Pokemon Go players quit “impossible” Shadow Raids & beg for changes
NianticPokemon Go added Shadow Raikou to 5-Star Raids, but players are quitting before even trying due to their incredible difficulty.
Pokemon Go just started its World of Wonders season with a packed schedule and many new debuts. Ultra Beast Poipole is available to all players through a new Special Research, and upcoming events will bring more Paldean species to the massive mobile game.
Alongside the new Pokemon, trainers can now also challenge Shadow Raikou in Shadow 5-Star Raids throughout the weekends in March. The Legendary is debuting its Shadow version this season, and players are eager to catch it for an edge in PvP and PvE battles. However, many have already given up, saying “Shadow Raids are the worst part of Go.”
These Raids can only be done locally, so user ‘PolarSox85’ took their complaints to Reddit and stated: “If you don’t live in a city with lots of gyms and players then shadow raids involve non stop driving and wasting almost all of your day trying to find gyms. Not to mention you have to gather a team who is also willing to waste their day and gas trying to find a pokemon that can beat gyms 10 seconds faster lol.”
Other Pokemon Go players gathered to share their frustration. One player stated, “Shadow raids are a real pain, but the answer is to just not engage with parts of the game you don’t find fun,” and another answered: “This is kind of a bad take, the post isn’t saying they don’t find shadow raids fun, they’re pointing out a clear imbalance in the design of the game for someone who lives outside of a city.”
Other players think that “if enough people don’t interact with the feature they’ll either adjust it or trash it,” although Niantic keeps betting on PvE activities like Elite Raids that were heavily criticized recently. On a different Reddit post, user ‘mythicaltimelord’ argued “making them in-person only and random makes zero sense for the average player.”
They also added that “there are places like Tokyo and NYC where you can jump in and have full lobbies of people to help,” but the average experience isn’t like that at all. While Niantic released the Campfire app in many regions to help with this problem, trainers argued that “no one uses campfire so dropping flares is basically pointless” and “flare is only 15 minutes so it’s easy to miss.”
On the other hand, players suggested making the Raids noticeable hours prior, so players could plan properly. Elite Raids appear in Gyms 24 hours before the Raid Egg hatches, giving players a whole day to organize for the toughest PvE challenge in Pokemon Go.
Shadow Mewtwo is coming back to Raids at the end of March 2024, and players are already slamming Niantic for not bringing something fresh to the experience. In the case that they apply changes to Shadow Raids, we’ll let you know.
In the meantime, you can check out how to get Pikachu PhD in Pokemon Go or everything you need to know about the Pokemon Go Battle League Season 18.