Decided to check out downtown tonight around 2PM. Lots of drunk people, normal nightlife, but oh gods so many pokemon everywhere. Pokestops too, but I was already over halfway to the item limit.
Then I saw the glow of the alluring lures luring me. As I approached, I saw four other groups congregating from different directions. 4-6 people per group. It was downright crowded!
People were very friendly and nice, which was encouraging. Just like in Ingress (almost always). Possibly helped that we were far from any gyms
We hung out in the park by a dry fountain (which provided a few magikarps). Most of them just sat and chatted, I walked around to catch nearby pokestops and work on my egg.
Did eventually stop and chat with someone though. Level 15, but he didn't know how to use lures (lol interface). I leveled from 8 to 10 over the course of the hour, just from captures no evolutions.
My favorite part was when the group started shouting "warturtle! warturtle!" then a minute later "tentacool! tentacool!"
Sad part was a woman from the nearby boonies whose nearest pokestop is 15 minutes away by car.
I'm pretty sure pokemon frequency is based on the same calculations as XM clouds in Ingress: Areas where people have used smartphones a lot, like parks and museums, were always full of XM even if they had no portals (due to being private property or paid admission for example). Roads always had a steady trail, too. Tomorrow I'll see if I get different pokemons on a remote part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I'm betting I'll need to burn incense to get any, though.
I also like that, like in Ingress, level-up bonuses aren't wasted if you're at the item cap. I'm at 369/350, and not totally sure what to get rid of. Probably potions. Maybe I should just try another gym battle tomorrow, and spend items freely.
Aw, they don't seem to "recycle" into anything useful like Ingress items do.