At the start of the new season “Alola Season,” Pokémon GO wants to get you outside more often and is adjusting the bonuses accordingly. We at MeinMMO will show you what changes are coming and why your incense is now “bad.”
What changes are we talking about? Today in Pokémon GO the Alola Season begins, bringing you many new Pokémon, cool research tasks, and numerous events. However, it also brings a change to the exploration bonuses, which will focus on raids and incense.
Niantic has been emphasizing for some time that they want to return to their original game concept and get people outside more. Now, with the change in bonuses, the first steps in this direction are to be taken. We show you what to expect.
Incense is worse at home, you should move
The announced changes refer to the exploration bonuses that were introduced in the past. These are now to be further expanded. The following special features await you with the start of the Alola Season on March 1st (via pokemongolive.com):
- Increased effectiveness of incense when you move
- One incense now lasts 90 minutes
- Two free raid passes daily from spinning gyms
These changes don’t sound that bad. After all, the incense now lasts significantly longer than before, and most players will not say no to the two free raid passes.
However, these changes to the exploration bonuses also come with a significant disadvantage.
Warning – Your incense is now really bad if you don’t move
Due to the increased effectiveness of incense while moving and its longer duration, there is also a limitation: The increased effectiveness of incense while stationary is eliminated.
The fact that you could previously utilize higher incense effectiveness while stationary is originally due to the Corona bonuses that were implemented because of the pandemic and the associated lockdowns.
Thus, trainers could also play from home and catch many Pokémon. However, with the start of the new season, that is now over, and you will only attract a few monsters with incense from your home sofa.
If you have frequently played from home over the past months, you will notice a significant difference with incense now. The spawn rate while stationary is now only about one monster every 5 minutes. So, to use your incense effectively, you will now have to go outside again.
This is what the community says about the changes
The new changes are also hotly debated in the reddit community. In particular, the degradation of incense effectiveness while stationary is a major topic. Most trainers are not thrilled about it and are already saying goodbye to their incense. You can read the following comments there (via reddit.com):
- foladar: “The incense effectiveness while stationary will be removed. Does that mean again 1 spawn per 5 minutes? If so, RIP incense.”
- BKoldcuts: “Sounds like it really is going back to the 1/5 rate, incredibly disappointing. Going from 40 spawns in 60 minutes to 18 in 90 minutes. I understand what they are trying to do, but this is the same mistake they made with interaction distance.”
- xristosxi393: “Walking for 90 minutes with frequent breaks to catch Pokémon sounds exhausting. It seems Niantic’s idea of how the game should be played is once again clashing with how players want to play.”
- Plus-Pomegrante8045: “This really annoys me! What about those of us who walk long distances every day, even in winter when it’s uncomfortable, and just want to use incense at home for an hour or at night when they were already out during the day? Why are we being punished? I’m so angry about this.”
As the comments on reddit also show, many have utilized the higher incense effectiveness during Community Days or Spotlight Hours. For this reason, some also have concerns regarding the spawn rate.
Is there a chance that Niantic will reinstate the bonus?
Indeed, Niantic has faced criticism from players for such changes before. Already in August 2021 trainers wrote an open letter that circulated through social media as the interaction radius to gyms and PokéStops was to be reduced again.
The player backlash was successful, and Niantic eventually increased the interaction radius permanently to 80 meters. Whether Pokémon GO will also accommodate trainers regarding the limitations of incense effectiveness while stationary remains to be seen.
As Niantic has communicated through their Pokémon GO blog, they will continue to monitor the process of these bonus adjustments and make changes if necessary.
What do you think of the changes to get more people outside? Have you been using incense primarily while stationary in recent months? Or are you not bothered by the retraction of the increased effectiveness and rather looking forward to the free raid passes? Let us know in the comments on MeinMMO.
There’s a lot coming up in Pokémon GO in the coming weeks. We’ll show you all events to expect in March and tell you which ones are worth it.
As Niantic has communicated through their Pokémon GO blog, they will continue to monitor the process of these bonus adjustments and make changes if necessary.
What do you think of the changes to get more people outside? Have you been using incense primarily while stationary in recent months? Or are you not bothered by the retraction of the increased effectiveness and rather looking forward to the free raid passes? Let us know in the comments on MeinMMO.
There’s a lot coming up in Pokémon GO in the coming weeks. We’ll show you all events to expect in March and tell you which ones are worth it.
