Niantic has decided to let fans vote on what Pokémon should appear during June & July’s Community Days. There will be one Twitter poll and the winner will be available in June, while the Pokémon with the second-highest number of votes will be featured the following month.
While fun to let the community decide what Pokémon they’d like to catch during the events, what’s with these awful choices?! One Pokémon, Squirtle, has already had a Community Day. Weedle is the only choice whose shiny form has not been available already, which is why many trainers are hoping it can get enough votes to come in first or second.
Even though the choices we’re being given seem lackluster, they could be a sign of more worrying things to come from Niantic.
Community Days may not feature new shiny forms
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Community Days for many players has been the increased frequency of otherwise-rare shiny Pokémon. And not just any—these were generally the first time a shiny form would be available for a given species.
With choices that only include one new shiny form, we’re guaranteed to be encountering a shiny in one of the two months that has already been available to capture. There’s certainly less excitement if you already have a shiny Sandshrew, Gastly, or Squirtle in your collection already.
The days of rare pseudo-legendary Community Days may be gone
Remember Dratini Community Day back in 2018? Or Larvitar’s a few months after that? You may be wondering when Niantic is going to drop Gible Community Day, but it’s not recommended to hold your breath. Gible was introduced into the game in May of 2019 and even had its shiny form added in December of the same year, but no special day has been forthcoming.
Why? Trainers have the best chance of encountering it from 10 km eggs—eggs which many players are willing to use paid Super Incubators to hatch. The introduction of its shiny form without a Community Day seems to reinforce the idea that Pokémon GO is making bank off of holding on to the most rare species instead of celebrating them.
Exclusive PVP-centric moves are supposed to be a highlight
I like the occasional bout in the Battle League, but it’s hard to get jazzed up about catching the same Pokémon… just with a different move that fits a very specific niche. I’m sure a lot of very competitive players will enjoy this addition, but I think it’s a much better tie-in with a mini-event or something separate from Community Days.
This also has the downside of leading to a situation in which…
PVP may become wildly imbalanced
If you missed out on an exclusive PVP-dominating move on a Pokémon, you may have a hard time competing. Niantic has a great incentive to do this, because they have created the Elite TM items, which enable players to choose from exclusive moves they may have otherwise missed.
With the Elite TMs being valued at about $5 when part of a “discount” bundle, it won’t be cheap if players need these moves to stay competitive. Life may get in the way of events and Community Days for even the biggest fans of the game.
End-of-the-year Community Day catch-up events may be over
If Squirtle is the winner (or Bulbasaur/Charmander from datamined future votes for the next six months), how will evolving it work at the end of the year, as in those we’ve seen in the past. Will one year be dropped in favor of the most recent event? Will there be no event? Would Niantic introduce a new mechanic to let players choose?
Let us know what you think in the comments below. The most cynical of us are hoping that this is not a ploy to get more money from players who are hoping to catch rare Pokémon like Gible.
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