There was a small change in raids during the Pokémon GO Fest 2024 that had an enormous impact. Even MeinMMO author Paul had a lot of fun with this change.
What change is it about? This year’s GO Fest 2024 introduced a change in catching the Ultra Beasts and Necrozma that had a tremendous impact. Instead of the usual Premier Balls after a fight with a raid boss, there were the so-called Ultra Balls.
These are special Poké Balls that were available similarly to Premier Balls only for catching a raid boss after a successful battle. In contrast to Premier Balls, the catch probability with Ultra Balls is significantly increased.
And that made raids for me as good as rarely before.
Easy catching, easier candies, more fun
Why was this much better? Normally, I use golden razz berries to maximize the chance of a catch for 5*-raid bosses. I love taking this route and end up getting fewer candies than not catching a Pokémon at all.
In that case, not only is there no Pokémon, but also no candies.
However, since the catch chance was so significantly increased by the Ultra Balls, this was unnecessary. Therefore, I was able to rely on Pinap Berries while catching and snag some extra candies.
This greatly improved my raiding experience at GO Fest. Even though my mood was slightly dampened by the necessary fusion energy, catching raid bosses was easier than ever, which increased my motivation to complete one more raid.
Should Niantic introduce Ultra Balls permanently? For me personally, the permanent introduction of Ultra Balls would be an incredible boost in motivation for raiding. Especially concerning the use of expensive remote raid passes, the barrier to participating in a raid could lower with the balls.
For Niantic, this would mean that trainers would participate in more raids, resulting in increased sales of raid passes.
However, it could also represent a certain devaluation for 5*-raids. 5*- and Mega-raids are the pinnacle regarding difficulty in raiding. Whether Niantic wants that is hard to gauge.
What do you think about it? Would you also like Ultra Balls to be permanent? Or do you think that the regular mechanic with Premier Balls is just right? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments. You can see how I felt about the GO Fest overall and what developments concern me in this regard here: A strong event with a threatening development.
