Low level Pokemon @ level 21

[TearNShareTV]

Hey just wanted to see if anybody knew why I was getting such low level Pokemon in pokemon Go at level 21 vs my buddy who gets much higher CPS of the same Pokemon at level 22. We play at the same time so we find the same Pokemon. Was just wondering if anybody had any idea as to why? Any help is appreciated thanks!

Example: Caught at the same time (My) Oddish: cp 326, Vaporeon: cp 36 lol yes you read that right
(His) Oddish: cp 707, Vaporeon: cp 1485

 

[Neltharion83]

It is a bit random and can also go the other way, but with a higher trainer level you have a higher potential to catch better pokemon.

Players with the same level actually get the same CP if they both catch the same pokemon.

Just a few hours ago i had an extreme example. I was playing at a spot with maybe 60 other players, then a snorlax spawned nearby and someone got its location, so around 40 people went there.

At level 25, i got a CP 43 Snorlax. Two other players who were also lvl 25 also got a CP 43 snorlax, i heared others also mention that tiny CP 43 snorlax. Players at level 24 actually got a decent one with over 1200 CP, and some level 26+ players got some really big ones.

The game apparently generates random values for each pokemon spawn, for each trainer level. For higher player level, the range for that random value can be higher, but can also be lower.

To just add some values to my example from today, with the 40 people going for the snorlax:

lvl21 players got an 800 something snorlax (just as an example)
lvl22 players got an 1100 something snorlax (just as an example)
lvl23 players got an 600 something snorlax (just as an example)
lvl24 players got an 1200 something snorlax (FACT, lvl24 got a rather big one)
lvl25 players got screwed and got a 43 snorlax (FACT, all lvl25 players got that tiny one)
some lvl26 or higher players got really big ones.

So two things are true beyond doubt: Two players of exactly the same trainer level get exactly the same pokemon spawns with the same CP values, and with a higher trainer level you have a CHANCE to find higher CP pokemon, but that can go both ways.

We also know that this caps out at trainer level 30, above level 30 (max is 40) the pokemon you find in the wild will not get better.

Advanced question for the pros: When a level 30, a level 31, and a level 32 player play together, do they get the same CP for the pokemon that spawn for all 3 of them?

 

[VisualJae]

A wild Pokémon will have the same exact moveset and IV spread for everyone in the area that caught it.

The only variance is CP and it'll only match for players of equal level. It doesn't matter what your level is. Levels 1 through 40 will all receive different, completely random CP variants of the same Pokémon.

 

[Neltharion83]

A wild Pokémon will have the same exact moveset and IV spread for everyone in the area that caught it.

The only variance is CP and it'll only match for players of equal level. It doesn't matter what your level is. Levels 1 through 40 will all receive different, completely random CP variants of the same Pokémon.

No. It does matter what your level is. A lot. And it caps at 30.

 

[VisualJae]

No. It does matter what your level is. A lot. And it caps at 30.

Please read. I never said it doesn't cap. I said it doesn't matter what your level is because the Pokémon you obtain will have a random CP and those of equal level to you in the area will receive the same exact Pokémon.

Levels 30-40 have hard caps on wild encounters, but that doesn't mean just because the level 30 received a capped out Lapras means the level 35 will also receive the same Lapras.

Different levels. Different CP. That's all there is to it.

 

[Neltharion83]

Please read. I never said it doesn't cap. I said it doesn't matter what your level is because the Pokémon you obtain will have a random CP and those of equal level to you in the area will receive the same exact Pokémon.

Levels 30-40 have hard caps on wild encounters, but that doesn't mean just because the level 30 received a capped out Lapras means the level 35 will also receive the same Lapras.

Different levels. Different CP. That's all there is to it.

So you are saying a lvl1 player has the same chance to catch strong pokemon compared to a lvl30+ player?

That is obviously wrong, but you just repeated it.

Or did you want to say it does not matter above level 30? That is true. But what you actually just said is that it does not matter if you are level 1 or 10 or 25 or 30.

 

[VisualJae]

So you are saying a lvl1 player has the same chance to catch strong pokemon compared to a lvl30+ player?

That is obviously wrong, but you just repeated it.

Or did you want to say it does not matter above level 30? That is true. But what you actually just said is that it does not matter if you are level 1 or 10 or 25 or 30.

Well, considering you can't get a CP2000 Pokémon at level 1, wouldn't that answer your question?

I'm not sure how else to spell this out so I'm going to lay this out as explicitly as possible in a very realistic scenario.

A Lapras spawns in the middle of nowhere. There are 20 people in the area who engage the Pokémon. There are:

3x level 5 players
2x level 9 players
4x level 14 players
1x level 19 player
4x level 20 players
2x level 27 players
1x level 29 player
1x level 31 player
2x level 33 players

The level 5 players ALL encountered a CP492 Lapras.
The level 9 players ALL encountered a CP222 Lapras.
The level 14 players ALL encountered a CP937 Lapras.
The lone level 19 player encountered a CP1618 Lapras.
The level 20 players ALL encountered a CP1192 Lapras.
The level 27 players ALL encountered a CP581 Lapras.
The lone level 29 player encountered a CP2299 Lapras.
The lone level 31 player encountered a CP447 Lapras.
The level 33 players ALL encountered a CP1575 Lapras.

And ALL these Lapras that appeared for these players at this spot have the same moveset and IV spread. And ALL the CP values are random and within limits for these players.

I'm only using Lapras as an example because I've caught five of them from player levels 20-30, with their CP values ranging drastically from CP400 to CP2300+, plus having literally hundreds of other players in the vicinity when one spawns.

 

[pokemongomaster]

break his phone now you have the strongest ones problem solved

 

[CoalCraft]

There is a definite positive correlation between CP encountered and player level.

 

[Neltharion83]

Good to know that it continues to be random for lvl 30 and higher instead of giving any player lvl 30 or higher the same values :)

 

[VisualJae]

There is a definite positive correlation between CP encountered and player level.

I'm sure that'll explain how I caught a CP2300+ Lapras at level 29 and then proceeded to catch a CP1400 and CP1100 Lapras after level 30. And I still remember the first Lapras I caught was CP400 when I was around level 26. Meanwhile the level 21 guy next to me caught a CP1600 one.

CP2200+ and CP400 Snorlax both at level 29. CP1800 and CP1100 Snorlax at level 30.

CP84 Kangaskhan while I was in Australia while my dad caught a CP900 one at level 16. God knows how many CP10s I get (I love it, actually, free experience).

I've caught over 5,000 Pokémon to date. I don't notice any "positive" correlation between encountering higher CP Pokémon and being higher level. The RANGE of possibilities increases, obviously, but by no means are you granted a higher chance to obtain a higher level Pokémon just because you're higher leveled. It might only seem that way because more Pokémon will appear to be in your average range as your CP ceiling continues to increase per level.

 

[azurile13]

I'm sure that'll explain how I caught a CP2300+ Lapras at level 29 and then proceeded to catch a CP1400 and CP1100 Lapras after level 30. And I still remember the first Lapras I caught was CP400 when I was around level 26. Meanwhile the level 21 guy next to me caught a CP1600 one.

CP2200+ and CP400 Snorlax both at level 29. CP1800 and CP1100 Snorlax at level 30.

CP84 Kangaskhan while I was in Australia while my dad caught a CP900 one at level 16. God knows how many CP10s I get (I love it, actually, free experience).

I've caught over 5,000 Pokémon to date. I don't notice any "positive" correlation between encountering higher CP Pokémon and being higher level. The RANGE of possibilities increases, obviously, but by no means are you granted a higher chance to obtain a higher level Pokémon just because you're higher leveled. It might only seem that way because more Pokémon will appear to be in your average range as your CP ceiling continues to increase per level.

No one is saying that the CP of a Pokemon caught by a level 26 player will always be higher than the CP of the exact same spawn caught by a level 21 player. The point is that on average it will be higher. I haven't recorded the CP of every Pidgey I have encountered while playing Pokemon Go, but I'm pretty sure that if I averaged out the CP of every Pidgey at every level while playing, I'd be seeing a trend of the average CP increasing by the level. That's the correlation CoalCraft is referring to.

 

[CoalCraft]

No one is saying that the CP of a Pokemon caught by a level 26 player will always be higher than the CP of the exact same spawn caught by a level 21 player. The point is that on average it will be higher. I haven't recorded the CP of every Pidgey I have encountered while playing Pokemon Go, but I'm pretty sure that if I averaged out the CP of every Pidgey at every level while playing, I'd be seeing a trend of the average CP increasing by the level. That's the correlation CoalCraft is referring to.

Exactly, thank you :)

To VisualJae:

There is a correlation between height and age in children, but there are tall five year olds taller than short six year olds, it's just that the average 5yo is shorter than the average 6yo. In just the same way, a high CP pidgey caught at level 8 may have a higher CP than a low CP one caught at level 12, but the average CP of pidgeys caught at level 8 is lower than the average CP of pidgeys caught at level 12. Does that help?

I think we're basically saying the same thing but getting confused over semantics; I still catch CP10 pidgeys on rare occasion now at level 21, but I certainly didn't encounter CP300 ones at level 1! The average has increased, not the precise CP of individuals encountered ;)

 

[Shyrion]

Yep, in brief you'll get a pokemon with a random level (which kind of means CP number) based on (your trainer level + 1.5) AND some chance (what is called "IV", Individual Values).

If you're level 10 and your friend 2 he can find a pokemon level 3.5 by "chance" and you only level 1 (which will have of course less CP).

 

[miksy91]

A theory I have come up with and have also explained in a Facebook post (not in english though so I it's not worth linking that here) as well is that pokemon on server have a "state" which consist of data such as location, pokemon id (= which pokemon this is), timestamp (for knowing when to de-spawn), but also its IV values (if what VisualJae said here is true which seems to be the case), and some random number X.

When you encounter a pokemon, the server responds with this data entry or state stored for the pokemon. Before the battle starts, the game does the following calculation (or at least something similar to)

1 + (X % (2 * (TrainerLV + 0.5))) / 2

which gives a value that can be anything in set (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, ..., TrainerLV + 1.5). Here % is the modulo operator.

Now why this may work is because the result of X % (2 * (TrainerLV + 0.5)) varies a lot depending on what your TrainerLV is. For example if X is 1243 (which is a very small number - this is normally something way bigger if it's a randomly generated integer for instance), the above calculation (under code-tags) would give value 10.5 when TrainerLV is 25. This simply means you would encounter the pokemon at lv 10.5 if you were at level 25 yourself. On the other hand, for example trainer at level 19 would encounter the pokemon at level 18.0 whileas for trainer at level 32 would encounter the pokemon only at level 5.0.

This kind of equation gives equal probability for all levels between level 1 and your "TrainerLV + 1.5" for large, unknown value of X, and thus the equation fits well for the purpose Niantic was looking forward to. What happens next is that the game simply calculates the CP for the encountered pokemon based on its IV values (stored on server), and the level this equation gave. The equation used for this is found right here.