"My Free To Play Experience and Commentary/tips"

#PokemonGO: I'm level 35 382,070/1,500,000 - Team Instinct - Illinois far west suburb of Chicago player. I play about an hour a day. Sometimes more and less. I have a full time job and a girlfriend. They're first priority, if I'm not work or with her, I'm playing GO. I knew when the game came out that my decisions were going to be based around the goals I set, so everything I do, I think long term. I've loved the game since it's come out. I'm only missing smoochum and the non regional exclusives.Goals I set since day one (In no particular order or preference) 1) Max Level - I have my sights on 40 2) Complete Pokedex 3) Earn All BadgesIt's important to set yourself goals if you're going to do it with no money spent on in game gold. Don't get me wrong, I love to support games, but I LOVE F2P Challenges. I've gottten about 10-20 people into the game that still play to date and I have encouraged them to purchase coins. So in my head, I've helped contribute to the support of the game by word of math. I know it's "creative math" but I'm fine with it. I did purchase the plus around level 31, for most that's not F2P, and I can agree. Strictly talking about in game coin purchases, I'm at 0.COINS/GYMSI did the following1st- I Saved up to 1250 gold to purchase 25 lucky eggs ( I still have 2 left from that batch.2nd- Purchased up to 650 bag space3rd- Purchased up to 450 bag space4th- Fill up the rest of the bag space5th- Fill up the rest of the pokemon space.I feel there's diminishing returns on bag space past 650 and 450 pokemon space.DO NOT Purchase Incbuators/Incense/Lore Modules until those goals are complete. It's best for the long term (Goals depending).Collect every 21 hours if possible (I set an alarm when it's time to collect)Collect on a minimum of 3.The first month was rough, I'd spend 1-4 hours battling gyms until I could collect on 7 or more. My surrounding area was approaching 5-10% other instinct players.Month two I finally found a sweet instinct spot, there's an area I found that has 14 instinct gyms because a couple of employees around that area are instinct, I'm still on those gyms today.Special Items1)Lucky eggs, mass evolve only. Unless if you can find a spot with a bunch of stops and non stop pokemon to catch. ONLY evolve a new pokemon under a lucky egg activation. I know it's a drop in the bucket, but I'm in this for the long haul. Every exp counts. Almost every poke I've evolved was under a lucky egg.2) The Lure modules earned. Help others by keeping hot spots lured up.3)Incense- Haven't found a great use, use them when you're walking and want extra catches.4) Incubators. USE your earned blue ones on 10KM preferable, then 5KM, never on 2km.Free incubator, use it on 2km, 5KM, and then 10km respectivelyReason is you want more usage out of the ones you earned from level ups because you're not planning on getting incubators until your other purchasing goals are complete. Free one is always there so use it on what your blue ones aren't used on.Walking BuddiesALWAYS walk the rare hard ones and specifically the ones that take 5KM to earn one candy or the pokemon that come from 10KM eggs. Area depending I understand but I'd prioritize the following to help complete the pokedex fasterDratini, Grimer, Kabuto, Omanyte You'll hatch soo many 5KM eggs, you'll probably not need to walk those ones (Outside of grimer). I walked a couple and regretted all the steps later when I hatched a lot of 5KM eggs in the long run. Like sandshrew, Mankey, Ponyta etc.I haven't used any extra apps, or any tracking sites. I've used what the game has to offer and the Sliph road nest atlas to travel to known nests.I currently have 4510 gold saved up, try to collect every 21 hours on my 10 gyms with an alarm. I have started to FINALLY at level 35 purchase an extra incubator once in a while to help get 10km eggs to hope for a Smoochum.As long as you're playing a game and having fun, you're doing it right. I'm currently playing go with my mom(mystic) two brothers (Mystic/Valor), GF (Instinct), mom's friend (Valor) of various skill levels/strategies and it's great.Find what motivates you. I like saltiness to motivate me. There's a Valor player in the area that was 35 when I was 33 and they were always ahead. I want to catch up badly. I hadn't seen them on a gym for a while, so when I got 35 I thought I was at their level, later on I saw them on a gym at level 36. I was all "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO" about it, but have used that saltiness to motivate me to get there. I'm going to do it, I'm going to catch up and surpass them!TLDR- Set Goals Think Longterm Purchase 25 Lucky Egg package, then 650 Item space, then 450 Poke Space Have fun and find what motivates you via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2iU2UUt