Lures in Pokemon GO Make No Sense

During the last Community Day with Zigzagoon, my brother and I put down some lures, in the hopes of producing more spawns. We were chilling out in an ice cream place at the time, and the three closest Pokestops were all lured. Because it was a Community Day, those lures would all last 3 hours each, sticking around for a long time after we finished up and left.

As we left though, I looked back at the lured Pokestops and realized that luring those Pokestops made no sense.

Most spawns are wasted.

The place where we left the lures was pretty empty with spawns, so we had hoped that the lures would work while we were sitting down. However the lures just spat out a Pokemon every couple of minutes. Which wasn’t particularly productive. Especially since we were in the middle of catching 100 Zigzagoons. Sure, we got three extra spawns from the lures, but we could have found more if we had just gotten up and moved around.

What was more problematic though was where the lured Pokemon would spawn. We were sat between three Pokestops, but they weren’t particularly close. Unfortunately, this meant that we missed half the spawns, if they happened to spawn on the far side of the Pokestops we had lured.

This got me thinking. What was the actual point of a lure module? To use at a stationary Pokestop, of course. But the whole point of Pokemon GO is to be moving. Lure modules are intended if you are staying in one place. They don’t really work if you aren’t sticking around and moving elsewhere. After all, you will be walking around. And using an incense is better if you are moving around.

Now, this works fine if you are sitting by one Pokestop, you’ll see the spawns there are Pokestops that are nicely spread out while you walk. But if there are already plenty of spawns and Pokestops, the lure modules are unneeded. Anything that spawns will be hidden behind existing spawns. They’re easier to miss as well, since Pokemon spawned by lures don’t stick around. Just like Pokemon spawned via incense, these Pokemon despawn quickly.

And then we have the ‘elemental’ lure modules. You need them to evolve various Pokemon, like Magnezone or Leafeon. These lure modules at least spawn themed Pokemon, like grass types or water types. But again, they do take a while to spawn. And like normal lures, these Pokemon spawns don’t stick around for very long.

But the whole moving problem isn’t really why I think lure modules are pointless. It’s the fact that they hardly spawn that many Pokemon. You do get some consistent spawns, but only if you stay in place for half an hour. The spawns just slowly trickle in.

However, staying in one place can be beneficial, especially if weather conditions are bad. After all, it’s not a good idea to walk around in both storms and hot summer days. And for some people who lack Pokemon spawns, a lure module is the only way to change that.

Still, at least lure modules are better than the current incense. We are still reeling back from the incense nerfs…