How to Make the Most of This Weekend’s Virtual (Pokémon) GO Fest (UPDATED)

This weekend, Trainers from all over the world will be participating in a virtual GO Fest that’s open to any and all Pokémon GO players, with the purchase of a $14.99 ticket.

Of course, if you’re going to spend the time, energy, effort, and money to participate in this 20-hour long event, then you’ll definitely want to feel at the end like it was worth it.

With that in mind, here’s a quick look at some of the fun things you can look forward to before and during GO Fest as well as tips for maximizing your account and experience.

Kick-Off Event:
On Friday, July 24th, CEO John Hanke will be kicking things into high gear with a prequel to the big GO Fest event. Tune in starting at 5pm EST via the Virtual Team lounge.

In addition to the Global Kick-Off event, the Niantic team, ZoeTwoDots, and several others will continue the fun, with their own presentations, throughout the night on Friday, all the way through Saturday afternoon.

Here are a few of the highlights you might want to tune in to watch.

Schedule Highlights:
On-the-GO! Update (2am EST)
ZoeTwoDots (2:22am EST)

Getting Started in GO Battle League (4am EST)
On-the-GO! Update #2: (6am EST)
GO Fest Kick-Off for the Americas: (11am EST)
Trainer Battle Champion Challenge (11:45am EST)
On-the-GO! Update #3 (3pm EST)
Avatar Fashion Show (3:20pm EST)

Connect to a fully detailed schedule, here.

GO Fest Event:

Dates: July 25th & 26th
Times: 10am-8pm (each day)

Event Details:

• Over 75 species of Pokémon accessible in the wild, via raids, & through Special Research
• Unown(s)
• 5 Rotating Habitats on Day 1 (Fire, Water, Grass, Battle, & Friendship/ Rotates each hour)
• Global Challenges
• Event Exclusive Special Research specific to each day
• Incense that lasts 1 hour/will be more effective

TIPS:

1. Have 20 gifts in your possession for the start of the day.
2. Don’t open or give gifts until the “Friendship” habitat becomes available in the event. (Suggested by Niantic Support on Twitter).
   
3. Once you’ve reached the “gift giving” portion of the event, make sure to continue obtaining gifts to give to friends throughout the day. Niantic will be allowing players to give & open 200 gifts.
   
4. Max out your Pokémon and Item storage, if you can afford to do so. The Max Limit is 3000 for items and 3500 (New limit) for Pokémon.
   
5. As in any situation where you’re catching a lot of Pokémon, it’s crucial to have enough Poké Balls for the job. We suggest having 300-500 of each. These can be obtained via Pokéstop spins, opening gifts, and in-game purchases.
   
6. Besides Poké Balls, other items that you may find useful (& want to stock up on) are Pinap Berries (candy), Star Pieces (stardust), & Lucky Eggs (XP).
7. In order to make room for those needed items suggested in #5&6, you may have to slim down on other resources which are taking up space. If this is the case, we suggest cutting down to no more than 75 each on Non-Pinap Berries, Potions, & Revives.
8. If you’re limited on time and can’t play for 10 hours a day, you’ll probably want to hone in on which monsters are most important to you. Here’s a few criteria to help you decide.
   — Shiny monsters you don’t yet have
   — New monsters for the Pokédex
   — Monsters you want to evolve
   — Fighters you want to power up
9. If you’re goal is to add, evolve, and/or power up fighters for your battle teams, here’s 7 to focus on:
   — Machop
   — Charmander
   — Togetic
   — Gible
   — Mudkip
   — Alolan Exeggutor
   — Dratini
   — Eevee (7 evolutions)
10. Unless Niantic announces a reason to hatch eggs, we suggest leaving this off of your “to do” list during the event. Hatches very much get in the way when you’re needing to continuously catch monsters. And, if this festival is anything like the St. Louis Safari Zone, you’ll have a shot at a monster every 30 seconds using an incense, on top of what spawns in the wild.
    
11. If your focus is finding shiny monsters (and you don’t need to add to their candy count), consider quickly checking a Pokémon to see if it’s shiny and then moving onto the next one.
    
12. If a monster is being persnickety, throw a Golden Razz & a Great Ball to try and catch it faster. (This doesn’t always work, but it’s worth a try).
13. If a monster is jumping (or flying) around and difficult to aim the ball at, use a Nanab Berry to help calm it down.
14. If you want to capture as many monsters as possible each day, be sure to throw an Incense. (Each will last an hour and be even more effective than usual).
15. If you’re planning to play most of the day on Saturday and/or Sunday, be sure to complete as much of the Special Research as you can. Trainers will have the opportunity to unlock up to 3 special, week long events (which will take place starting 7/31) based on how much research is completed globally. (Read details, here).
    

Sunday Event: (7/26)
Now that part of the world has had a chance to experience the 2nd day of GO Fest, we now know that Rocket Stops (with previous legendary birds/monsters) will be available throughout the day, along with new research, the ability to TM away Frustration (on shadow monsters), and 4 Legendary T5 Raids.

Below are links to articles that should be of help on Sunday.
Dialga
Palkia
Giratina (both forms)

Team GO Rocket Battles (Grunts)
Team GO Rocket Battles (Leaders)

TM Away Frustration

Good luck everyone! Have fun!

Sources: Niantic, JVPBlackhawks20, businessinsider.com (John Hanke pic), ZoeTwoDots Facebook (pic)