Pokemon Go Elite Raid launch proves Niantic isn’t listening to players

Pokemon Go’s botched launch of Elite Raids proves that Niantic isn’t listening to players, and it’s laborious and tiring.

Ever since Niantic launched Pokemon Go in 2016, the developers have shipped a wide variety of new features and events for trainers worldwide to enjoy.

One of the most impactful features added to the game, Raid Battles, came a little over a year after launch and was set to bring trainers together with the goal of catching some of the most iconic Pokemon available in the game.

While Pokemon Go has continued holding its position as one of the most popular mobile games – undoubtedly thanks to being tied to one of the biggest game franchises in the world – Niantic has shown that they do not listen to feedback from players whatsoever.

As a long-time player of the game, I’m sick and tired of being ignored.

Niantic

Elite Raids ruined October Community Day for many

On October 14, Niantic revealed their latest feature: Elite Raids. Set to provide a 24-hour window to catch Hoopa unbound, the eggs began showing up at Pokemon Go gyms just before the October Community Day on October 15.

As the event held the spotlight on Litwick, one of the most sought-after requests for October CD thanks to its “spooky” design, four-star raids during the monthly event were set to hatch the first evolution of Litwick: Lampent. To make things even more fun for players, Lampent raids after the scheduled ending time were set to give players more Litwick spawns, effectively extending the Community Day by two more hours.

But yet, Niantic managed to mess it up. Just hours before the sought-after spawns were set to begin, players began noticing that Elite Raid eggs were showing up at nearly every gym surrounding them — alongside the 24-hour timer, effectively taking the raid aspect away from the Litwick Community Day event.

The developers were quick to respond with an apology, and delayed the beginning of the 24-hour Raid eggs until the end of the scheduled event, effectively telling those who planned on extending their adventure the extra two hours that they were out of luck.

Issues plague Pokemon Go Elite Raid launch

To add insult to injury, trainers worldwide were met with a wide variety of issues as soon as the Hoopa Unbound elite raids began hatching that nearly broke the game completely.

Trainers (including myself, despite playing through the entire Community Day with no issue) quickly began having issues logging into the game, which you think would be bad enough until you hear that even if players could log in and join a raid party — the battle would freeze as soon as Hoopa was defeated, taking the ability to catch the ‘mon with it.

If you were one of the few lucky players who were able to catch the legendary ‘mon, the promise of rare spawns surrounding the gym (Articuno, Wooloo, etc) just… didn’t happen.

Niantic / Pokemon

Niantic shows that they don’t listen to players

While the launch of Elite Raids effectively ruined a highly popular Community Day just to plague users with a plethora of issues, it’s not the first decision from Niantic over the last 10 months that have players like myself wondering who’s in charge.

It’s not even so much the fact that Niantic has continued haphazardly introducing new events into the game that has players perturbed, it’s the fact they continue to cut out features that they introduced during the global health crisis.

The two biggest features, six-hour Community Days and Remote Raid Passes, became essential for many players worldwide as a way to access the game around their own schedules.

As a rural player, it’s near impossible for me to gather enough players at the same time to defeat Five-Star and Elite Raids — assuming there’s even a raid available around us to try to defeat in person — and I know there are millions of Pokemon Go players out there that have the same issue.

Elite Raids don’t allow you to use Remote Raid passes, meaning players like myself are entirely cut out from participating.

When Community Day events were six hours long, I was able to take part in every single event without having to take away family time during the weekend which is something that I’m unable to do nowadays due to the shorter schedule.

These are both features that trainers worldwide consistently ask to have back in the game and although Niantic said back in September that they would listen to trainers’ feedback more… it’s safe to say that they’re not listening at all.