Pokémon GO recently did several things that our author Noah simply cannot understand. The game has only been weakened as a result.
I have been a Pokémon GO player since the beginning and I enjoy reporting positive things about the game. There’s no reason why I’ve spent over 3 years of my time with this AR game.
However, lately there have been various things that I haven’t quite understood and have criticized. Four things in particular currently bother me a lot in Pokémon GO.
These 4 Things Niantic is Doing Poorly Right Now
To start, I don’t want to delve into every detail of the game and bash it. I have tried to see things from various perspectives to understand the reasoning behind it.
The Change of Spawn Points in the Game
Let’s start with the latest change. Pokémon GO unexpectedly changed all spawn points from one hour to the next. Areas where no monsters could previously be found suddenly have some appearing.
What I don’t understand about this: I can only speak from my observations, but in our city the spawns have become worse overall. Various cluster spawns have simply been removed completely, and some streets are completely deserted.
I completely understand that they want to provide some spawns for players in remote areas, but do we really have to remove other points for this?
My friends and I have been planning a route through our city for weeks and have been gradually adding PokéStops to it. One cluster spawn after another was on the way, and we knew exactly where to look. But now, almost everything is gone.
If we were at the right place at the right time, we could catch around 150 Pokémon in half an hour. Now, with luck, it’s still 100 monsters, but often even less. Why make things worse when there was no necessity?
What I see positively about this: I am happy for the players who now have significantly more spawns in their areas and can play better. I also finally have more spawns at home, but it comes with a bad aftertaste.
It would have been much better if instead of changing the spawns, they had simply added more spawns. In the end, there would be no losers and everyone could catch more monsters.
Eevee in the Research Breakthroughs
Since early September, you can now catch Eevee with a flower crown in the research breakthroughs. It should remain in there until the end of October.
What I don’t understand about this: This news completely surprised me. After previously receiving two of the best monsters in the game, Groudon and Kyogre, now you get an Eevee with a flower on its head? What’s that all about?
To make things worse, they also removed Eevee from field research and the wild. This is particularly annoying for beginners since the numerous Eevee evolutions are good attackers for newcomers.
Regardless of beginners, Eevee is not comparable to Kyogre or Groudon. When I was on vacation in early September, I didn’t even do any field research for the first time. I just didn’t see the point in the reward for it.
What I see positively about this: The only sensible thing about this is that Eevee can be shiny. That’s still fairly rare, as you previously only had the chance to catch a shiny Eevee at GO Fests and in a small event. But a shiny is a weak consolation for me.
Mewtwo Returns to EX Raids
Invitations sent out starting September 25 will now bring you Mewtwo with Shadow Ball in EX Raids. It will continue to be available until November 12.
What I don’t understand about this: After being able to obtain shiny Mewtwo from raids for a week, the legendary Pokémon is disappearing again and returning to EX Raids. The chance to get a shiny Mewtwo is therefore extended, but it remains limited.
After battling Rayquaza for a whole month and now Giratina appearing as shiny in raids for a month, Mewtwo is only around for a week? I would have loved to do a lot more raids of this legendary Pokémon, but now one has to hope for EX Raids again and rely on significantly more players to trigger such a raid.
In general, there has been a weak monster represented in EX Raids for a whole year with Deoxys. Instead of bringing a completely new Pokémon now, they are bringing back Mewtwo, even with Shadow Ball, which it had before.
What I see positively about this: Newcomers can now secure Mewtwo with the Ghost attack Shadow Ball. At least players have something from it. Anyone who does not yet have a shiny Mewtwo can use their chance again, even though it would have been better if Mewtwo had appeared longer in regular raids.
Rare Pokémon in 10 km Eggs
The first wave of Generation 5 has also brought some monsters that are incredibly strong. However, their pre-evolutions are mainly found in eggs and only rarely in the wild.
What I don’t understand about this: Since the introduction of Riolu in Pokémon GO, 10 km eggs function differently: most contain old community-day Pokémon like Dratini or Larvitar, and only extremely rarely the new monsters.
This was the case with Riolu and Kaumalat and is now also observed with Lichtel and Kapuno. You need tremendous luck to actually hatch one of the mentioned Pokémon and often have to hatch dozens of eggs beforehand.
In the past, Larvitar, Tanhel or Kindwurm were also rare to obtain, but you didn’t have to hatch hundreds of eggs to finally get just one specimen. I don’t understand why the chances on these monsters have only been slightly raised. Sooner or later you would get them during a community day anyway.
What I see positively about this: Of course, it’s also advantageous that rare Pokémon are not found everywhere. This way, you have to continue working on completing your Pokédex. But I find that the rarity should not be overstated.
What do you think? What things currently annoy you in Pokémon GO?
