That Pokémon GO is not exactly difficult is no longer a secret. We asked Niantic why this is the case and what role the community plays.
Here come the answers: During the GO Fest in Dortmund, we spoke with 2 game designers from Niantic, Laura Warner and Matt Ein.
They answered various questions regarding the max level and PvP, as well as challenging tasks in Pokémon GO.
This is how the community makes the game harder for themselves
In many respects, it is evident that Pokémon GO is not really challenging if you play the game for a few hours a week. The special research tasks can be completed in just a few hours, and the battles against team leaders in PvP mode hardly challenge you.
This is what Niantic says about difficulty: For the developers, it is important that Pokémon GO is successful for all players around the world. They do not want a player to fail a task just because they are not very active.
This is also the reason why in the PvP mode both the winner and the loser receive the same rewards. The loser should not be demotivated just because they lost.
How should Pokémon GO become harder? Matt Ein explained this to us using the example of PvP. Here, the Pokémon GO community organizes the tournaments themselves. Monthly offers from TheSilphRoad are exactly what Pokémon GO should be about.
Niantic provides the platform and the basic game, but the community and each player should set their own goals and challenge themselves. Be it in PvP tournaments or with another objective.
How can you challenge yourself? If you want to set your own goals, there are several options you can pursue:
- Gold all medals
- Catch a certain number of Pokémon
- Complete raids with particularly few players
- Win PvP tournaments in your region
This is what Niantic says about the community: In our conversation, the game designers repeatedly showed that Niantic knows exactly what the community wants and has a very good overview of that.
Laura Warner told us that they try to consider the community’s wishes and that a feature should ultimately meet the players’ wishes.
However, they also look at what is feasible and where there are problems. Then it is decided whether and which feature will come into the game.
What does this mean for the future of Pokémon GO? If you have always complained about the easy tasks in Pokémon GO, you will probably still have a lot to complain about in the future.
The developers left a door open in our conversation. They did not confirm that some new features in Pokémon GO will not become harder. Perhaps already Team Rocket, which could be coming soon.
