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I had an underwhelming experience with GO Fest 2020. With that said, though, I thought a lot of the format changes were great ideas, just slightly marred by technical and balancing issues.
@G2G_Med1a are collecting (constructive, please) feedback. Have your say
https://twitter.com/g2g_med1a/status/1287818918099378176
@G2G_Med1a are collecting (constructive, please) feedback. Have your say
https://twitter.com/g2g_med1a/status/1287818918099378176
I had a better time on Day 2 of GO Fest than Day 1, and I think that was due to a different fulfilment of expectation vs reality. I critiqued Day 1 harshly, because I was comparing it to the fun I had at Amstelveen, Dortmund and Liverpool* Safari Zones, and Dortmund GO Fest.
Judging retrospectively and with less emotion, the delivery of this virtual GO Fest got a lot of things right, especially in unprecedented circumstances. The bar is set HIGH by an event charging £15 a ticket, and wearing the GO Fest name.
I think the content hit a new high; the live challenges (when they worked) were great. The in-game mise-en-scène (confetti, balloons on the horizon, fireworks etc) were subtle but effective ways to make it feel special. Meeting Victini made my heart swell.
Game play-wise, I did expect more from an event being called GO Fest. I said before, I felt the format suffered without better compensation for the lack of temporary PokéStops and constant lures you see at a real GO Fest.
I encountered roughly half as many Pokémon this weekend in 20 hours of game play as I did in 10 hours at Dortmund GO Fest 2019. Spawn density in Cardiff is relatively sparse, particularly for a capital city. I can only imagine how it felt somewhere more rural or fully at home.
I wish the aim of the game wasn't just collecting shiny Pokémon, but pragmatically, that's the key metric by which the vast majority of Trainers measure their success, failure and value received in events in GO—myself included.
With so many fewer Pokémon to encounter, naturally far fewer were shiny, or otherwise deserved a permanent home in my account once the clock struck 8pm on Sunday. People bemoan the shiny rates, I think because they weren't duly adjusted to compensate for fewer encounters.
One thing I'd consider to reduce the reliance on shinies as success, is an introduction of Bottle Caps. Imagine if GO Fest challenges earned the item(s) to improve the IVs of your Pokémon, old and new. So finding shinies wasn't the only boon.
I don't think that would be game-breaking, if they're still hard-to-come-by (but ideally not as laughably hard-to-come-by as Elite TMs), and you could come out of an event with your Pokémon—freshly caught or veterans of your adventure—newly Hyper Trained to 4*.
If not Bottle Caps, out of concern for how that may cannibalise Raid Battles, then even a system similar to Brilliant Pokémon in Sword and Shield; a mechanic similar to Weather Boost where the Pokémon have a higher chance of appraising well.
Spot a Pokémon with a Brilliant aura, and know that it has a 10-IV floor like Raids/Eggs/Research etc.
For maybe 1-in-5 or 1-in-10 spawns, rather than everything. Obviously need those 0-Attack Marowak and Togetic to be a possibility for your Trainer Battle Rank 1s
For maybe 1-in-5 or 1-in-10 spawns, rather than everything. Obviously need those 0-Attack Marowak and Togetic to be a possibility for your Trainer Battle Rank 1s
I love a good thread that is far too long for Twitter. I let my mind wander, and this is the result. If you had the patience to read all this, thank you. 
