Pokemon Go’s Master Ball is too rare to be useful
Niantic/The Pokemon CompanyWhile everyone wants a Master Ball, it seems that most Pokemon Go players are hoarding the elusive item as it’s just too rare to actually use.
Legendary Pokemon are tough to find at the best of times. Often in titles like Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, players can only tackle those powerful Pocket Monsters like Lugia after a lengthy campaign and hours of training. Yet, in Pokemon Go it can be even harder to find, let alone catch a Legendary Pokemon.
Thankfully, the Master Ball has made its way to Pokemon Go. In fact players can earn an extra one thanks to the latest Pokemon Go Master Ball Special research, but now with a grand total of three possible Master Balls, many are still hoarding them, as fans have explained in this Reddit post.
Many of the comments underneath the post discuss catching Pokemon in mainline games, and for those titles, it seems most people like to save a Master Ball for any Shiny Pokemon that can harm itself, as one comment explains by saying, “The best use is for a shiny encountered in damaging weather or a shiny that can run.”
Luckily in Pokemon Go, if players encounter a Shiny Legendary after a Raid, the catch rate is drastically increased, but that begs the question, when should players use it? The Galarian birds are rare but can be encountered again if you use incense often, and it’s hard to know when Legendary Pokemon have great stats.
The fact is, the Master Ball is too important to waste, but too rare to use, serving little good for most players in the community. Considering the vast differences between mainline games and Pokemon Go, if we can’t save then we should have some more security, so stop being so stingy with those Master Balls.
There’s something very demoralizing about beating an incredibly tough Raid, especially one you’ve paid to buy a Raid Pass for, only for the flailing Pokemon to continually jump out of your Premier Balls and eventually escape. Then with only a single Master Ball in my inventory, it seems frivolous to use it at all.
The first solution would be to make Master Balls available to purchase through coins. Sure, some people would just buy loads, but it’s also good to give players something to work towards other than spending coins on Raids.
That or we scrap the Premier Ball limit on Legendary Pokemon encountered after Raids. Sometimes just having ten balls isn’t enough, so why not let Trainers use their own inventory of balls as well and just make the Premier Balls a reward for the Raids? Run out of Premier Balls? Use your own afterward.
As it is, it’s terrifying to use a Master Ball on anything, but it’s frustrating to lose Legendary Pokemon after Raids, so let’s meet somewhere in the middle. Even a Diet Master Ball could be great, something just above an Ultra Ball that fans can save for Raids.
Whatever happens, while we’re excited to earn another Master Ball in the latest Pokemon Go Special Research, it’s not likely to get used any time soon.