Pokémon Go players have been venting about the current state of Shadow Raids this week, particularly the ongoing Shadow Articuno Raids, because it clashes with regular five-star raids on weekends, making it difficult for players to find others to team up with and complete them.
The problem is exacerbated by two things—according to not one but two Reddit threads on July 3. First, Remote Raid Passes can’t be used to join Shadow Raids, which makes it harder to find people to group with. Second, Shadow Articuno has been the only Shadow Raid for months, so there’s less incentive for others to do it.
One player shared their experience to illustrate their point. They reached out to as many friends as they could to join them at a popular spot when a Shadow Articuno Raid was about to drop, but nobody seemed to bite. “I heard… crickets. No one is willing to come out for these now that we’re on the fourth weekend,” they said. The player believes that if Remote Raid Passes could be used, more players, including their partner, would have joined. But since the raid can only be done in person, it’s too much of a hassle.
Another player echoed the sentiment. “It’s been a bit frustrating trying to do a Shadow Articuno raid. Between them releasing Shiny Nihilego and bringing back Shiny Heatran, players seem to be doing more of those Raids instead and I don’t blame them,” they explained, pointing out that those Raids are easier to do and you can actually invite people to them.
Players are calling on Niantic to address these issues. They’re suggesting that Shadow Raids should be released at different times to avoid clashing with others, and should be rotated more often to prevent them from growing stale and turning players away. Some even suggested limiting them to the weeklong Team Go Rocket Takeover events, while others focused more on allowing players to use Remote Raid Passes in them.
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Another solution that has been floating around is the idea of making the timer in Raids tick up rather than down, allowing players to solo them without relying on help from others that might never come.
The Pokémon Go community is eagerly awaiting changes that could improve the Shadow Raid experience. Niantic will need to do something about it to keep its player base happy. It’s another thing in the long list of problems that need to be fixed to appease them.
