More Info on the Giveaway – https://x.com/P0PzUNCultured/status/1938643216070258770
COME TO JAPAN WITH ME – https://trovatrip.com/trip/asia/japan/japan-with-james-brul-nov-2025
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Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/pok%C3%A9daxi-yap-sessions/id1745768087
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/6V5hhZKWcrn455FFnIdqeg?si=6f9e9dec403d4528
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Intro
6:28 – Can you Be FTP?
36:25 – Outro
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32 Comments
More Info on the Giveaway – https://x.com/P0PzUNCultured/status/1938643216070258770
Wanted to take couple days to make sure I said this right.
Let's imagine you're playing Monopoly with a group of friends. Some of these friends are giving the banker real money for extra cash, to roll dice during other people's turn, paying to keep drawing chance cards until they get what they want. They pay extra to draw from a separate set of boosted chance cards. My point is not that it's wrong. These are the house rules. Some players are fine playing with the base rules, others that can play the house rules as much as they can.
Now image one of the players spending heavily on the house rules asks the question, "is Monopoly still playable for people who can only or choose to play by the base rules?" The people who talk most about how awesome the game is usually only play by the house rules. If anyone complains about the house rules, the response is "maybe Monopoly isn't a game for you." Is it good for the game if some of the base chance pile are moved into the pay only pile?
Again, my point is not to make anyone a villain or victim. I just want to make sure we're seeing the question in context. As well as the perspective the question about PoGo is being asked from. The people controlling the conversation are generally people more interested in defending a two tier way of playing. I don't think most f2p players care as much about the two tier system. What they resent is being dumped on when the low tier is ignored or squeezed to force them into the upper one.
not that i refuse to pay for items. i just simply don’t have money. so, free-to-play is not a choice for me, it's actually by destiny. lol
I personally still enjoy raids quite a bit as a mostly free to play player. I am busy and work full time and am doing full time classes, so doing 1 or sometimes 2 raids a day with my wife is about all I have time for, and it's a fun break from being busy and good reason to get out. And if there is an event where there is someone I will care a lot about, then perhaps I will spend. Like Black and White Kyurem came around my birthday, so I spent like $20 on premium passes so I could do a bunch of raids and now I have a level 50 after walking it another 770KM and giving it whatever rare XLs that I got.
I definitely agree though, getting XL candies is insanely difficult. It's ok for raids to only have guys level 43/44/45. But for ML, it's better to have them more leveled which makes it much more difficult to have anyone to pick from. My Kyurem is my only level 40 legendary, the next closest are maybe 45/46.
I havent been buying much for the last year or so, i definitely feel like im missing out on alot of these seasonal events passes and things of that nature. I hope some change will come soon with Scopley buying the game but ultimatly, im still having fun just hacent been participating as much as i am able to currently or wish i could play more
Bros adhd was on full display here lol
there is no F2P…if u spent time in game…ur spending money…. what extent is F2P?
Storage has to be the most annoying thing, Ive been playing for years and put in a fair bit of money just for storage, yes you can earn coins but often doesn't feel enough, the need to remote raid if you live in a small area, in 2025 i don't think playing for free is fun anymore.
I don’t pay for tickets maybe remote raids and storage and clothes sometimes, I mostly just want to fill my Pokédex
Raids should be completely free unless it’s a remote raid, like in already walking there and I can’t even do the raid?
I'm a free player lvl 48.
I play since 2016, with break. I'm a full player since 2018-2019.
I never (with one exeption for GoFest Paris, I can’t miss that event for the first time in France) buy anything with real money in game.
Today I have 854 different pokemon.
I have chance to be in big city or close to one, so during event with raid I move to.
I collect my 50 coin every, and buy promotion box.
I only use green pass during big event. It’s more important today to keep green pass with the "energy method" Niantic use to transform some pkmn, that force you to use at least 9~10 pass to obtain enof energy, like mega or heroes dog for example. Hide new and strong pkmn behind "buy pass if you want them, because they return maybe only in 5 or 10 years"
If you miss necrozma energy, when will you possibly to get energy for it ?
I understand some stuff are behind money, the game is free and they need money.
The problem is actually almost ( if it’s not all) event have free and money part.
Hide capsule behind money after teasing it, it’s so bad.
Also, some people can’t realize how much they spent in that game, one micro-transaction + 1 + 1…
At the end, it’s a lot of money.
Conclusion : it’s ok some part are behind money, what’s not it’s almost every good part are
P.S : It’s just a game, best part is having fun
I only drop money on gofeast and regional tours I like the Bottle caps cause I can enjoy getting a rural area player cause other players dont want to raid like I do.
As a free to play, i rlly only play pkm go casually, i go for 2hrs walks sometimes playing go kinda in the backround. Its kinda rough not to be able to play a lot of raids and storage for items and pkm is a huge problem. Every 4 days i can get 25Items and 25pkm to safe and not get any passes. Sometimes i still buy triple raid pass packets but its so expensive, it takes days. Events are a lot harder to grind out, you can barly get any shundos or even hundos. I´ve played for what feels like forever and still only have 4. I have like 53shinys, and id say shinys arent a lot harder to get. Hundos trough raids ect. Are a lot harder though. (Just a bit of my oppinion)
I love dynamax, but theres still a problem, its rlly hard to find ppl that do dyna raids. PTW Players can just remote but as a f2p player its hard as shi to get into a decent lobby. My highest raid was 3star i once even went to a meetup and we still werent enough for rilaboom. So i have tons of decent dyna monst but not a single gigamax.
I am 13 years old and free to play.I am level 38 and I play since 2022.
I work so I can spend money on things I enjoy. I enjoy Pokemon Go, and spending money makes the experience much better- I will buy coins etc but I probably spend less than 1$ per hour played, which to me is worth it. Not spending doesn’t make someone morally superior, it just means they have a different value system, which is completely valid. I’d just rather not add another few hours a day because I need grind harder to enjoy the game less.
Im F2P and one change would be "beaing able to save unlimited daylly ridpasses".
I live the game and i use my coins very conservative. I got 10 elite tm and 5 fast i have 2 masterballs and i have sevral hundos (more then i can count) i have all the meta pokemon and i lile the game
I used to be completely f2p since 2021 until shiny meloetta came out. Bought the ticket and I'm still stuck at the field task for the idol medal, because most of my friends don't really open/send me gifts and I have only 4 best friends xdd Now at the go fest I got a ticket to hunt shiny Flabébés and honestly really enjoyed the bonuses and now I want to buy the shiny Jirachi ticket. In the sense of materials and coins I still haven't spend and it is annoying and hard to gather coins in my area. People either kick out my pokemons after 1 hour or leave them marinate for weeks. I guess the one thing that REALLY bugs me is when new pokemons release locked in eggs. Hatching eggs is super annoying, because I mostly have 10km eggs and only 1 incubator. When I finally hatch the egg and try to get the new egg with the new pokemon I get another egg 😭😭 And when I finally get the egg that I need I hatch the most basic pokemon of all. I guess the lack of storage and slow progress kinda bug me sometimes too, but I can't do much. I have to decide to either spend my coins on a raid/hatch box or more pokemon/item storage. For this pokemon fest I saved so many coins as hard as it was and I finally could experience hatching 3+ eggs at once and got 4 pokemons that came out recently from the eggs to my dex and I can imagine how much easier it is for people who buy coins.
I would call myself an occasional spender for sure. The biggest thing I spend money on is raids and the main reason for that is something that wasn't entirely touched on in this video; upgrading item and pokemon storage. I cant get out there and gym every day, so when GoFest came along, I was faced with the choice between upgrading item bag/pokemon storage, which is already a super slow and incredibly expensive grind, or have the instant gratification of buying raid passes. I feel like its insanely difficult for f2p players to be able to grind up their item/pokemon storage, and also be able to spend pokecoins on raid passes, incubators, or even other parts of the game like maybe buying poffins to make their favorite mon into a best buddy.
Another point, is with raiding/raid days. I think scopely could do a lot better with free raid passes and i think its crappy that they can exclude f2p players so easily with only having one free raid pass a day. 2 things that piss me off especially are days where multiple bosses are in raids in 1 week, for example, regi week. If you do a regi raid and dont get a shiny, or dont like the IVs, or simply may have not even had time to do a raid, thats it. Done. You have 1 chance to redeem it on friday, but even then you only get 1 pass for free. I never buy remote passes and it almost makes me not want to go out of my house and drive 15 min to a park if im just going to do 1 raid. Id spend more time driving than I would raiding, and Im not even that rural of a player, I live in the suburbs.
Point #2, days like Zacian and Zamazenta where you STILL only get 1 raid pass for free makes it ni-impossible to be f2p and also have the time and pokecoins to do stuff like upgrading your bag and storage. It took me probably about 11 raids per day to get the 1000 fusion energy to get the shield and sword versions. A free to play player would have 2000 pokecoins to buy that many raid passes, which, by the way is 40 full days of gyming, just to fuse ONE of each. I wish every large raid weekend like zacian and zamazenta would have at least 6 free passes like a normal raid day. Like why do we get 6 raid passes for Audino but not the literal face of Sword and Shield.
I also do think its scummy they made it so if you pay you get increased shiny odds. Thats like saying hey heres this community day but you have to pay $15 to get the 1/20 shiny odds. Stupid.
One honorable mention that I do think they are good at is providing free access to premium items such as incubators, lucky eggs, and star pieces, at least enough for a casual player. Im relatively stingy with those and almost never use them outside of days that those rates are already boosted, or if i am about to make best with multiple friends at a time, but I rarely find myself needing to buy lucky eggs etc. which is nice.
Anyway that's my little mini rant. Maybe they could make pokecoins easier to get without having to pay? Maybe they could make every large raid day have 6-7 free raid passes and give us a permanent 2 per day? Are they ever going to do any of those things? Probably not, but hey it is like you said, f2p players generally either fall off the game out of boredom within a few months, or cave and drop money on the game, but I don't think it has to be that way.
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Does buying in-game stuff with Play points count as being P2W? I mean I didn't spend any money.
I guess I'd be classified as occasional spender. I store up in-game currency & wait for one of the decent box deals. I don't raid very often anymore, although I do try to keep a stockpile ot at least 10 passes when I can in case there is a legendary Im going to chase more than the others. The only times I've spent money directly in the game since I can remember, have been on Go Fests & I haven't even been paying for those more recently.
I'll aim to continue to be free to play, barring the occasional in-person or otherwise big event.
I walk a lot.
Building the strongest pokemon in game as a free to play player takes serious time. If its a raid boss and you maximise the opportunities when it comes to raids, it can take, it feels like, forever to raid enough to get candies to max, if ever. I have legendaries from years ago who still aren't maxed and these are some of my favourite mons.
Yes you can walk for candies too and this is why I have a lvl50 Volcarona (with 2 charged moves!!) but that took 14 months! (yes I know that was originally a hatch, but demonstrates how long that process can take!)
This ultimately means that other parts of the game are affected. Raiding with less then ideal mons, takes longer, meaning less rewards on completion and less ability to grind on, say, a raid hour. It means that, in GBL, Master league is literally out of your league!
The knock on effects reach all areas of the game, reducing the experience, just a little bit, everywhere.
Will I change? Well last year, I bought the GO Fest ticket with Goole Rewards money from completing surveys (so kinda free) but this year I didn't. This year was simply the worst GO Fest for free to play players with, basic spawns, and no ability to raid sufficiently to get anywhere enough energy to form change Zamazenta and Zacain. This was obvious after last year where I couldn't change Necrozma either, so I didn't even try.
I raided each once (to try get a shiny) and spent less than an hour each day catching spawns. Then Go fest, the peak event of the year, was over for me.
Being free to play is definitely harder than ever and more restrictive than ever and affecting my enjoyment of the game. I'm level 49.5 and when I hit 50, I honestly don't know how much I will continue to play…….
I'm a free-to-play, don't spend money on the game. When I first started back in 2016, there was barely anything in my area. But now, in 2025, it's much better. I can reach both a PokéStop and a Gym from my house.
Interestingly, in certain spots where I leave my phone, the GPS gets a bit wonky. My character ends up wandering in circles on the screen, effectively "walking" without me actually moving. One time, it even walked two blocks while my phone stayed in the same place!
F2P is constant struggle with getting enough coins to buy storage. IF you manage to save extra coins, they go to raid passes, so you can try to raid enough during events to get energy for the form changes. I managed to just barely get Zamazenta's shield form, and Kyurem's black form. Sword and white forms need to wait for the future events. I do not mind it being little harder than with the paying players, but if the game becomes too much "pay to win", I will not pay, I will quit. Everything should be available for the free players too, or the game becomes "pay to win", and that will be the end of it.
As a FTP player I did almost 70 raids at GO Fest and 19 Gigantamax Machamp when they were around.
I do not raid things that aren't super meta with green or remote raid passes. Raiding can be done and can be enjoyed, but you'll have to work for the gym coins. I maxed out a 4* Zacian, so I had enough XL candy for it (did have a lvl 3 mega on for the entire event)
I can't participate in the raid hour every Wednesday in my local community other than the three mentioned, which I rarely do.
For other FTP players, I'll say this, try not to buy any green pass that costs more than 65 coins each. They are often on sale in bundles that makes them way cheaper
The problem of Palkia candies is very easily solved if you raid dynamax often and the occasional raids that you'll do. You can do them quite a bit now and even stack up a lot on days that you don't do them with the change of 1000 -> 1500 max particles. I only use Palkias ability when there is a stardust event like Morelull Spotlight hour
To be honest I don't really mind to be free to play but there are some stuff that is harder for us like the safari balls
I am a new player , joined April 2025. Nearly free to play, but I bought Pokémon and Bag storage. I really want for incubators, and I was dying to buy a gold bottle cap last week. Not sure how long I’ll last. It is addictive though.
I played Pokémon as a motivation to walk more… didn’t spend anything
I'm in the first and later second group of F2P players since 2016 and I still don't plan on spending actual money on the in-game shop. I have a Pokemon Go Plus+ and before that, the Pokeball Plus when I got Let's Go Eevee in 2018. Currently at level 48 with more than enough XP to be at level 50, just blocked by the trading and lucky trading tasks. I just try not to let FOMO get to me, I never cared about completing a Pokedex, and there are days I either don't feel like playing, or days where I don't have time to play. But soloing every soloable raid and being able to hit Legend rank in PVP are the general attainable goals. Unless there's a far superior location based game, I'll still play Pokemon Go since walking outside was always my favorite exercise. I got introduced to hiking in 2016 and started rucking 30 lbs last month feeling stronger than I have before. I played the hell out of the Pokewalker since it came out with HeartGold and SoulSilver in 2010, grinding for Heart Scales since those were so rare in Gen 4 and before, as well as getting extra Spiritombs. I even played Pokemon Go while replaying the Pokewalker when I got a copy of SoulSilver later (bought HeartGold new in 2010, SoulSilver used in 2016).
The hardest part about being a free to play player is you have very low storage so you can only catch and keep 300 Pokémon at a given time unless you manage to save the gold coins and upgrade it.
Hopefully I was the person you were referencing when you talked about the person who always mentions the 2x evolution spotlight hour.
Regardless, I consider myself FTP, but I do buy GoFest tickets. But just the event ticket, not any of the add on tickets. I have never bought a pokecoin. Oh, i do have an autocatcher, spare batteries, burned out phones, etc.
But i do consider myself FTP*, because my base mode is FTP, and even during GoFest, when people were talking about the golden bottlecap, I had nothing to contribute.
RAIDING – Remote raids are moot to me. I only get the pass when it drops for free on my weekly streak, or as part of a box.
I still enjoy raiding, but wish more 3* were out. Often, my daily isnt used because everything is 5*. I wouldnt have the time in my life to do more than that anyway.
XP – 500M
CATCHES – 700,000
BATTLE GIRL – 121,000
I have been F2P since the game's beginning, Summer 2016. Before I continue, I will admit that I have purchased remote raid passes for $4.99 USD a total of twice in this almost decade-long time frame. This no longer qualifies me as a "pure" F2P but I am far less than the occasional spender you referenced in this video.
First of all, I prioritize the PokéDex more than anything. I am more interested in hunting down an unregistered wild Pokémon than I am entering a sixth Kyurem raid to max out legendaries etc. Therefore, although my account is among the oldest out there, it is visually quite unimpressive. You won't find 4000+ CP or "Shundo" Pokémon in my collection. My highest CP Pokémon is Melmetal at around 3700 CP because it was easy to max out. Another thing you won't find – duplicates. You showcased about 9-10 different Drilbur/Excadrill. Storage is such a premium as a F2P player – the only way to upgrade is by earning coins from raids and using them in the store, but that too, it always hurts to use those hard-earned coins on storage instead of Remote Raid Passes. In fact, you won't find any non-legendary in my collection. The only Pokémon I keep are legendary/mythical and anything I am currently still evolving for dex entries. Once that dex entry is complete, I "transfer" or release that Pokémon. Recently I have kept around 8-10 strong 3-stars as a "Raid Team" to help me out with those legendary raids. Speaking of remote raids, those passes in the store are essential for F2P. I need to go on Reddit and mooch off of someone's raid to get legendary Pokémon. It's not inconvenient but this may not be for everybody.
I ENJOY RAIDING AS A F2P PLAYER – BUT I ONLY RAID ONCE PER POKÉMON THEN AM DONE WITH IT
The only minor frustration has been the inability to catch Pokémon due to being behind a paywall. Specific examples include Zarude and now Volcanion. Maybe I missed a global release but to my knowledge both were released one time and required a paid pass to initiate the encounter. However, I say this is only a minor frustration because in the past, Pokémon like these have been released to everyone for free, just at a later date. So I am optimistic that these, for now "pay-to-play," Pokémon will become available to all via Raid Battles. I would say a more frustrating element for some would be the PvP experience. For me, I do not value this as much as most… I truly am single-mindedly focused on PokéDex completion. But I cannot deny how impossible it is to create teams that are in a constantly shifting meta-game. The resources needed to make just one Great League contender are costly for F2P players and that too, when you finally build it up, the meta-game could be entirely different or change just a few short weeks later. The Ultra League is even more challenging and the Master League to me is just simply not a viable option. I have a trio of 3-star Eeveelutions (Espeon, Umbreon, Sylveon) that I use for the Ultra League that are just under 2500 CP. It works well enough for me to get by whenever I want to grind for resources. There is rarely a need for me to grind the GBL for Elite TMs, I usually just go after the Rare Candy rewards whenever possible. For me this is not much of a frustration due to not caring too much about PvP while also having a team to get by. But I can completely understand why this would irritate more people in ways I have not been irritated.
As far as results, I feel I have done well. I have 857 species registered with another 20 or so needing evolutions that are easy to obtain. The area I live in is not abundant with PokéStops – I live in a neighborhood that has a private elementary school & two tennis courts lumped up together in one condensed area. Each of these landmarks is a PokéStop and these are pretty much the only three I am using aside from an occasional trip to a nearby town, city, etc. I try to play as often as I can, I use Reddit to get into raids for unregistered legendaries, and I have also used other websites to add friends to help me replenish resources when needed in addition to XP grinding (I am Level 41 at the time of writing this). And with these resources, I would say my F2P experience in Pokémon GO has been great. Think of it this way, at the very minimum, the experience has been good enough to keep up with it for nearly a decade now with only brief break periods from the game whenever life outside my mobile device gets a bit busier. Hope this message finds you well… Good luck on your GO endeavors, Trainer!