Pokemon Go should focus on these QoL changes next

Niantic has announced Rediscover Pokemon Go, a new era of QoL changes. But, is this the right direction for the game?

Pokemon Go has entered a new stage where the optimization of certain features is a priority for the devs, and many players believe the QoL changes it will bring are ‘okay.’ However, the game still has a lot of new features that never worked properly to begin with, and players are eager to see them revisited.

According to what the community has been discussing on TheSilphRoad and other Pokemon Go channels, Niantic should focus on fixing Routes, optimization, and reward system.

One of the said features is the Routes system which since its release back in 2022 has brought thousands of complaints to Niantic’s Help channels. Other targets of players’ discomfort include the Raid system rewards, which according to many of them “isn’t fair enough.”

Another point of rupture with the player base has been optimization. Since the game came out in 2016, Niantic have implemented many changes regarding the visuals and animations. This has increased the requirements of Pokemon Go and caused overloading, freezing, and more performance-related issues for low-tier smartphone users.

However, the biggest beef between fans of Pokemon Go and the devs is the distribution of rewards. A game where exploration is the key should be more rewarding for people who explore more, discover new places, or make new friends. Instead, the overall focus of the reward system is grindy, and somewhat obsolete.

Be it Routes, spinning PokeStops, daily bonuses, or catching Pokemon, rewards have been lackluster lately, and players feel it. The reward system is something important for player retention, and the weekly recurrent events alongside the activity rotation keep the fan base busy, but that’s not the same as keeping them happy.

Ultimately, Pokemon Go will need to address these important points if it wants to make the fan base rediscover the game, or at least, to make them see the effort that the devs put behind every new gimmick introduced for their entertainment.