Prior to Pokemon GO’s recent in-person Las Vegas Hoenn Tour, a few people in my community joked about what could go wrong. Obviously lag and login issues were on the list, as were borked rewards, broken features, the need for a make-up, and compensation. Turns out, my friends were right: All of that happened and more.
Originally this edition of Massively on the Go was going to cover the paid event with the global free event. Expectations were sadly low for Niantic – low enough that I am becoming more concerned with what we players allow. The event wasn’t all bad, but it’s enough that I think we need to pick apart not only what happened (for ticketed and non-ticketed player) and examine the wildly different reactions people online have read vs. experiences on the ground.
A few pleasant surprises
It’s always easy to complain, but I want to note upfront that I paid for this event myself as a consumer, not as media. I was given no passes. I came because it was close enough to home, and I really wanted to see first-hand how Niantic handles live events, so I went all in. I kept expectations low, I wasn’t looking for a ton of shines, I didn’t expect a lot of perfect pokemon, and I did expect problems.
What I didn’t expect was a near-total absence of Niantic in-person authority. There were staff on hand, but anyone could enter the park, with or without tickets. This did lead to some issues, and we’ll discuss that later, but the takeaway is that being early (or even late) didn’t mean you’d be in line forever just to enter the event area. Even for the merchandise booth, there were no line managers. I’ve worked several conventions and never saw people behave this well. Maybe it’s because the crowd seemed older, mostly in their 30s, with very few children and teens running around unattended. It wasn’t perfect (I saw people hopping fences until staff were called in), but that did make a positive impression.
Then there were the free trade placards. In the trading area (which really didn’t work because of Niantic holding contests there constantly), players could pick up a free placard and write down the pokemon they were looking for. I’d already had something like this on my phone due to my prep guide, but having something big people could see while I was moving through the park led to several trades on Sunday (more on that later).
In-game support was also significantly faster than usual. Granted, I didn’t feel I was listened to; I lost several premium items at the start of the event thanks to lag, including raid passes. Instead of getting Premium Passes, I was given Remote Passes. While those are often more expensive, they also have a low cap of 5 Pass max. That means I most likely did not receive all the passes I was owed. I understand the sentiment, but as this was a continuous problem, support should have been giving the correct items. I mostly appreciated the gesture.
Finally, community. I’ve played in many different communities in two different countries since the game’s Japanese release. I know rural players have it tough, but I sometimes forget it’s not just their ability to play the game but their ability to play in meatspace with other players that is hindered. Many people were at least irritated by all the problems Niantic was having, but when I asked why people came to the event – especially people who’d traveled for other past events – people mentioned how much they enjoyed playing with other people again.
I won’t lie: I did enjoy myself late on Saturday and most of Sunday. The path there, though, was rocky. Among all the individuals and groups I spoke to, no one was defending Niantic. In fact, much like my local community members, failure was expected. People mostly came for other people, though there were also lone hardcores with multiple devices (again, this is against Niantic’s own TOS, but this rule is almost never been enforced unless it’s connected with a more serious issue, such as spoofing, stalking, or harassment). And this is where we have to pull our heads below the clouds and once again look at the event from a grounded perspective.
Trainers with a ticket for GO Tour: Hoenn – Las Vegas, there is currently an issue that prevents catching Pokémon that are set as your buddy when using a Pokémon GO Plus. We recommend switching your Buddy Pokémon to one that is not featured during this event.
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) February 18, 2023
History repeating itself
A lot happened on February 18th and 19th that will sadly sound familiar to anyone who’s been paying attention to Niantic and its live events for a while.
First, there were pre-event issues that are important to note before getting into the live event, the most important being a loading issue that’s been present since at least April. Right before the event, Niantic also noted a Buddy bug that could specifically prevent auto-catchers from working. I’m still not sure how that bug suddenly appeared right before the event, but it helps illustrate not only how weird Niantic handles things – as well as its priorities.
Niantic also oddly provided codes for the Regis. This stood out because one of the main features of the event, “A Coded Quest,” seemed like it would be a real-life code search, perhaps using QR codes to activate something akin to the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge AR game in Disney Parks. Instead, it may have been because the “puzzle” had nothing hinted at in game and the “puzzle” was the same codes as in the above link but put into sculptures with a weird font. Very few people interacted with them, and as one person noted, the Ice one was missing. You can also see that the codes weren’t very hidden.
When the event went live, everyone around me had no issues: Pokestops, gyms, and spawns all appeared as normal without requiring us to log out, as we usually might for larger events. However, it soon became apparent that raids were broken. Some people who made it in noted that at the end of the lobby countdown, they were simply booted out. For most others, the game would freeze or refuse to load lobbies, requiring people to restart the game.
This is not a common error, but at that point, logging back into the game was not guaranteed. As mentioned, the game had already been suffering from a login loading issue, and constantly restarting the game exposed everyone to it. Niantic suggested we use its free wi-fi for internet, but that was not a great option either. Much as during 2017’s disastrous Go Fest, Niantic attempted to blame internet connections at first via its on-site Tech Tent representatives. To note, many of us were discussing this via Discord while using our own connections. Our providers were not the sole issue, but largely it was the game.
Niantic claimed that part of the problem was with people attending, which other outlets in gaming media reported on. On the ground, though, nobody was buying it. As Niantic didn’t force people to go through lines, we assumed the numbers came from its own tools, which would count players in areas via their data. The problem with that is that it includes spoofers. Between spoofers, multi-accounters, and the rare “I didn’t know I needed a ticket” player, few of us really believed the problem was with a larger than expected crowd. This was just a typical Niantic failure.
Unable to log in, many of us would-be raiders suspected that our raid passes may have been lost. Niantic compensated folks with Remote Raid passes, which is interesting. While I’ll discuss the Remote Raid pass situation in another future article, I will note the rumor that Remote Raids will see nerfs after the Global Hoenn Tour among the Chinese-speaking POGO Community for over a week prior to the Vegas event. I must stress that my contacts were not able to verify the rumor, but as usual, the Pokeminers found evidence of it on February 20th and exposed it – and then Niantic proceeded to hide it.
RESOURCE ID: item_remote_raid_ticket_desc
TEXT: Pass to join a Raid Battle remotely. You can join {0} Raids a day.— PokeMiners (@poke_miners) February 20, 2023
The rumor’s claim of price increases seemed valid as Niantic originally noted that the 100 coin price for passes, which have remained at 100 coins for nearly three years now, is now a “discount.” The part about limiting the number of passes that can be bought per-day isn’t something Niantic has ever mentioned it’d do, but it does seem like something it could do, similar to the Daily Free Boxes or single-purchase Community Day boxes.
All this is to say that, at the time, it was odd that Niantic was “compensating” lost Daily Passes not with the usual Premium Passes but with the more expensive and much lower capped (currently 5 maximum) Remote Raid Passes. This, naturally, was a problem because those of us capped on our passes couldn’t receive more, so I suspect many people essentially didn’t receive the compensation at all. Support did also refund incense and starpieces, so it wasn’t a total waste. Later, Niantic released bundles with Premium Passes, Remote Raid Passes, and a blog note promising longer hours and more Primal Raids outside of the event’s location. This was not entirely truthful, but again, we’ll get to that in a bit.
Raids weren’t the only reason people were logging out. Niantic had noted there’d be Ghost-type research, but there was no warning of a “cipher” pre-event. Yes, there was a small “warning,” but it was less noticeable than what looked like the glitched text many of us had previously experienced, causing us to log out and, again, face the loading screen. People did eventually catch on and warn others that it was both intentional and would not “clear up” by logging out and back in, but the quest type was audibly reviled by everyone I met, despite some of us appreciating one “cipher” quest that gave a strong nod towards Shedinja’s main-game obtainment method.
While the game did improve about after 90 minutes, there were still many dead zones, particularly if you were using certain carriers or Niantic’s wi-fi. These areas were largely enough that you could not see or interact with some pokemon or objects unless you entered the dead zone and surrendered both your internet and your hope of actually doing what you had set out to do. That, combined with the previously mentioned loading error, ensured many of us who didn’t bail on the event (multiple ticket holders apparently gave up on Saturday and left early) spent much time staring at the loading screen.
At the 6 p.m. event end time, everything respawned in the park, except for gyms with Rayquaza. Perhaps these were the “event-specific raids” advertised to non-ticket holders in Las Vegas, but they were not exactly a welcome sight after many folks had failed to complete many raids. In fact, I had barely finished the most basic content, and having purchased the Raid add-on, I knew I was in danger of losing passes. However, after watching a group of people do the Rayquaza raid and get a basic Ray as a reward, I decided to focus on dinner first, which sadly got delayed as the dinner rush had already started while I interviewed groups of raiders.
The first group had called a ride share, giving up on the day’s events. Then I walked several blocks in a different direction and came across another group. These people noted that Rayquaza was now coming with the February 22nd event move, meaning Niantic had screwed up again. In other words, players had given up not only on the Saturday event but on the make-up.
After dinner, around 8 p.m., I checked my game and noticed that Primal raids had returned. The problem? Many were in the park that Niantic had said would not have events. And the park was full of players after hours. I did speak with a group of park security, who had been driving around checking on players, and they were amicable about players being there during what should have been closing. Had I not been with other players and spoken to security, though, I would have given up, as many people apparently did. Other folks I chatted with on Sunday said they’d already returned to their hotel rooms and couldn’t be bothered to leave. The Remote Raid passes did come in handy for them, and some purchased more (which I think was part of the reason support was distributing them instead of the cheaper Premium Passes), but many had just given up for the night.
Sunday, though, was better. While I still heard from my fellow event-goers that a few carriers had spotty internet in some areas and that Niantic’s wi-fi was largely the worst choice, most people who attended seemed to have a better time. Yes, the login bug still made playing frustrating at times, but knowledge of the dead zones and having finished content made that easier. Niantic had once again tried to use Rayquaza to fix the situation, but that failed. Much as at the start of Saturday, raids were failing to load, though fewer people had frozen screens.
We apologize for the issues affecting Las Vegas Trainers. A bundle containing 3 Remote Raid Passes will be added to the Shop for Trainers in Las Vegas to claim within the next 24 hours. We appreciate your understanding.
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) February 20, 2023
And once again, Niantic tried to use Remote Raid Passes. As previously mentioned, after doing my journalistic duty talking to other players, I headed for dinner. Once again, I met players who had now seen the raids working and joined to get at least one event Rayquaza before dinner. It was only after eating and returning to my hotel that I found out about the above Remote Raid Passes, though, and I was still full on them. I needed to Remote Raid to claim the three free ones or miss out completely. However, 3/3 of my Remote Raided Rayquaza did not have Breaking Swipe, the event move. I shared my journal and screenshots of the 4 total Rayquaza I had gotten with Support so they could see that, despite their protests, the moves didn’t appear random and others had consistently gotten the event move. I was “compensated” with a single Elite TM to correct the issue, rather than three, which could have fixed each errored pokemon. As of this writing, Niantic has refused both to provide additional Elite TMs or Premium Raid Passes for myself and other people I know who were affected by this issue.
3/6 Update: Niantic continued to deny me compensation until March 3, two days after Breaking Swipe Rayquaza was no longer available. Despite my at least daily messages to support seeking reimbursement, Support refused to do so until after the affected pokemon was gone. I had admittedly said I would settle for passes during the event so as to try to replace the affected pokemon, but receiving the passes after the event makes the Remote Passes nearly worthless.
3/17 Update: I am now up to 12 Remote Passes, yet Niantic Support continues to claim that not only can they not give me more items before a different Support members grants them, but one person went so far as to claim that the location cards were not guaranteed. While the blog says there was a “chance” to get one, Niantic uses unclear language often. The fact that my first Kyogre and Groudon caught at the event had the cards only furthers the idea that this Support Member isn’t being honest about the mechanic. No one I’ve spoken to understood location cards were a new kind of “shiny,” only made worse by the fact that unlike other companies, Niantic doesn’t disclose the odds on gamble/chance mechanics, making this seem more like the Support Member is simply abusing semantics to avoid corporate responsibility; good for Niantic, but only further proof that this company will do anything they can to avoid being held responsible for a few dollars.
Remember, you normally aren’t able to hold more than 3 Remote Raid Passes, with normal max being five if you buy a bundle of three while holding two. This means that if Niantic were to offer a free Remote Raid Pass in the store, I would need to use 5 passes, and the current raid schedule does not look worth the extra passes. On top of that, Niantic still tried to weasel out of even this lower valued “compensation,” originally giving me only one pass instead of two (one for each affected pokemon not previously compensated). This also ignores at least 31 of my pokemon from raids (which usually are about $1 each as an entry fee) lacking the exclusive catch cards Niantic bragged about without explaining. While others I’ve spoken to have given up on any compensation, our combined experiences only further show that Niantic does not have customer satisfaction high on its priority list, and attending future events should come with the expectation not only for bugs, but for the loss of premium items that largely won’t be replaced.
This isn’t even an exhaustive list of the numerous, sometimes new, bugs that plagued the event. While my expectations were low, Niantic actually did worse than expected. What is sad, though, is that even veterans of their live events were resigned to this. Admittedly, most of the vets I spoke to had attended the Seattle event and said it was better. When questioned about what made it better, though, they simply said it was that the game didn’t break. All people really wanted to do was play the game as it is, just with more people.
The Seattle Go Fest had nothing neat advertised like the disappointing Regi Code Hunt previously described, and frankly, few people cared; I was one of the only people I saw who interacted with the Regi Code “art,” but that’s all it seemed to be and really that’s all most people expected since the expectations were so low.
Niantic’s decision-makers seem, at best, ignorant of their playerbase’s playstyles. Finishing Niantic’s content wasn’t so much about the rewards but getting rid of the Fear of Missing Out and finally tackling favorite parts of the game, like trading and raiding. Many people preferred the less heavy content of its Go Fest compared to the long chores list that afflicted the Kanto Tour, the Johto Tour, and now the Hoenn Tour. As I’ve often argued, less is often more for AR games in terms of guided gameplay, but Niantic doesn’t understand this. The players I spoke to came to the events for friends, community, trading, raids, and so forth, but Niantic is oblivious.
The bar is low for Niantic. All it needs for “success” is a functional game, and it still misses the mark. I can’t stress enough that I wish people would stop giving the company money. I myself largely switched to free-to-play mode outside of certain event tickets, and that’s mostly for the sake of coverage, to the point that I’ve been gifted event tickets by people who realized I’m skipping stuff. Players not only deserve better but should hold Niantic more accountable for poor service, bland game design, and inaccurate advertising.
No, the Hoenn Tour wasn’t a complete disaster despite the poké-pun I used. Especially on Sunday, when loadscreens weren’t 30% of the experience and quest laundry lists were largely complete, people had fun, including me.
But I also don’t think I would book a hotel for another Niantic event. The money spent on the event alone wasn’t worth it. I was expecting something more like a theme-park and got something only a bit fancier than what my local communities could have pulled off, and honestly, the best parts of the day were bumping into players I already see weekly.
While there’s a lot of online rage about the event, in-person players were often resigned to their fate and sadly expected failure. The community keeps itself entertained and deserves both a better Pokemon game and better game developer. Sadly, I don’t see us getting either any time soon, especially with the upcoming Remote Raid nerfs further fracturing communities.
Massively OP’s Andrew Ross is an admitted Pokemon geek and expert ARG-watcher. Nobody knows Niantic and Nintendo like he does! His Massively on the Go column covers Pokemon Go as well as other mobile MMOs and augmented reality titles!
