Pokemon Go Medals are a missed opportunity

Getting a Medal or achievement in a Pokemon game should be exciting – so why does it feel like such a missed opportunity in Pokemon Go?

Despite the recent controversy over the Pokemon Go avatars, there is a lot to love about the game. There are fun events, multiple ways to play, and plenty of Pokemon from fan-favorite generations to add to your collection.

One element of Pokemon Go that could feel more exciting, though, is the Medal system. If you’ve played before, you will have seen these around—if you evolve 200 Pokemon, for example, you get a little Gold Scientist Medal with a funky design in the middle.

Some Medals give players a boost to their catch bonus for specific Pokemon types and others unlock new items in the shop. Aside from a few special cases, you don’t automatically get the items, but you unlock the ability to spend coins on them.

Other than that, there’s not much else to note about Medals in Pokemon Go. Some Medals take an incredible amount of effort to complete, like the Platinum Best Buddy Medal which requires 200 Best Buddy Pokemon, but they offer no reward for hitting this milestone.

While having an exciting reward for every single Medal in the game would be overwhelming, it’s fair to say that Medals in Pokemon Go aren’t always worth the effort right now. Why should players chase the Platinum Best Buddy Medal? It offers nothing to their experience in the game.

This topic popped up in a recent fan discussion, where players went over the various ways that Medals could be improved. Pokemon Go players generally agreed that some mMdals just weren’t worth the time of day.

One suggestion that stood out is cosmetic titles – getting the Bug Catcher Medal should allow you to equip the title “Bug Catcher” and attach it to your character name. Other suggestions included boosted Shiny odds for type-specific Medals and interesting animations.

It’s unclear whether we’ll ever see this change in the game but it would be a great way to incentivize players to chase those trickier achievements. The rewards wouldn’t need to be massive, either, just a little more meaningful than the standard Medal interface we have in the game right now.

The Pokemon Go team is clearly willing to listen to community feedback about topics like this, so it’ll be interesting to see if Medals get altered at any point in the game’s future.