I finished the Sustainability Week Collection Challenge right after Community Day on Saturday April 23. It took a lot more effort, questions to fellow Trainers, and other frustration to finish than was necessary.
There were only 6 mons needed this time around, a nice reduction of the total needed from normal of 8 or 9. None of them had those markers of this needed to be shadow or evolution or whatever else. That was nice from a standpoint of this would be straight up catching. No worries about anything else. That was until it was obvious that Weepinbell and Gloom were nowhere to be found in the Wild. So where are they?
It was also nice that Niantic gave us a Mossy Lure to play with. Those things are rare enough, I don’t usually spend my money on them. I have done my Leafeon for the L42 Challenges. Granted, there is a badge for how many mons fellow trainers catch because of your lures as well, but that is not something I pay much attention to. That is so out of my control and I have other badges to focus on that are in my control. I would save it for next time I have a perfect Eevee, as I already have the latest one I got pegged as a future Sylveon or if a fellow Trainer needed it for Grass badge and/or their own L42 Challenge. Always good to help out a fellow Trainer. I just wish it was communicated clearly by Niantic that this is how Trainers would get Weepinbell and Gloom for the Challenge. I had asked some others in my groups and got confirmation that yes, the MIA 2 came out with Mossy Lure. I wish Niantic would have made this clear from the get go.
Of course, this is also not helped by the fact that the lures are only active for 30 minutes normally. For some, even finding a Pokestop to place a lure is very difficult. The only four Pokestops I could place a lure near my home are 2 Churches (neither of which has a sidewalk in front of it, hardly ideal), 1 private commercial property which is along a main 40 mph street with no sidewalk (hardly ideal) or a restaurant along a divided highway and no sidewalk (Not doing that unless I am desperate and have some money for a lunch). So to the park I go for that. Except, that’s only good for the weekend. Maybe the mall, but I don’t have any other reason to go, and that is 15 miles each way. I would hate to be even more rural than I am now and/or not have friends who are fellow players whom I see on a semi-regular basis who could help out. Even worse are Trainers who are stuck at home for whatever reason and could not get out to use the Mossy Lure… and the incenses are nerfed, even if the MIA 2 were attracted to incense (I did not find out).
Fortunately, Community Day has 3 hour lures! Hopefully someone hasn’t already laid down regular lures on every Pokestop since the FOMO was high with a new Pokempn and only 3 hours of Community Day! I was fortunate to find a cluster of 3 Pokestops and had my Fiancee and a friend with me (I was not at my home park) to light these stops with Mossy Lures. We started them at 4:30 and came back a bit after 5 to make sure we were clear of Stuffuls and that the Mossy Lures were attracting grass types and not more Stuffuls. We were fortunate to get the missing in action duo within 15 minutes. I have heard others try before CD and were shut out in the 30 minutes… or maybe got only 1 of the two. To have to lay down multiple lures to get two mons for the Collections Challenge is insane. I just hope my other friends who had no luck prior to Community Day got their two.
Overall, once the challenge was won and over, it wasn’t so bad. Lack of communication certainly did not help. At least the 3 hours of lures helped since many do play a bit after CD is over as a cool down lap before going to find supper. Still, communication is key. Niantic has sure not been good at it in the past. Maybe this can be a lesson… and it sticks… communication is key!
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