Pokémon GO won’t let some players come to its birthday party

A successful mobile game Pokémon GO Never missed A chance has TO DO A inexplicably terrible decision. Its latest comes during the game’s eighth anniversary celebration, where it made the bizarre decision to deny access to longtime players who completed a specific quest in 2020.

Every year, POGO celebrates its anniversary with a few in-game events, some free, some premium. For 2024, the “Pokémon GO“‘s 8th Anniversary Party” offers plenty of features, including a way to meet Meltan without a mystery box, a lineup of recycled monsters wearing party hats, standard timed research tasks (both free and paid), and the main highlight, a $5 research project called Whispers in the Woods featuring shiny Celebi. (Oh, and in a choice that seems way too awkward, the only new Pokémon earning a party hat this year are Grimer and Muk.)

Whispers in the Woods is a new super-long quest that will end with players receiving one of the ultimate hunting Pokémon, a Shiny Celebi. But along the way, it also offers an impressive 153 Ultra Balls, three Super Incubators, a Poffin, Rare Candies, Lure Modules, CTs, Battle Passes, a healthy dose of XP and Stardust, And much more. Even leaving out the Celebi, that’s a huge loot of in-game items for five bucks. Incubators alone would generally cost you more.

This is why it is quite astonishing that anyone who completed the Distracted By Something Shiny special study during the COVID year 2020 is not allowed to participate. The option to purchase a ticket is simply grayed out in the store, with the following unhelpful message: “You already have a ticket to this event, or you have an active or completed study that disqualifies you from purchasing this ticket.”

Visit the event blogand you are informed in a footnote,

Trainers who have completed the Special Research story Distracted by Something Brilliant will not be able to purchase this Masterful Research story.

No reason is given and we have yet to receive a response from Niantic to our request for a reason. Now, it’s likely that this has something to do with the Generation II Mythical Pokémon being an extra-special and unique creature, rather than one among many of its kind, a la Pikachu or Charizard. But then, that’s already entirely compromised by allowing players to have both a regular and a shiny version of the monster, so, you know, what?

Complaining about not being able to give Niantic five extra dollars at a time when POGO The fact that the game has gotten so crappy may seem a bit odd, but that’s because it only serves to exacerbate the frustrations. There’s so little to do in the game these days, and the trivial events that pop up that would have been free before are now paid for, while the recent Masterworks have been so inconceivably massive that they’re unmanageable. (Glimmers of Gratitude, for example, requires you to catch a whopping 492 Pokémon.) each of the first four regions, for its first stage of seven.)

Whispers In The Woods would finally be an easier event to deal with, with a cool Pokémon at the end (and the chance to catch a Shiny Celebi with better stats than you may have received before), and a ton of Super useful items in the game. Items at a relatively cheap price. Denying access to those who are engaged enough with the game to have played it for over four years is an extremely stupid decision, and far more infuriating considering it would be worth purchasing even if it simply denied you the Celebi at the end.

As mentioned, we’ve reached out to Niantic to see what’s going on. In the meantime, long-time players, take the opportunity to catch a Muk with a hat. Weeeeeee.

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