Trainers react to non-legendary Pokemon Go Research Breakthrough reward
Woobat, yes Woobat, has been confirmed as the February Pokemon Go Research Breakthrough encounter reward. It comes as a surprise, but what isn’t surprising is trainers aren’t happy with the decision.
The popular Bat Pokemon is available now through to March 1, 1pm PST. As part of the reward you will get 10 extra Woobat Candies, giving you a total of 13.
This means if you use a Pinap Berry on it then it will double to 26 – which makes using one imperative. Get 50 of them and you’ll be able to evolve it into the courting Pokemon, Swoobat.
Pokemon Fandom
February Research Breakthrough reward isn’t a legend
Last month’s Research Breakthrough reward was Lapras with the powerful ice-type moves Ice Shard and Ice Beam. In the near two year history of the rewards this was only the second time a non-legendary had featured.
Previous to Lapras, ‘Flower Crown’ Eevee had featured during September and October – a decision which trainers were less than thrilled with. It was a quite step down from the likes of Moltres, Lugia, Kyogre, etc.
It looks like non-legendary rewards are here to stay, though. The reveal of Woobat now makes it two months in a row a legend hasn’t been used. It does somewhat soften the blow that Woobat is a Gen 5 Pokemon that is a new introduction to the Pokedex, however.
@PokemonGoApp
Trainers are used to legendaries
While some trainers have accepted the change to Research Breakthrough rewards, others are less than happy. One Twitter user, Thunders_Bolt, was left particularly disappointed with the news: “These were the only way for me to get non-shadow legendaries and they replace them with Woobat? Really?”
Another trainer seemed furious with the decision, saying: “WOOBAT HAHAHAHAHA. Weren’t selling enough raid passes with legendaries as research breakthroughs, huh?” They went on to further their opinion but you can read that on Twitter.
Elsewhere, although blunt, this was trainer was a little more reasoned in their response to the news: “These pointless Pokemon that are limited to 3-5 per month is a waste. Woobat should be in the wild.”
Can we please go back to legendaries in research breakthrough? @PokemonGoApp these pointless Pokemon that are limited to 3-5 per month is a waste. Woobat should be in the wild. Legendaries should be in breakthroughs – there are more than enough to keep rotating.
— Pokemon Trainer Ursus (@TrnrUrsus) February 1, 2020
It seems there are two camps of Pokemon Go trainer – one which is happy with the new type of rewards and others which are going to struggle with the new concept of non-legendaries.
The latter of those might have to get used to it, though. We may never know the real reason for their relatively sudden removal, but the first tweet may have hit the nail on the head.
It could well be a business decision to make legendary species in Pokemon Go harder to come by and therefore rarer. After all, being able to easily get one a week had taken away some of their allure. Perhaps legendary Pokemon will be just that going forward – legendary.