Change #4 – Spotlight Hour

Let me start by saying that Spotlight Hour is a GREAT idea. Putting a spotlight on an uncommon or rarer Pokemon is a great idea. Maybe some players can fill Pokedex with one or two new Pokemon if it is new to them, or they have not seen enough to get the evolution. It even started out with a great Pokemon in Onix.

Onix is uncommon enough recently that getting it in a higher rate was a good thing. I heard some complaining from players who have played for a while, but I liked the idea. Many of the newer players may not have a Steelix, especially in the Shiny form. I only have a shiny due to a trade. Also, Onix is very forgiving for the newer players and the Special Researches since the target circles are very large even for Great and Excellent throws:

• A Ripple in Time: Stage 7 – Make an Excellent Curveball Throw
• A Mythical Discovery: Stage 2 – Make 10 Great Throws; Stage 5 – Make 20 Great Throws; Stage 7 – Make an Excellent Curveball Throw
• Let’s GO Meltan: Stage 2 – Make 10 Great Throws; Stage 5 – Make 20 Great Throws
• A Thousand Year Slumber: Stage 3 – Make 3 Great Throws in a Row; Stage 6 Make 3 Excellent Curveball Throws

Granted, one hour will not finish all of those quests, but at least if some of the Great Throws can be done and maybe one excellent curveball can be made, that would help a lot of the newer players through these quests. Even if the player hits an excellent curveball before they get the quest, there is a confidence boost in that they hit one before. Even the more experienced players can renew their skills.

Then came Spoink which I have not seen a whole lot of, but really do not have any interest in and then a general extra spawn night. Not too bad, but I would like to see some other Pokemon that would make sense.

The first type are those that are in the Special Researches. When these Special Researches are first released, the necessary Pokemon are pretty easy to find. However, for players who missed out on the Special Research when it is first released, finding the requisite Pokemon is quite difficult. I remember when I needed Lileep or Anorith, they were so hard to find since I got to Let’s GO Meltan Stage 8 way after it was released. The following list are those Pokemon which qualify for this:

• Oddish (Gloom) and Sunkern (A Ripple in Time Stage 3)
• Magikarp (A Mythical Discovery Stage 6)
• Grimer & Slugma/Gulpin (Let’s GO Meltan Stage 5)
• Magnemite & Exeggute (Let’s GO Meltan Stage 6)
• Drowzee, Cubone, & Scyther (Let’s GO Meltan Stage 7)
• Omanyet/Kabuto, Lileep/Anorith & Aerodactyl (Let’s GO Meltan Stage 8)
• Dratini (Jump Start Research Stage 6 – Evolve a Dragonair, though they give enough candies for evolution, I would prefer having a good Dragonair if possible)
• Whismur & Feebas (A Thousand Year Slumber Stage 2)
• There are other general “Catch x of a certain type or types” that can also be examined. Also, other larger/easier to Great/Excellent Curveball Pokemon (Snover being a prime example not mentioned) would be great for this.

Another type would be those Pokemon who are single evolution or no evolution, but have some special reason why they should be on Spotlight Day. Example: Vulpix would be proper here when the Shiny is released. An hour would be long enough to gain plenty of Vulpix candies. Remember, they evolve at 50 candies, not double evolve at 125. The shiny rate would need to be tweaked much like Community Day’s ratio, so most players would have a Shiny or two at least. If a special move is also put out, that would be OK.

Another type would be a small sample of the various types of Pokemon. One Spotlight Hour be just for Dragons, one for just Poison type, one for just Ice type, and so on. This would allow players work on their type medals. Another idea would be to have greater spawning of the lesser common Pokemon in each type to allow for Pokedex work.

With all of this, it would be nice if Spotlight Hour was occasionally on Saturday or Sunday too. I cannot really do more than one night out a week playing the game with the dedication that Spotlight Hour would need. I do Wednesday Night Raids since that is more social and fun for me. A lot of others who need to commute from work and have a family to come home to may have this problem. Maybe make this a tag along with Community Day (Galarian Weezing’s debut comes to mind as a great example) or a couple weeks before/after Community Day as well.

UPDATE: February 24, 2020 – Spotlight Night and Mystery Bonus Hour (which was not originally covered here, but a similar idea, where each week there is a bonus to candies, stardust, or similar) have been cancelled this week. Hopefully they will be retooled and put on a rotation whereas they are sometimes on weekends as well and weeknights. I truly think that these ideas are great and will help everyone, including rural and newer players.

UPDATE: March 3, 2020: After the week off, once again there was a “general spawn increase”. I was hoping that after the week off it would go back to a specific Pokemon character. Come on Niantic.