In Pokémon GO, special top raids took place again on Sunday, November 13, 2022, offering players a new challenge. However, some trainers are convinced that Niantic should prefer to remove the raids for now. We at MeinMMO looked at what happened.
Which raids are in question? Since October, there has been a new type of raid in Pokémon GO: the top raids. These can only be played on-site and are a bit harder than you are used to from other raids.
They offer players a new challenge that they have been waiting for a long time. However, despite many positive reactions, the top raids are currently facing some criticism. We looked at what happened and what the trainers are now demanding.
That’s why trainers are complaining about the new top raids
Why is there criticism of the top raids? In addition to an encounter with the mysterious Pokémon Hoopa (Unleashed), players should be rewarded with special spawns for 15 minutes after the raids, which are supposed to allow encounters with legendary monsters like Articuno, Zapdos, or Moltres.
On Sunday, November 13, 2022, it was finally time again, and you had the opportunity at 11:00 AM, 2:00 PM, and 5:00 PM local time to battle against Hoopa. However, the subsequent bonus spawns simply did not appear for some trainers, leading to considerable frustration in the community.
What happened after the top raids? As reddit user Pokecrafter320 explains in his post, he and 12 other trainers did one of the top raids at 2:00 PM at their local arena. After defeating the raid boss and capturing it, however, there was no sign of the bonus spawns.
But the trainer and his friends had hoped so much for these. He writes:
I know I’m definitely not alone in this. You go to your local arena because remote raid passes are not allowed, you hope you have enough people to defeat the raid, you defeat it, you hopefully catch it, and then nothing. I just went through this today with 12 other people. We did a top raid at 2 PM, hoping that there would be a few rarer spawns afterward, and we got absolutely nothing. No confetti, no rare spawns, just a timer.
Pokecrafter320 via reddit.com
What are the experiences of other trainers? Looking at the comments and other reddit posts, it quickly becomes clear that Pokecrafter320 shares this fate with some other trainers. They also did not receive these spawns. The problem is repeatedly reported. Trainer BonLee64 also reports the following in his reddit post:
No special spawns after the Hoopa raid? I managed to join a raid group at 2 PM, defeated and caught Hoopa, and… nothing happened. I walked around the area, restarted the phone and the app to see if something would happen. No bueno. The rarest Pokémon I saw was Wailmer, and my game screen flickered between the Rocket radar color scheme and the normal one. Did anyone else have similar problems?
BonLee64 via reddit.com
The bad part for Pokecrafter320 is that this problem has not just existed since this weekend. Already after the first top raid event on October 16, 2022, many players complained that they did not receive the subsequent spawns. In addition, criticism of the difficulty of the raids has arisen, as many trainers are needed to complete them.
In particular, players in rural areas see themselves at a disadvantage because there are often fewer players there, and they also have to travel to the respective arenas. All the more incomprehensible for Pokecrafter320 that no improvements have been made here yet and he presents his thoughts in the reddit post.
“Niantic should remove top raids until the bug is fixed”
What demand does Pokecrafter320 make? As Pokecrafter320 explains in his post, he finds it incomprehensible that after a month there are still no changes regarding the bonus spawns. Thus, he primarily demands (via reddit.com): “Niantic should remove top raids until the spawn bug is fixed”.
But that’s not enough. Pokecrafter320 has even more ideas on how Niantic could address this problem and thus calm the trainers a bit. He also calls on other reddit users to share their ideas in the comments. In his post, he addresses the following words directly to Niantic:
- If you’re not going to fix the spawns, at least make the raid rewards better. I’m not going to do a 6-star raid just to get a fraction of the 5-star rewards and a Knursp. Add some XL Rare Candies or a Premium Charge/Instant TM, or if you don’t want to give rare items, increase the amount of regular items to at least 1.5 times that of 5-star raids.
- Temporarily remove the top raids and fix the spawns. Right now, there’s almost no incentive to do them, and having the spawns actually work is a good way to fix that. When I found out that Lin-Fu, Libelldra, Dragoran, and the Kanto birds spawn afterward, that was an incentive to do it. Without that, it’s just another boring raid boss.
- Here’s another possible alternative to fixing the spawns or even increasing the rewards: make the boss shiny. I’d much rather do a shiny-capable raid boss than a non-shiny-capable one. Because if there’s at least a chance of a shiny, you have a chance of getting something that’s worth it.
If anyone has other ideas, feel free to leave a comment with your own idea. I hope Niantic sees this, but since they didn’t last time, I don’t hold out too much hope this time…
Pokecrafter320 via reddit.com
Further ideas: And other players are also convinced that a lot needs to change regarding the new top raids. They would even consider the bonus spawns less important if the raids themselves were easier to complete. Various comments can be read (via reddit.com):
- NarutoSakura1: “I just want them to be easier. Living in the countryside and not having a local group to help me is tough.”
- steameruption: “But seriously, Niantic needs to learn to properly launch their features before they bombard us with all kinds of unacceptable bugs. Zorua was a dreadful experience and is still not fixed, now this too!”
- Gaindolf: “I think the top raid concept is cleaner when there’s just a time period available. They should make the rewards and spawns better for that.”
Counterarguments: Other trainers, on the other hand, don’t understand Pokecrafter320’s harsh demands. They don’t do the top raids because of the subsequent spawns, but because of the mysterious Pokémon. As GatekeeperTDS writes (via reddit.com): “Why should we take away the opportunity for people to catch a mysterious Pokémon just because the spawns aren’t great anyway?”
And user thehatteryone sees it similarly (via reddit.com). He also believes that you do the raid because of the boss and not because of the subsequent spawns. For this reason, it would be the simplest solution for him if Niantic removed the bonus spawns until the problem is fixed. Therefore, trainers would have more time to focus on the raids instead of chasing after rewards in his view.
Whether Niantic will address the issue with the bonus spawns remains to be seen. However, if there is any new information, you will definitely find it with us at MeinMMO.
What’s your opinion on the new top raids? Did you get the spawns after the raid? Or didn’t you secure Hoopa at all? Feel free to let us know here at MeinMMO in the comments and engage with other trainers on this topic.
By the way: Pokémon GO now has monsters from 8 different generations. Participate in our survey and let us know which generation is the best.
