Observations on the use of great balls. When preparing to go after one of the pokemon from the expert stages I always make sure that I save enough coin for the boosts I plan on using plus enough extra for about 3 great ball attemps. (2500 each) After a miss with a pokeball it gives a chance to buy a great ball, if that misses often it offers a 2nd, then maybe a 3rd, I may have seen a 4th once.

I will normally not bother with great balls on normal stages, easier to play again for another capture attempt, or if my base capture odds were too low. (not worth doubling 1 to 12%ish I'd say)

Congratulations! Yeah I think that is what I did for 120 too, it might have been one of the stages I got really close on and burned a gem for a few more moves to finish off. I have enough coin now for a go at Mewtwo, but just got home and don't know if I feel upto it tonight, work was draining. Hope you are feeling better Marek.

Well they fixed that bug within the week, good.

My first (serious with boosts, not warm up run) attempt to catch Mewtwo has failed, tried this morning and had a 19% catch rate on my first ball and 38% with the great ball, I wasn't offered a second great ball. Well another 1.5 to 2 days of saving then I'll try again. Congrats on Charizard, it was one of the ones I most wanted to catch out of nostalgia, but I wish it was stronger in this game.

My oversight has lifted my spirits! My 2nd attempt at Mewtwo was a bigger disaster than the first, (1%) and prompted me to examine my tactics to seek improvement. I lamented that my mega (sableye) did much less damage than the rest of my team, and wished another bug, dark or ghost type mega was released. Then I remembered my old nemisis Gengar, who I never caught! Doh! Well I'm eager for try 3!

Congrats on 'catching them all'! The waiting in between actually works out nice for me. If I'm at work we have 12 hour shifts broken up by lunch and 2 coffee breaks, about 2.5 - 3 hours apart so I get a fresh batch each break! Also wondering how good mega Gengar's ability will turn out. It has potential but is different and won't break barriers well. I caught him first try today.

Yeah, I'm upto 75 hours, hard to believe. Been trying to S rank or catch some I missed or skipped (EX). Making good progress Marek. So is Angela, she breezed through Mega Mawile (stage 90) on her 1st attempt with no boosts, then proceeded to beat and catch the next half dozen or so first try upto phanalpy (the stronger ground elephant) which she missed the catch on. Puts me to shame.

Edit: upto Donphan, (stage 101) she started on 89 this morning after struggling with Keldeo, and Zapdos for a while without much success (beat Keldeo but no catch I suggested Zapdos might help but she only has 2 ground types and was struggling with it more) so she cleared 12 stages today on our trip. Sorry, I'm impressed I know you don't know her so 'shrug' but I just want to share and record.

Interesting, I tried a demo for one of those once and it was ok but not stellar, still free is a good reason to give it a try at least.

I don't think it has been released yet. Good chance it will be some sort of event like the Lucario one, although they might add more stages that could have one for it or maybe even a passcode distribution or something.

Wow, Venasaur, Moltres, Dragonite and Charizard all in one morning! That Rocks! Congratulations. When blessings come they can sure surprise!

Yep, those are the ones I used, but I muffed it my next try, got very few combos and only 3000 coin reward. I still think the extra turns are worthwhile though.

That seems to be the case, although the only place I've actually tested that was on timed stages for extra seconds, as opposed to extra turns. (I think it is the same for both though.) I'm down to 2 Ex stages left to catch, both fire type so no megas out now are super effective. Might spend some coin just to plow through, but I'll wait to see what this week's specials are first.

Competition number 2 is live, and guess what, it's for that water tyype mega I was waiting for. Well my first real attempt (using coin) put me in the top 1000 so that's a start, but I'll need to watch this. I expect this one will be much tighter competition as the top pokemon available aren't the hardest to get in the game. (Xerneas and Mewtwo last time) It should be more accessible.

Wow! Which one?

I tried feebas once, but caught him with mega start for breaking ice and disruption delay. feebas does clear ice pretty well, but it takes turns and isn't big on damage. Not sure which strategy is better, but feebas is cheaper. I've got an A rating on that one too.

I noticed they changed their wording too so the jewel no long goes to all participants, but just those who don't win a mega stone, thus making it a kind of consolation prize. Well as long as they are clear about that I can't complain, but I do like free jewels, however they come. I'd still rather get the stone though.

LoL! Yeah, apparently, I've lost my dramatic flair! I used to be involved in stage theater at several levels too, so sad. I've been on shift the last 4 nights, touching base when I could, not sure I caught everything going down at the Kabana and not sure I want to. (no offence Klim) Also unsure how to react so I didn't much, voicing what (minor) concerns I have at this time wouldn't be helpful.

Pokemon: Poor Attacking Types Normal types aren't super effective against anything. Dragon is only SE against other Dragon The following are only SE against 2 types Poison (vs grass and fairy) Psychic (vs fighting and poison) Electric (vs flying and water) Dark and Ghost (both vs psychic and ghost) (on positive side normal is only weak to fighting and electric is only weak to ground defensively)

Speaking of fighting and ground types, they are the only types that are SE against 5 types. Ground (vs Steel, Electric, Rock, Fire, and Poison) Fighting (vs Normal, Steel, Rock, Ice and Dark) In Shuffle you don't need to worry about your guys taking damage so defensive weaknesses are less important. Also no dual types (common in the main games) combining resistances and weaknesses defensively.

He is a pain, Angela just beat him today. She used, disruption delay, mega start and +5 extra turns, (which it turned out she didn't need but just to be safe) all of which is still cheaper than a complexity -1, but it is still some coin to be sure. Nothing wrong with mega sableye, for that one.

Well, the competion is tougher this time for sure. Last competition this score would have been in the top 3000 I think. Over 200k participating with 2 hours to go. The other approached that too but I don't remember if it got there.

Wow! I dropped over 1000 spots in that last 2 hours, barely finished top 7k this time. Also HUGE Update this morning. New main Stages again and also Groudon's Special stage finally arrived!

I thought so too. Base attack 60 though, so far only Amparos, Gengar, Mewtwo and now Lucario have more. By the way have you noticed the giltch where when searching for Mega pokemon I have Mewtwo doesn't show up with the others even though I have and can use his mega. Never comes up on optimize either, it gives slowbro and I need to switch manually.

Mega Gengar is so good on that stage! I caught Blaziken today, last of the expert stage pokemon I was missing! Now going back through the original stages to catch the odd ones I missed. Already caught all the new stage ones. (both sets)

I've finally caught every pokemon in the game, including specials! Now to stockpile coin for the next competition and work on S ranks.

Did this batch of new stages seem easier than the last one to you too?

Boo.

Really gotta pick you opening moves to clear space and set off combos early. Bug Dark and Ghost types help but you need to make space for them with that first move or two.

Sweet! One of my favourites too! Unfortunately I can't see myself unlocking that soon. Guess I haven't caught them all yet either, but thanks, one more thing to look forward to. Does it seem tough?

No time to think on expert stages, just find matches as quick as possible, but normal stages there is no rush at all, plan moves as much as you like. Main stages don't suffer as bad from darkness clouds blocking your view as much either because with no time limit you can touch each square as if you were going to move it (but don't) to see what is under those clouds.