I wondered the exact same thing
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I am sure that retention/engagement is one of the parameters that Niantic team is watching closely. Still, at least according to AppAnnie this downward trend hasn’t had much impact to their revenue. They still dominate the top grossing charts.
It’s anyone’s guess for how long though.
So, that update was just around the corner from when we discussed it, and now it’s here. You do indeed get the ability to have your Team Leader tell you a bit about a pokemon, but in very general terms. My star Vaporeon gets: “overall very strong, HP is its strongest feature, I’m blown away by its stats. WOW!. Your Vaporeon is to tiny, I almost didn’t notice it! Hope I was able to help, take care”. So, I guess now we wait for Sylph Road to decipher how much info those comments are really giving us.
Actually, having now had a look a the appraisel of my weakest pokemon, a 10CP Magikarp called “Valor Rules!” (guess what it gets used for… 
), I get: “It’s a decent pokemon, defense is strongest feature, stats indicate in battle it’ll get the job done, aww what a small Valor Rules!! It’s rather cute”. So basically useless info since that 10CP 'karp ain’t doing nuffin.
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The one good thing i can say about the appraisal is that i can quickly determine is a pokemon is crap. If the pokemon gets a good comment i hold onto it so i can check the IV later on when i have time… would be nice to get that info from within the game but whatever. I can make due with how it is atm.
Once you get past “I’m catching pokemon is sort-of-real life!”, it’s just an eternal grind. None of the changes they’ve made have either reduced the grind or added anything new. There’s so few points in the game where the player is actually making a difference between their own success or failure, it’s not funny.
Pokemon capturing is 1% ball throwing and 99% RNG, and gym combat has less actual skill involved than ball throwing does. In the real games, there’s a variety of moves, status effects, swapping pokemon out, etc - actual decision making.
About the only significant decision in PG is knowing which to toss into the meat grinder, and which to keep.
The equivalent to pokemon in skyrim isn’t the NPCs, it’s your own gear. You collect it, trade it, build it up, and use it to win fights… and all of the stats are there for you to see.
I’d be curious to know what, if anything, Niantic plans on doing about the stark reality that Winter Is Coming.
At least here in the NE US, the best outdoor-gaming weather is still to come, autumn is glorious compared to summer; but once that ends, winter starts to offer some pretty compelling reasons to not wander around outside, especially if you need to be able to interact with a smartphone while doing so(gloves with capacitive screen compatible conductive inlays are markedly more common than they were; but you still typically need to sacrifice the best thermal protection(both the most serious gloves and the "keep hands in pockets’ strategy) in order to interact with a touchscreen; and ice, snow berms, and low temperature exposure don’t encourage long strolls just for the fun of it.
Unless they just plan to accept that ‘augmented reality is seasonal’(which would be an interesting approach; but not one that would go over well in the active-daily-users obsessed world of mobile gaming); they are going to need to come up with something that will allow people to keep playing without a heroic dedication to freezing their asses off; ideally by means that also allow them to offer more interesting options to people out in the sticks.
They can sell official Pokemon Go winter gloves with conductive material on the finger tips! Then during the summer next year they can sell official Pokemon Go cooling towels! Think of all the marketing potential! [/sarcasm]
Might have peaked but it’s far from dead.
Imma sic a jackalope on you
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