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

Pokémon GO Verizon Special Weekend 2020 Review

Yesterday, a new kind of event came to Pokémon GO. Niantic hosted the three-hour Verizon Weekend event, which trainers were able to play for free if they registered for the Verizon Up program on the My Verizon app. Like the GrubHub Weekend happening today, this one-day sponsored event featured a Timed Research and special spawns attracted to Incense.

If players went into this Pokémon GO event expecting Safari Zone or GO Fest level spawns, disappointment would abound. While it did feature the Shiny release of Ferroseed, this Incense-only day of special spawns didn't feature any boost in Shiny rate. There were certain species such as Absol and Charizard (currently available to encounter Shiny since the introduction of Mega Raids) which have a higher-than-standard Shiny rate, but the event spawns, in general, did not see an increased rate as with Safari Zones. This was to be expected because it's not a huge event, but the lack of spicy spawns did make for a somewhat tedious hour of gameplay. Absol was a terrific choice as a rare Pokémon that spawned frequently during the event, but the presence of the regular non-Verizon Event spawns and, for some reason, a ton of Patrat responding to the Incense made for a lot of waiting for better spawns.

The Timed Research was quick and easy, which was the right move for the event. No complaints there, and the fact that it gave Pokémon GO players a shot at Gible was very welcome.

Overall, this event was mostly fine but a bit boring due to so many normal spawns responding to Incense, with Patrat as the major offender. I love me some Patrat, but its placement in this event was ill-conceived. It would have been a good idea if the event offered more Ferroseed in general and perhaps a spicier spawn pool. Other sponsored events in Pokémon GO happening this fall included Absol and Mawile together as wild spawns and, with Mawile also boasting a boosted Shiny rate, that one addition alone would have improved this event.

Overall, while there's little to be salty about here, there's also very little that made the Pokémon GO Verizon Weekend more fun than a standard day of gameplay. If these sponsored events are meant to be a draw, they should bring more to the table.

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