Niantic is doing Dynamax in Pokemon GO all wrong, fans weigh in
Niantic has made significant new additions to Pokemon GO in recent times, most notable being the Dynamax mechanic. This was introduced at the onset of the current Max Out season and saw several critters with the Dynamax evolution. While most of the community believed that Niantic would let this stay for a while before adding further stages, Gigantamax is already set to debut on October 26, 2024.
This raises several questions about the way Niantic is approaching the Dynamax mechanic in Pokemon GO altogether. While new additions are always a fun aspect, this seems to be a bit too rushed and too harsh on the players.
In this article, we will explore why Pokemon GO players are rightfully concerned about Niantic's approach to Dynamax.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.
The jump to Gigantamax might have been introduced too soon in Pokemon GO
The Dynamax mechanic has various stages, with Gigantamax and Eternamax being further down the line. Now, Eternamax is a different story since it is exclusive to Eternatus. As such, it is most likely to be an exclusive release, possibly another Elite Raid debut sometime in the future.
The announcement of Gigantamax was quite surprising, and many trainers are utterly confused by this. Normally, it is expected that after the introduction of a new mechanic, there would be some time for all players to get accustomed to it and warm up to the new feature completely. The extremely short duration between two new evolution gimmicks might raise several problems, especially with resource management.
Gigantamax difficulty is another concerning situation here. So far, Dynamax battles in Pokemon GO featured 1-star and 3-star battles only. Even then, 3-star Max fights were extremely difficult and were drastically more challenging than 3-star raids. With the addition of Gigantamax, these become 6-star Max battles. This jump in difficulty is surprising, to say the least, as noted by DaystarEld on the TheSilphRoad subreddit:
"Jumping us straight from 3 to 6 feels needlessly punishing, forcing us to find 10+ others so soon undermines part of the unique nature of Dmax raids, and of course releasing Gmax versions of pokemon we just caught a few weeks ago feels utterly invalidating to our time and effort."
The jump in difficulty creates the same problem that Elite Raids in Pokemon GO have—needing to find players to do this event in person. 3-star Max raids were impossible to complete alone; a solo 6-star raid is out of the question altogether.
Also read: 5 mistakes Niantic should avoid with Gigantamax in Pokemon GO
And then there's the problem with resource management. Gigantamax uses the same Max Particles that are needed for Dynamax battles. This concern was raised by many members, with MarketIntelligence110 noting:
"So many people tought that the max particle limit and the entire jankiness of the system was because max raids were releasing slowly over time. guess the half baked cake was the full meal after all."
Although the Max Particle limit will be increased with the addition of Gigantamax, trainers are still not going to have enough to level up their already existing Dynamax critters and Gigantamax ones.
Gigantamax could be another stale feature in Pokemon GO
One of the pressing problems with Max Pokemon is that you cannot use particles to evolve existing critters from your collection. Instead, you have to beat them again in the Max raids to catch these. A lot of the Gigantamax Pokemon that will be released are from Kanto (starters included), a region that most PoGo players by now have completed the entire Pokedex for.
This makes catching these same critters severely redundant, just to have the Gigantamax factor in them. Technically, this forces players to increase their Pokemon Storage by spending PokeCoins. Many don't want to do this, since premium currency is hard to come by and not everyone wants to spend real money for in-game currency.
And then there's the lack of incentives. Even the 1-star and 3-star Max battles barely gave you anything extra, so it simply boils down to taking up space in your storage ultimately. These critters are currently not used in any of the Battle Leagues, so their usage is restricted to the Max battles only.
Putting in that much (redundant) resource for just collection purposes without appropriate rewards feels disheartening. Ultimately, it might end up getting the same treatment that Max battles get today, as noted by HardyMenace:
"Yeah, if I happen to come across people doing gmax battles I'll join in to fill that deck, but I'm not going to go out of my way, and I'm completely ignoring regular max battles."
As it seems, Niantic's approach to this entire scenario does feel incredibly rushed, and the reasons are not exactly known. The community has raised several voices and concerns, and only time will tell whether the developers decide to pay heed or change the system somehow to make it more viable for the community.
For more articles on Pokemon GO, check out the following:
- Ditto disguises
- Buddy Evolution Adventure Together guide
- Best Fast Attacks in the game
- Sierra counters
- Cliff counters
- Arlo counters
- Giovanni counters
- Team GO Rocket Grunts