'Pokémon Go' Stats Tracker PokeAdvisor Is Blocked, Fans Are Mad As Hell (Again)

There's a new casualty in the clampdown on third party Pokémon Go-tapping services: stats tracking site PokeAdvisor.

"This could be bad…" wrote PokeAdvisor creator "lax20attack" on the stats site's eponymous subreddit on Monday morning. "Wow, looks like [Pokémon Go developer] Niantic servers stop responding to mine. Looking in to a fix, but this might be the end guys. Will keep you posted."

The PokeAdvisor website allowed players to log in with their Pokémon Go trainer name and check their stats in the game, including details such as how many pokémon they had captured and how many pokéstops they had visited, as well as more detailed breakdowns on the strength of their individual pokémon and leaderboards for the top players across various categories. It's also worth pointing out that the PokeAdvisor site features ads and sponsored links.

Now, when users try to log in, they see a message that states, "Unfortunately, it appears Niantic has blocked PokeAdvisor from accessing your data. We will not be able to update your Trainer. The site is in read only mode, so you can search for your Trainer and download your Pokemon for a little while longer."

It's not clear exactly why the site is down; I reached out to Niantic and PokeAdvisor and will update if I hear more details. But PokeAdvisor is just the latest in a string of popular, unofficial Pokémon Go-related sites and apps to find itself in this position. Last week, popular pokémon mapping sites such as PokéVision were brought to a close, and Niantic CEO John Hanke explained in a blog post that third parties trying to access the game servers was against the game's terms of service and had put pressure on sever resources.

It seems likely that the PokeAdvisor's troubles may be a result of Niantic blocking major cloud services providers from accessing their servers.

Fans of PokeAdvisor are, unsurprisingly, upset that they can't see their latest stats. The most mourned feature seems to be the ability to see a pokémon's "IVs," or "individual values." These are a set of values that every pokémon has (sometimes referred to as a pokémon's "genes") and help determine why one pokémon can seemingly randomly have better stats than another of the same species. These IVs are not shown in the Pokémon Go interface.

Yes, it's nerdy; you don't need to know anything about IVs to play Pokémon Go and they're unlikely to affect your game at all unless you're really, really into it. But evidently, many of the most committed fans are pretty desperate for this feature.

"Cool, the one thing that was making me have fun again. Collecting all day, then checking my IV haul at night with Pokeadvisor. Way to go you Niantic Grinches. :(," wrote redditor KAM7 in the most upvoted comment on a thread about the issue on the main Pokémon Go subreddit. "Oh for fucks sake, the IV checker? Hell, I understand the Pokémon tracker site being shut down, but our IV checker program now? This fucking game doesn't even have an IV checker in game, why the fuck take ours away?" responded truejamo.