What changes is Pokémon GO undergoing?

The augmented reality game was released in 2016 with a focus on getting players outside rather than just sitting still in front of a screen and playing. In this way, it was meant to give trainers an incentive to leave their comfort zone, explore the environment, meet new players, and incidentally catch the little monsters together. However, due to the start of the Corona pandemic, Niantic 2020 was forced to move away from this original concept and introduced certain Corona bonuses. These also allowed trainers to play from home without having to leave the house. Now, however, Niantic has wanted to send players outside again more for several months and has systematically removed the Corona bonuses again. This caused a lot of criticism in the community. However, some trainers are now voicing a clear demand to make playing more interesting again, even without Corona bonuses.

Niantic should bring back 3 popular features

The fact that Niantic has removed or at least slightly degraded some Corona bonuses, such as the effective smoke at standstill, has pissed off many trainers. After all, they had enjoyed these features in the last two Pandemic years. Now it should go for the trainers, especially in the – Season of GO, more outside again. Pokémon GO is always focusing on exploring the environment and playing together in local communities.

Now Reddit user Parker4815 has given some thought to this and makes a clear demand of the developers in a Reddit post: “If Niantic wants to make the game the way it was before the pandemic, it needs to bring back the functions it has cut! He goes on to explain which features he specifically means by this.

1st: Legendary monsters in research breakthrough

First and foremost, he would like to see the return of Legendary Pokémon in Research Breakthroughs, “If you play the game for 7 days, you should get something rare and exciting. Legendary research breakthroughs were great rewards.”

These special breakthroughs were a staple of the game until the end of 2019. This meant that trainers could not only grab the popular and especially rare monsters in raids, but also had a chance to get a strong one from the weekly rewards by playing regularly. In comparison, the current breakthroughs are much worse received by trainers, because often only weak or uninteresting Pokémon can be obtained, such as ALoLa-Sleima in the May research breakthrough.

Here’s what the community has to say about it: The fact that Parker4815 hits a sore spot with many trainers and that they have a similar opinion can be seen in the comments under his post. But there are also concerns (via reddit.com):

• lewisisb: “I never really understood why Niantic removed Legendaries from the weekly research rewards. Aside from just being a great reward, having some in raids and some in research is a great way to get more Legendaries. You also need so many candies to level up that I don’t think it would have any effect on raids. Unfortunately though, I don’t see Niantic changing this. They don’t seem to like reversing changes for the good of the players.”

• Novrev: “Too many legendary encounters could ‘devalue’ the game.”

• turbobuddah: “There will then be no need to buy raid passes”

• House_Of_ell: “The other nice thing about having the Legendaries in research is that you can then get them low enough for Super League. Only the ones who have Cressellia for Super League are the ones who got it when it was in research breakthrough.”

2nd: Return of Ex-Raids

Another highlight that many players have been missing for a few months now are the Ex-Raids. These existed until the spring of 2020 and were initially no longer offered due to the ongoing contact restrictions due to the Corona pandemic. Previously, these were accessible, to selected players, with a special invitation, at appropriately designated Ex-Raid arenas. There, trainers could look forward to very special raid bosses like Mewtu.

Why might this suggestion be useful?

The reason for this proposal is the original procedure of ex-raids. Trainers could not simply participate in this form of raids, but had to be invited. You got this if you and many other trainers played raids at an ex-raid arena.

The ex-raid then usually took place in the following days at this arena. This was especially a problem for trainers who were only in a city for a short time and had qualified for such a special raid. They might not have been able to attend the raid.

3rd: More frequent encounters with Giovanni

And Team GO Rocket boss Giovanni can also only be found occasionally in the game since a long hiatus. When the villain made his debut in Pokémon GO in 2019, it was already clear that you won’t have a daily encounter with him.

However, there were supposed to be monthly special researches through which you could secure the corresponding Super Rocket radar that you need to track Giovanni. So while in the early days you could encounter the great leader of Team GO Rocket at least monthly, the encounters are now much less frequent. Over the course of the last year, you’ve only had around 5 encounters with the Rocket boss. Parker4815 thinks that this is far too few and writes: “Bring Giovanni back. Fighting him and finding him was a good challenge. Now you only fight him when Niantic allows it.”

What do the other trainers have to say about this?

In the community, the main criticism is that it is very opaque when Giovanni will be available next. The slow progress of the “Ultrahero” medal is also a thorn in the side for some (via reddit.com):

• Upper_Pomegranate359: “I want Giovanni to be offered more often. Coaches need to go out and track him down.”

• nanaki_: “And 0 consistency in when he is available.”

• FearMeIAMLag1: “My Ultrahero medal currently stands at 15. I’m not sure if there was a ticket event where I didn’t get him, but I think I have as many as you can have. I think it first showed up at GO Fest 2019, so about 3 years ago. If this keeps up, I’ll have to play the game for another 7 years just to get the Platinum Ultra Hero medal…”

To get the Platinum Ultra Hero Medal, you must have defeated Giovanni at least 50 times. So if the amount of encounters remains this rare in the future, it may take a while.