Massively on the Go: Pokemon GO enters its Shared Skies season without sharing much info

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Andrew Ross
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We’re entering the summer season in Pokemon Go, and this one is called Shared Skies. If you ignore the repeat info from the upcoming Go Fest, you might think teasing Mega Rayquaza would be enough to drive up hype, except that Niantic’s usual coyness about details rears its ugly head immediately as one of the season-wide bonuses is an unspecified numerical “increase” that (at least for those of us used to Niantic by now) has little to no value.

We are getting some new events this month, but everything on the horizon seems foggy. As usual, Massively on the Go is here to part some of the cloudy details and help readers fly some clearer skies. With some help, of course.

Let’s start with the PvP changes this season, not because I think (m)any readers really participate but because some of those changes can affect both Rocket battles and even raids. Mostly it’s a wash in terms of what’s meta-relevant, as you may surmise from above. While it gives some spice to the PvP scene, as it should, PvE fans shouldn’t feel as if the change does much to affect them, so let your raid team members breathe a sigh of relief.

Season-wide benefits include two special trades per day, so I hope you’ve saved some good things from last season’s double raid passes. There’s also a minor XP bonus for your first daily catch; increased XL candy chances from walking your buddy seem good on paper, but without specifics, they’re kinda moot. Unsurprisingly, we still don’t have numerical odds coming to egg hatch contents, but there’s nothing new to really get excited about in terms of egg contents, according to G47ix’s info.

The weekly research breakthrough has changed quite a bit, but again, nothing too exciting aside from possibly Audino for its stardust bonus. Wild spawns aren’t so different, though we extend sympathies to southern hemisphere players who have to deal with largely useless starters this season, plus miss out on extra stardust-‘mon the northern hemisphere will be getting.

Finally, the shadow legendary beasts seem to be getting an immediate second cycling in Shadow Raids this summer. Raikou, the most useful one, starts off in June. My guess would be Entei comes back in July, which has some uses, and August may as well be a break except for shiny collectors, as it’s the least useful and most difficult of the three.

Speaking of June, while we have some good candy options lined up, the lack of moves coming for the 5-star raid options leaves much to be desired. Zapdos isn’t exactly top-tier outside of its Shadow option, and the Galar version for PvP requires having one before even considering PvP stats, but it could be worse. Incarnate Landorus isn’t terrible if you have a good Therian one, but it would be nice to know if the Incarnate will get Sand Sear, which would make it better. Yveltal with Oblivion Wing and Ho-Oh with any event move are in the same position. All have uses, but currently it just looks like candy-fodder this month.

The one major highlight could be the return of Mega Rayquaza, but there are immediately things to worry about; for now, be ready both with extra premium passes if you’re interested in Mega Ray – just set aside time to file multiple complaints.

With that in mind, let’s go over June Events. First is the super short Stadium Sights event, from June 1st-4th. Shiny Emolga debuting is cute, but outside of PvP, the biggest thing to watch for is Riolu in 7k eggs. Staravia isn’t bad if you need Flying raiders, and Meditite is decent for its Mega, but again, this isn’t a major event unless you’re super into hatching, as there are 1.5 multipliers in effect for hatched candy and stardust. Players may want to stock up on 2k eggs for the event — or if you’re a big spender, save your incubators for it.

June 7th-12th is another new, short event, Slumbering Sands. Shiny Komala is cute but useless, but the mention of the Slakoth family (with costume, for those who care) is interesting. While not useful for raider or PvPer, Slaking getting Body Slam would be a nice addition to the event, as the pokemon has had its Community Day event only twice according to the POGO wiki page and my own memory; it’s been over three and a half years since the move was available.

Ignoring that, I think what’s interesting about this event is that it has specific tie-ins for Go Plus+ users, which are (potentially shiny) Komala, event Slakoth, and Nightcap Snorlax, plus some stardust. The research ends June 14th, though, so don’t sleep on it!

From the teaser, we know June 9th’s Community Day will be Goomy. While it’s a bit of a fan favorite, expectations for its meta-relevancy are quite low. There are some rumors that the Hisui version of Sliggoo may be coming soon, but I wouldn’t expect it quite yet. As always, we’ll update all of these sections once we know more details, especially what Goomy’s event move will be.

5/31 Update: Goomy is confirmed to be the target, but getting Thunder Punch doesn’t do anything for it in terms of PvE, and in PvP it feels insulting after so many other pokemon will have the move added at the start of the season. There’s also nothing hinting at the Hisui version either, possibly making this one of the least anticipated Dragon Community Days in a while, aside from fan-favorite Noibat, who also didn’t get a great move.

Spelunker’s Cove is a new event coming from June 15th-18th, and yes, it’s also a super short one, which seems to be the theme. It sounds like a Rock/Water event so far.

6/6 Update: We have official event details now and, as we guessed, it’s a Water/Rock event. PvP fans can look forward to Carbink in the wild while collectors can hunt for new shiny Crabrawler. Jangmo-o isn’t a bad research reward, nor is double catch candy, but overall, it’s a pretty low-key event.

Similarly, June 21st-25th is another mini-event, Scorching Steps. It sounds like a Fire event that’ll push walking.

6/5 Update: We now have official information on the event and, as we predicted, it’s a Fire-based event that pushes walking, or specifically, egg hatching, and in an awful way. Not only are there no wild spawns associated with the event, but one of the main features is shiny Larvesta, a pokemon that’s so rarely hatched that it may as well not even exist let alone have a rare variant. Charcadet in 10k eggs is a nice bonus, but it’s all a game of chance. Double hatch candy, half hatch distance, and 1/4 hatch distance for the first three eggs hatched using the egg widget make things a little less painful, but it’s more lowering the bet entries than making the event any better in terms of quality. Suffice to say, the community on social media isn’t having it.

During that event though is June 22nd’s Classic Community Day which, via an obvious teaser, is Cyndaquil. Again, there are some rumors of Hisui raids coming “soon™” but as I’ve seen little evidence, I wouldn’t yet place much stock in them. Cyndaquil isn’t a terrible ‘mon, but outside of the Shadow version, it should probably only be a good event for new or long-absent players. We’ll update this section should the CD bonus be something worth mentioning, like quadruple stardust.

5/31 Update: Like Goomy above, Cyndaquil is also confirmed, but also has no indication of being linked to its Hisui version. Double XP and Stardust aren’t bad, but again, the event seems rather muted for veteran players.

Niantic’s kicking off its own birthday party from June 28th to July 3rd. The 8th Anniversary Party will probably be similar to other anniversaries, so expect some Wartortle theme due to it being Pokedex #8, but maybe Niantic will be nice and allow Bulbasaur’s fam to join the party, as the dex number theme is only a few years old. Expect birthday hats (both in the wild and raids), new avatar items, more starters spawning, a new shiny and/or pokemon species, and naturally some “sales.” Again, we’ll update this as we learn the specifics.

6/18 Update: While we were wrong about Wartortle, we were right about party hats, sales, avatar items, starters, and “sales.” Friday’s half hatch bonus and Sunday’s double stardust bonus are great, with Saturday’s double catch xp bonus being best for sub-50 players or those who love to grind. Grimer (Pokedex number 88) getting a party hat is cute, but the ability to also be shiny and evolve is better, as it’s not super useful but can still work as a gym defender. Players may also want to go hard on Monday to prep for Poplio’s most likely upcoming Community Day.

During this event, though, is the June 29th Mega Rayquaza Eite Raid Day I briefly mentioned at the start of our roundup, and boy do I see some problems I’m hoping the rest of the event won’t have. First, it’s an Elite Raid event, which always have problems. While Shadow raids always have a lot of issues, Elite Raids are both buggier and more exclusive, to the point that the feature should probably have been axed. Worse, Niantic is giving only two raid windows of opportunity: noon to 1 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. We also don’t know how much energy will be given out or whether the required Meteorite to even use said energy to Mega it will be highly available. Mega Ray is one of the best Megas to invest in, but lacking a lot of these details makes the event a painful tease for anyone who’s been playing Pokemon Go the back half of these eight years. As always, be ready for updates and hope Niantic proves me wrong by giving players a nice gift for this anniversary.

6/28 Update: As if to remind players why these events are so hated, Niantic support confirmed what early time zone “beta testers” noticed: there are no warning eggs to help players prepare for the event. Instead, Elite Raid eggs will go up at 6am June 29th, the very day the event is held, giving communities mere hours to plan. We’re predicting that, like other Elite Raid Days, there will be problems, but especially due to the importance of Mega Ray, many unhappy players.

While most of the month is spotty, at least the Spotlights will end well. June 4th with Makuhita and double catch candy is kind of a waste. Wingull for June 11th isn’t much, but double transfer candy, especially with the storage struggles we’ve been having, is. Roggenrola and double evolution XP are skippable unless you want a nice shiny rock to evolve with its required Community Day move later.

No, the big deal is June 25th with Morelull and double catch stardust. Morelull gives bonus dust, so this is a good event to cash in research stacks filled with other dust bonus ‘mon. It may not be part of the 8th Anniversary event, but it’s a big enough gift that it should have been!

As always though, check back for updates as Niantic doles them out, and stay safe out there, trainers!

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!
Pokemon Go studio Niantic is considered a controversial gaming company owing to multiple scandals and deceptions, starting with the Wi-Spy privacy scandal; over the years, it’s repeatedly failed to secure player data, endangered players during the pandemic, and refused to address documented stalking in POGO. It also rolled back popular accessibility features to incentivize data collection, faked data, and lied about event results. Following 2021’s community-driven Pokemon No boycott, Niantic vowed transparency and communication; it has not delivered.
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