In Pokémon GO, a trainer is currently fighting for the return of one of the most important Corona bonuses. However, his idea is received differently in the community than expected and leads to a lively discussion. We from MeinMMO show you what it’s all about.
What are Corona bonuses? The basic idea of Pokémon GO was once to encourage people to go outside, explore their surroundings, and meet new people. But this changed due to the Corona pandemic. Many trainers were unable to play Pokémon GO in its original form because of the prevailing contact and stay-at-home restrictions at that time.
In some countries, players were not allowed to go outside or meet friends for a time. For this reason, the developers provided trainers with some special bonuses, such as the introduction of remote raid passes or enhanced incense effectiveness, which made the game still possible for the community.
But after the restrictions were lifted, Niantic gradually phased out the special “home bonuses” as well. Now, a trainer is demanding the return of an important Corona bonus and has a special idea of how to persuade Niantic to do so. What that is and how the trainers are reacting, we have summarized for you below.
Trainer demands free remote raid passes back
What bonus is it about? One of the most important bonuses during the Corona pandemic was the introduction of remote raid passes. These allow trainers to participate in a raid from anywhere in the world by being invited by a trainer friend.
So that players could still have the opportunity to secure legendary monsters despite the restrictions, Niantic introduced a weekly box through which the passes could first be obtained for free and later for a few coins. These passes are still active in the game, but Niantic has already made them more expensive last year and removed them as a goodie from the box.
This led to considerable frustration in the community. A reddit user, NarpusSwordo, also wishes for the popular passes to be available for free or at least at a reduced price and shares a concrete plan in his post on how this should work.
What idea does he have? As NarpusSwordo writes in his reddit post, he still remembers the time when there were free raid passes, which made him check the game daily. He was disappointed when the bonus was removed and that it is now harder to get remote raid passes, especially because he lives in a small town. Therefore, he demands (via reddit.com): “We MUST start a petition to bring back daily remote raid passes!”
In the past, there have been some actions by trainers that have led to developers reconsidering their decisions. For example, the campaign “#HearUsNiantic” in August 2021 helped return a controversial PokéStop change through an open letter from the community. NarpusSwordo seems to wish for something similar for his idea. But the community responds to this suggestion differently than expected.
Trainers say: “That will never happen”
Trainers are skeptical: In the reddit community, the suggestion is surprisingly poorly received. This is not because trainers do not wish for free remote raid passes back, as most players agree that the bonuses were really good. Although the free remote raid passes, unlike what NarpusSwordo explained, were not available daily but only weekly, some would be happy about their return.
Little hope for success: However, the majority of the reddit community, according to their comments, has little faith in the success of such a petition. This is mainly due to the fact that Niantic has made some, sometimes even secret, changes in the game in recent months that have been criticized by trainers repeatedly. But nothing has happened.
Many have therefore given up hope that Niantic cares about the wishes of the trainers in this way and see a realistic chance only if the majority of players stop spending money on Pokémon GO or boycott the game. As such, one can read the following in the comments (via reddit.com):
- Rapture00: “Good luck, Niantic has already proven that they don’t care a bit about what players want or think. Do you remember when they claimed they would be more transparent and set up a group for player feedback? Yeah, that lasted about a month and then they just released money updates again.”
- SenseisSifu: “The only sensible petition would be for people to stop buying the absurd bundles and ‘early access’ for Pokémon releases…”
- ippo0528: “Unfortunately, Niantic does not care about petitions. The only way we can protest at Niantic is by hurting them by suddenly having the majority of players stop spending money OR organizing a time span in which the majority of players no longer logs in or opens the game to prevent them from collecting data. But that would be almost impossible to organize…”
- dare978devil: “That’s never going to happen. Niantic is actively changing the game for the worse; no more weekly remote raid passes, price increases for remote raids, reduction of community day hours, reduction of distances to PokéStops, etc. It’s almost as if Elon Musk bought Niantic.”
That a petition regarding remote raid passes could be difficult to achieve is also shown by one of the latest findings from the PokeMiners. Accordingly, Niantic has planned further cuts of Corona bonuses as well as the deterioration of remote raids. This would also speak against a return of free remote raid passes.
Support from the community: However, there are also a few trainers who would still initiate a petition and would be ready to participate immediately. For example, Zealousideal asks (via reddit.com): “Where do I need to sign?” Whether NarpusSwordo will actually make an attempt and put his idea of the petition into action remains to be seen.
What is your opinion on NarpusSwordo’s proposal? Would you participate in a petition to bring back the free remote raid passes? Or do you also have less hope for success? Let us know here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers about it.
By the way: We tested how easily you can participate in remote raids with Poke Genie and show you how it works.
