It's random, but the odds are skewed to be a little bit in your favour, but not by a lot. I kept track on all my spins last year, and the end result were not as pretty as you might expect from someone at the top. I can very confidentially say that I earned less coins from the Dreidel in total than I earned by hatching pokemon with gen 1 sprites.

There is a question I have asked about how the exchanges work, which is the secret santa event. I haven't got a decisive answer about whether it does this, but I'm still going to ask here. We know the exchange tries to give you a pokemon that you haven't obtained before. However, when you put in a shiny, it is unclear whether the exchange will try to give you a shiny that you haven't had before. So for example, my pokedex is complete at the moment, so there's nothing I could be given that I haven't had before. But if I put in my shiny Cresselia, it would be nice if the system tried to give me something like a shiny Heatran rather than a shiny Ho-oh, because I have obtained a shiny Ho-oh, but I do not have the entry for shiny Heatran in my pokedex.

Happy holidays.

Posted by: Zerxer Dec 12 2017, 10:09 PM

I admittedly rushed to post this thread last night. I decided earlier that afternoon that I was going to run all the same events as last year, copied last year's post, and modified it as needed. I looked at the dates for Hanukkah this year and thought it would be nice to throw in an extra Friday/Saturday and I actually forgot how the stats worked, so that bold text was me trying to find a fun way to reason with extending it.

I don't think it would have worked as well as last year's Gen 1 event if I kept the 5 coin bonus for "hatching with a 3rd Gen sprite." We could've considered hatching with a certain nature, and if that's something users and the staff would really like me to do, I could certainly do it.



When you deposit a non-shiny Pokémon, it attempts to give you an egg that's not in your egg dex. When you deposit a shiny Pokémon, it attempts to give you a shiny egg that's not in your shiny dex. If, for either circumstance, it cannot find a "new" egg to give you, it will give you one you've already had (with no other added weight/preference on the choice). If it still can't find one for you (if there's no more in the queue to give out), it's considered a fail, and we manually look into if there's a better way to redistribute them, but this has actually never happened in any of the past exchanges so far.

Posted by: Level-X Dec 12 2017, 10:13 PM

Hey Zerxer, Tyranisaur mentioned on the Discord chat about how the Spin the Dreidel used to be in a circle with an Amulet Coin inside it, next to the Poke Hunt and stuff so if possible could we have that back? So it's easier to know when we can use it and stuff.

Posted by: Zerxer Dec 12 2017, 10:14 PM

Oh yeah, I forgot about this, and then was reminded of it by Jen last night, and then forgot again... I'm on it now.

Posted by: Level-X Dec 12 2017, 10:15 PM

Thanks man, much appreciated!

Posted by: seasky Dec 12 2017, 11:48 PM

Oh,i have just come back this October.
And never join it before.
So,i am excited about it!

Posted by: eludicatorflame Dec 13 2017, 12:17 AM

Fun events return, huzzah!

I'll probably be giving a shiny this year again for the secret santa exchange, bc it always feels nice to help someone else get a shiny they might not have yet whee

Posted by: Darky Dec 13 2017, 06:19 AM

Ugh,,,I don't really have time for Hanukkah. And somehow, no desireX) maybe I'll hatch a few pokes here and there, but no way I'll earn a super prize, even if I try.
For Santa Exchange I'll go with a shiny, I suppose. For the first time. Hopefully, somebody will get a shiny they need or want=)

Posted by: Jade Dec 13 2017, 12:15 PM

Not sure how serious I'm going to get for this event this time around. I love the coin-scavenging but, just no time this year. Too busy at work and overall. But I'll try my best! I do have quite a few gen 3 shinies I want to try and track down...

Posted by: grumpish Dec 13 2017, 01:15 PM

Just got a shiny Wingull and Swablu from the event this morning. Woot Woot! Hope everybody gets some shinies they want. I swapped out my breeding pair for gen 3's and it's good to see so many eggs being taken.

So glad these events are happening again. Good Luck everyone!

Posted by: YoRHa No9 Type S Dec 13 2017, 01:37 PM

I got a shiny Nincada. Wasn't a priority, but it is nice to have a shiny Ninjask to go with the Shedinja I got a few months back.

What's everyone's strategy with the dreidel? I'm not much of a gambler, so I've been a little nervous about using it.

Posted by: Gigadyne Dec 13 2017, 01:57 PM

Depending on the total amount of coins, 4-8 is relatively safe amount to spend at any time. If you're feeling lucky, try for 10-16.
Anything higher than that is risky, and it's especially bad when the result is Nun.

That's how i view it.

Posted by: Level-X Dec 13 2017, 02:18 PM

Well, I actually like things the way they are but if other members would like a coin bonus for certain hatches, it's fine with me. However, I would like to mention that there is a shortage of Hoenn eggs in the shelter, it's pretty hard to snag some at times. For the people who are hatching many eggs, (myself included) the Hoenn eggs are going pretty fast, so it might be hard for others who hatch a limited amount to find some. We're getting like 10 eggs per session, and I'm not exactly sure how many people are breeding Hoenn Pokemon, we already had a lack of eggs for certain Pokemon to begin with. Can we maybe get a breeding boost if thats alright, even if it's just for the event?

Posted by: YoRHa No9 Type S Dec 14 2017, 01:00 AM

Wouldn't the nature thing be abusable with pass powers, though? Or do you figure that not that many people have enough pass orbs to break the event's difficulty?

Also, at this point can you say whether or not UBs will eventually be added to legend vouchers? That might determine how much effort I put into the event.

Posted by: timeerkat Dec 14 2017, 12:27 PM

Thank you! That is very helpful.

Posted by: yellowsofa Dec 14 2017, 07:32 PM

I haven't done either of the Christmas explorations nor participated in the Hanukkah event until now, so even if I suck at this, i'm well hyped!

Posted by: billywombat Dec 15 2017, 12:03 PM

For first 4 days I was hatching Burmy's... I was sure they're from gen 3...

Posted by: BibiTotoLover Dec 19 2017, 05:02 PM

I haven't been here in a while, glad to finally be back again!
Just started the "Secret of Christmas" exploration, but I can't seem to find the "Twelve days of Christmas" enlisted at the explorations?

Posted by: Level-X Dec 19 2017, 05:05 PM

Welcome back! It's located under the 'Items' Section in Explorations.

Posted by: BibiTotoLover Dec 22 2017, 03:48 PM

Thanks! Urgh, silly me, I didn't look further underneath the other tabs.
Thank you for clarifying.

Posted by: The Kraken Dec 23 2017, 11:27 PM

oof Exhausted
1300 seems like a good point to stop, though way lower than last year. I believe I finished at 3k then. And still I'm currently #13, huh.
Prize-gods, please be kind.

Posted by: Zerxer Dec 23 2017, 11:56 PM

Hanukkah/Coin prizes have been given out! If some part of the Coin event didn't auto-disable itself at reset then whoops — any Coin changes after this post do not count.

As I mentioned, the prizes wound up being about the same as the last coin events.

For every 60 coins, a scratch card was awarded, for a max of 15 (and a minimum of 1, if you got at least 1 coin). You would need at least 900 coins to get all 15 scratch cards.

255 users who earned between 200 and 599 coins received a Legend Voucher Plus.

68 users who earned between 600 and 1699 coins received a Shiny Voucher Plus.

The top 10 users who earned more than 1700 coins received a Shiny Legend Voucher Plus. There was a decent gap between the top 10 and #11, so this was a great place to cut it.

Your scratch cards, which are again "Frozen Fortune" with artwork by Volmise, can be redeemed here (also in the header): http://gpx.plus/scratch-cards

Secret Santa Exchange deposits will be opened in the next couple of minutes and will be open until the Exchange takes place on December 25th at 11:55pm (site reset Monday night).

Posted by: Gryphaena Dec 24 2017, 12:23 AM

Thank you so much for putting Sun and Moon Flutes as a possible prize in Scratch Cards, Zerx, I received a Sun Flute from one of my 3 Scratch Cards!

This was a great activity and I'm glad I was able to get enough coins to get something.

Posted by: YoRHa No9 Type S Dec 24 2017, 02:34 AM

Didn't think I'd actually get a shiny voucher, but here we are! Ditto was tempting, but I decided to get a Larvitar just because I am super done with 10k egg hunts.

Posted by: billywombat Dec 24 2017, 05:52 AM

I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT SH. LEGEND VOUCHER PLUS! Finally after 8 years and 9 months here I'm going to get my first shiny legend!

Posted by: Doom Hunter Dec 24 2017, 06:48 AM

Aww, what...8 coins shy this year of a shiny voucher. Aw well...better luck next time, eh?

Posted by: Silberchen Dec 24 2017, 03:35 PM

I haven't had the time to be active, got 420 (heh) coins. I still have two unused shiny vouchers from trying and failing to get top tier the last two years, I actually don't mind getting a legendary voucher instead. It'll go towards finishing my dex, which is always good.

Well done everyone, especially those crazy peeps in the top 10

Posted by: Moonlit Dec 24 2017, 06:14 PM

So I ended up in the top 20 for the coins, which was my whole goal in the first place. I have no idea what I want to get with the Shiny Voucher Plus. I'm trying to decide between finishing one of my (way too numerous, from previous SWSHs) shiny hunts, or saving it for finishing an achievement.

In fact, I have no idea what I want to put into the Secret Santa. Maybe I'll throw in the Shiny Fake Groudon that I just hatched a few days ago. We'll have to see!

Posted by: KikiRukata Dec 24 2017, 06:50 PM

I ended up with a Shiny Voucher plus so I was happy. I was between a couple Pokemon for the exchange actually between a (all of them shiny) Pichu, Eevee, Tentacruel, and Zangoose. I eventually went with the Eevee since most people are probably shiny hunting all of them. I had an extra from when we were hunting Gen 1 Pokemon for an event (I had already gotten all the Eeveelutions plus an eevee before that) So I went with what I thought people would enjoy the most. So whoever gets it Woo!~

Posted by: Surreal SaDiablo Dec 25 2017, 12:24 AM

Okay, I was wondering where that legendary voucher plus came from. Shows how little I pay attention to the forums. But hey, I got myself a Darkrai on top of finally getting my Shiny Ralts!

Posted by: Breech Loader Dec 25 2017, 08:09 AM

I've been too ill to do any christmas hatching. I only got one card this year. Man, I would have loved a shiny voucher.

Oh well, there's always a Rare Shiny to hope for from a Secret Santa. Hopefully something with multiple evolutions.

Posted by: koala bear Dec 25 2017, 02:10 PM

I'm very curious about what I can get for the Santa!

Posted by: Necrozma Dec 25 2017, 08:14 PM

I am too. I put in a Cosmoem so I'm eager to see what I get back maybe a Lunala?

Posted by: Mamanator Dec 27 2017, 03:26 PM

Merry After Christmas Everybody!

I want to thank those who participated in the Secret Santa exchange again this year. I was really unsure and feeling all types of mixed up about submitting my Shiny Snowy Girafarig, but I did put her in. After all, when you're hoping and wishing for a shiny novelty, and you only have the one on hand... *sigh*... you send her off. I hope she's found a good home.

I didn't wind up with what I wanted... *sigh*... but I did get a Shiny Zygarde. I'm definitely not unhappy about that find, but this does mean my fruitless quest for the Shiny Spike-Eared Pichu continues to elude me. That rascally rabbit! Grr. Argh. I am grateful for the new Dex entry though so, thank you, bfreezy93 for playing along.

I really messed up any possibilities for the Scavenger Hunt this month; too much other stuff going on and not enough chance to try. So that is blown off my radar unless the task is easy peasy. *blush* I did manage to get a Legend Voucher Plus (I'd so trade it for a standard shiny voucher that includes novelties, LOL) so now I have 4 of those I'm hoarding. I'll figure out who to use them on "one day". LOL!

I'm definitely hoping that I can get enough interaction for the New Year's event though. I've no idea what Pokemon it might be, but I am going to hope to get enough entries to be a contender for that voucher. *smirk* That would be the topper for sure so.... here's hoping, right?

Posted by: Zerxer Dec 31 2017, 01:29 AM

Hope everyone has a great New Year's! This is a reminder that your activity score today will be used for the New Year's Raffle sometime tomorrow.

Posted by: Darky Dec 31 2017, 06:30 AM

Happy New Year, everybody! Good luck with your event/ I wonder, how to get a lot of points in a short amount of time/ evolve?

Posted by: Luneon Dec 31 2017, 07:50 AM

Oh yeah that's true, that's today!
Whooooops
Thank you for the reminder because I completely forgot

Posted by: Mikaku Onchi Dec 31 2017, 10:09 AM

I've never won anything on New Year's raffles before so I don't know, is the prize a voucher or a pokémon that appears in your party? I need to be careful in case it's the latest.

Posted by: Necrozma Dec 31 2017, 12:27 PM

I didn't know there was a raffle tomorrow! I'd better get busy raising my score!

Posted by: Moonlit Dec 31 2017, 02:32 PM

Legit. I thought this was coming but needed to go back and look at the details. Thanks for the reminder on this!

Posted by: Alicat Dec 31 2017, 04:47 PM

Well, looks like I better get clicking then! Multiplier + honey+ + being in an exploration, time to mass-hatch magikarp for the raffle xD

Posted by: Mamanator Dec 31 2017, 09:51 PM

So I've got two hours to make a difference for me today. Well. Guess I'm wasting time talking on the thread. LOL

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Posted by: Surreal SaDiablo Dec 31 2017, 11:46 PM

yeah... I'm not gonna win anything...But hey, good luck to everyone else, and have a happy new year!!

Posted by: Mamanator Jan 1 2018, 12:03 AM

Well, in those 2 short hours I am hoping that my 26.08 points will earn me enough chances to win the prize. It wasn't quite enough to reach 14 entries, so hopefully, for 2018, 13 will be a lucky number.

Good luck to all who tried today and may your New Year be happy and safe!

Posted by: Sportsfan666 Jan 1 2018, 12:05 AM

I ended up with 44/45 entries. Top 50 so I'm hoping that is enough too. Good luck everyone~

Posted by: Liliac Jan 1 2018, 12:05 AM

"New Year's Raffle
This will work the same as it did last year: you'll have a day to be as active as possible, and for every 2018 points of Activity Score earned, you'll get one entry. We'll then distribute a certain number of vouchers for a new Pokémon, and you'll have a chance to get one based on the number of entries you earned. I'll post more information about this later, as always."

So, it comes in a voucher.

Posted by: MellowDeeRabbit Jan 1 2018, 12:07 AM

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! 2018, here we go! It's gonna be lit!

Posted by: The Kraken Jan 1 2018, 12:41 AM

Have the vouchers been distributed yet?

Posted by: Doom Hunter Jan 1 2018, 02:33 AM

I don't think so. The Pokedex hasn't been updated with anything new, so I doubt the vouchers are out quite yet.

Posted by: Wastelander Jan 1 2018, 05:33 AM

It'd be nice if I got something. Good luck everyone and happy new year!

Posted by: Chr0nicQueen Jan 1 2018, 07:49 AM

Does anyone know where we see how many entries we got? I saw a lot of people post their placement and such but cant figure out where :s No idea how I did was so busy yesterday unfortunately :| Also got a wicked cold/throat thing going on and took a bunch of meds that put me to sleep pretty early XD

Posted by: Cycloneblaze Jan 1 2018, 07:55 AM

In the Pokétch:

Divide by 2018. Looks like I got about 4 entries

Posted by: billywombat Jan 1 2018, 07:56 AM

Activity Score Yesterday/2018 = number of entries.



Looks like I got 378 entries. I hope new pokemons are new Zygarde's forms.

Posted by: H1Z1 Jan 1 2018, 09:29 AM

Hoping yesterday's activity score was enough to get the deed done. I also hope all your new year's shenanigans went well.

Posted by: koala bear Jan 1 2018, 09:30 AM

Yesterday, my Activity Score is 97595, so I would get 48 entry. But can I get the Raffle?
And I want to know what's the use of the 1056 coins I have.

Posted by: Breech Loader Jan 1 2018, 10:04 AM

I totally missed this event. I don't know how many entries I got. But I don't think I won anything.

Posted by: billy russo Jan 1 2018, 10:05 AM

here's to hoping i get something!

Posted by: Cycloneblaze Jan 1 2018, 10:33 AM

According to your statistics

you have thirteen entries into the raffle. Probably worth noting that said raffle hasn't happened yet.

Posted by: The Kraken Jan 1 2018, 10:42 AM

Got about 143 entries. That should be enough, right? Arceus be kind this year.

Posted by: Hanaya Taiga Jan 1 2018, 11:01 AM

I got 20.96 entries... JUST shy of top 100, pretty good considering I was offline for the first 13 hours of the day.

I am hoping its something for either Necrozma or a numbered UB (Buzzwole/Pheromosa logically as they are 02 to Nihilego 01)

Posted by: Broken Butterfly Jan 1 2018, 11:19 AM

How are people checking if they're like... in the top 50 or something for the raffle? And is there a limit to entries because someone said something (44/45 up there?) that makes it seem like there are...

I can't find any info on the raffle on the wiki or anything, so I'm super confused about this stuff.

Posted by: billywombat Jan 1 2018, 11:26 AM

Check your "Activity Score Yesterday" stat. You're top35 and you have 62 entries. And no there is no limit to entries.
Activity Score Yesterday/2018=number of entries.

Posted by: Darky Jan 1 2018, 11:31 AM

Highly doubt I';m getting anything. Hopefully, this stuff wil lbe available somehow else

Posted by: Chr0nicQueen Jan 1 2018, 01:49 PM

Ty everyone wish i had more time yesterday for the event

Activity Score Yesterday: 19,883 (#215)

Posted by: Myou Jan 1 2018, 01:59 PM

I think it's starting since the site just went offline. I forget the exact number of entries I got, I just remember I was #2 on the activity count before reset last night.

Good luck everyone~

edit: Got a Sh. Novelty Voucher... cool~

Posted by: Zerxer Jan 1 2018, 02:04 PM

New Year's Raffle prizes have been handed out!

As originally mentioned, for every 2018 activity score you had yesterday, you earned 1 entry into the raffle. There were 760 eligible users, and 336 prizes went out. Given that it's a raffle, a prize is not guaranteed (nor is the rarity of the prize), you simply increase your chances by having more entries.

Here's the list of prizes that went out:

• 1 - Sh. Legend Voucher Plus
• 10 - Sh. Voucher (this is specifically for a Sh. Nihilego)
• 25 - Sh. Novelty Voucher
• 50 - Sh. Voucher Plus (for all non-Legendary, Canon Pokémon)
• 100 - Legend Voucher Plus
• 150 - Novelty Voucher

The first number is how many of that prize were distributed, and nothing to do with your number of entries. Someone with just 1 entry, and someone with 250 entries, were both eligible for all of the prizes.


Vouchers have also been updated to include Pokémon that were previously missing from them, such as Nihilego to the Legend Voucher, all currently available Alolan Pokémon to the Sh. Voucher Plus, and ~20 novelties to the Novelty Vouchers.

Posted by: Esc Jan 1 2018, 02:06 PM

So no new pokemon is being released?

Posted by: Hanaya Taiga Jan 1 2018, 02:08 PM

Despite what was advertised on the original post, no.

Highly disappointed I wasted half a day tbh

Posted by: Alex Mercer Jan 1 2018, 02:10 PM

Welp, nothing. I only had 11 tickets, so I'm not too surprised - wasn't at my computer for most of the day. Congratulations to everyone who won!

Posted by: Moonlit Jan 1 2018, 02:10 PM

Well, looks like I ended up with another Sh. Voucher Plus.

I almost thought I didn't get anything from this raffle, but I hadn't used the Sh. Voucher Plus I got from the Coins... Then I saw the "x2" behind it and I'm kind of amazed I've been so lucky!

EDIT: But with 158 entries (Activity score of 320,248), I didn't really doubt I'd be missing out on this one. If I had, oh well. It's the luck of the draw!

Posted by: Stark Coyote Jan 1 2018, 02:11 PM

Same. :T
Like, I could've watched Black Mirror with the bf
but oh well, maybe sometime this year we'll get new pokes

Posted by: Asbel Lhant Jan 1 2018, 02:12 PM

I got one of the shiny Vouchers from the raffle, thanks so much . While I would have loved a Sh. Nihilego I'm glad I got something out of it. Too bad I have nothing I want to use it on at the moment, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

Posted by: Zerxer Jan 1 2018, 02:14 PM

Sorry, I didn't even realize the original post mentioned a new Pokémon. Everything was still up in the air at that point, and the event info was mostly copied over from last year.

Sadly all of our staff were busy throughout the month, it's been a rough end of year for a lot of them, so nothing new was available for release today. We tried to make it up by having more diversity in the prizes than we did last year, and including some good shiny vouchers.

New Pokémon are still coming, though!

Posted by: Jade Jan 1 2018, 02:14 PM

*coughs as she wonders why this happens EVERY year* Guys seriously? Don't complain.

This is a very generous prize. New Pokemon will eventually be released, it's going to happen, but don't be impatient about the staff with it. Especially because the main sprite person had to take a break for personal reasons, as I recall. But how often do we get prizes like some of the stuff they handed out here? It was surprising, sure, but nothing to come off as unappreciative about. Not to mention it was a raffle, you weren't guaranteed for anything no matter how long you played for.

Anyways, thanks Zerx! This was a great month of fun events.

Posted by: koala bear Jan 1 2018, 02:18 PM

It's very regret, it was a near miss: I just get 48 entry, and if I have 2 more entry, I could get the better gift!

Posted by: Necrozma Jan 1 2018, 02:18 PM

I only had two entries into the raffle, so I wasn't expecting any prizes. Much to my surprise, I got a Novelty Voucher. I was so surprised and quite pleased. Thank you Zerxer!

Posted by: Alex Mercer Jan 1 2018, 02:20 PM

I've got to echo that. Your day wasn't wasted as long as you got something, and there are strong reasons for the delay. And the prizes that did get handed out still look very nice.

Curious, by the way - do shiny novelty vouchers include legendary novelties like Fake Groudon and Misquaza?

Posted by: Zerxer Jan 1 2018, 02:20 PM

The numbers listed in my post were the amounts that went out, rather than the number of entries you needed to receive them.

With 48 entries, you were eligible for all of the prizes. Someone with just 1 entry was also eligible for all of them.


Nope. Corruptions and Admin Novelties are excluded.

Posted by: billywombat Jan 1 2018, 02:21 PM

378 entries and all I got is Legend Voucher Plus... it's a joke? Looks like I wasted so much time.

Btw. What about monthly explorations?

Posted by: Sportsfan666 Jan 1 2018, 02:22 PM

Got a shiny novelty voucher, pretty cool. Not really sure what I want to use it on yet but I'm glad I was lucky enough to get it~ Are we going to get a January Events thread?

Posted by: Esc Jan 1 2018, 02:23 PM

rngesus was not on ur side.

Posted by: PanHe Jan 1 2018, 02:31 PM

Got a Sh. Voucher Plus, though I still don't know which pokemon I should get I guess I'll try to unlock the Good Luck achievment with it.

I'm waiting for the montly exploration

Happy New Year everybody!

Posted by: Myou Jan 1 2018, 02:39 PM

I think I laughed WAY too hard at that one.

I can't say I wouldn't be salty about not getting anything from the raffle after so much effort (I can pretty much guarantee I would be silently stewing about it if that were the case), but there's still the other things were gotten from the resulting activity. I managed to hatch two different shinies while egg grabbing, was able to get some nice IV mons from the safari for the battle tower, and leveled a crapton of pokemon to lvl 100 in the process of all of my clicking.

Getting the sh. novelty voucher was just the icing on the cake, even if I'm not yet decided on what I'm going to use it on. Probably something that would be a royal pain to shiny hunt.

Posted by: Keith Jan 1 2018, 02:41 PM

Got a shiny voucher plus! Awesome! Wasn't expecting to get anything let alone a shiny voucher! I'm quite happy with that. Though I do have to wonder, why is only the orange Flabebe in the voucher? Was hoping to use this to end my red Flabebe hunt as that's the last Flabebe I need. Though it's still really awesome as I got other hunts I can use it for so it still makes my day.

Happy new year everyone! ^-^

Posted by: SilverPT Jan 1 2018, 02:49 PM

This situation doesn't concern me much because I wasn't active at all yesterday, therefore wasn't expecting to receive anything good and on top of that, I wasn't expecting new 'mons to be released due to Sam being busy with uni & work and Letan's personal life stuff that happened recently, but asking people not to be impatient at this point... S&M were released in November of 2016. It's been one YEAR and one month and we're still missing 6 regular 'mons (Morelull, Shiinotic, Comfey, Wimpod, Golisopod, Turtonator) and 13(!) legendaries (Buzzwole, Pheromosa, Xurkitree, Celesteela, Kartana, Guzzlord, Necrozma, Magearna, Marshadow, Poipole, Naganadel, Stakataka and Blacephalon). And I'm not even counting Zygarde (2), Lyncaroc (1), Necrozma (3) and Silvally's (17) forms.

Also, the fact that we don't get these type of prices too much is exactly the opposite of what should be happening. We've been getting the same type of monthly events for years. How awesome it would be if this last event, based on activity score, could be transformed into a monthly thing? Or even the coins-based event, in which the theme could alternate every 3 months between types, colours, rarity?

I'll not get too much into this because it was already discussed last month on the community thread, but something has to be done (and people have the right to complain as long as it's something constructive).

Posted by: koala bear Jan 1 2018, 02:49 PM

Yes, I understand what's your means when I read it several times. But I don't know if I get something, because I have some unused Egg Vouchers.
But the prize points are still 1157, so if I didn't get something?

Posted by: Zerxer Jan 1 2018, 02:52 PM

Good question. I've added the other colors now.

Posted by: Darky Jan 1 2018, 02:55 PM

Congrats to everybody, who won something^_^ Sadly, got nothing, but it's ok.

Posted by: Cycloneblaze Jan 1 2018, 02:58 PM

I got a Novelty Voucher, which is not bad considering that I had a whole four entries. And I'm sure I am missing some novelty eggs. It's not a Shiny Voucher but I'm pretty happy with that!

By the way, I think it's not unreasonable to expect a new Pokémon or be disappointed at the lack of one, when it was said that there would be one. But I also think Nick's explanation for that is very reasonable and I accept it (anyway I was hardly expecting to win one).

Posted by: Silberchen Jan 1 2018, 04:01 PM

Got the shiny voucher from one of my 68 entries, I think this is the first time I won anything in the raffle. I didn't have much to do on NYE but was on my family's slow internet...

The whole thing is still relatively random, but I think overall a good number of prizes were handed out. I thought there would be new pokemon as well, but I'm not too disappointed since there have been new additions throughout the last months.

Posted by: Vande Jan 1 2018, 04:04 PM

Yeah looks like I got nothing... spent as much time as I could clicking without being in pain.

Posted by: Wastelander Jan 1 2018, 04:08 PM

Thanks for the legendary voucher

Posted by: billywombat Jan 1 2018, 04:29 PM

It's not a good sign for my 2018

Posted by: Jade Jan 1 2018, 04:36 PM

But constructive criticism, by definition, is offering both negative AND positive views, while also suggesting solutions. Which you're doing yes, but those other comments weren't. Which is why I spoke up.

And I get it, I understand people's frustrations with the time it's taking for releases. But how many people are doing the sprites for this year compared to last? Because last year we had 12 at least.

Do we really only have two for this generation? That's like, what? 100 or so? I mean, that's a lot of work - egg sprite, hatching stages for the egg, and the pokemon itself.

I'm certain there's a lot of skill involved in running a website like this, and before, we had a team of people who had lots of skills in a lot of areas and made some awesome coding changes here over the years. But now, the team is different and the fact that there's still people trying is admirable in itself. I know they're trying their best and it feels like complaints like this kinda doesn't acknowledge how much the staff really does try for us. It can hurt the feelings of and de-motivate those who are working to bring us new things. And it's easy to say "just get more people involved" but it's hard to find people who have the skill, the time and are willing to do it for - I assume - no profit.

Posted by: Luneon Jan 1 2018, 04:55 PM

Didn't get anything but I'm glad I didn't miss out on any new cool mons.

Congrats to those getting vouchers ^^
Hopefully you got something you liked

Posted by: Esc Jan 1 2018, 05:09 PM

It also kills interest in the people waiting for so long, which is why I'm guessing a activity on the site keeps going down and down. Constant delays, being one of them. I get that Gen 7 rollout was done in portions to help increase site activity and help staff as well, but I feel it's been had a greater negative effect than positive.

I'm just annoyed that no new pokemon was available (Zerx gave a valid reason). Was really hoping for an ultra beast or something, but now we gotta wait till Feb 1, because that's when the SWSH ends. And who knows if it'll be available at that date too.

Like all of this has already been said before, but the reason why it keeps coming back up is because nothing is changing. And you're right, it's hard for them to change because shit keeps coming up.

Just a frustrated GPX'er

Posted by: Manah Jan 1 2018, 05:33 PM

I'm surprised I got a Novelty Voucher when I barely did anything and got maybe ~10 entries.

Anyone know who got the top prize?

Posted by: RicFule Jan 1 2018, 05:39 PM

Huh. I hadn't even thought about that. And then, when I went to check, there isn't even a tab FOR the Legends at the moment.

Plus, not sure if I won the raffle or not, but I only had three entries anyway. I do have 2 Legend Plus vouchers, but don't know if I bought both of them or won it. No matter.

Posted by: Broken Butterfly Jan 1 2018, 07:02 PM

Oh cool, I got a shiny voucher plus! I'm really happy about that, especially since I did my best to be as active as possible with the time I had. I've just gotta figure out what to use it on...

Posted by: AregularFrankiefan Jan 1 2018, 07:09 PM

Didn't get a Voucher of any kind, but since I'm not really trying to complete my Pokedex in any way, I suppose I don't really need one. To the people who did get Vouchers - hope you get whatever shiny or high-IVed something or other that you wanted.

Posted by: Mamanator Jan 1 2018, 07:30 PM

Happy New Year Everybody! 2018 could not have come fast enough for my family so I'm just glad we were able to "turn the page".

As for the New Year's Event, a raffle by definition is a game of chance. Seeing as how I reek at games of chance, I'm not surprised that the Shiny voucher still eludes me. I think I might've gotten an additional Legendary Voucher Plus as I think I have one more than I might've had the day before.

Constructive criticism? Perhaps there is a way that the system could generate a pop up box that says "Congratulations! You've just won a.... in the Site Wide Raffle Event".

Beyond that, and knowing that by dividing my 26,080 points by 2018 I only had 13 raffle entries, I'm quite satisfied with at least possibly having won something. I understand that some people some how managed to score almost 50 raffle entries. Dang! You was busy yesterday! I hope that was a personal best for you all who were really into the clicking. I could only grab a couple of hours towards the end of the day and man! Did my wrist hurt even though the laptop was in my lap and I did as much as I did in 2 hours.

I'm sorry that the ultimate prize wasn't something some of you were pleased with. While we were expecting the new Pokemon voucher, I think the understanding and explanation of why we didn't get it was nice to hear. It's hard to remember that there are real people behind the works of these types of websites and its easy to forget that they have other obligations too. I was hoping for the new Pokemon voucher as well, but it is what it is.

You can all color me jealous for those who got the Sh. Novelty Pokemon Voucher. I think you all have a good idea of whom I'm chasing after. I'm not going to say I'll find him this year, but I do have another 364 days to try, right? LOL

May we all find the positive side of the Raffle and look forward to a great new year for Pokemon on GPX. I'm sure that the missing Pokemon will appear at some point and... wow!... that's a lot of legendaries! I don't know half of them *blush* I really need to play through my Sun and Moon games (both versions, regular and Ultra). I had planned on playing AC:NL, but the tug of Pokemon pulled me back so I've returned to my Ultra Sun on Christmas. Still haven't even gotten to the first challenge though. Like my GPX, I play my Pokemon games slowly.

Posted by: Level-X Jan 1 2018, 07:32 PM

I got a Legend Voucher Plus from the Raffle, I didn't know we had chances of getting from multiple Items.. It was random anyway, so it didn't matter to me. I also needed Tapu Fini and Tapu Bulu, so I was able to get Fini.

Posted by: Doom Hunter Jan 1 2018, 08:59 PM

Ah ha ha ha....I got a third Legend Voucher Plus milling around my inventory now. Maybe it's time I stop being lazy, finish up the Tapus, and get my second Nebby....

Perhaps it's a sign from the GPX gods I need to be more active again. xD

Posted by: Alicat Jan 1 2018, 09:01 PM

Sweet, a novelty voucher from only having 4 entries Time to figure out what novelty I don't possess yet... xD

Posted by: SilverPT Jan 1 2018, 09:04 PM

It's not our fault (users) that there's less people around to sprite Gen 7 'mons. There's at least 5 staff members capable of spriting. And IF there's a need to get more people, it's as simple as saying "Look guys, we're looking for spriters. Send us a sprite of [insert a 'mon here]/Marshadow made by you and we'll decide based upon that!". Again, like I (and Esc ended up saying) the problem is that there's nothing going on. Nothing being made. I'm sure that there's a lot of people interested in joining the staff team so that they can help. People that can sprite, people that can write explorations, people that can code (even if only a bit, it would help already). Trusting your community goes a long way in making things better.

Posted by: Myou Jan 1 2018, 09:06 PM

Settled on which shiny novelty I wanted (decided on one that can't be directly bred), thanks for the event!

I'm kind of surprised my wrists don't hurt as much as I feel they should considering my activity score was 498,613 yesterday

Posted by: Jade Jan 1 2018, 09:25 PM

I'm gonna add on to this a bit for discussion purposes, because I do agree activity has dropped, but it's been dropping for years. Slow releases probably aren't helping this recent year, but we're far beyond the days there was so much activity the site would just crash. And that's not entirely the site's fault.

Pokemon itself is losing interest. From B&W to X&Y, the games lost 10 million units in sales. S&M, despite all it's changes, in the game play and anime, still only performed where X&Y's games did thus far.

As a collector, I've also noticed that collecting Pokemon is no longer where it used to be either. The community of collectors aren't nearly as strong, though sales of merchandise are still pretty good. But, one of the main pokemon that's doing the best sales wise of the new pokemon? Is Alola Vulpix. So a re-imagining of an old pokemon.

And then there's this game. When it was first created, the site did really well, but now with cell phones having gotten as big as they have with their free games and Steam too, I can see how just a simple, interactive click game has lost some of it's appeal. The internet is becoming more and more a competitive tool as the years go by.

There's just a lot of factors to consider here and this site is extremely limited in what can be changed with it simply because the original coders (Zerx and BB) are retired or aren't here to make those changes any longer. Everything that we can do has to be something already implemented into the site's code not to mention the time of the people who have to create, run and maintain all of that.

I mean, asking for change is one thing, but to make change we also need people who can contribute to make those changes and... it's possible we just don't have the high number of people that it takes to do that anymore.

Posted by: Level-X Jan 1 2018, 09:54 PM

I enjoy discussion as well so I will post my thoughts on this. I lurk around on multiple threads both new and old, reading them as I interact on the site and I have seen this topic come up plenty times recently. Anytime I read things that SilverPT says, it's hard not to agree with him. He's right, it's as simple as that.

People will get busy, that's life. So if it's slow updates on GPX+ it's understandable. I don't really see it as 'People are just losing interest in Pokemon' and GPX has little to nothing to do with Pokemon sales. It might be possible that we don't have a high number of people here who can do free work for the site, but, you will never know that until it's been tried. It hasn't lately.

I'm sure that sometime in the year we'll get a topic that says, "We will try to aim for this, this, and this during this year for GPX." Or at least that'd be nice, but, some will say we were promised Achievements a while back but never got them. Maybe if we were given updates, even super minor ones through the monthly threads it might help grasp on where things are. For an example, I've seen multiple people not know about the Monthly Events ending. The whole 'Copy and Paste' thing for the raffle confused some people as well. I thought it was only one voucher, like it implied. Things just need to me more clearer, I suppose.

I don't see these post as constructive criticism. I see them as a GPX user who is passionate about the site and where it should go. Moreso because they know what it can be, it's potential. That's a good thing. You should want that in your fan base. It's not always easy to provide them with constant entertainment. So it might be a good thing to look for helpers, everyone eventually needs a shoulder to lean on. I love the site, and updates or not I will continue playing. I'm just glad it's still up and running.

Posted by: Letan Jan 1 2018, 10:07 PM

Alright I swore off confronting the regulars over toxic complaints about Gen 7, but it's very clear that's not working out so I'm going to make my point clear.

I was the one that got the ball rolling on Gen 7 being added to the site. When I've finished, I'm quitting GPX+.

Over my entire time as staff, I've seen a recurring lack of appreciation for the work that goes into GPX+ from numerous users. It's grown worse as staff left, and now that I voluntarily stepped into a contributor role I'm now experiencing it firsthand in regards to my own work.

I'm fortunate enough to have established myself in a local game development community that's been incredibly supportive of my work, and in my years of involvement with that I've experienced how shitty it is to go from that level of support to what's going on here every time we release content or run an event.

Yes, it's obviously not everyone who does it and I appreciate the supportive feedback I get, but I don't need your toxic behavior in my work life. I don't owe any of you a Gen 8 and I'm not interested in further work if this is how it's going to be.

And now I'll get to addressing specific points I've seen come up in this thread specifically, but you can do the detective legwork to find more examples of the mentality I hate.

I have two files on the go, one of which I started back in September. Stop lying.


Our previous batch of sprite applicants had 3 that met the criteria we were looking for. Before that was around 10-15. I've personally resigned to stop bothering with the application process, especially when contributors have quietly left the site. It's becoming clear that just running the application process is a waste of my time.



Done since June, Nick hasn't had time to implement our plans for handling form changes and in that time we focused on releasing other things like the Zygarde Cube and more of Gen 7.


Here's me doing something: you guys complain too much and I care about my own mental health so I'm quitting later this year instead of continuing to expose myself to toxic mentalities of "Letan and the rest of staff owe us". I owe you nothing.


Manage your priorities, it's unhealthy to put GPX+ first.


It sure as shit has had a negative effect on my own wellbeing, which is why I'm out when this is done. You people also don't accept that forums in general are a dying concept in the social media age.

I just buried my cat not even two weeks ago and I get to start my year off with this. Unreal, dude.

Posted by: Jade Jan 2 2018, 12:55 AM

Sorry Letan, I feel partially responsible. If I hadn't of spoken up, maybe no one would have found reason to respond. I'm sorry if my actions or any of my words hurt you in any way.

And yes, you've done a lot of incredible, self-motivated work on a website that was meant to be "Stuck in time" roughly two years ago and certainly was not guaranteed or given any indication we'd get updates you and the rest of the staff worked hard on providing for us. In fact, the site itself probably wouldn't still be standing had people not stepped up and offered to help keep it running.

So thank you, to you and everyone on the staff team both present and past, for everything you guys have done.

Posted by: Comfey Jan 2 2018, 04:56 AM

I understand the frustration in not feeling thanked, but sometimes jobs like this are just simply thankless. Are any of the hundreds of separate graphic designers or modellers or artists ever credited for their work on Pokemon? No. Not really. Just Gamefreak and maybe the director every once in a while. How about all of the Pokemon designs? Nope, Ken Sugimori most of the time. The music? It's usually Masuda. You get the idea. At some point you have to understand the appropriate thanks are there, just nobody exclaims them. There is such thing as a quiet majority.

Most of the frustration stems from the lack of any real "reward," but that's just kind of the downside of being a voluntary, unpaid contributor, or at least that's what I'm assuming the deal is here. I'm a voluntary admin and contributor on another Pokemon-related game, and yeah, it sucks. Even if I do a good job adding all of the Pokemon everyone's asking for, I still get complaints, requests, and hardly any thanks. That's just how these jobs (and a majority of real jobs, too) go. The way I deal with it is that I suck it up and keep my expectations low. If you can't handle this sort of ideology that comes with voluntary unpaid work, then you probably shouldn't offer to do voluntary work for free in the first place. (though you seem to have made that decision already by now, so that's a bit redundant)

Though, to be perfectly honest, when GPX kind of fails to deliver this many times (100% zygarde not being added yet, apparently achievements not being added, et cetera), is the frustration even really unwarranted? Don't make promises that can't be kept with 100% certainty. I just want to point out that, yes, I get it, you guys have lives too. Prioritizing them first and all. That's completely fine. But that's not any different than what other people with jobs in the game industry go through. Failing to get things out on time is going to cause the consumers to be frustrated, and that should kind of be expected no matter what field you work in. Whether it's lack of motivation, depression, family troubles, relationship issues, stress, all of these are completely understandable reasons for delays. Again, put your life first, just stop expecting so much of completely random internet strangers, especially ones who are genuinely and rightfully disappointed. A lot of people you don't even talk to that have these complaints have no idea what's going on behind the curtains, or in your personal lives. That's just how it is when it comes to contribution that doesn't involve personal and social interaction with every consumer (which is...a lot of things).

As for why the site's activity is going down, I checked the poke hunt history a while back and noticed activity went from ~700 a day down to about ~200-~300 the week directly after Sun and Moon's release. The logical conclusion is that people simply drop GPX for a while to play the actual games. Some may forget about GPX entirely. And considering USUM just came out, that likely has a big factor in the activity loss right now, too. That's just how it goes.

With that said, thank you for what you've done to add to this game, Letan and anyone else on the team at the moment. Sorry if this seems like a dumb post, my brain is running on fumes and it's 4 am rn.

Posted by: SilverPT Jan 2 2018, 09:46 AM

To start this, I don't see how this type of complaining inserts itself in being toxic. I really don't. And since you're a game dev, I'm sure that you know what a toxic community/complaints is/are (ie. No Man's Sky/Pokémon Go).

Anyway, you got it wrong and I apologize if it wasn't explicit enough. I've expressed this before (and I don't blame you for not reading it), but when I said/say that "there's nothing being made" it's not in a sense that the staff is just laying back and not caring. I'm aware that "small" content (as in writing explorations and spriting novelties/new 'mons/new forms) is being made. It's, as I said, "small" content (I consider "major" content as something completely new or a rework of some sorts; it has nothing to do with people not putting effort on it). Therefore there's no need to post screenshots proving anything or calling me a liar (as I've not insulted anyone here and always tried to help when criticizing).
Nothing is being made to change the situation we're in. To get new users or maintain old ones here. And it's true that the interest in this franchise is dwelling over the years (natural course with almost every videogame franchise), but every year that we get a game released, new people buy it. Kids/teens that just got into it. Adults that regained the interest. And we're not capitalizing on that. And we can.

Regarding your mental health issues, I'm sorry to hear about that. But it goes accordingly to what I've said in my previous post. If you (staff) need help, ask for it. Would you've reached that state if the staff team had more spriters that could have taken loads of work off your shoulders? If contributors left the site, open the application process again. It didn't worked that time, but it can work now. Accept someone that can evolve and progress in their work even if at the moment they don't met the criteria. Having one more person helping is better than having none.

If people complain, it's because they care. And they're willing to help, imo. Otherwise it's senseless to criticize something that you care about and not have any idea how to improve it. I understand that it seems that we, users, complain too much. But that only happens because you, staff, want to release something as soon as possible and for some reason, can't (which as happened often lately). On top of being frustrated, you already know that someone is going to complain. And then that happens again. And you get frustrated and someone complains. It's the snowball effect. A vicious cycle. I know how that feels. I've been on that side for 3 years. I had friendships that ended or turned sour because of that. I had no access to the server for 1 year (with the admin being unreachable and not caring at all) and when I finally had it, my coding knowledge was near 0%. And now I know why people complained, what my mistakes were and how I could have reached for help. That's what I'm trying to do here and it seems that I'm not alone, which is good. I would prefer to have a community that has a voice and can express themself rather than a community that is pleased and grateful with what they've. Simply because the first community is going to try to change something and the second is going to let the project die out.

Posted by: DevilsClap Jan 2 2018, 10:46 AM

I got a Legend Voucher as Prize and already used it for an Uxie

Posted by: Mamanator Jan 2 2018, 11:44 AM

As a former moderator from another gaming website I'd like to extend my appreciation to the GPX staff for what they've done. It's sad when something you've loved and put so much into seems to have turned from you. I totally understand what Letan was saying and can relate, to some degree, from my past experiences. One negative post on one forum web page may not be toxic, but when there are multiple negative posts and complaints across the website in general I can certainly agree that the level of toxicity grows to dangerous levels.

All forum staff personnel want to hear feedback from the community that they serve and they expect that there will be some negative remarks along the way. But what the general community needs to keep in mind is that GPX is not a paying website; it's strictly volunteer based. To my knowledge none of the staff are paid. I'm not certain what the age range is, but for those that aren't in school they are maintaining jobs and families. Some of these jobs may have them blocked from the website during their working hours leaving them to manage their personal time with their families and the website. It isn't always an easy choice and, on some days, there is no choice at all.

If this type of social media is truly going away that makes me sad indeed. I understand that things change; I just hope that GPX will always be around and available. I hope that the general community can accept the staff's time restraints and find different ways to change up their GPX play. If you've already gotten every single Pokemon, both regular and shiny, then how about changing your parameters? If you're someone who pulls from the Shelter then force all your Pokemon to be from the Lab. Or vise versa. If you've completed every single achievement go through them again but give yourself a time limit. Limit yourself to only keeping Pokemon with an IV of 150 or higher - without using the vitamins or proteins. Go through the explorations and, when possible, force your choices to only be from the Lab and not the quick, readily available hatched ones from the Safari. I think there are so many more ways we can still enjoy the GPX set up as it is today while the staff works to create the sprites that we want at an expectation level that we've come to want.

In this new year I'm going to try and finish my current exploration and then I'm going to work on that IV challenge. Since I'm running out of box space anyway, by changing my parameters and force my choices to be 150+, I think I'm going to have a nice long run of searching out the Pokemon I can keep. I challenge all of us to find a new way to enjoy GPX. Why don't you think about it?

Posted by: Wastelander Jan 2 2018, 11:46 AM

Woah! My legend voucher egg hatched into a Shiny Tapu Bulu! Thank you so much ! This is extra special for me as it's my first shiny legendary that i've gotten on the site in the eight years i've been here.

Posted by: Mamanator Jan 2 2018, 12:00 PM

Holy Hockey Pucks Batman! Congratulations!! I hope to join you one day in that category.

Posted by: Zerxer Jan 2 2018, 02:53 PM

Chiming in here given all the discussion that's going on...

We announced a couple years back that the site would more or less run on autopilot to allow users to continue to enjoy what is already available, so there really shouldn't be any expectations of new features. That is why the frustration is unwarranted. As far as I know, I haven't really promised anything, besides the mention of a new Pokémon for the raffle. The achievements thing was never a promise by me either, and I apologize that some other staff continued to suggest achievements were coming, but they were also hoping for them just like you.

I'm not sure if we ever promised to actually complete Gen 7, but I feel we've done a pretty good job of getting them out there, even if it has been slow and steady, which gives users something to look forward to. Frankly, I'm impressed with all that we've accomplished since announcing that the site would no longer be worked on. Besides new Pokémon, we've continued to run events and have implemented new features. Users went years not being able to collect a single Arceus, let alone being able to collect all of them in a fun way, and now being able to not only obtain Normal Arceus, but being able to continuously obtain it. That means you can shiny hunt it and form change it to your favorite form.

Most of the new Pokémon (gen 7 and novelties alike) we've added in the last 2 years have even required custom work by me with regards to how they were initially distributed/obtained or how they evolve/form change, usually thanks to PokeNOM for thinking up the methods and pushing me to code them in, instead of just adding the Pokémon and reusing existing cookie cutter methods. This is also why the Silvally type-forms are not yet obtainable, because there are 17 of them and I want a fun way for obtaining them instead of just making them normal form changes.

While activity does die down a bit when new games come out, and then spur back up some, activity as a whole has decreased dramatically since before Wymsy left. We used to have 1000+ users active at a time, now we typically have ~200. That's an enormous decrease. We used to require a beefed-up dedicated server to handle all of the activity, now we exist on a small Linode instance. Yes, part of the problem is the decline in Admin activity, but it's also just the world, internet, and user-base themselves changing.

As Letan mentioned, forums like this are a dying breed in the wake of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Slack, Discord, and Reddit. It's easier than ever to chat with friends and discover groups of people with similar interests, and forums like this feel about as old school and outdated as IRC has for the past decade (despite it still seeing a lot of usage too, of course). None of those services have the idea of "signatures" either so users aren't able to display their Pokémon to get view experience or to advertise GPX to other new potential users. That is how adoptables sites used to thrive: through signature advertisements.

The other big killer to sites like this are smartphones. Everyone's got one now, and they all have such impressive apps/games available, that a site like this where you're expected to click/tap a bunch of berries to feed Pokémon is just not fun. We also do not have an official iPhone/Android app, so potential new users wouldn't be able to find out about us by searching their app store. We have a mobile website, but it's outdated and not the best, and it wouldn't help solve what I've explained above anyway. It's also not worth making an official phone app/game because Pokémon is not our copyright. Nintendo now has a presence in the smartphone world with official apps for Mario, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, and even Pokémon, so they would be sure to issue a takedown if we tried to launch a GPX game.

Finally, this website was developed by just two people a decade ago (not discounting all of the work Wymsy did, this paragraph is just touching on the actual code portion -- but losing her did strip this site of a lot of its original magic). Creating it was a great learning experience for both of us, and we both have great jobs as software engineers now, but the code itself is outdated and awful. It doesn't use a community-managed framework nor follow any respectable design pattern. It's one giant pile of tech debt, and adding new features consists of injecting more tech debt. If it was truly worth restoring and improving GPX, if somehow we found a way to restore new user growth, then the entire game would need an internal redesign from the ground up. It's sadly not worth the time it would take, though. The best I could hope for is to take what I've learned here, redevelop it, and then reskin it as a custom adoptables site (stripping out the Pokémon, but Pokémon is most of the appeal). It's something I've definitely had an interest in doing, but I've just not been convinced it would be worth my time, so I focus on my day job and spend my free time away from the computer.

Posted by: pumpkinking0192 Jan 2 2018, 03:52 PM

Wow. Wow. Talk about toxic. "Sometimes jobs like this are just simply thankless"? That's not a healthy way to support a site.


Holy mansplaining, Batman! Your post reeks of entitlement; you seem to have read Letan's post with the mindset of "how do I argue to convince Letan they're wrong", not "let me try to understand how Letan is feeling".

---

To Letan and all the rest of the staff and contributors: Thank you for everything you've done over the years, and please know that the loud toxic voices like those above are not representative of all members. I hope you and the site will stay around as long as possible, but seeing posts like the ones above, I can't blame you for leaving. I'll be continuing to click and shiny hunt as long as the servers are still running (regardless of whether any new features or Pokemon are implemented), which is the best way I know to show you guys support. Thank you.

PS. Letan, my condolences about your cat.

Posted by: Arturia Pendragon Jan 2 2018, 03:55 PM

I got a Legend Voucher Plus I'm so happy ^^ I'll be able to complete my legendary dogs trio without waiting for next explorations~

Posted by: Comfey Jan 2 2018, 04:32 PM

I'm sorry? How is that factual statement toxic in any way, and have you seen toxic fanbases at all? Because they act nothing like how I did in that post, and in the end I even thanked the team. Toxic people simply do not that. If you want to meet people who are actually toxic, go check out a competitive game like League of Legends. Hell, even TF2 has some really toxic people in it. Pokemon has its own share of toxic people, dude, just read up on what all Verlisify did. And now that we're getting into youtubers, what about Keemstar? Those are what toxicity is like. And that's just not what's going on in these posts.

I completely agree with SilverPT's post. These complaints are nowhere near what toxicity actually is, and they are still not really unwarranted considering how much has been announced only to be forgotten about, despite what Zerxer says. Not everyone on this website today was here 2 years ago to read a post that the website's development would be slowing down. I know I wasn't (and just because I joined in 2012 doesn't mean I saw it; I forgot about this website until mid last year). And in the end, a broken promise is still a broken promise. People do in fact complain directly because they care, and I'm writing these posts right now because I care and want to help the website improve in some way myself. Even the tiniest bit would be satisfying.

Please don't accuse people of being "toxic" or "entitled" when you have no clue what these words even mean, and please don't attack them just because they're not treating every one of these problems like "happy rainbows cupcakes and unicorns haha nothing's wrong at all, are you toxic!?" That's toxic in of itself.

EDIT: As a side note, I don't believe administration shrinkage is the biggest reason for a huge ~500 player loss. That's practically claiming this occurrence happening right after Sun and Moon came out is a coincidence, which, let's be real, it's obviously not.

Posted by: x Sam Jan 2 2018, 05:03 PM

I'm terribly sorry that an arrangement of pixels is so dear to you that, despite it being answered multiple times it still seems to be tossed about.

I have given enough statement in regards to it. I have nothing more to say on the matter.

Just let me point out: For someone who is trying to get through work, university, EXAMS, I barely get 5 minutes to myself. I understand the frustration, but have you taken into consideration the frustration I'm getting when it's constantly being brought up?

Posted by: Zerxer Jan 2 2018, 05:07 PM

https://forums.gpx.plus/index.php?showtopic=72286 We're actually coming up on 3 full years in March. Consider this my second time saying that the site is essentially living on frozen in time, and posts complaining that not enough is being done are in fact unwarranted because of that. We've actually done more than was promised, in a lot of ways.

Posted by: Comfey Jan 2 2018, 05:39 PM

Yes, I have. Have you considered a majority of the people on GPX don't even talk to you, let alone know what goes on in your life? I've already stated several times I understand stress and busywork, and I have also said to put that first in your priorities, but not everyone is going to act empathetic. You seem to think this is such a huge deal, when in reality I don't care what isn't added right away. I can live without these pixels just as easily as I can live without this website, and if you need to get life priorities done first, go ahead; all the power to you, and I wish you the best of luck. I'm just pointing out where the source of the problem might be.



This doesn't address what I said at all. Lots of people on GPX don't do literally everything they expect you to. They aren't going to dig around for a topic that was posted almost 3 years ago and probably buried under a sleuth of other posts the week after. Expecting that of hundreds of random people is downright unrealistic, and claiming peoples' complaints are unwarranted because of a topic posted 3 years ago that most people wouldn't even know existed is absurd. It's practically as good as looking for an excuse not to accept simple criticism from an outsider's perspective, one who has no clue what goes on behind the scenes. I apologize if this comes off as brash, but there's really no way to word it without being frank.

TL;DR: I understand. It's frustrating. it hurts to see most of the work you've done be underappreciated, and it hurts especially when you're busy and stressful and need support the most. But when you're getting legitimate complaints, and throwing complaints back, what good is that doing anyone?

If anyone wants to talk to me more about this, reply to me directly using PMs so this topic doesn't get flooded.

Posted by: Necrozma Jan 2 2018, 05:42 PM

I just want to say thank you to the staff for keeping this site running. Though it may not be as fancy or up-to-date as some of the newer Pokemon sites, I still enjoy playing here.

I'm sorry if this next part sounds critical, I am not intending to criticize anyone here. I'm just wondering: how did something that was supposed to be fun (the raffle) generate so much complaining? It's a rhetorical question, not one I actually want an answer to. I've just been thinking about as I read this thread.

Posted by: Letan Jan 2 2018, 05:46 PM

You guys are both assholes that need to be taught a valuable lesson.

Treat your content creators better if you enjoy their content. Leave if you don't. Neither of you understand how to positively give constructive feedback; complaint isn't how it's done.

Since you didn't get the hint the last time, I'm taking Wymsy's advice she gave me last night and leaving immediately. Clearly it's not worth my time to finish up gen 7.

Thread's done, I'm out.

Posted by: Zerxer Jan 2 2018, 05:53 PM

I understand you said it's a rhetorical question, but I am sure it's something a lot of outliers are wondering, so it's one I'm going to respond to.

Most event threads tend to go this route, as do a lot of regular threads like the monthly community thread (at least with intertwined complaining in them). That's why a few of the staff are suddenly up in arms and talking about toxicity, because this isn't a one-time occurrence, it is something that happens all the time. Sometimes there is a small bit of reason behind it, such as the end prize not lining up with the original post which mentioned a new Pokémon, but we usually have a good reason for it (as I had already given), other times it is just users not being happy with the result. It is typically a vocal minority though, with a large silent majority that are happy (or at least content) with how things are going.

I will say though that this definitely isn't new... even back when the site was in active development, and there was a lot more activity, we still had a lot of vocal complaining (some of it by the same folks that are still around and unhappy today). It's easy enough for me to shrug off and move on, because I know I do what I can and that's that, but a lot of the other staff have just been having a rough time so this isn't making things easier for them. It has probably played a part in staff, from admin to contributor, losing interest in the site over the years though.

I'm going to let this thread end now that December is over and I think everything that could be said, by both sides, has already been said. It's not worth the back and forth at this point, at least not in this event thread.