"Niantic made the Raid Bosses nuclear": Pokemon GO trainer reacts to recent raid changes
Recent Pokemon GO changes have seen the energy generation of raid bosses increase, leading them to fire off their Charged Moves with much more regularity. Some trainers have even remarked that at this point, it feels as though raid bosses are spamming their strongest attacks, and Reddit user u/Entire_Pineapple4732 agreed with a recent post, remarking "Niantic made the Raid Bosses nuclear":
The comments were in overwhelming agreement. Trainers both old and new remarked that raiding gameplay has either become much more difficult to complete or so hard that newer trainers can't get started with raiding at all. Other fans stated that even with well-constructed teams and multiple players, some high-end content like Mega Raids has become untenable.
The hardest hit trainers in the comments appeared to be newcomers, who have commented that even lower-tier raids are wiping their teams and depleting their stock of healing items because the bosses are firing Charged Attacks almost repeatedly. Players time and time again wondered about the point of these raid changes other than potentially strongarming players into buying more items.
All in all, given the nature of the changes and the fact that they've seemingly increased raid difficulty without any rationale given on Niantic's part, it's understandable why some Pokemon GO fans view the changes as a cynical attempt to steer players toward the game shop. The more raid passes and healing items players waste, the more desperate some fans will be to get more.
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Pokemon GO's recent raid boss changes are an overall negative for the player community
While Pokemon GO's raids are supposed to be challenging, the recent changes that have made raid bosses use their Charged Moves much more often have led to players feeling that raids are more trouble than they're worth. This could be a problem, especially considering that raids are effectively the primary cooperative gameplay method within Niantic's mobile title.
Sure, trainers link up for Party Play, but raiding has been one of the most popular aspects of the game since its arrival. The prospect of teaming up with a group of trainers and defeating a quality Pokemon, which can then be captured, is a great way to get strong Pokemon, catch shinies when possible, as well as farm for other rewards. Making raid bosses so devastating only makes the process tougher.
There is a fine line between creating a challenging experience (which one could argue that 5-star, Mega, Elite, and Primal Raids are already) and making one that's so difficult that it's a net negative for players to engage. Considering trainers are complaining about scores of their Pokemon fainting and running out of raid passes and healing items, it seems Niantic has reached that point.
Will some trainers still succeed in raids and pony up the PokeCoins to replenish their items? Absolutely, but the current barrier for entry is becoming too high for newer players to engage in while simultaneously turning off longtime fans from continuing to raid either solo or with their friends or acquaintances.
Aside from Niantic's presumptive financial gains, it remains to be seen how these raid boss changes benefit the Pokemon GO player community in any way.
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