Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Pokémon GO | Tagged: deino, pokemon, pokemon go

Verizon Special Weekend 2021: Pokémon GO Event Review

The Verizon (or, if you live outside of the United States, other partnered franchises) Special Weekend is wrapping up in Pokémon GO. Was this sponsored event worth playing?

What worked in this Pokémon GO event

• Ease of playing: There was a bit of confusion in the community as to how to play the first Verizon Weekend last year, with some players complaining that the registry didn't work and ending up in a loop where Niantic said it was a Verizon problem and Verizon claimed it was a Niantic problem. This issue didn't pop up at all with this event to my knowledge, and I was personally able to register with just a few clicks.
• Timed Research: Two Deino encounters and a generous helping of XP were the rewards for completing quite an easy set of tasks. Whenever Pokémon GO offers a chance at Deino, it's a win to me.
• Bonuses all weekend: We had increased trade distance and increased chances of trades going Lucky all weekend, which felt like quite a bit more than a cherry on top.
• XP: This event was driven heavily by XP. Those who played got an incredible quadruple XP before even applying a Lucky Egg, which made the amount of XP that one could grind in the hour reach new heights. Pokémon GO reminded us with the introduction of Levels 41 – 50 last year just how important XP is and will keep being, so the event was worth playing to take advantage of this.

What didn't work in this Pokémon GO event

• Spawns: The one part of the event that was a bit boring was actually what made last year's Ferroseed-themed Special Weekend so fun: the Incense spawns. The problem was that these were nearly identical to the normal Luminous Legends Y Part 2 event spawns. With the exception of Unown and Stunky, the latter of which isn't a huge sell at all without a Shiny available, there wasn't anything worth hunting. While I don't think it's sustainable for Niantic to keep doing Shiny releases for these types of events as the frequency of them increases, adding a rare spawn or making Unown Shiny-capable would've made the wild hunting feel like more than an XP grind.

Overall

The bonuses, XP content, and Deino encounters made Pokémon GO's Verizon Special Weekend feel like an event unto itself rather than just a sponsored few hours of gameplay. Very much worth playing!

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