Niantic has finally spoken earlier today after prolonged silence, with an event focusing on catching as many pokémon as possible. The details can be found in the official website, but to sum it up trainers have been challenged to catch 3 billion pokémon in the next 7 days. Various rewards will be unlocked as trainers approach the 3 billion mark, such as double XP, double stardust, 6 hour lures, and the ability to catch the Asia regional pokémon, Farfetch’d, in Winnipeg for 48 hours.
Given the rising excitement, trainers will probably be obliged to catch as many pokémon and spin as many stops with their Go+ or Gotcha. However, trainers should be aware of the new soft ban cap rates that came in effect a few months ago.
The top Pokémon GO player in North America, kiengiv, previously analyzed the cap rate issue in the Pokémon GO level 40 Facebook group. To sum it all up:
- The weekly limit of pokémon catches and spins for any trainer is 3500 each. However, you are guaranteed both 500 catches and spins every day. For instance, if you approach day 6 at 3400 catches and spins, you can have 500 catches and spins (bringing the weekly number to 3900) before getting soft banned. You can divide the number of catches and spins any way you like during the week; say, 700 catches in day 1, 2, and 3 (totalling 2100), 400 catches in day 4 and 5 (totalling 800), 500 catches in day 6, and 100 catches in day 7.
- The weekly limit is a rolling limit, meaning the game will consistently track your catches and spins in the previous 7 days (168 hours), not a fixed day like Sunday. For instance, the game will track your catches and spins from 8:59pm November 19th to 8:59pm November 26th, not 12:00am November 19th to 8:59pm November 26th.
- If you go over your 500 daily catch/spin limit AND the 3500 weekly limit (hence being soft banned), all pokémon will flee from you and spinning stops will receive the “Try again later” message. However, you can still battle gyms.
- Soft ban lengths can vary depending on when and how fast you catch or spin. For instance, if you start playing at 7:00am and reach the catch and spin limit at 11:00pm, you would be unable to play until 7:00am the next day.
- Egg hatches do not count toward the limit, since they already account for your pokémon storage once you obtain the egg.
Hopefully this helps trainers in planning their week ahead in catching as many pokémon as possible to unlock rewards!