SwSh Pokemon Home

[multiingbe]

bumping for tomorrow's possible reveal!!

 

[multiingbe]

bumping for tomorrow's possible reveal!! there is a thread i found in the general video games discussion, but, this one was also so active it would make sense to continue it as well!

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I think the chance of Pokemon Home being showed off is pretty high.

 

[Phosphene]

Wasn't there a Pokémon Home thread already? I think I remember posting there.

Yes, however, it is in the Sword and Shield section. @colours should there be a merge?

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

Yes, however, it is in the Sword and Shield section. @colours should there be a merge?

best it should

 

[multiingbe]

Theoretically this has been in development for quite a while. To some extent it is a new branch of the series! Hopefully some good aspects of it will surprise everyone.

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

Yeah the Direct is most likely going to be about Pokemon Home, along with Sleep and maybe something mobile related.

 

[AngryBinacle]

We're definitely getting Home information today.

Let's hope you can easily interact with your Pokémon. I miss some of them in Sw/Sh.

 

[Esserise]

Official Home site

It can be used on both the Nintendo Switch and compatible mobile devices. By linking your Nintendo Account, you can access the same Home profile from multiple devices.

As usual, you can move Pokémon in and out of Sword or Shield as you please. Pokémon can be brought in from Let's Go, Pikachu! or Let's Go, Eevee! as well, but if you move them into Sword or Shield, then they cannot go back into the Let's Go games (you can, however, freely move Pokémon from Let's Go, Pikachu! over to Let's Go, Eevee! and vice-versa via Home). It is much the same for Pokémon brought in from Pokémon Bank (which, along with Poké Transporter, will be made free for a one-month period after Home is released) - they can go from Bank into Home and then into Sword or Shield, but once they're in Home, there's no going back to Bank. As for Pokémon GO, compatibility will come sometime in the future. At launch, Home will only be compatible with Sword, Shield, Let's Go, Pikachu!, Let's Go, Eevee!, and Bank.

Home is also the new hub for trading features. First is the new Wonder Box. Pokémon that you put into the Wonder Box will be traded even when you're not actively using the Home app.

There is also (as expected) the GTS. Works as it always has with the ability to make requests and set criteria for specific trades, and you can request Pokémon even if you haven't registered that species in Home's National Pokédex.

Next is Room Trades. A room can hold up to 20 people, but you won't know what Pokémon you're receiving until after the trades have been completed. These rooms can only be created and hosted by premium subscribers, although anyone can join in on Room Trades.

Lastly you have Friend Trades, which allows you to trade directly with people you've added to your Friend List (though this feature is not available to users under the age of 16).

Much like Bank, Home hosts a National Pokédex in which you can view Pokémon's Pokédex entries from various games. In the mobile version of the app, you can also view their abilities and can check what moves they are able to learn. Premium subscribers will also have access to an IV judge feature.

Home has its own Mystery Gift feature, which can receive gifts for Home as well as for Sword and Shield (which will be placed directly in a Home box).

You will have your own "room," which can be customized with various stickers you obtain for completing certain "challenges." And, similar to Pokémon Bank, there is a currency that you can accumulate known as "Home points," which can be redeemed for Battle Points in Sword and Shield.

In the mobile version, you can also receive news about event distributions going on for Sword and Shield, and, sometime after launch, will also be able to view battle records and information about Sword and Shield Ranked Battles and Online Competitions.

Some of the above features can only be accessed on certain devices. Here's the breakdown:

Move Pokémon with Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!	Switch: Yes	Mobile: No
Move Pokémon with Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield	Switch: Yes	Mobile: No
Move Pokémon with Pokémon Bank	Switch: Yes	Mobile: Yes
Judge Pokémon	Switch: Yes	Mobile: Yes
Trade Pokémon	Switch: No	Mobile: Yes
Receive Mystery Gifts	Switch: No	Mobile: Yes
Check Battle Data	Switch: No	Mobile: Yes
Check News	Switch: No	Mobile: Yes
Exchange Pokémon HOME Points for BP (Battle Points)	Switch: Yes	Mobile: No

Furthermore, your storage capacity and access to certain features increases significantly if you subscribe to the premium plan instead of just using the app for free. Here's the breakdown for that:

Moving Pokémon from Pokémon Bank	Basic: Unavailable	Premium: Available
Number of Pokémon that can be deposited	Basic: 30 Pokémon	Premium: 6000 Pokémon
Number of Pokémon that can be placed in the Wonder Box at once	Basic: 3 Pokémon	Premium: 10 Pokémon
Number of Pokémon that can be placed in the GTS at once	Basic: 1 Pokémon	Premium: 3 Pokémon
Room Trade	Basic: Participation	Premium: Participation and Hosting
Judge function	Basic: Unavailable	Premium: Available

Aaaand the (USD) price points for the premium plan via the Nintendo eShop, excluding tax:

1 month (30 days): $2.99
3 months (90 days): $4.99
12 months (365 days): $15.99

Euro conversion courtesy of @Dieter:

1 month (30 days): €2.99
3 months (90 days): €4.99
12 months (365 days): €15.99

 

[Kallyle]

Having a room for yourself to decorate sounds like a fun idea, and a lot of what this entails sounds like a logical evolution of the Pokémon Bank service. However, what about the part where Masuda said our Pokémon will be "very active" in Home? I want to say that those challenges you get stickers for will allow them to participate in some mini-games, but nothing's guaranteed. Maybe they're planning an Amie feature but didn't announce it due to that part not being finished yet.

At least we're actually paying for more than just storage and basic trading, so I'll give Game Freak and TPCi credit where credit is due. I just hope there's more to be revealed about the service somewhere down the line so less consumers think that Pokémon Home is keeping their Pokémon hostage due to Dexit.

 

[Dieter]

My like is for the effort you went through to collect and post this info, not HOME itself. Additionally, here are the prices in euros:

1 month (30 days): €2.99
3 months (90 days): €4.99
12 months (365 days): €15.99

My expectations were low, and I'm still disappointed tbh. Not surprised though. And I'll admit I'm kinda pleased I was right about no payment being necessary to download and use it. The Switch features are fine, and what it doesn't have can all be found in SwSh anyway, so no complaints there. And it kinda seems like they really want to promote the mobile app... I wonder kind of data you have to share to use it...

Additionally, the fact the most worthwhile feature for most players is locked behind premium plain sucks. I'm talking about the ability to transfer 'mons from Bank to HOME, which was what most veteran players were probably looking forward to most. Get one free month of Bank after HOME's release doesn't really make it better (do people who are already paying for Bank just get a free month tacked on? That would be nice...).

I had to laugh a little at the nickname Pokemon PRISON, but it wasn't that far off. We're still gonna be missing some 200+ 'mons after the entire Expansion Package has been released and we _still_ don't know how long it might take for those to return, so while the DLC made things slightly better, you might still end up with some 'mons stuck in HOME for years. And if that's more than 30 and you don't wanna subscribe again, I guess you're out of luck.

I don't see the above scenario happening that quickly to people who played previous generations, but even so...

From the current info it's not entirely clear, but I think you could potentially trade 'mons via the mobile app without having to pay anything, allowing you to circumvent NSO? This would mean you neither have to pay for NSO or premium to still get access to the 200+ new 'mons, even if it's in a bit of a roundabout way.

Lastly, I've seen people hoping for all kinds of additional features, but the lack of those doesn't come as a surprise to me.

 

[Titania]

My only complaint for the "lite" version is that it can only hold 30 Pokemon. That is way to small. I was hoping for 100-150 or ideally half of the amount of Sw/Sh storage.

 

[Dieter]

Having a room for yourself to decorate sounds like a fun idea, and a lot of what this entails sounds like a logical evolution of the Pokémon Bank service. However, what about the part where Masuda said our Pokémon will be "very active" in Home? I want to say that those challenges you get stickers for will allow them to participate in some mini-games, but nothing's guaranteed. Maybe they're planning an Amie feature but didn't announce it due to that part not being finished yet.

Eh, the 'Challenges' seen in the screenshots are things like 'bring over the Sinnoh starters', or 'Register one of Alcremie's forms', under the 'Pokemon' header. I also spot 'Trade' and 'Other'. My guess that the challenges for 'Trade' will probably be along the lines of 'Trade 3 Grass types' and 'Trade a Pokemon through the Wonder Box'. As for the 'Other' header, I'm kinda expecting it to host challenges like 'View an entry in the National Dex' or 'Receive a Mystery Gift'. I could be pleasantly surprised by some type of mini-games, but I honestly don't see it happening, judging by the (admittedly limited) info we have available.

 

[Blast]

Paying triple the fee of Pokémon Bank for double the box space, the future Pokémon Go connectivity, a few extra features and the convinience of trading on the go without having to do anything is a little steep, but not at all unreasonable in my opinion. I don't really have the choice to not get premium since all my Bank box are filled and I would love to transfer some of them so I'll be buying in regardless. Still, the monthly fee of about one Mars bar with the yearly subscription should hopefully keep it accessible to most other people as well.

 

[Esserise]

My like is for the effort you went through to collect and post this info, not HOME itself. Additionally, here are the prices in euros:

1 month (30 days): €2.99
3 months (90 days): €4.99
12 months (365 days): €15.99

Appreciated, thanks.

My expectations were low, and I'm still disappointed tbh. Not surprised though. And I'll admit I'm kinda pleased I was right about no payment being necessary to download and use it. The Switch features are fine, and what it doesn't have can all be found in SwSh anyway, so no complaints there. And it kinda seems like they really want to promote the mobile app... I wonder kind of data you have to share to use it...

I'm really not sure what to make of it. Looking at just the free plan, at least you're not charged to move Pokémon around from the Switch games themselves, and you have access to all the trade features. (But only on the mobile version? That part feels really weird.) But locking Bank access to the premium version feels like a hard blow when the free plan's storage capacity is already so small, and when SwoShi can't even receive every Pokémon (yet(?)). Veteran players who want to store their whole Living Dex in their until games come out that can support those Pokémon might make use of the 6000-slot capacity, but someone who maybe just has a handful of special, meaningful Pokémon that they want to bring along? Why should they have to pay to even get those Pokémon in the door?

From the current info it's not entirely clear, but I think you could potentially trade 'mons via the mobile app without having to pay anything, allowing you to circumvent NSO?

As far as I can tell, that is indeed the case, at least for Pokémon in LGPE and SwoShi. You don't need to pay in order to conduct trades or to move Pokémon around in those games - you'd just need a phone and an Internet connection.

 

[Daren]

No GTS on the Switch? Very weird and I wonder why.

 

[Nero the Giant Whiscash]

Paying triple the fee of Pokémon Bank for double the box space, the future Pokémon Go connectivity, a few extra features and the convinience of trading on the go without having to do anything is a little steep, but not at all unreasonable in my opinion. I don't really have the choice to not get premium since all my Bank box are filled and I would love to transfer some of them so I'll be buying in regardless. Still, the monthly fee of about one Mars bar with the yearly subscription should hopefully keep it accessible to most other people as well.

After that free month you'll still have to pay the 5 bucks a year for bank on top of the 16 in the USA for Home
Its around 21 bucks per year if your in the USA if you wanna bring pokemon over


I feel slightly vindicated as told people while its cheaper than what i though for the most part (i thought it was going to to be 30 easily for the most part ) it still cost 21 USD a year just for home and bank together and not NSO

as when you calculate everything together its going to put the average gamer 131 USD in the whole just to get a complete experience with these games
60 base game
30 DLC
20 switch online
16 for home
5 Bank



It's undeniably shady (borderline EA and Activision) that, with what will likely be the new trend in Pokémon games going forward, certain Pokémon will be locked in Home once transferred.

Though it is possible to avoid the problem entirely by simply being aware of what Pokémon are in the destination game's Dex...not everyone will be. Game Freak/Nintendo/Creatures is undoubtedly counting on the ignorance of players, many on the younger side, to put excluded Pokémon in Home. I mean, that's obvious, right? It's completely clear that this is going to happen, and they can can only profit from it.

Again, you can protect yourself from being 100% exploited by paying for a Premium subscription and/or bank when, and ONLY when you want to transfer something - which should be the major focus of Home, anyway. And only transfer things that can move out of Home immediately. Everything else stays in whatever game they originated in until they can be brought forward into a newer installment that features them.

It absolutely is not ideal, and people have every right to complain about blatantly being taken advantage of. But, hey...if you love Pokémon, and smart you'll only throw in a few bucks once or twice every couple of years to move your allowed pocket monsters forward.


In my opinion you would think that with all these services like Pokémon bank, Home and Switch Online? Couldn't they have combined at least 2 or all 3 of these services?

 

[Esserise]

as when you calculate everything together its going to put the average gamer 131 USD in the whole just to get a complete experience with these games
60 base game
30 DLC
20 switch online
16 for home
5 Bank

Surely the "average gamer" would be more likely to just use the free plan or pay for a month/3 months when possible?

Besides that, I think considering Bank to be part of the "complete experience" of SwoShi is deeply dubious, since it's not relevant to anyone who doesn't have things from older games that they want to transfer.

Frankly I'm not even sure I'd say that Home contributes much to the "experience" - the only things it really contributes that are actually missing from the base games in comparison to older entries are the National Dex (which was already displaced last gen, and all it gives you are old entries that you could easily look up on Bulbapedia with the Internet connection that's required anyway) and the GTS (which is just a more specific version of trading).

Anyway, you still couldn't fully enjoy the games if you didn't also have a Switch, Internet, and electricity, so you should add those to your tally there too, no?

 

[wanderist]

I'm going to wait to see if any other new features are announced before I decide if I'll really be using it or not. The features look cool and all, but I doubt I'll be using most of them. I was hoping for more along the lines of actually being able to interact with the Pokemon, like Amie or mini-games with them. I thought about transferring my main team onto it if I could play with them and whatnot, but if not I guess they'll be staying where they are.

The price is definitely a big increase from what I expected, but I guess it's all the new features. I was really happy about the free version until I saw that you couldn't even transfer from Bank with it and only had 30 slots. 30 slots compared to Premium's 6,000 is a bit sad. Not to mention after the month of free Bank they're giving you're still going to have to pay for Bank on top of that. I dunno, I just feel they could have given the free version just a little more.

 

[BlueWaves]

Too bad Home does not have a battle simulator. It would be a great way to compromise for Dexit.

That being said, all this monetization between Dexit, DLC, and now Home makes me wonder if TPC new method is to make money off every Pokémon having a cult following.

Regardless, it’s still surprising that GTS only exists on mobile and not in game. Any ideas why?