In Pokémon GO most trainers primarily want one thing: to catch as many Pokémon as possible. However, the catching feature is currently being criticized in the reddit community. We at MeinMMO have looked into what it is all about and will show you.
Which feature is being discussed? The perhaps most important aspect of Pokémon GO is catching Pokémon. Especially when on the go, you can encounter numerous monsters that you certainly do not want to let escape.
With the new adventure incense, which brings you special spawns for 15 minutes daily while moving, Niantic is providing an additional incentive to go outside and hunt for Pokémon.
However, the catching feature is providing a lot of discussion material in the reddit community right now. The reason for this is the speed of catching. We will show you what it is all about.
Criticism of the Catching System – “Catching Pokémon takes too long”
What is the reason for the criticism? Like many others, reddit user Steampunk-Blooper is trying to catch as many monsters in Pokémon GO and snag shiny specimens. However, as he explains in his reddit post, he is not particularly happy with the speed of catching (via reddit.com).
The main reason for this is the numerous animations that Niantic has built into the catching mode. According to Steampunk-Blooper’s calculations, a normal catch, where the monster stays in the ball with the first throw, takes a total of 20 seconds, from the encounter to returning to the map.
To the reddit user, this clearly takes too long. In his opinion, the numerous animations, such as a wobbly ball or the displayed texts, could be omitted to drastically reduce the time.
Ultimately, it doesn’t just stop at the measured 20 seconds. Once a Pokémon dodges the ball or jumps out again, the catching process takes several seconds longer. There are also times when you select and feed a berry or choose a different ball.
Why is speed so important? The fact that the catching process is artificially prolonged by numerous animations can be especially frustrating when you have just lit an adventure incense.
With this, exclusive Pokémon appear approximately every 30 seconds, as long as you are moving. With a bit of luck, you might even encounter the rare but strong legendary Galar birds. However, due to a too-long catching process with the previous monster, it can happen that you miss the next Pokémon.
And even just standing still to catch is not a good option, as it also affects your spawns. While you won’t see another monster for the moment, you will receive fewer Pokémon overall during that time.
But even when many monsters are spawning in one location or you’re using a normal incense, the long waiting times can become annoying. Especially when you have to pause in places to click and catch all the monsters.
“The Ball Animation is Literally a Waste of Time”
What do other trainers say? As can be seen from the comments under the reddit post, Steampunk-Blooper is not alone in this view. Other trainers also find the animations in the catching screen, as well as in other parts of the game, simply unnecessary and wish for corresponding changes.
For some, the time spent and the use of various items to catch a monster does not correspond to what you ultimately receive. Often the caught Pokémon are not as strong as one would have hoped based on the difficulty of the catch. So you can read the following on reddit:
- housevil: “The funny part is that it is immediately determined whether something was caught or not. The wobbly ball animation is literally a waste of time.”
- SamR1301: “A lot of things in POGO are unnecessary fluff. Opening gifts, deleting items, checking stats, sending gifts, giving your buddy hearts…”
- Numerous-Employment1: “What really gets to me is when I have to hit some random (non-Raid) monsters with several excellent Curveballs, only to get one with 1/1/1 IV.”
- elgiesmelgie: “A Gyarados cost me 30 Ultra Balls, 2 golden Razz Berries, and mostly good throws. It was a 1 star. Out of anger, I named it ‘jerkface’.”
You should keep this in mind when using adventure incense: Since the long time to catch particularly affects your success with adventure incense, you should, as soon as you activate it, preferably only catch monsters that come from this incense.
The reddit user ThePostManEST, however, does not want to miss his chance to catch a special Galar bird and even takes it a step further (via reddit.com): “Honestly, when I use the daily incense, I don’t bother trying to catch anything that isn’t rare. The chance of missing a legendary Galar bird if it spawns is too low.”
What can be done against slow catching?
The Quick Catch Trick: To avoid the long waiting times caused by animations after the catch, some trainers recommend the so-called “Quick Catch Trick” in the comments. This trick has been around in the game for some time and allows you to leave the catching screen right after throwing at the respective Pokémon.
This way, you save yourself from the annoying animation. If you hit the monster with your ball and it stays in, it will automatically be credited to your Poké Bag. If the monster breaks free but does not flee, it will still appear on the map. You can then simply click it again and attempt another catch.
How the Quick Catch Trick works exactly and how left-handed players can use it optimally will be explained in our follow-up article:
Criticism of the Quick Catch Trick: However, for Steampunk-Blooper, the Quick Catch Trick is not the solution to this problem. He makes it clear in his post that while he knows the trick, there should be official ways to speed up catching. He writes:
I now know what quick catching is, and while it is definitely helpful to speed up gameplay, it should not be seen as a permanent solution. It is not a feature, regardless of how long it has been in the game, and the ability to exploit a glitch does not mean that the catching system cannot be improved in real, intended ways. If anything, the fact that people are relying on it only underscores how problematic the long catching times are.
Steampunk-Blooper (via reddit.com)
Whether Niantic will address this issue and create solutions to speed up catching remains to be seen. However, other areas are also affected by annoying animations, such as opening gifts or hatching eggs. Pokémon GO has already made strides in this regard, which is why you can now open eggs faster.
What do you think about the speed of catching? Do you also have the problem of other monsters getting away because the animations took too long beforehand? And do you use the Quick Catch Trick? Feel free to share your opinion here on MeinMMO in the comments and discuss it with other trainers.
In a few days, the Season of GO will come to an end, and the new season is on the way. A find by the Pokéminers provides hints about which legendary Pokémon might be involved.
