If you had to start ALL over again from Level 1, what would you do differently?

I've wondered about this. Can Niantic be emailed? I understand why they wouldn't want this to be an easy thing to do. If you make purchases, is your apple ID tied to that email account as well?

I guess the only I can tell you is that if you have to start over, use a generic email account that can't be deactivated by someone else (but I'm sure you know that now).

I feel for you. It's a question I ask myself regularly because I started playing on my gf's phone and never had the strengh to create my own account and start over even when I was still very low level.
The email she used to create the account is her job's email as well so what happened to you could happen to me as well but with a double risk. It could come from her job but it could also come from her (if we break up for example)
What would frustrate me the most would be all those legendaries that are now gone, maybe not for good but still... And my mewtwo omg !
To be honest I think I would give up. But if I were to start over the 1st thing that comes to mind is stardust. I would spend a lot less. Or at least I would try I'm so addicted to that power up button. I would defenitely not power up anything before I reach level 30. Or even before the level at which you can catch level 35 in the wild. I don't know what level that is as I was already high enough level to catch them when weatherboost was introduced.
Also I would probably not spend a dime in the game anymore as I'd feel anything I buy is just a tiny fraction of what I used to have and it would just frustate me even more.

Ohh that skinks. Did you try to transfer yiur account to another mail? Idk if its possible but worth a shot i guess.

Ouch, that really is rough. You have my condolences. 🙁

As far as starting over goes, the upside is that everything gets to be new and exciting again! On top of that, you're probably more familiar with how to effectively gain XP, where the best places are in town for catching things, and where to/where not to spend dust.

I'd also suggest the following:
1. Raid as frequently as you're able (and use lucky eggs on raids). Leveling up is much easier these days if you're able to do legendary raids at 20k XP a pop with an egg (40k until the 16th when double XP ends).
2. Prioritize weather boosted spawns, as they tend to have higher IVs/CP.
3. If you don't own one already, investing in a Go+ or a Gotcha makes grinding for stardust/XP/candy much less tedious.
4. If you ever had doubts about the team you picked before, now is your chance to switch sides.
5. If you haven't already, get in touch with your local Facebook/Discord PoGo community and join up! Having others to regularly raid with makes the game much more enjoyable and the grind less grindy.
6. Don't focus on the long haul to 40 and just enjoy the game as you go! Best of luck to you!!!

Oh, that's awful. I feel bad for you. But I like your determination to start over.

You have learned so much at nearly 37, so much more than you knew as a noob. Like pp said, leveling up is much easier now than it was. You get to pick a new name and team.

Wishing you all the best!

Pros:
- I would save a LOT of Stardust on bad investments (out of necessity, and without the Weather Boost System

- An account I freshly made received a party of 6 2,800CP Weather Boosted Legendaries and a Mewtwo, and lots of XP

- I'd be a lot more knowledgeable about the game now

Cons:

- Lack of Stardust

- Lack of type bonus-medals (some such as Dragon/Ghost/Ice were almost entirely event-specific)

- Lack of Legendaries. By far the worst detriment as they weigh heavily upon the game

- Loss of my current stock of Rare Candies. These are entirely invested in my priority legendaries

- Loss of maxed out meta-mons (Blissey, Gardevoir, Machamp, Gyarados, and TTars)

That is very rough, you have my condolences as well.

On to the advice in case you don't manage to recover your old account:
1. Get to level 5 ASAP and start leeching in raids that give out good attackers. Prioritize especially catching yourself 6 Rayquazas while they are still here because they are great raid attackers and can even be turned into a Machamp solo team. Raiding also gives you tons of exp and gets you to level 20+ in a blink without doing mass evolves.

2. Maximize your exp gains. Recognize that almost everything is just fodder for mass evos and especially save new dex entries for when you have lucky eggs going. Getting to level 30 is priority for point 3.

3. Catch weatherboosted mons for your attacking teams besides legendaries. You should not really need to use stardust on anything except maybe your best raid catches if you score amazing IVs.

4. Do not use your Eevee name tricks for Vaporeon, Flareon and Jolteon until you find suitably good IV candidates. They are still elite attackers if lacking the legendaries of the corresponding type.

5. Remember to use your evolved fodders for battling if sufficiently high cp to save on healing items.

If you have time to play while the event is still on, you should be able to make very good headway towards level 30 and having decent attacking teams. Good luck.

Why would you use a work email for a game?

I'd still pick the same starter (Charmander) I'd join team Valor for a change, even though I like Mystic (because of blue and Articuno) and that's about it. But I still like my account too much, I hope Gmail doesn't go anywhere any time soon.

If I had to start over:

1) Don't spend any stardust at all until reaching level 30, except possibly on near perfect legendaries. Work off of weather buffed evolved catches until a strong team of optimized pokeman can be built. That way, once reaching that milestone, one would have a huge pile of dust to use in optimal fashion.

2) Make sure to catch at least 5 of each legendary as they come out, or are re-released, so that one is hopefully prepared for any future eventuality, like primal forms or mega forms.

3) Play free, to increase the challenge level.

4) As was said above, save the name trick for nearly perfect level 35 Eevees - all of them save Umbreon are strong enough to be very useful.

Enjoy. I hope (if you can't resurrect your old account) that the second time around is just as much fun.

Massive kudos for your positivity and determination. It would be fun to hear how you're getting on in a few weeks time.

You still have 2.5 days of double xp, so if you can/like you could grind hard and get to level 30 at the end of event. There is 7 free lucky eggs till 30, it's right enough to get 2 mil xp.
At 30 you could just catch boosted mons and get decent teams for virtually everything.
If you buy coins it make sense to use incubators now, and get several rayquazas.

You are saved ! You can now link your old account to facebook or google account