"Wake me up when the game isn't a mess anymore": Pokemon GO player frustrated with Max Out season
Pokemon GO's Max Out season is still in its early stages, but some players are thoroughly dissatisfied with the state of the season and the game as a whole. One such example came by way of the GO Redditor u/FoulMouth232, who lamented the game's ongoing mechanical issues with Pokemon spawns, raids, and the Go Battle League, remarking:
"Wake me up when the game isn't a mess anymore":
In the comments, Pokemon GO fans also chafed at the abundance of Kanto Pokemon spawns drowning out other potential Pokemon appearances after the Rediscover Kanto event. Many trainers also agreed that the updated raid mechanics have led to raid bosses charging up and firing off their Charged Moves too often, causing more raid party wipes and increasing overall difficulty.
Although trainers didn't unanimously agree with FoulMouth's PvP experience to the last detail in the GO Battle League, they did concede that the game mode had issues of its own, including tanking players, botted accounts, and freezing or connection issues. Unfortunately, many commenters remarked that FoulMouth would be asleep forever, believing Pokemon GO is in a permanently sorry state.
Although Pokemon GO's Max Out season has introduced plenty of upsides like the Galar region's starter Pokemon, Dynamax transformation, and new PvE gameplay in the form of Max Battles, it appears that many trainers are still concerned with core gameplay issues from the past and present. New content is nice, but it isn't enough to win over some of GO's more critical trainers.
While every trainer's experience is different, complaints about the flood of Kanto Pokemon spawns during and outside of events have been common on social media. The recent raid changes have also led many players to feel that raid bosses have become overwhelmingly strong, leaving them feeling as though they can't participate in raids nearly at all.
All in all, while some players are enjoying the new offerings from the Max Out season, some issues are clearly lingering that trainers are far from happy with, so much so that they may consider leaving the game entirely. This leaves one to wonder, is it possible for Niantic to address these complaints in the midst of the Max Out season's schedule?
Can Niantic fix the underlying problems many Pokemon GO trainers are pointing out?
While Niantic shouldn't necessarily stop all of its ongoing plans for an indeterminate-sized group of Pokemon GO players, some of the complaints trainers have been leveling have merit. It remains to be seen if Niantic will be willing to make the fixes while actively developing events/content for the Max Out season, but the fixes likely wouldn't be too difficult in the grand scheme of things.
Put plainly, Niantic could address many of the issues broached by the Pokemon GO community with the following decisions:
- Ensure that Kanto region Pokemon spawn in a balanced manner alongside Pokemon from other regions and are suppressed as intended during events in favor of featured event Pokemon spawning.
- Tweak or reverse the energy increases for raid bosses so that they don't fire Charged Moves so frequently.
- Examine any possible causes of connection or performance issues in the GO Battle League PvP space that aren't connected to trainers' devices and attempt to fix them.
This is more of a Pokemon GO wish list for Niantic since the developer seems pretty focused on Max Out seasonal content. Still, the overall gameplay experience and quality of life remain as important as it ever has, and all of the new content in the world can't compensate for unsatisfactory gameplay. Making the right fixes and tweaks would go a long way to bring some fans back around.