After the Latest Update, I've Nearly Stopped Playing 'Pokemon Go' Altogether

I admit I was already getting bored of Pokemon Go, considering I spent the first few weeks walking around for hours a day, caught over 2000 Pokemon and filled my Pokedex with over 100 different species. New York City, especially Manhattan, is packed with Poke Stops and gyms. So even if I'm still missing 40+ Pokemon from my Pokedex, there's no shortage of common Pokemon. I could probably catch Pidgeys and Rattatas all day long if I want. And that's more or less what I did for the first week or so, I caught every Pokemon that crossed my path, or at least tried to.

Sure, the game had problems from the very beginning. My very first disappointment came when I realized that choosing a Charmander as my starter didn't mean that, as in the Game Boy games, he would grow with me and I would eventually have a Charizard fighting by my side. Instead, I would need to catch lots more Charmanders if I wanted to ever evolve him. And even then, there isn't much to do with the Pokemon I catch. They mostly just fill my Pokedex and then sit in my bag doing nothing, while I try to catch more of them. You don't get to use them to weaken wild Pokemon you encounter or battle other players, or even non-player characters. The only use for the Pokemon right now are bland gym battles that serve almost no purpose.

The app has also always been a battery hog and it aggravates me to no end that eggs can't incubate while I walk unless I keep my iPhone's screen on and waste more battery. The tracking was never perfect, especially with all the lag and constant crashing. The server issues have since improved greatly and, even if they're not perfect, I appreciate all the fixes they made since that first week.

The game also seemed a lot fairer than I expected for free-to-play. Normally I wouldn't let myself get sucked into a game with micro-transactions for consumables. I know how they work, starting off enjoyable and getting more and more frustrating the longer you play, pushing you to spend some money on consumables to relieve some of the agony. As I've heard others put so well, the game becomes more about avoiding spending money than playing the game. Still, I like Pokemon and I already walk a lot, as walking and biking are my main modes of transportation. I already played games while walking, but none of them were meant to be played that way.