Ingress AMA Archive

Q1: Why are portals on private property allowed? Private corporations, military bases, etc. are content that an average agent is completely unable to access that can directly affect their gameplay with control fields covering them or links blocking them. They should not have to play at a disadvantage.

Q2: Can you please clarify OPS position on Traffic Circles and Traffic Dividers. OPR and portal related.

Q3: Dear Andrew, I am thinking about a new kind of shield these days. I always associate shields with condoms.... I know it must not be a normal idea but I think it will be interesting if Nia cooperates with corporations like Sagami and Okamoto, just like what you did with AXA. Nia. can develop a kind of shield which is really fragile or invisible, but it can block links from the deployed portal... Or it may have other features like that. What do you think of this kind of idea? Hoping to get your answer. Thank you.

Q4: Will there be any improvements or changes in PRIME for completing and creating missions/mosaic?

Q5: Where do you hang your mistletoe?

Q6: Did you ever get clarification on using apps like Fake Camera to submit portals remotely?

Q7: Any new around submissions? Increase, lower level? How about OPR? lower level? What about old submissions 84 days and counting ..

Q8: What about Ingress official events for latam? Like NL or primary anomalies for the next quarters? 👀 #latamdeservessomeingresslove

Q9: When can we have VR force Amps and turrets?

Q10: There are a few people out there claiming that people are abusing opr. Are you hearing any evidence that this is actually happening anywhere?

Q11: Could we have a better way for agent MissionDay check-out without the typo?

Q12: When will be announced Q1 XM Anomaly?

Q13: With an OSM map we have lots of black holes on the scanner, do you have any solution? This problem is really terrible and dangerous to agents who use scanner to find the road.

Q14: Is Ingress Prime can reduce GPS spoofing problems? You might think yes, but I don't think so.

Q15: Why we didn't have SMS verified on scanner now. I think it may reduce some multi-account.

Q16: I have heard that some agents delivered their ticket to the register counter and hacked the registration portal, but they didn't get the EXO5 medal push. What can they do?

Q17: NL-Prime:Phase I Expansion at Taipei and Taichung will it have Phase II Expansion at somewhere? Or NL-Prime back to Japan?

Q18: Will 2017 characters card be sold in 2018 Q1 Anomaly?

Q19: Do you think having more options for alerts on different portals is an intriguing idea?

Q20: Is the ingress RPG being changed in anyway because of ingress prime or was it developed with prime in mind.

Q21: Do you think we need a more comprehensive OPR review guide? It feels like there is differing consensus on a lot of different criteria.

Q22: What's with the lack of media anymore? No EXO5 media at all. No ingress prime media.

Q23: In OPR, Water Towers have an exception to the accept rule. That is do not accept if one must gain access to a restricted area. Why does this rule not apply to other candidates? Or does it apply? Need some clarification please.

Q24: Are QCaps now hackable? If yes should we expect a temporary hack increase like the Lawson/Circle K?

Q25: Will QCaps duplication rate "return to normal" as MUFQs had in the past?

Q26: Are you aware that QCaps look like a trash can?

Q27: Should we expect any christmas or new year event?

Q28: When will you notice us 2018 Q1 Anomaly schedule?

Q29: I guess this is the last AMA in 2017.

Q30: Q1 anomaly dates - Can we expect an announcement?

Q31: Since the switch to OpenStreetMap data, roads and buildings are not shown on the scanner for regions tagged in OSM as "Military Area" - this has been confirmed with agents in Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. As it can be unsafe to navigate to a portal (on foot or by vehicle) with NO geographical guidance from the scanner, I have reported this as a bug. Do you have any information on whether NIA is planning to reduce or eliminate gameplay on military installations - as indicated by the requirement to 1-star portals on bases - or if this is simply a result of the OSM switch and may be corrected?

Q32: Is a single building apartment complex a public space?

Q33: Hi Andrew! Will Ingress Prime retain Intel Map?

Q34: In Germany, a group of people remembers the holocaust by placing bronze stones permanently on the sidewalk in front of houses where deported familys lived, called “Stolpersteine”...Some players are misusing OPR to create home portals by creating Stolperstein portals far away from the real location. ...Is there a possibilty to escalate those portals? Of course, we try to move them to the correct location, but these portal edits often get rejected. Other Stolperstein portals were created with pictures from other citys, so they should be deleted.

Q35: Do you plan to disable players from being able to create new portals? Like the mission tool?

Q36: Hi Andrew. I would like to ask again about that "instaresolved" ticket thing :)

Q37: Can you give us some stats or indication on whether the OPR queue is growing, being cleared or staying at the same level?

Q38: This is agent @Russia G+ post and repost with TOS violations publically admitted, after many report no action taken! http://plus.google.c... - Unfortunately Niantic does not take the Ingress game any more seriously. Man... https://plus.google.... Please BAN it. Unfortunately Niantic does not take the Ingress game any more seriously. Man... http://plus.google.c...

Q39: Can we do something about the fact that Aegis shields look horrible when deployed on a portal? They look like they're being badly scaled to fit the mod box.

Q40: Hi Andrew, will prime have a pay2play or pay2win model in it?

Q41: Would it be possible to implement a tutorial or test for new level 10 agents who want to submit portals? Many poor submissions could be prevented if people better knew how to place their portal, what are good candidates, and what locations are off limits.

Q42: Niantic has made it clear that the construction or maintenance of third-party databases of Ingress player data is a violation of the Ingress Terms of Services. My understanding of the TOS is that the use of these databases by individual players is also a violation. I’m curious about a service out there called Outgress. It appears to be a third-party database of Ingress player data, but it’s built out of attack notification emails. The folks behind it claim that “Niantic does not attempt to put terms on what you are allowed to do with your emails. You are free to search, compile, share, etc.” Is it true that the attack notification emails are not covered by the Ingress TOS? Would you advise players that it’s ok to use or contribute to this service?

Q43: Hi Andrew! Does Ingress Prime support 3th faction in technical way?

Q44: Given that some tickets are about one player with multiple accounts. Isn't it better in these cases to have all of the data in a single ticket?

Q45: Faction bias in OPR. Can we expect anything done to it in the near future? Is it discussed?

Q46: I'm not yet sold on the new color scheme for Ingress Prime. Why are there purples and pinks and reds floating around?

Q47: Will Beirut, Lebanon host an anomaly in 2018? #SantaNIA

Q48: Good morning Andrew! How are you?

Q49: We have portal A and portal B with a link between them (blue or green, doesn't matter). An agent of the other faction destroys one of the two portals. Is there any way to know which of the two portals will drop the key of the other portal?

Q50: Any news about the Guardian Badge?

Q51: In last weeks AMA your reply to Question 76 was that ‘in the spirit of the game, actions should be based on your physical location’. Would you include submissions under the term actions?

Q52: Could niantic release a statement that clarifies the term ‘safe pedestrian access’ as portal acceptance criteria please? In my interpretation ‘safe’ is related to safety. And as such should not be an optional feature that can apply if deemed convenient or the time of the day suits. Niantic is classifying portals on roundabouts as unsafe for the full day. Not just for the morning and afternoon rush hour, correct? A cyclist may capture a portal from a bike (not by foot). But the safety aspect should ensure that every time the cyclist would need to get off his/her bike (eg to avoid a crash), they can do so safely, correct?

Q53: If we have a suggestion/opinion about the change of portal criteria, to whom we should talk with?

Q54: About tow months ago, in Argentina and Chile we made an Op with which we made 16 layers that covered 100M + MUs. A few hours later, a spoofer from our same faction appeared, neutralizing one of the vertices and destroying all the time and money we had spent on something really satisfactory. The account was banned, but we lost a beautiful job in the hands of someone who was sitting in his chair. Beyond the ban, have you thought of any way to discourage spoofers? Because in the situation that we are, I believe that the ban no longer matters to the spoofers. Is there any way for Niantic to implement something to undo any action performed by a spoofer and backtrack the map at the time of the cheat?

Q55: How about pay 10$ for rearranging your badges and you put that in store for a limited time! I’m pretty sure many agents will buy that just to rearrange their medals.

Q56: Is there any event for december that you guys are planning maybe an extra medal? Before prime gets released?

Q57: Why can't we skip as many portals as we wish in OPR? I won't value any portal inside the center of Madrid because they aren't being either accepted or denied, so it just messes my OPR agreements percentage up.

Q58: Hi Andrew! Any word on the fix for the submissions that have been on queue for a couple of months?

Q59: Here comes the most delicate question. Many times you defend the social edge of the game. We all know that Ingress is more than a game and that the community is very important. Here we know more real people than we do in the vast majority of games. The problem is that there are many people who take the game very personally. Do you think there is a point where many agents dehumanize themself in their mania of wanting to be more than the other faction? Do you think that many people can get to feel hate and get carried away by the dark side of force (ha)? How can we, agents do not look for problems, to end that unnatural hatred between players?

Q60: Hi Andrew, lots of agents are traveling for Christmas or new year's eve to their hometowns or are visiting relatives at places outside their playing area, some of these places may not have any portals at all or any high level agents to submit portals. Don't you think it will be a good idea to increase the number of submissions during these holidays weeks? Thank you!

Q61: Will Portal submission Level Clearance Change to L8 in future? Or we r stuck at L10?

Q62: I know about two diferent cities and dates with events scheduled but no official announce. Why this delay?

Q63: do you plan to release vr force amps and turrets at some point? These mods are often considered as trash mods (it's been asked already)

Q64: there's currently no big advantage in leveling up except for opr access and a bit more xm in your tank (lawson too). What do you think of a '' bonus point '' system that you could invest a each level up after the l 8, like 1% more damage to your xmps, 3% more health to your resonators, etc etc?

Q65: It's clear more people want more anomalies. (myself included) What is being done to scale the live events so more people may enjoy anomalies?

Q66: Can we expect Ingress Prime to be released before the Q1 anomaly series?

Q67: When are the next anomalies?

Q68: Good morning Andrew! It's Tuesday! So I have to ask a silly question. Do you celebrate taco Tuesdays? And if you do, what kind of taco is your favorite?

Q69: When will Magnus13 and Exo5 Pull Patches be released on the Ingress store? I need more patches for my bag.

Q70: How was the parteh?

Q71: I think a wise man once said "that would be a good idea" when asked about announcing Q1 anomaly dates right after Exo5 finished. Do you agree that sooner is better than later?

Q72: The share profile button does not work for agent with multiple rows of badges using iPhone 6/7 Plus or iPhone X. Will this be fixed in Ingress 1.0?

Q73: Will NIA tune the UI of Ingress for iPhone X?

Q74: So close, no matter how far. Couldn't be much more from the heart... 🎵🎵

Q75: Can you describe to us in full detail what criteria goes into determining the OPR “credit” performance rating?

Q76: I have noticed in the last week since 1.129.2, that portals that are flipped with either ADA refractors or JARVIS virii are not fully recharging their resonators or losing xm shortly after flipping. There are no frackers or agent interactions that can account for this phenomenon. Can you explain it? Is it a new feature or just an issue? Also Turkey or Ham for Xmas??

Q77: On Ingress birthday a lot of players have taken free key locker. However now they are forbidden to buy a set of 5 key lockers. So now they've stuck with the problem: buying 4 key lockers is more expensive than buying 5. Such situation seems to me very strange. I personally know several players which are more likely to return back a free key locker and buy a set of 5. Would you comment it?

Q78: what do you think about increasing single key duplication chances in the quantum capsule? when there's only one, it may take half a year or more to make a copy.

Q79: Can we have something like this for ingress: http://services.rune... - Top Player Rankings by Skill - RuneScape Beside the rankings and profile lookups you also have a personal tab that shows your achievements and a paid option for more advanced features like stats tracking and analytics. Top Player Rankings by Skill - RuneScape Top Player Rankings by Skill - RuneScape http://services.rune...

Q80: Will +NIA Ops be taking any more actions against the users of Riot or are the bans against the Devs the only actions that will be taken?

Q81: Is there any chance of allowing links and fields to be created while already under a field?

Q82: Hello. Last week we had the precision that portals in military areas should be rejected. But... previously, a lot of us (I'm included) took your "if one can access then it's legit"-statement to assume that portals in military areas were legit, especially some vanguard of my mother tongue ( :-* ) That is a real turnaround. So, 1. Are portals in military areas before 11-dec-2017 still legit ? 2. If not, will NIA remove all of them, without any exception 3. What about the grey zones, I mean the military areas that open to public access sundays for catholic cult, or every 4-years for nautical events?

Q83: Hiya Andrew! It was nice to meet you in SF. What do you enjoy most when you are there?

Q84: Other than speed of the Glyph hack, is there any advantage to Complex command?

Q85: Any update on limbo submissions.

Q86: Where is Niantic on increasing the submission limit in cells with lower portal density?

Q87: If a Vanguards isn’t willing to help one faction (and just points at other Vanguards who don’t know the local situation, doesn’t speak the language etc.) Is that the way Vanguards should operate? Should a Vanguard be Neutral in his considerations?

Q88: What's that status on the European EXO5 supporter kits?

Q89: Hello,the context is as follows: One of the criteria inside OPR system is the help from Street view, however, I have noticed than in some cases, the street view shown by default is not the latest available (for example, the place shown has a view from 2011, and the latest one is from 2016, verified from Google maps, changing date from 2011 to the most recent available), which is directly affecting our judgment criteria by grading portals under the impression that the spot does not exist, and also affecting the agent that submitted his contribution by receiving a rejection email for it. Does this exist now, or will there ever exist an effective measure to solve this problem? or how long will it take to implement this?

Q90: how do you deal with man-child agents? you know, adults with the reasoning of a child

Q91: While Aegis shields can be hacked, what about Quantum Capsules? Can they be hacked from portals now?

Q92: Have you ever heard of MUFG or now Quantum-farms. A herd of accounts simply breeding shields, viruses and even bursters? Did you ever think of limiting Quantum capsule working on accoubts which have been active (did actions, which can be tracked in intel) or something similar to reduce the problem scale?

Q93: Since we are getting so familiar with prospective portal regulations in OPR, should we, as the agents on the ground, also be working to clean out portals that don't meet these criteria by submitting them for removal?

Q94: What beacon would you like to see made in the future?

Q95: When will the 2018 anomalies be announced?

Q96: Can you give specific reasons as to why the switch was made from Google Maps to OSM?

Q97: in ingress prime will all comms just be event feed with no communication option?

Q98: Do you consider IngressMosaik to be a positive thing for the Ingress community? Would you say it breaks the ToS? (These are two separate questions)

Q99: It seems like there is a chicken-or-the-egg scenario when it comes to the OPR approvals. You have given us agents the power to approve or decline portals for Ingress. However, there is the problem with both factions remaining “neutral” when it comes to OPR (i.e. agents for faction A tell all faction A agents to decline all submissions for “area 1” because “area 1” is controlled by faction B). Because of this agents who remain partial approve a legit portal while others might not approve the same portal therefore affecting their OPR standing. Now that back logged portals are mostly caught up is there any plan for NIA to take back OPR from the agents?

Q100: Are you aware of the term "eyewash"? :)

Q101: What do you think about having a way to scale back/down the visual effects in prime? I've seen concern expressed over unnecessary 3d art (floating fields etc) and the effect "prettying it up" will have on battery life.

Q102: Hi Andrew, will Prime be playable on slower phones and tablets. Or will there be minimum requirement for game play. 😎

Q103: The vanguard program was hyped as a big deal, and a lot of people had high hopes for it. Outside of a few social media posts and NiantiClaus, it doesn't seem like much has come out of the program so far. Are there other things the vanguards have been involved in? Had the program lived up to expectations?

Q104: In OPR, will there be a stat indicating how many portals to review in agreement to raise one's performance level?

Q105: Can Niantic take a good hard look at the possibility of working with its players to help Niantic incorporate these tools into "official" tools/software/etc instead of treating them as competitive or TOS-breaking, or taking advantage of their hard work while keeping them under the worry of wondering whether their tools will fall afoul of TOS in the future?

Q106: Hi Andrew, I was wondering how NIA is preparing for complying with GDPR. This highly impacts you as a company and our rights as users of Ingress and and any other game you make in the future.

Q107: What do you think about LatinAmerican Player-Organized-Anomalies PAITITI and Ultimate?

Q108: Although the NIA Ops says that "When the change occurs inventories will be updated and from that point on the items will be hackable from the Portal network." during https://plus.google..... Now all the agents with 1.129.2 Scanner can find that "the change occurs inventories". But it seems no one successfully hacks the Quantum Capsules from the portal network. Is it really hackable now?

Q109: Has there been any discussion about a player review panel for portal appeals? Any traction on the idea?

Q110: Why doesn't GameMaster or OPS or whoever, pick anomaly sites based on the recent FS performance of cities around the globe? That would be much more rewarding for agents who want stuff and are willing to make an effort to make things happen.

Q111: I am trying yo get a MissionsForGood banner online. It got rejected two times in a row now. I tried to contact you trough TG for some help. Now i submitted for the third time with other pictures than planned 😞 just because the mission guys can't see the pictures really don't have copyright and are our own pets. Isn't there a way to make a button in the auth.tool to let nia ops know you made the pictures yourself and the missions are temporary?

Q112: Does OPR / OPS have any plan to deal with bogus G Maps edits?

Q113: Hi andrew.. got your bio card mail.. 🙂 im buttowskiSL from srilanka. After the OPR Sri Lanka is getting more portals portals but no Field Trips (Binoculars). Is there any way to contribute to submit field trips

Q114: Hi andrew, i bought rare packs in Belfast and Brugge, they got stuck in customs. Wel thats solved and pack came through. Now we suppoos to get an email in order what to do whit the packs. I never got any mail about it. Made a contact form to Nia Ops and two days later i see that its solved......STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANY MAIL.. Besides all of this heave a good Christmass

Q115: Happy, Merry, and Festive All Hols to you! Do you have any contacts with shaper glyph experts?

Q116: IN our most recent First Saturday meeting with the other Faction, every thing was going well, until we got into a discussion. This occurred after one Agent from the Other Faction returned from the Bathrooms. Apparently the other Faction are under the impression that the Toilet Paper must roll from front to back, so that the paper comes down from the back of the roll. My Faction assert that the only proper way for the TP to dispense from Back to front, so it hangs in front of the Roll. Is there an Official Niantic Guideline for the correct direction that the TP must be dispensed? We are having another FS in a few weeks, and we really need an answer to this dilemma . Thank you for your time.

Q117: Do you think the next anomaly series will be played on Ingress Prime?

Q118: Why is publicly shaming (alleged) cheaters ok if done on the ingress g+, but not in Comms?

Q119: Could the new portal submissions have also street view available in-scanner?

Q120: When will the problems with GPS Spoofers will end?

Q121: What kind of update will we be seeing on intel? Will a filtering system be added? Such as to hide fields for better visibility

Q122: Are you aware of any plans to evolve the intel map for the release of Ingress Prime?

Q123: Hey Andrew..big probs in our area in lower saxony/Germany..2 Agents here are playing multiple accounts in both factions..so the blue lvl 16 account is crushing down our portals and his level 8 green account makes the ap with taking over and creating fields..the other agent left the resistance just to create a green account to do the same stuff as the other agent. Both are playing offensive and have no problem that we know about their game..we messaged niantic of course..no response..what else can we do ?? A big hi from more than 10 german enlighened agents

Q124: Middle East, can we please have something? We have no vanguards to voice our opinions or any official events like everyother place We are totally ignored Andrew!

Q125: Why put mods gives ap but destroy them doesn't give the half of the ap?

Q126: when will we know time/place for the next anomalies

Q127: when will we hear about supporter packages lost in customs? (for ex. Madrid ones)

Q128: Do you have any advice for an agent who was softbanned after traveling to his capital city in the hopes of levelling up?

Q129: Dark side or Light side?

Q130: Can you please be a Santa and confirm Q1 anomaly sites? I want to plan my next year trips

Q131: I very much appreciated the confirmation announcement for Navarro. While I understand that niantic may not be ready for agents to submit potential art projects, it would be nice to give agents as much time as possible to build the portals. Portals take money (fund-raising aka making swag and selling) and time to build and the more lead time we have the better they will be. Can we please get some direction from Niantic? Even if it is just a teaser that is enough to get us in line with the topic but would allow us to start building would be great. I think some people plan to start designing after the new year. Thank you.

Q132: It's looking kinda obvious that there won't be Q1 anomalies. When can we expect Q2 anomalies to be announced?

Q133: Is there a process in place for getting Niantic's permission to use Ingress information for non-commercial fan art? As it stands right now, putting a map of my neighborhood's portals in an image and sharing it is a violation of the TOS.

Q134: Can we have a more fair way MU is calculated. So those in rural areas who have to do alot more traveling to more remote portals for bigger feilds can get a fairer balance as a reflection in the work they need to do to throw feilds.

Q135: What if the new dynamic weapons about the XMP Super BURSTERS in one fatal attack, like Gatorade and Powerade as the energy drink?

Q136: What kind of new portal submissions for being outnumbered and what about the Ingress' passcodes? (Third question)

Q137: My question is about the guardian badge ... isn´t it possible for nia to "cover" the name of the agent, who capture a portal, so that the scanner just say: "an ENL agent", or "a RES agent" and not the specific name of it? So like JARVIS or ADA "captured" portals, i can see, it is my capture, but an other agent just see: ENL or RES ... likewise with the resonaters. I can see mine, but can´t see names of the others. I know, it will go to the expense of the community, but ... a chance for the guardians maybe.

Q138: As an ENL agent - it seems to me that the glyphs are biased toward RES. Do RES agents see the same glyph combos we do? Are the glyphs THEY see biased toward ENL?

Q139: Hi, i have ask what abouttrip to Prague connect with anomaly?

Q140: What are you going to do on 31 december?

Q141: When flying to a new city, do you think opening up apps like Google Maps, Gmail, G+ etc. before Ingress reduces the risk of triggering a false ban?

Q142: Why have we a special Cube, a special shield bit not a special reso?

Q143: During the Facebook live stream for the fifth anniversary, John Hanke mentioned that one of his most memorable Ingress moments was joining a GORUCK team in New Orleans for an anomaly. Any chance we can twist your arm to come out for a ruck? I can get you a weight and bag, no problem. Maybe you can even get a Resistance Niantic employee, like Ethan, involved so both sides can literally carry Niantic through the event ;)

Q144: Also, Ingress communities and individuals seem to be struggling together to come up with more specific guidelines for navigating the maze that exists in the gap between the generalities of Niantic's enforced ToS and the myriad of personal definitions of fair play. While Niantic has been quite clear that even rank and file use of TBG/RIOT is beyond the pale, there has been less clarity about the recent expose of Drunken Frog development and use, and neither seems to have resulted in any enforcement for "just" documented users. Are there still bans or other company actions in the works coming "Soon" against those who availed themselves of these services, or should we assume that Niantic is unwilling or unable to enforce its policy in this this regard, and continue to work without much support to advise our communities' members, particularly new agents, as to the propriety of different user-created content and tools?

Q145: Hello! how do you like the idea of ​​the next action of the EXO5 type in the following command format: captured MUs by factions, but only from portals with level eight? And both faction achive 🏅: silver and platinum (who win)?

Q146: Any chance that +NIA Ops​​ et al., can "moderate" and/or have some proper Niantic presence in the appeals community? Time and time again, we see the same arguments going on and perhaps worse, that we see people trying to sway influence by deleting comments and blocking anyone who opposes the appeal; people who do that deserve to be (and +NIA Ops​​ doesn't even need to make their presence known) kicked from appeals community and have their appeal canned. 🙄

Q147: Will you redesign the horrible Quantum Capsules for Ingress Prime ?

Q148: Ingress Prime, will it keep the Pokémon Go look and feal that we can see in the last video ?

Q149: What does Akira know about the EXOPRE shards that dematerialized?

Q150: How do you like your cookies?

Q151: When can we expect to find out what impact the Enlightened victory of EXO5 had on the story? (The same question can be asked about Magnus Reawakens...)

Q152: Hi Andrew ! When will the next anomalies cities and dates will be announced ? We really need to plan :)

Q153: Are "retired" accounts ever deleted? We have a number of players around who 'apparently' forgot their G+ details when they got a new phone, so created a second account. If it's true, then the old account is sitting in limbo and isn't being used as a storage account....

Q154: If one uses their own account to acquire Intel information utilizing official software that is unmodified, would they be issued a warning or ban? For example: automated screenshot of the regional score. No circumvention to fire requests at faster speeds, no packet modification, nothing to try attacking a server. Question implys no multi accounts nor 3rd party modification of Niantic apps.

Q155: Where are we with OPR improvements?

Q156: Did OPR rater difficulty get dialed up recently? There's been a good number of recent posts of OPR ratings going to poor.

Q157: Is a military base and a military residential area the same?

Q158: Why are NANTIC's responses to community questions superficial or do they give interpretation with doubt?

Q159: Hey andrew. Can you end a rumor that ingress prime will be 8 line mission, messing everyones mosaic?

Q160: Please clarify "community gathering area" meaning in terms of OPR.

Q161: Can we have Anomaly sites and dates announced please so we can make travel plans, for some of us it involves at least one flight - my budget needs to know!

Q162: Some time ago You said we will have anomalies in Q1 2018, when do You plan to announce them?

Q163: Will there be a special event for Christmas?

Q164: Now that the EXO5 anomaly ended, will the shards be back?

Q165: Will those people who got trapped with the false-positive stuff (like the Ingress photographer guy) ever get their accounts reviewed? Must be quite annoying when they have unanswered tickets and are told not to post on G+ for support; yet the photographer did just that and was reinstated almost immediately. 🤔

Q166: What is the estimated time for launching new items or features in the game?

Q167: We traveled Guinea Bissau in west Africa and submitted a lot of new portals. Since there is only one in the whole country we where hoping for a fast approval if they met the OPR Criteria. But only 2 has shown up in OPR and I even moved bonus loc to Bissau to opr some ( Friends and wife submitted). Is there a plan to solve the problem with portal low-density countries and no OPR volunteers living there?

Q168: is there a reason why OPR only uses the 360 spheres, and not the 2D images ? Most times there are much never data there, compared to the sphere images.

Q169: Is it possible to stop the friend invites thing? The ingame pop ups are SO annoying and I see no sense since Ingress open beta.

Q170: Can we expect to see the MU correlation to be more representative of the real world in Ingress Prime? You know it's broken right now...

Q171: This week it was announced that the new Aegis shields and Quantum capsules could already be obtained from the portal network. However there are still no reports of drop of Quantum capsules. Why is this happening? When you give news be clear and direct, state and give start dates. The community is very sad with speculation. The game is too big, we do not need that to make it even better.

Q172: Have player upgrades been considered?

Q173: Alternatively, what are your thoughts on doing the guardian badge like niantic does for gym control in Pogo? You could get guardian based on the number of cumulative hours holding a single portal. Then it doesn't matter if someone kills it, because you can recap and continue ticking away.

Q174: Finally, has niantic thought about hiding comm notification/activity entries until the portal becomes fully deployed (8 resos)? The opposition should not care about single caps as it's not linkable. A linkable portal is worth knowing though. Not announcing single caps would also provide more privacy for players who are just going about their daily routine.

Q175: Andrew what are your thoughts about the RES Social Media Campaign in regards to the Clean Ingress findings over the past couple of months? and did you have a favorite meme. This one was mine.

Q176: Will anomaly related intel be given as a prize during the new Navarro event?

Q177: We had a nice op this past weekend. Sadly, the hub portal was spoofed down by an obvious backpack account. Why are spoofers allowed to ruin other agents' hard work?

Q178: Regarding the OPR test, I've failed it twice now, and I was wondering if there was a reason for making the candidate unable to access the training module during the 30 days after your first attempt, and why you aren't allowed to see which question from the first test you've failed so you know what to look at better in the second test.

Q179: Are you able to comment on which studio is animating the upcoming Ingress anime? Many of us anime enthusiasts are waiting with bated breath...

Q180: What defines safe pedestrian access? Should you be able to physically touch/stand next to/Ultra Strike the portal? I say yes, but it's a point of disagreement in my local community.

Q181: We have had plenty of reports here of agents from both faction getting “Poor” OPR ratings and being unable to improve that rating despite rating portals in a similar way to everyone else. This is leading to agents giving up on OPR which reduces the pool of reviewers. Do you have any concerns about the way the OPR rating system is calibrated?

Q182: Good day Andrew. There is a well documented character that will appear on or about December 25th. He goes by different names in different countries, Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Père Noël, Saint Nicholas, the list of spoofer aliases go on. Allegedly he knows when we are sleeping, when we are awake, if we have been good or not. I know we should just be good for goodness sake! He is clearly part of the rumoured Red faction that people have been chatting about for years. Can you confirm for us that he is indeed being monitored by +NIA Ops​? Thank you very much! PS let him know that I have been a very good agent this year.

Q183: In light of the Clean Ingress initiative, will Niantic ever clarify definitions of scraping as it relates to TOS violations? Also, how do you interpret the TOS in this regard?

Q184: Dear Andrew, is there a plan to improve the graphical aspect of the new Aegis Shields? (Expecially their look when deployed on a portal) Why the Quantum Capsule is soooo grey?

Q185: First Saturdays? Any idea / hints on what Niantic might be doing with fs events? It seams like at least hear in Indianapolis Indiana turn out has been declining. I don't want to see fs go away because in 13 months we collectively earned over 40 million AP. I was thinking something along lines of mini anomaly of some kind, double ap on specific portals in the "play area", or a fs badge kind of like mission day but a lot more requirements. Ps I have more numbers for all our fs events if you're interested.

Q186: What is the status of the 2nd chance program?? It has been a few months and nothing has come out about it.

Q187: Hey Andrew , I am way to dipressed with players using their multiple account of opposite faction just to level up make their portals of high level. There are using multiple devices and we have reported them multiple times (it is complete visible they are cheating) but every time the report closes without any action. This is happening for some while now and this is making me leave the game as there is no fun left , literally player from my region leveled up l10 to l12 using there multiple accounts in just 4 hours . When we ask them why they did this , they simply answer do what ever you can do we will play like this only..😔😔😔😔

Q188: Has there been thought to having a mission badge that is only available to actual event attendees? Or, some other method to prove one was actually at an event?

Q189: Has Niantic's policy on portals on Military Bases changed? The three mentions in AMA seem to contradict each other:

Q190: Q1 Anomaly citys?

Q191: The Chris mafia are at it again, they scraped your mom's lasagna recipe, shouldn't they be banned?

Q192: What ever happened to the NexBand? If it is dead will there be an Apple Watch app for Prime?

Q193: Good morning Andrew. Somebody doesn't feel comfortable about the white flash before glyph, especially at dark environment. What do you think? Thanks.

Q194: Why does my ingress crash when I try to submit a new portal crashes right after I take the picture don't get to the chance location and verify page

Q195: http://Enl.IO has been been shown to be involved in scraping; admission process, !farm status bot, and automated Fracker and VR Mod alerts by the Watchman. (https://imgur.com/a/...) Do you still advocate for its use and if so why do you believe it deserves to not be shutdown like other tools?

Q196: Do you play secret santa? If so, have you already bought your gift?

Q197: it is very common games give you 3 opportunities to complete a task. You may, in the future, a third opportunity in the OPR?

Q198: With the change to Open Street Maps did the calculation for MU change or is NIA still using google

Q199: Can you share some statistics about OPR (new portals submitted\reviewed\approved, how many players participate in OPR, etc). I'd like to know that weekly but even one-time answer is great to understand the value of our job in OPR

Q200: Will the year 2017 Misty Hanna or Ada character cards be available at a large scale event (anomaly) in the future? If not, was there a reason an artificial scarcity was created for them being a very limited release? (Both sold out within about 2ish hours of the press release with no other chances/events to get them.) TIA! =)

Q201: Do you think these public campaigns (that are thoroughly entertaining at some moments) that seek to be judge, jury and executioner of scrapers and those in the 'outed social chat platforms' are useful for the Ingress community as a whole and more importantly do they make a difference in how Niantic responds to the information they are provided in any way?

Q202: The Ingress Community Guidelines state, "If you suspect someone of cheating, don't call them out in Comm or demand they show their face, just report it via the Help Center and focus on your mission." This seems contradictory to the postings done by the CleanIngress community, which contains identifiable information, such as usernames, after they have already sent you the information regarding their investigations. Are these websites and posts condoned by Niantic?

Q203: What do you think about ingress players whom make accusations with no more evidence than an Excel and maybe screenshots they said are legit?

Q204: Are there any actions going on against http://drunkenfrog.w...

Q205: Will there be any actions taken against this http://drunkenfrog.w... - Drunken Frog Bot

Q206: Just for curiosity, can you guys tell the numbers of daily reports that you receive, edit submissions and mission submissions?

Q207: +Andrew Krug I sent you a message on TG about portals being rejected for being too close together. Based on my experience, which you can see in the included image, I am unsure if you are safe, or if the Krugbot has surreptitiously taken your place. For our peace of mind, can you do something that we know the Krugbot cannot do, and provide a detailed answer and follow through to my attached inquiry, and those of my fellow Agents in today's AMA?

Q208: Can you please give us a quick run down of worldwide OPR stats since it became a thing?

Q209: While third-party sites and services come and go, I am sure Niantic is aware of the ones used at large, such as thrakazog.com, outgress.com, and IITC. Will Niantic provide an answer on whether or not these sites and services are TOS-compliant?

Q210: Can we get an Anomaly in Kolkata, West Bengal, India in the upcomig Anomaly series?

Q211: Aloha Andrew. Question for OPR: (1) what are recommended 360 camera apps for android or iOS which can be used to supplement imagery into Google maps and google street view? (2) when will Ingress get newer satellite imagery for land areas? We have a new mall complex in our 2nd City of Kapolei, but the satellite images predate the construction. Is this an Ingress issue or a Google Maps layer issue?

Q212: +Andrew Krug Have you ever taken part in a game hosted on the Roll20 platform?

Q213: is wintrading against the ToS of the game or not?

Q214: If yes than should there be a separate category for this in Support for reporting or not

Q215: Would you call this a wintrading scenario when two accounts 1 from each faction do this. First account captures/ creates fields from a portal, 2nd account breaks the same portal so that first account again captures and creates fields. The first Account is creating fields using the same set of portals. this is done consecutlively 22 times in 2 hrs window. Also this done on multiple days which leads to one player reaching L12 from L10 and other L8 in 2 days

Q216: Will there be any extra codes given with the Belfast packs as compensation for the time taken to get them

Q217: Will there be changes to the Intel map site with Prime? Suggesting integrated in app tab, nudge, nudge.

Q218: Last week, you stated that new portal candidates on military or other secured facilities should be given one star. What is going to be done with existing portals in such facilities? Such portals exist for both factions. Despite requests for removal, generally an appeal by the controlling faction gets the portal reinstated.

Q219: Do you ever get tired of Rhetorical Questions?

Q220: Could you consider to use another font type for Ingress Prime, so that there is a possibility to distinguish between a capital "i" and a small "L"?

Q221: Andrew, why support doesnt reply nothing 4 more thamn 4 month? (apeall account terminate)

Q222: Why +NIA Ops doesnt delete portal apeals with proofs, that portal is fake?

Q223: Hey Andrew, hope you had a good Anomaly. Question, don't you think, it is a bit unfair that US got 3 characters in a pack and Europe and APAC got 1 character for the same price?

Q224: What's the policy on hanging pictures in portal submissions? Are the pictures required to be historical or proven non-temporary?

Q225: I have submitted invalid portal request on portals that are literally a sewer drain yet they always say there is not enough evidence. All it is is a picture of cement with the words flows to creek written in it and a drawing of a fish.

Q226: How many months in advance was this poor premature aegis shield born?

Q227: What cake will you have for Christmas?

Q228: This one is more out of curiosity than anything else, but what causes some portals to seem to never spawn XM?

Q229: Also I submitted portals prior to the seer cutoff date that were originally denied , but atleast 8 of them have come online in recent weeks because other people submitted them and they were approved. How do my new portals get denied previously and now they are approved when others submit them?

Q230: So .. how's the release of the decoded hash data going?

Q231: With all the discussions going on about scrapers and other TOS violations, can you please define some examples of what you consider against the ToS or safe utilities that are NOT against it? Specifically IITC, Any plugins that are on the IITC page that people shouldn't use if IITC is considered OK by Niantic.

Q232: Also, There are some people making the case that using the data from scrapers is not against the ToS. I personally think they are just trying to defend their own cheating, and the conversation could really benefit from Niantic weighing in. Is using scraped data that someone else scraped considered against the ToS?

Q233: Hi andrew. A question about quantum capsules. It's now possible drop it or the drop is already suspended?

Q234: Rum or whiskey in your eggnog?

Q235: What are your two favorite hyper-local spot portals?

Q236: What do you think of the idea for submissions that are over a month old and not completed OPR review, given priority to be pushed out to more players?

Q237: Where did the name Ingress come from anyways?

Q238: What's the favorite thing you are getting yourself for Christmas this year?

Q239: I totally get limiting the number of submissions on portals but I'm wondering if we could be allowed to use our camera roll instead of just the live camera so we can remotely submit portals.

Q240: Given that nobody seems capable of playing nice with either faction anymore, can we just cancel Ingress? Pretty please?

Q241: Why don’t you ever reply when I tag you in comms?

Q242: With TBG and the Drunken Frog, some ENL are claiming data was used to stop RES agents from doing any more damage and blah blah blah. But cheating, is cheating, right?

Q243: Hey Andrew I was wondering if it is against TOS to use the software IIDCS.

Q244: I know you've said in the past you don't give publicly the number of people attending anomalies. My question is : why not?

Q245: Hello, my question is this: for ingress prime the voices of the game will change since at the moment we have the voice in English and in Japanese (I think) there will be in some other language? Merry Christmas

Q246: Will there ever be or is there a way to appeal NEWLY submitted portals. My understanding in the Portal Appeals community is that they will not deal with any portals submitted since OPR began. For instance, a little free library located just inside a local grocery store... Repeatedly denied because it doesn't show up on Google Street View. Perfectly acceptable portal under the new submission guidelines and probably better than 90% of the LFL out there since it's actually on publicly accessible property and not somebody's yard.

Q247: I know this is "obvious" to most people, but for the record, can you confirm that Thrakazog is using an official source for the data on his score site http://www.thrakazog...

Q248: Is it safe to purchase Xiaomi Mi 6 for Ingress? I heard from some ppl that MIUI cause some problems w/ Ingress soft bans an etc...

Q249: Is the quantum cap its final artwork? Feedback from locals, It seems very dull and boring compared to mufg.

Q250: Does Niantic understand agents are frustrated and spending more hours a day trying to figure out what is fair and not and yapping about it than playing Ingress. I haven't turned on my scanner in 48 hours, but probably spent 18 hours reading about scrapers, whistle blowers, and the like. I really need a 10 step program to escape the BS!

Q251: There is an overwhelming consensus that the "eye candy" in Prime is a huge turn-off due to time/resources/battery etc and people vowing to leave the game. Most agents I know, do not play this game for the eye candy, they like the concept of the game and the eye candy is a distraction. I hope the developers are listening to this and are considering a "classic" option. Anything you can say on this?

Q252: With the new release of Drunken Frog (and more to come), is Niantic finally taking action on these revelations? All this was bourne out of Niantics inactions in the past and now everything needs to be made public in order to keep the pressure on and not sweep things under the rug.

Q253: Is there an option to name capsules (add custom names) in Ingress Prime? Or do you think it would good to add this feature ☺️

Q254: Can we expect any additions to the Candidate Action Guide associated with OPR? There's been some discussion of various portal examples, but without the information added to the Guide, perceptions seem to be floating in limbo.

Q255: During double AP, we enjoyed the double 8 and 7 resos, along with the 4 mods to deploy. Is there a chance this will be available again to the new higher levels once they are released?

Q256: Hi Andrew. OPR guidelines state that hotels/inns are to be rejected. Does this include pubs and bars? In AU, "hotels" usually doubles as a pub. In UK, pubs are the primary term for places that serve alcohol. Its funny to see hardly any pubs in AU for OPR review, but plenty in the UK, purely because of a semantic difference

Q257: Andrew merry Xmas, what is your most favorite field art?

Q258: Could there potentially be a contest to make a new design for the Quantum capsule? I know many individuals are less than thrilled with the design, and it could be a fun way to engage the player base.

Q259: Regarding last week's AMA, can you further elaborate how Boy Scout camps are to be considered the same as primary schools in OPR? Many of these camps are open to the public, to the point where many groups rent out space throughout the year. To me, it would seem that Scout camps are closer associated with playgrounds or parks.

Q260: Is it possible to have +Lucy Shires as voice in ingress prime?

Q261: Greetings Andrew. This is my very 1st question I have ever asked so here goes. Apparently many people still want Verified Badge, including me, is there any way it can come back to people's scanners? Seems unfair some people having it and new agents don't get the badge even after linking their G+.

Q262: Will there be any adjustments to restricted areas sooner or later?

Q263: Any chance the Ingress use more RPG stuff? Maybe like a character armour / items where it could give some buff to attack or to recharge like 1%.

Q264: When will the error list of Agents that did the Mission Day but did not get the badge pushed correctly from Bruges Mission Day be sorted?

Q265: If an agent is continually submitting false reports in an attempt to get another banned is there anything that can be done except get into a complaint submission war?