The big Hoenn tour was running in Pokémon GO this weekend. Now it’s over and our MeinMMO author Franzi draws a rather mixed balance of the event. She explains to you what she particularly liked and what things she missed for the “best event”.
Which event is it about? In Pokémon GO, the big Hoenn tour took place this weekend – one of the highlights of the game. The 16-hour event is now over and I have mixed feelings about the whole thing.
I have summarized the reasons for this below.
Almost one of the most successful events of the game
For me, the annual GO Tour is one of the events I definitely don’t want to miss in Pokémon GO. That’s why it went without saying that I’ll try to take part in the Hoenn tour at the weekend alongside writing for MeinMMO. And I have to say, the game surprised me in a positive way for the most part.
While in previous years I always spent money on the special event ticket to be able to use all the content, this year it wasn’t necessary. The event itself could basically be played completely free of charge. Only the special research “Masterwork Research: Fulfilled Wish” for Jirachi had to be bought if you wanted it.
For a free event, the Hoenn tour was really strong and, in my opinion, provided a lot of content. These highlights particularly convinced me:
For this reason, the Hoenn tour was really successful for me at first glance – but somehow not. I was missing 3 things to make this one of the best free events in the game. I have summarized what these are for you below.
1. Special Event Bonuses
Anyone who is familiar with Niantic’s paid events from recent years will know that in addition to the large amount of content that all players were able to secure this year, there was still one or two bonuses.
That wasn’t the case this year – neither candy bonuses, additional XP, stardust, free raid passes or a reduced hatch distance were awarded to the trainers. These are otherwise even held at the monthly Community Days.
And the game would have needed exactly these bonuses to compensate for a few barriers that spoiled the fun:
Purchasing Raid Passes: In order to be able to trigger the protomorphosis in Kyogre and Groudon themselves, one must collect appropriate amounts of the proto-energy. And they were almost only available in raids and in very small numbers. So the daily, free raid passes were not enough to secure enough energy. So you were forced to spend your coins or money on passports here.
Since the raids were also quite difficult, there were often not enough players on site, especially in more rural areas, which is why you finally had to switch to long-distance raids. So I also left a lot of money on long-distance raid passes.
Purchase of incubators: Similar additional costs could also be due for the regional Pokémon. For example, Relicanth, Qurtel, and Tropius could only be found in the rare 10km eggs. Anyone hoping for a shiny here could hardly avoid getting one or the other additional incubator.
Purchasing more items: In addition to raid passes and incubators, the event could also cost a lot of lock modules, smoke, revitalizers and potions for the raids. Anyone who did not have a sufficient number of these had to order more – because there was no bonus with, for example, an extended duration for smoke and lure modules.
2. Error free game
From my point of view, the recurring server problems were an even bigger problem. Especially on the first day of the event, I kept having game crashes while I was on the road or taking part in raids. The game then froze partially, so I had to restart it completely. And according to the reports of other coaches on social networks, I was not alone.
From my point of view, this should not happen at such a large and, above all, planned event. Niantic should have known in advance that the demand for the event would be particularly high at certain times. Here I expect the developers to provide enough server capacity so that there can be no game crashes of this kind.
At previous events in recent years, things went much better. Niantic should definitely make improvements here in the future.
3. Different focus on the 2nd event day
I was most disappointed with the second day of the event. Even if you could benefit from the spawns for a total of 4 hours longer than last year on the Johto tour, I had expected more from this one.
Up to the last minute I was sure that Niantic had definitely planned another big surprise here, which nobody expects to focus on a different topic again this Sunday. But nothing happened. A lot would have been possible, such as:
Release of Mega Rayquaza: One of the top surprises would have been a release of Mega Rayquaza, because the legendary Pokémon rushes in during the dispute between Kyogre and Groudon to end the unrest and triggers a Mega Evolution for the first time. So that would have fitted perfectly into the context of the game’s story.
Event Attacks: Alternatively, Niantic could have unlocked certain event attacks that could have been secured during development. That would have been a completely different incentive, especially when catching the wild monsters.
Rocket Takeover: A Rocket takeover would also have been conceivable. Because Team Rocket could also have become aware of one of the biggest events in Pokémon GO and therefore cause trouble – Team Rocket even played a big role at the local event in Las Vegas.
But there was nothing to be seen of that and we trudged through the second event day with the same content as the day before.
Summary of the Hoenn Tour
In view of the fact that the Hoenn tour could be played free of charge, I think it was a successful event that you can’t really complain about. There was a lot of content and, with the exception of Jirachi, you had the opportunity to fill your Pokédex.
Compared to other paid events or Community Day, the Hoenn Tour still lacked incentive. Especially on the second day of the event, I actually only dealt with the game on the side to do a few raids and hatch my eggs. So a bonus was clearly missing here – or at least the focus on a different area during the Sunday.
With the exception of the server problems, it was basically a successful event for me, with certain drawbacks. So it could have been one of the best events if there had been a step up here.
My MeinMMO colleague Max Handwerk was also on the road this weekend – you can read his assessment here:
How did you like the Hoenn weekend? Did you take part in the Hoenn tour? What was your absolute highlight? And what do you wish for next time? Let us know here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers.
By the way: A hint from Prof. Willow gives trainers hope for Mega Rayquaza. We’ll explain why.