Niantic has heeded our calls.Pokemon Go’sadverts for Gigantamax raids showed four players teaming up to defeat a mighty Gigantamax Pokemon. In reality, the developer suggested finding 34-39 friends to overcome the challenge. Even players in big cities struggled to get groups of this size together, andeven then they struggled to beat the bossesplaced before them.
Players were forced to coordinate strategies, utilising heals and shields as much as possible in order to catch the Pokemon. This isn’t a problem in itself. Too many live-service mobile games are mindless grinds of tapping the attack button until you emerge victorious, so it’s nice to see some semblance of strategy implemented, but coordinating 40 players is still a mammoth task.
If you can manage to enact strategies with a group of this size, you should be rewarded. But players found themselves barely or often completely unable to defeat the boss even with recommended numbers and evolving strategies – there simply hasn’t been enough time for everyone to max out their new Dynamax monsters yet. And that’s a problem. If you go to all that effort only to be knocked back by a soft timer that makes your opponent one-shot all of your Pokemon, it doesn’t feel good.
It feels even worse if you beat the boss, but can’t catch it. This was the case for many players who defeated the first batch of Gigantamax Pokemon. Inevitably, they vented their frustrations online, as many had traveled considerable distances to find a group big enough to tackle the bosses.
Thecomplaints racked up, and thankfully Niantic has taken notice.
Pokemon Go Gigantamax Nerfs
Gigantamax Gengar has arrived for Halloween and, while not as cool asMega Gengar, players are jumping at the chance to capture it. Gotta catch ‘em all and all that.
Thankfully, Niantic confirmed that Gengar would be nerfed in comparison to the Kanto starters, who kicked off the whole Gigantamax craze in Pokemon Go.
According to reputable sourceLeekDuck, Niantic is decreasing the difficulty of the raids and increasing the rewards. It will also be easier to catch Gigantamax Gengar than in previous raids.
• The difficulty will be lowered compared to previous Gigantamax Battles
• After defeating Gigantamax Gengar, Trainers will get 25k Stardust
• The catch rate for Gigantamax Gengar will be increased
It’s a good change, and proves that making your voice heard is important. Constructive criticism can help shift live-service games, especially with regards to big bosses that companies want you to grind to defeat. Niantic is never going to decrease the price of incubators or raid passes – they’re its biggest earners – but it will tweak difficulty settings and catch rates if things don’t feel fair.
It doesn’t want its players moving away from the game, after all, it wants them spending all their stardust and candy on its latest invention. Engage with the gameplay loop and you’ll give Niantic your time, your data, and maybe your money. A terrible boss will undo all of that.
Too Little, Too Late?
Gigantamax has got off to a rocky start. The original raids felt like a kick in the teeth for loyal players who had grinded out regular Dynamax raids. My hundo Charizard? Useless. Those shinies that people love? Pointless.
I still believe Niantic should add Max Soup to the game, but that would stop you from grinding so it seems unlikely.
But at least now people have an incentive to attempt a Gigantamax raid. I’ll still struggle, as my suburban locale sits somewhere between rural and city centre, but the nerfs may coax me into the city centre on occasion.
City players will continue to thrive, and rural players will ignore the entire system, as they do for so many of Pokemon Go’s innovations. I get that this is a game that wants to promote friendship, but requiring 40 people is a step too far when rural players struggle even with five-star raids.
