Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: Community Day, Niantic, Niantic Labs, pokemon, pokemon go

Niantic Posts & Deletes Promise To Improve Pokémon GO Community Day

Community Day was once the most anticipated event every month in Pokémon GO. There was a pattern and players loved it. One month, we'd have a starter Pokémon. The next, we'd have either a pseudo-Legendary or normally very rare Pokémon. Every Community Day would offer the featured species two things: a Shiny release and a brand new, exclusive move that was, more often than not, game-changing. It all changed in early 2020, when Niantic announced a Community Day vote that included species that had already had Shiny releases and even species that had already had Community Days. The community spoke, though, and chose Rhyhorn: a Pokémon that had yet to have is Shiny released that was set to get a game-changing move. However, Niantic followed that with a series of Community Day choices in the second half of the year that cemented the idea that they were changing this once beloved monthly event. We got Community Days for Magikarp, Gastly, Charmander, and Magmar, all species that had already been given Shinies, all with moves that either only mattered for PVP or didn't matter at all. Now, 2021's first two Community Days are Machop and Roselia, two species that have also already had their Shinies released, while Snivy, a Unova starter, had a weird Shiny release in the middle of a random event. Now, Niantic has finally responded to the feedback of a community that has been robbed of their day… kind of.

On the announcement for Roselia Community Day, Niantic initially wrote:

Community Note: Trainers, we have heard your feedback when it comes to which Pokémon appear during Community Day. Stay tuned for announcements about which Pokémon you can expect to be featured during upcoming Community Days.

Okay, that sounds like it could be promising. If they are truly willing to change, perhaps this will be like the changes to Mega Evolution: swift and lasting.

Oh, wait, what? That bit was deleted from the blog. Right.

Well, I'll say this. Personally, I still love Pokémon GO. It's a true passion of mine and I have a lot of fun playing it. It has recently though, with the current raid features and the stripping down Community Day, felt like the enjoyment one can expect from the game is being severely limited and it's difficult to understand why. A note like this is heartening in some ways but it also comes very late. The "feedback" has been going around for some time. No one wanted Magikarp Community Day. No one asked for a vote with the poor choices offered, and no one asked for Machop, who was the third runner-up of the first round of voting.

"We have heard your feedback," you know?

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