Collection Challenges Are A Bad Idea in Pokemon GO

As of writing, right now, we have an Unova event. And part of that Unova event is a mini event, where we have to catch several species of Pokemon. There’s 9 Pokemon needed to be caught to get the rewards and medals. In fact, it’s somewhat like a Pokedex challenge. Just like the main games, you gotta fill in the Pokedex. Even if it’s currently just a check list.

However, this is all nothing but luck.

In the normal Pokemon games, this makes sense. Most Pokemon spawn in specific places. You know where to look. And since the world is static, you can eventually track them all down. Sure, there’ll be a ton of randomness. You can spend ages running through the same patch of grass looking for one Pokemon. The Safari is a great example of the Pokemon being there but also not there. And since you’re on a timer, Pokemon like Chansey and Kangaskhan are a massive pain to obtain.

Of course, the bullshit in the main games is different. You have to either buy two copies to complete your Pokedex, and hope you luck out with mythical Pokemon. Sword and Shield aren’t so bad on the Mythical Pokemon front, but getting mythicals in previous games has been a massive chore.

In Pokemom GO however, it’s all RNG.

What Pokemon spawn around you in Pokemon GO is all random. There’s no way of guaranteeing that you’ll see a Pokemon eventually. Or at all. ‘Biomes’ can affect what spawns around you, but this isn’t always useful. After all, if you’re trying to catch a Froakie, then maybe going to a water area will help, but you might just be inundated with Psyducks instead. Sure, the concept of Pokemon GO is to explore, but there’s no point exploring because 80% of spawns are the same everywhere, no matter where you go!

Heck, as I type, the weather is partly cloudy, which means that rock and normal types should be spawning. But there’s not a single Roggenrola to be seen ANYWHERE. The same applies to Herdier. And no, I can’t just evolve a Lillipup into a Herdier. Have to catch it manually. Hatching them and trading them doesn’t count either.

The radars are also of no help at all. I only know that there’s a Solosis somewhat nearby because I have a second account that hasn’t caught one yet. As for the other Pokemon, there’s no chance, because whatever is shown on the radar is pretty random. And if you’re close enough to a Pokestop, you’ll only ever see what’s at your nearest two stops.

The only real way to find spawns is to ask other people. But not everyone is in a Pokemon GO group to do so.

These challenges are on timers!

Not only do you have to deal with RNG, but you need to hurry as well! This current Unova one has 5 days to be completed. In the mean time, I haven’t seen any wild Ferroseeds or Blitzles. And there’s no way to change that, since I can’t track them down in any way, outside of a research task for Ferroseed. A research task that isn’t even guaranteed, because research tasks are even more random than Pokemon.

So there’s a chance one can easily fail this event, and through no fault of their own. Luck can simply just not be on your side. At that point though, the player is not to blame. They just got screwed over for no reason. Yeah, sure, this whole collection thing is nothing special, but it’s not a nice feeling to fail, simply because luck told you to fuck off.

Without some way to actually track down specific Pokemon, you’re basically out of luck.

I completely lucked out.

After 24 hours of nothing but Unova starters and Lillipup, I actually stumbled across the remaining five all at one single Pokestop. This event, honestly, is pretty simple if you luck out. The hardest one by far is Ferroseed, but you do need to go out to find Roggenrola, Herdier and Blitzle. However, this is just echoing the Kalos event, where LOADS of people couldn’t complete the last step, simply because they couldn’t find a Froakie in time.

Like I’ve been saying, it’s all RNG, RNG that you can’t even really alter.

And on top of that, the Unova event sucks.

It’s literally just Venipede, Trubbish, a handful of Unova starters and the odd Lillipup. Where is the rest of the Unova Pokemon? I haven’t seen a Sewaddle or a Ducklett in fucking months. Meanwhile, Trubbish has been spawning nonstop since November.

What’s the point of an Unova event if only 10 Unova Pokemon are spawning?