Summary
Pokemon Gomade a splash this weekend byreleasing Gigantamax Battles. These events can see up to 40 different players group up in teams of four to take on a Max Battle, with the reward of their very own Gigantamax Pokemon waiting for those that actually manage to overcome the trial. Just like most updates with Pokemon Go, this was designed to get the community to meet up and work together, but the end result has been a bit mixed.
While Gigantamax and Max Battles are undoubtedly a cool addition to the game, a lot of players have been very upset with developer Niantic due to how they’ve been implemented. For starters, the biggest issue that players have at the moment is the overall difficulty of the battles, as each Gigantamax Pokemon has an absolutely whopping amount of health and is a struggle to take down, even with full squads of 40 players.
For example,a player that goes by Hartacus27expressed their disappointment over “this whole Gigantamax situation” on the Pokemon Go subreddit, which has drawn many other unsatisfied players. One such player is Reddit user Neanderpaulllll, who claimed that they recently attempted to take down a Gigantamax Pokemon in New York with a full team of 40 people, yet “didn’t even come close to winning”.
Pokemon Go’s Gigantamax Battles Are Frustrating Rural Players
Since you actually require a lot of people to take these things down, the Gigantamax update has once again upset Pokemon Go’s more rural player base. Niantic has often been accused ofignoring players that live outside big cities- where there are naturally fewer Pokemon Go players - and Max Battles have once again brought forth the ire of this section of players, since participating in 40-player battles would be almost impossible in rural communities.
A Reddit user called MikkaDGrecently argued on TheSilphRoad subreddit that Niantic has made a mistake in requiring many people to accomplish these battles, and that they should be “doable with 4 people who are willing to spend some time”. They then point to Pokemon Sword & Shield’s Gigantamax battle system as something that Niantic should have learned from. Here’s hoping they will.
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One of the most successful mobile games in history, Pokemon Go uses augmented reality to fulfill your dreams of becoming the trainer you’ve always wanted to be — from catching ‘em all to battling raids and hatching eggs.
