This is a bit early, as the challenge is still ongoing as of the publishing of this post, but I finished everything Sunday during the Rocket Takeover. I found a few positive surprises during this event and am happy for them.
First and foremost, I was elated to find out that “Battle” meant Team Rocket and NOT PvP. With the huge push of PvP leading into this event, I was thinking that Niantic would force us to participate in the Battle League and PvP. As I have said before, I am a reluctant casual PvPer. I would have finished the battles to get us all one Mystic Trainer closer to Alolan Grimer in Go Fest, but I would not have enjoyed doing it. When the Rocket Balloon coincidentally came out just before this, which was a giant win for rural players, I was cautiously hopeful of this being a Rocket Battle event. At least this way everyone could have a very good chance of contributing their one in a million towards their team’s goal without the barely palatable (to me at least) PvP.
Secondly, I enjoyed seeking out the various Rocket Stops on Sunday afternoon. I liked playing the battles and fighting and training versus the various Team Rocket Grunts. (I call them Regular Rockets while playing and will use that moniker interchangeably.) I liked the addition of Jessi and James as a double trouble fight. I am able to play at a park and was able to find plenty of Regular Rockets to make Rocket Radars to complete the Bragging Rites Challenge. I enjoyed catching the various shadow Pokemons and even found a Dratini one at the end thanks to friends I was able to play with later in the three hour block.
Third, I was glad to get a Suicine. I didn’t get one of them the last time they were released to the general Pokemon public, so I am happy for that. I hope to get some more Pokedex holes filled soon.
Of course, I will have to be critical of some of the event. I will repeat this ad nauseam until this goes away or I stop playing Pokemon Go: I cannot stand the “Power up a Pokemon” and “Evolve a Pokemon” quests. I do these things on my time… and I don’t like being hurried into doing these things. Four of the nine mainline quests were one of these quests. Let me refine and make my characters stronger on my own pace! I also thought the Rocket Takeover was too short. 3 hours was not enough for me. I would have liked extra time since there were still lots of Regular Rockets left out in search for the Leaders so I could get more Radars. I enjoyed the hunt for Rockets.
I also noticed that Arlo is the new Sierra in terms of easy to defeat Rocket Leaders (at least for me). Used to be the other way around that Arlo had a difficult lineup and Sierra’s was the one to hunt for, besides wanting the Beldums. Cliff has always been difficult for me at least.
Let me know your thoughts.
Moose's Pokemon Go Blog 