Advertising Pokemon Go’s Wild Area last weekend as being on the same level as Go Fest or the Go Tours was another major misstep for Ninatic – unless you were one of those who attended the local event in Japan, which probably isn’t many people reading today. POGO players who noted my mid-event changes to our event prep guide saw that Mighty Pokemon levels were nerfed, crushing the one major feature that truly stood out from this event and detracting from the whole experience. And it’s not that the Mighty ‘Mon nerf ruined the event (because they still got some love); it also wasn’t a great event even in terms of the basic plans, as we suspected. Even worse, my local community realized that the event felt like a drain on both our wallets and our overall resources.
In this edition of Massively on the Go, we’re going to go over some player reactions to the event as well as discuss how Niantic’s encroachment on player time and energy may end up costing it even more players.
Problems with planning
Normally my POGO event guides require a bit more work and planning. There’s usually some neat little feature or a hot pokemon to look out for, maybe a few sleeping giants. Wild Area, though, just seemed like a mish-mash of mediocrity. I will say that because most of the new(er) players in my communities are gone, I may have lost some touch with that part of the playerbase. In my defense, though, players on the ground left the event early in droves. I can’t deny that the very light rain on our local Day 1 may have had something to do with that, but we’ve had other rainy events that didn’t have as much impact. Online complaints about Day 1 and Day 2 have felt pretty similar to what I saw on the ground, but let me spell that out in a few more focused ways.
For the main event, there just wasn’t much hype in terms of the spawns. Shiny hunters are always around, but most people talked about their wild shinies either in terms of shiny Mighties or with a shrug, with the single exception of the costume pikachus, which spawned only from photobombing, making them extremely limited. The Mighties are nice because those pokemon often have good stats and/or are XXL, so they can be used in battle or contests. The other non-Pika wild spawns resulting in just shrugs, though, should be a big concern for Niantic leads.
Go Tours and Go Fest often have something like regionals, or super-rare ‘mon suddenly being wild and shiny, and sometimes they have legendaries in the wild. The only new pokemon and shiny, outside of raid-only costume Snorlax (lovingly referred to as “Leather Daddy Snorlax” by my locals), was the Toxel line, and that was restricted to eggs and raids, both of which cost extra to get the most out of them. Even though I paid for a ticket, I was very stingy with my incubators and hadn’t seen a single Toxel hatch during the pre-event or Day 1 of the event, and I walked about 15 miles that day.
Max problems
While I normally walk a lot during these events, I may have walked a bit more because of the Max Raids. Everything I complained about in my recent review of Max Battles was on full display for this event. The changing of locations too quickly to plan, the lack of Particle front-loading breaking up raid trains, FOMO cutting people out or causing them to make errors, the need for large groups… even though I got a shiny of my favorite form and enjoyed the company of several of my fellow players, the six Gmax raids I did for Day 1 weren’t something I’d call fun.
Day 2 actually was worse due to the lower turnout. Several of us complained how ill-prepared some people were on Day 1, but I understood where they were coming from. Everyone knew that Niantic tying unlockable moves to particles was tantamount to asking players to choose between raiding (something fun) with powering up ‘mon (something tedious). Worse, large groups where selfish players could pay to keep mooching off others is a real thing, so while some of us put in a lot of work and effort as free-to-play trainers, others not only got victories but fed Niantic more money too. It’s a dangerous signal to send if you want the game to support teamwork and challenging content.
Again, each player’s mileage may vary, but we had several frequent players simply not prepared for Gmax Battles. While we heard Toxi was doable with as few as 10 people, we failed with it about 20 a few times on the first day, and did better the second day only because the group “adults” didn’t have leechers dragging down their teams. I noted some attempts at coordination and communication, but as a whole, this community just wants to zerg stuff down, and frankly speaking, that’s the vibe I’ve gotten from 99% of the POGO communities I’ve played with, even in Japan (though I’d argue those players came to even normal gym battles with more preparation). It’s not necessarily bad, but Niantic does little to assist organization and less to truly encourage it.
While my first two raids both days went well enough, as I mentioned before, things fell apart after that. In fact, hours after my morning Gmax raids, I bumped into a free-to-play player, and we noted that while the raids were rotating and renewing, new particles were not part of the deal, forcing us to leave our raid groups and walk far off the beaten path (and I suspect some people simply drove). Now, that does encourage exercise, but it also fractured the group, and we never really recovered our numbers after that either day. Worse, when we did rally, a failed attempt would actually cause some people to leave and even go home.
Even though I was able to use all my free Particles on Day 2, it was a major struggle to do so. We’d lost a chunk of our players, and some people pondered whether it may have been so they could go to Santa Monica, a major POGO hotspot in the state (but not a place most locals go to play POGOÂ unless they’re super devoted, and we do have some players like that).
I’ve argued before that Max Raid battles are niche and that streamers could really pull players away from their traditional communities. If events revolve around Gigantamax battles, though, that will further funnel players to larger locations that already struggle to deal with POGO players, not to mention put stress on group organizers who may suddenly find their people have left to zerg elsewhere. On Day 2, we were able to play a bit smarter to get more done with less players, but it also involved shaming some players who understandably don’t want to invest in Max Battles because they’re such a blatant resource sink. POGO never does well in that aspect, and while we’ve seen it in the original raid release when players would bring Chansey to a DPS race, this feels like a whole new level of shaming.
Despite our struggles, two players who came from a town or two over thought they could pull the same thing off in their own area. Several cities have to visit my usual play site because it attracts more random players, but I don’t know if these guys really have the community to pull off small-scale Gmax raids. Considering this location has hosted multiple lobbies for regular raids but now struggles to field one for Gmaxes, I don’t think it’s something most non-major city communities can easily pull off.
Admittedly, I was the instigator for most of our groups on Day 2, either openly or taking silent advantage of FOMO by using my friend’s account to make it look like players were joining or leaving the Gmax raid to get people to also join or leave until I was comfortable with the numbers because, once again, herd mentality wins out once you reach a certain size with large-group content. Again, all of this should be a major concern for the Niantic leads who are making these design decisions.
Raiding for Niantic profits
One thing that was kind of interesting going into this event was the number of raid options. This is actually not an issue specific to the new Wild Area. In fact, for the Vegas Hoenn Tour, we had various analysts as part of a community tips panel, and Deoxys, while having many forms in raids, was obviously treated as a lower priority.
The difference this time, though, is that the Origine Forms of Dialga and Palkia are a major sore spot for the community, specifically the fact that they were not guaranteed their signature moves and that the odds were low, plus unlike most moves, their signature moves cannot be Elite TMed. The Elite TMs were introduced to help combat FOMO or make a “useless” pokemon useful again, though the Elite TMs are rarely offered and often costly in terms of coins. Niantic threw that system away and instead turned these pokemon into a virtual slot machine.
This felt even more apparent because Niantic enabled the joining of raids from one’s friend’s list, without needing an invitation. While it could help rural players who have big spenders on their lists, it also obviously helped boost Niantic’s ability to raise money as players lost again and again on their signature-move gamble. Just 3 out of 16 of my Origine ‘mon from the pre-event and Day 1 had their signature move, though many players are guessing the odds are 1 in 10. That’s pretty low, and honestly, these were the most sought-after ‘mon in raids outside of Leather Daddy Snorlax.
While Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon were also available, they lacked their signature moves too. As we’ve now had them for several events and even for raid days even without their moves, they seemed less popular, as online they were discussed less and I saw their raids (local and remote) struggle a bit more with numbers. That isn’t to say they were unpopular, but Niantic’s limiting of the Origin Signature moves certainly drove up FOMO. Again, that may be good for Niantic’s short-term funds, but people resented this decision and voted with their feet when leaving the event early.
Mighty disappointing spawns
Again, there were people who enjoyed the Mighty ‘mon spawns. It was kind of neat to see everyone walk towards the spawns even when we knew the stats weren’t going to be great. But again, my local community’s event turned into survivor, with more and more people leaving throughout the first day and less than a third returning the second day. The last 15 minutes of the event may have turned up the Mighty ‘Mon spawns, but they weren’t anything crazy, so the fact that maybe 15 players (down from 40 or more at the event start) on Day 1 stuck around for them is another bad sign.
As I noted above, a bit part of the problem was realizing Niantic nerfed their levels. Another, at least for Day 1, was that the pokemon weren’t hugely exciting, and despite Day 2’s being better, we had fewer players in my area. The problem was also that players without tickets had few Safari Balls, which really were practically needed to catch these. My friend was unable to attend the event and had me try to snag some Mighties for her, but I can tell you that trying to use just Ultra Balls with Golden Razzes was a lesson in pain and suffering.
But I think the other major problem is that Mighties required players to watch their screens more. Often many of us use auto-catchers because it felt like normal and Max raiding were the biggest features of this event, plus players needed to sort out pokemon storage (the 500 new spaces wasn’t enough for the few people I talked to about this issue), not to mention watching where they’re walking.
I think it’s also why people seemed to barely take advantage of the Safari Balls + Daily Adventure Incense (DAI) combo. You had to be paying to get the most out of this and basically had to be done with most of the event. Watching your screen for 15 minutes a day for normal Daily Incense is hard enough, but watching for even just the Might ‘Mon for the whole 8 hours and 15 minutes of the event is just way, way too long.
The DAI combo that was pushed also felt like a major resource sink. A few people in my community tried it, ranging from an additional 20 minutes to literally the whole first day. I myself tried it for half of the second day and came away with nothing I felt was worth all that candy or stardust.
While you could argue that the legendaries in other events are similar, legendaries are often more useful, even if just for candy. Few people really need a good Golem, Pidgeot, or Venusaur these days unless you’re new, at which point I could see the event feeling just as overwhelming as some of the past Go Fests and Tours. This goes double for anyone using DAI because raiding, taking breaks, basically anything that tears your eyes off the screen or forces you to stand still is sub-optimal and generates not only regret but people wandering away from the (raid) group to work their incense.
And that’s the oddest part of the Wild Area event. While many people seemed underwhelmed, they also felt it was too much. I’d argue this was because there was two types of raiding featured, and getting groups for both, even if some could be filled by wealth paying friends, slowed down the ability to focus on the game’s core loop: find pokemon, catch pokemon, spin stops for supplies, and walk on to repeat.
Normal raids were a nice, often short break from this, but Max Raids really throw a wrench in both the normal gameplay loop and raid trains, which ultimately burned people out pretty fast. Alone, the varied and useful raid options combined with mediocre spawns works on paper, but Max Raids simply require far too much coordination and forced breaks (or real cash) or a huge zerg that can also survive the forced breaks (or again, uses lots of real cash). Because of the forced breaks, FOMO for Max Raids, and Mighty ‘Mon at the very end of the event, it felt as if there was even more pressure to play the whole event, as coming late could mean missing out on Max Raids but leaving early could mean that and the Mighty ‘Mon end spawns.
Worse, though, is that those trying to take advantage of the DAI and Safari Balls to finally get the Galar birds probably felt the pressure even more. If anything, I’ve also walked away from this event kind of resenting DAI, which I actually use daily for short bursts of play, and further resenting Max Battles. The lack of a pity break for the Galar birds via the DAI really stood out, as did the pain of organizing and executing Gmax raids, so in a sense, the event, while not terrible overall, was disappointing to a long-time player both in terms of the event content but also the overall state of the game. If this is supposed to be another major yearly event, Niantic is going to need to work hard to win players back, as I’m already considering half-assing my DAI and Max Battles next week, and I know I’m not alone.
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!
