In Pokémon GO, raids are especially popular among trainers. Many try to catch shiny monsters there. However, there was recently an error where a monster was not available as Shiny for the full duration. We at MeinMMO will show you what happened and why trainers are now disappointed and angry.
Which Shiny is it about? During the Dragon’s Descent event from December 7 to 12, 2021, the Dragon Pokémon Shardrago made its debut in Pokémon GO. In addition to its normal form, it has also been available as a shiny specimen since then. It could be found during the entire event mainly in level 3 raids. However, there was an error upon the release of the Shinys.
What error did Niantic make?
As Niantic announced shortly after the release of the Dragon Pokémon, there was an error in the game regarding the shiny variant (via twitter.com). The shiny Shardrago was not available in the first 4 hours.
After several days had passed, Niantic announced on the evening of December 17, 2021, via their official Twitter account that affected trainers would receive a corresponding compensation:
In their post, they write: “Trainers, since the shiny Shardrago could not be encountered in the first 4 hours after its release, we granted all trainers who encountered Shardrago during this period 3 remote raid passes. We apologize again for this error and thank you for your patience.”
However, under the Twitter post and on reddit, more and more voices from disappointed and angry trainers are being heard.
Why are the trainers disappointed and angry?
As can be seen from the comments under the Twitter post, many trainers have not received their compensations. The following is written (via twitter.com):
- robincanfield: “I’ve been waiting for over 24 hours still for my passes.”
- Bryanrobledo93: “I did not receive my passes”
- comte_w: “I played it in the first 4 hours after its release and received nothing. Where are my 3 remote raid passes?”
- ninaheartsmuse: “Hello Niantic, I did remote raids during the affected period and did not receive the promised 3 remote raid passes. I was given a general response from support that I should have received them, but I still have not. Many other players I know are still in the same boat as I am. Thanks”
And also on reddit, some affected trainers express that they did not receive the corresponding remote raid passes. Players are particularly angry that Niantic support told them they had no claim. However, the trainers played during this time.
For example, Hhhhh6 writes: “I did some remote raids and took a screenshot of the time, etc. I sent a message to support and they said they couldn’t find any record that I had done a raid during this time window, so I was denied the remote raid passes even with proof. So frustrating.” (via reddit.com).
Criticism of the communication
The communication regarding this error is also being sharply criticized. As can be read under the individual Twitter comments, affected trainers are supposed to contact Niantic directly via Twitter and explain the situation. This is especially criticized by the reddit community, which now has concerns that they are not being heard (via reddit.com):
- TheBlueLenses: “So if you never had Twitter (and didn’t see the tweet), you’ve basically been cheated out of these raid passes?”
- ruok4a69: “Niantic has had a problem since the early days of Ingress using multiple platforms to communicate and support the player base and not effectively using any of them. I can now see that this problem still exists.”
However, Cravenj1 does not believe that Niantic is only more considerate of Twitter users and writes: “I don’t see it that only those who complain on Twitter get 3 raid passes. It seems to me that the proverbial squeaky wheel on Twitter gets a quicker or more targeted response.”
Furthermore, he is convinced that Niantic can query who played during what period based on their collected data to compensate them as well.
Faulty compensation
While many players complain about the missing raid passes, other reddit users report another error. According to their statements, they received compensation even though they did not play during this time (via reddit.com).
For instance, Sroth99us writes: “I received the free passes and didn’t comment on their tweet. I’m also pretty sure that my first Shardrago raid took place a day later.”
As Amillibofan101 writes on reddit, Niantic informed him that all affected trainers had been compensated correctly. Whether Niantic will compensate the missing trainers remains open for now. Should there be new information on this, you will of course find out about it at MeinMMO.
How do you find Niantic’s handling of the situation? Are you affected and also did not receive your raid passes? Or were you lucky and your compensation worked without problems? Feel free to let us know your opinion here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange views with other trainers about it.
Currently, the upcoming holidays are the focus in Pokémon GO. We have looked at which spawns and bonuses await you during the Christmas event.
