Niantic has addressed the community regarding the future of Pokémon GO. The message caused some confusion. At the same time, it gives hope that playing in rural areas will soon be more enjoyable. It is often criticized that trainers in rural areas have a harder time than city trainers.
This is what the message is about: Niantic describes in a community note that several tests have been conducted. Based on this, various adjustments to gameplay have been made over a certain period.
Niantic also thanks the community for their feedback.
Few PokéStops? More Items!
This was tested: Among other things, Niantic reports that they tested distributing more items in areas with few PokéStops. This means, for example, that it could soon be more worthwhile to spin these stops in rural areas or villages with few stops.
Furthermore, Pokémon GO introduced different shop bundles and adjusted the difficulty of raids to the communities in which the raids take place.
However, Niantic does not elaborate on what exactly these adjustments will look like.
This is what Niantic wants to achieve: According to Niantic, they want to provide the best possible gaming experience. Therefore, new features will continue to be tested. An example of this is the “Legendary Raid Hour,” which also started as such a test and, with the help of community feedback, became a regular event.
One should prepare for some changes in the game in the future. These will be released between “larger” features.
However, these features take time – what exactly they are about remains open by Niantic.
Message Confuses Players
This is how players are reacting: On “reddit“, the message is causing confusion. User “Max Mullen” summarizes the message like this: “We have tested a few things. We are continuing to test. Something might come out of it.”
User “Melts10” reached a similar conclusion: “We are changing a few things. You are testing them. More things will change so you can test them. But we won’t tell you which. Thanks!”
Many players also reacted with concern to the news that raid difficulties might be adjusted. Because: It is unclear to what extent these will be made:
- Will level 5 raids in rural areas simply be easier than in the big city, where there are many players and gyms?
- Or will there simply be more level 1-3 raids in rural areas while in the city, difficult raids such as against Darkrai take place?
Overall, many players wished for more information in the message. How exactly the new features will look and how the tests have worked will likely only be learned once they are live.
What the new update brings is already very clear:
