Last weekend was the Pokemon Snap Celebration in Pokemon Go land. Whereas the event itself was fair to middling, the end results of it was very disappointing.
Good: I got 60 “surprise” encounters and finished my Platinum Cameraman Badge. This Badge is one of the more annoying ones to get since it is a random event except for the 5 guaranteed ones on Community Day. Glad to get my 21st out of the way. 14 left (I am not close to Level 48 to 49 Challenges, but any progress is good progress here). This would be my “Consolation Prize”.
Meh: It was kind of fun doing the camera work, but I doubt I will use it again. Yes, I will take pictures of my buddy for 1 heart and during CD, but I find the wild camera not useful. I like screenshots for wilds. Just easier.
Meh to Bad: The Pokemon selection for this event did not do a whole lot for me. Lotad was the only favorite.
Very Ugly: In 60 attempts, I did not get a shiny Smeargle. I understand that it’s a random chance, that keeps it fair for everyone. However, if a Trainer puts in the full effort and does all 60 encounters – 15 per day for 4 days in this event, that Trainer deserves the reward. On the last encounter, if a Trainer has not gotten the reward shiny and has put in the max effort to get the reward, it should be guaranteed. The game knows if you have done all the attempts, it counts towards the Cameraman Badge. I don’t care if it’s any good, a 0* will do. Just ensure that those Trainers who put forth the effort get the reward. If you have a shiny already, then the guarantee goes away on the 60th attempt. The game would know this since it’s a Pokedex entry. So now, I have to wait for a maybe in a future event (or a trade with someone who was much luckier, which is not the same)… not good. A friend of mine also got skunked. He did all of the photos too. Note, I will not begrudge the lucky who got 2+. If you did, congrats.
So overall, I give this a D-. Huge demerits for not getting Shiny Smeargle (and I know it’s not just me). Had I gotten one, this would have been a C… not the best event, but certainly, not bad.
Side note: this is the 3rd time I have been skunked like this. On my first Community Day (Turtwig in September 2019 – I was independent at first and I did not know the news sources back then.) I got 0 shinies while playing and catching for the entire 3 hours. Back then Community Day was 3 hours only. Everyone else I talked to got at least 3, some had 10 or more. Then Go Fest last year I got a whole 2 wild shinies and 2 raid shinies over both days. I heard Trainers talking about upwards of 40 for the weekend. I put in effort the overwhelming majority of the hours. To me, a Trainer who puts in a good effort should get good rewards. Shinies matter.
Moose's Pokemon Go Blog 
Your rating of the event is the same as my rating. My family in Maryland didn’t get any either. If any of the grandkids had gotten one that would have made me feel better. They didn’t do 60 each, but between them did over 90 screenshots.
Some people seem to be shiny magnets, and Niantic seems to bestow on them a much higher percentage of shinies, sometimes they are lower level or returning players. Niantic hates to give some of us shinies. This game is so uneven. I don’t need a million shinies, but I would appreciate a few more.
One more thing about the event – the camera for the avatar is stupid – it can only be seen from a couple of poses. People generally wear a camera in the front. Maybe the people that designed that item have never used a real camera!
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