For over 3 years, Pokémon GO has been on the market and has changed a lot. Our author Noah believes that players are increasingly being asked to spend money. And this shouldn’t really be necessary.
This is what I observe: I have been playing Pokémon GO since the release day and am following the journey of this AR game both privately and professionally. However, Pokémon GO is taking steps that I would almost call Pay2Win.
No matter if it’s events, new Pokémon, or probabilities. You have to spend more and more money to actually succeed.
These reasons support my statement
It has always been said: Pokémon GO has always been criticized for allowing players to buy a clear advantage through items. Lucky Eggs and Star Pieces give you more XP and Stardust, but you must have purchased them in the shop first.
This has always drawn criticism that I didn’t take too seriously. After all, you can finance all of this without real money, and if you use Lucky Eggs effectively, then even those you can buy with in-game coins are sufficient.
This is where the problems started for me: The first time I got annoyed about Pokémon GO in this regard was with Kaumalat. In May 2019, the developers brought the Pokémon into the game, and everyone knew that it was the best monster of Generation 4.
However, instead of getting it from eggs or even finding it in the wild by luck, Kaumalat remained elusive for many players. I personally received my first Kaumalat at the end of December, 7 months after release. Before that, I had spent hundreds of euros on incubators and simply didn’t get a Kaumalat.
By the way, I haven’t encountered a Kaumalat in the wild yet, even though I have caught over 200,000 Pokémon and seen far more.
Kaumalat was not the first case either. Before that, Riolu was incredibly rare to get from eggs. I seemed to have some luck there, but other players had to spend an average of 50 euros for a Riolu. At least, one trainer calculated that.
This is how it continues with the eggs: One might think that Kaumalat and Riolu were exceptions, but Pokémon GO continued its trend in Generation 5.
Kapuno was included in the first wave of Gen 5, while Galapaflos, Flapteryx, and Milza were added with the second wave this January. All are just as rare as Kaumalat, if not rarer.
I myself completely gave up hatching eggs in November and simply do not want to spend more money to continue getting Barschwa from 10km eggs. Even with my limited hatching, I have not received any of the aforementioned Pokémon so far.
I don’t even want to calculate the odds for a player who only uses the infinite incubator and does not spend a cent on the game. It’s hard to imagine that such a player has all these Pokémon.
Money-making in events: What really upset me was the hatching marathon at the beginning of January. There were hat Pokémon to be found everywhere, except in the wild. There, you could only find Pikachu with a hat, which you could catch in previous years. Woingenau and Rattikarl were available in raids that you have to pay for (there’s one free raid pass per day). Party Hat Waumpel could only be obtained from eggs. So, you had to fire up those expensive incubators again and hope for a shiny Waumpel.
The current event around the Lunar New Year does not shy away from the topic of money either. Here, there is the new Pokémon Flampion, which is also quite strong. What should be a reason for joy ultimately disappointed me greatly, because surprise: You can only find it in eggs.
On top of that, the 7km eggs containing the new monster almost exclusively contain weak and useless Pokémon. All Pokémon that are currently frequently found in the wild can also be found in those eggs.
Money-making in raids? Since Generation 3, this problem also exists in raids. Absol and Flunkifer have been available in raids since then. They are not found in the wild. I overlooked that, because after all, there are legendary Pokémon there too, and I gladly spend raid passes for that.
In Generation 4, Sheinux was added. Everyone wanted to have it as shiny, but you had to spend raid passes or incubators for it. After Sheinux, Klikk followed.
Now, the crowning achievement for me is Praktibalk. This Pokémon is my major highlight in Generation 5, and how do I get it? Exclusively through raids or eggs.
While the Pokémon before were at least not useful, Meistagriff, the evolution of Praktibalk, is incredibly strong. If I want to quickly build a good team from it, I have to invest a lot of money. Alternatively, I can do one free raid every day and after weeks have enough candies.
For me, it’s completely incomprehensible why they didn’t include this Pokémon in the wild.
It could also go quite differently
Pokémon GO has already proven this: In the over 3 years I’ve spent with Pokémon GO, the “money-making” was not always an issue. Almost every point I raised above used to be handled differently.
This is how you can handle the eggs: When Tanhel and Kindwurm were added to the eggs, they were by far not as rare as Kaumalat or Kapuno. Sure, you didn’t get them handed to you, but you could get them if you hatched a lot.
Likewise, those two Pokémon were also occasionally available in the wild.
Similarly, this can now be done with the other Pokémon. The monsters are not even that much better. A Knakrack is roughly as strong as a Brutalanda, so why is Kaumalat so much rarer than Kindwurm used to be?
I don’t want to meet the rare Pokémon on every corner, but currently, I feel that Pokémon GO wants me to invest a lot of money in incubators to eventually get one of the Pokémon.
This is how raids could be improved: I would still do Praktibalk raids even if it were found in the wild. Because in raids you have the chance for monsters with good IVs. To this day, I’ve done over 50 Machomei raids, but I still enjoy catching Machollo in the wild.
I think Pokémon should not only be in raids or eggs. At least not such monsters where it is legitimate (baby Pokémon in eggs and legendary Pokémon in raids).
Stop these events already: First and foremost, Pokémon GO should stop the events that focus almost entirely on investing money. A Waumpel with a party hat can definitely spawn in the wild, and it shouldn’t just be limited to hatching eggs.
Especially, new Pokémon should not first appear exclusively in eggs. I generally do not support the release of a generation in waves, but now bringing in individual Pokémon that then hide in eggs is completely the wrong way for me.
This is important: Pokémon GO does not state anywhere that you actually have to spend money. You are just increasingly tempted, and the paths to success without spending money are growing longer.
You don’t have to spend money to hatch a Kaumalat. However, if you only hatch with the infinite incubator, you will probably only get a Kaumalat much later or you will just have extraordinary luck.
This is what I have learned in the last few months: While I used to enjoy spending money on Pokémon GO in 2018, my expenses have decreased significantly lately. I no longer see the point in bad eggs or in the Pokémon hidden in raids.
I find it very unfortunate that Pokémon GO is increasingly moving towards a Pay2Win direction and I hope for an improvement in the future. Until then, I will continue to catch Pokémon, at least those that appear in the wild.
Maybe the upcoming events in Pokémon GO will be better. I have hope for that:
