Local meta and context

So the last days I've had a reason to look closer at things like local meta and context.

Any location comes with its local meta game, and you have to adapt to it and, if at all possible, to influence it.

Gothenburg, where I play, promotes bulk. You can expect to see a lot of vaporeon, snorlax and blissey, and central gyms built around the shitty four are likely to burn down to the ground more or less immediately.

Observe that I define a built gym as 20K prestige or above.

The local meta has become coloured by decently large raid teams, and for that reason deterrent is important. This in turn results in central gyms below 30K becoming the target of just about anyone.


Stockholm, at the other hand, has a relatively low percentage of centrally built gyms. It would indicate a greater proportion of solo players. Looking at the contents of those gyms you'll find a lot more of the shitty four, which in turn lowers the deterrent factor.


As a player you act in a context. What works in one location might be next to useless in another. Your problem as a player is that your line-up is fixed.


This is another reason why I believe that maxing out your line-up is important. While the relative power of a level 39 pokemon might not be all that much higher than its level 30 counterpart, those 18 power-ups kick the CP.

For each and everyone of both the shitty four as well as vaporeon, blissey and snorlax, the expensive last four clicks are worth more than 80 CP. It makes a difference in where you're placed in a gym.

Especially for the three high-CP quality defenders, pushing them to the ceiling is important. It gives you the option to refuse to choose between high CP or high quality -- you can have both.

How? Because the lazy sods who drop dragonites left and right leave them at 3100 - 3300 CP, and their gyarados are even lower. Even a vaporeon who got your love should place decently in a gym in a Stockholm style meta.


Also, building your line-up the way I do allows you to drop 3500 dragonites into a gym containing crap. If you want to be present in a heap of dung, at least make certain you stand at the top.