Pokémon Go players praise Niantic for one key change to Go Fest 2023

"Saw far more trainers raiding/walking than pre-pandemic which speaks to health of game, at least during major events. Props."

Promo image for Pokemon Go Fest 2023: New York.
Image via Niantic

Pokémon Go Fest ended on Aug. 27 and players have been giving positive feedback on the global event—for one key change, in particular, that improved the game experience.

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A player praised Niantic for granting a significant increase in the catch rate of Legendary raids in a popular Reddit thread from Aug. 27. “Definitively a huge bonus of the boosted catch rate this weekend, allowed me to complete several consecutive raids with others,” the user said. “This and full lobbies for Ray made this quite enjoyable and hopefully be included in future events.”

Players massively agreed with the statement in the comments and added that raids were returning quickly, which allowed users to complete more of them.

They were also thrilled about the changes to the raid’s preparation phase. During the event, a Ready button was added to the phase. The countdown was set to only 10 seconds when all participants hit the button, or when the raid reached the maximum capacity of 20 players, which avoided wasting Raid Passes due to players leaving at the last second. That’s a change players have been requesting for years, and some hope to see this permanently added to Pokémon Go in the future.

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“I had over 30 premium passes from pre Covid hoarding. I blew through all but three yesterday because I could catch them so easily,” a user said. Mega Rayquaza was one of Pokémon Go Fest’s main points of focus. It joined the game with the event and players could collect Meteorites to enhance its power instead of Mega Energy.

Now, players still have some content to enjoy down the road. Since the community successfully completed all 20 Global Challenges tied to this weekend’s event, Ultra Unlock bonuses will be rewarded to them in the near future. They will also get an additional event with even more rewards to collect.

Meanwhile, there are less than four days left to enjoy the Hidden Gems season’s bonuses. It will make way for the next season on Sept. 1, which will highlight Pokémon species from Paldea, such as its starters and their evolution lines. It’s still unclear exactly what the new season will entail, though.

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Eva Martinello
Eva is a Staff Writer from Paris. Her part-time job is charging into walls with Reinhardt. She has been covering League of Legends esports and other titles for six years. She still believes in a Moscow Five comeback. She also fell into the MMO pit and covers FFXIV and Genshin.