Chansey will kick off Pokémon Go’s February content lineup on the third Community Day of the year, but a chunk of the playerbase isn’t thrilled to see the Egg Pokémon featured in this way.
When the initial 2024 lineup of Pokémon Go Community Day events was accidentally leaked in December, players were underwhelmed by Chansey’s inclusion. This was compounded by concerns that giving the Normal-type a spotlight and Community Day move could actively hurt certain areas of the game.
On its own, the Chansey Community Day set for Feb. 4 seems normal with its featured Pokémon and event bonuses, barring the addition of Egg Hatch Distance being reduced to 25 percent. That will help players hatch more 2km Eggs, which will have increased odds of spawning Happiny during the event.
Chansey isn’t a Pokémon that will hype players up in the same way that Rowlet or Porygon can, leading to this Community Day being labeled as “lame” and “skippable” unless you need to catch a Happiny or want a Shiny Chansey. Casual players will still enjoy the event and its benefits without too much complaining, but the real divisiveness comes with Chansey itself and its place in the overall Pokémon meta.
Chansey is known for having massive health and Special Defense stats in the main game, making it a fantastic tank to use in specific matchups where you aren’t at risk of being demolished by a physical attack. In Pokémon Go’s altered battle system, this results in Chansey being a beast at taking hits and maintaining a popular position as a top option to put in Gyms when trying to defend them for long periods—which is why some players are worried about this Community Day. “I don’t think I want ‘make gym battles more tedious’ Community Day,” one user said.
With ease of access to tons of Chansey and Candy, the likelihood of seeing well-trained Chansey and Blissey popping up in Gyms and various Go Battle League ranks will skyrocket. The Gym element is probably more of an issue for the casual players who will hate having to constantly queue up to whittle a Chansey’s health bar away, though it is nowhere near as bad as it was seven years ago when you could stack Gyms with them.
“I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of this community day because it’s going to wreck this game on so many levels; from gym defending to PvP-ing. I think it’s a very bad idea to have people with level 50 Chanseys and Blisseys,” another player said.
Neither Chansey nor Blissey serves a strong rotational role in the GBL, and Wild Charge doesn’t help Blissey much outside of certain matchups like Kyogre or Walrein. The Defense debuff isn’t going to impact the Normal-type much either since Blissey is so bulky, but it is nowhere near as good as the rumors about it getting access to Egg Bomb, Softboiled, or Counter that were hyping up, and scaring, GBL players.
