Man, removing the steps completely is a bullshit move. Pokevision is shut down as well, meaning you've either got to go further and do more, or jsut give up and wander around.
Wandering around aimlessly is fairly useless, with "nearby" Pokémon being somewhere in a few hundred square meter radius. Using even more side programs/apps is just pretty much cheating.
I have friends who openly say they're just botting it by now, I see people spoofing gyms (10 gyms all turning the same color at the same second, all turning another color 5 seconds later, and so on, it's clearyl a concerted effort to have a number of player all get the full 100 coins in seconds, then give it to the next player and so on - for half an hour on end)...
Idea of the game = good
State of the game = rubbish.
I really don't feel the need to be the Very Best Like No-one Ever Was - I can only wander around a few hours a day max, after all, and I'm not spending money on it. But keeping it fun or interesting would've been a good plan. if the "optimal" strategy is to sit besides a shop hanging lures to attract customers all day long, well, okay....But that's boring. Walking/wandering is pretty much the most useless way of running the game right now.[DOUBLEPOST=1469984325,1469984154][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, more personally: Incense doesn't work for me. Yesterday, my gf and I both set off incense at the same time, and walked beside one another to a park nearby. She got 6 Pokémon I didn't, all spawning directly under her feet pretty much. I didn't get a single Pokémon she didn't catch, just a few few alert buzzes of my phone. Nuts to that.