The recent de-emphasis on Remote Raids has been an epic failure on Niantic’s part for those of us in rural areas and who cannot get out. There so many fronts on which Niantic’s recent moves have been terrible for all Trainers.
For rural and semi-rural Trainers, this is was another punch to the gut. I have no idea of anything in my neighborhood that I could turn into a Pokestop and therefore maybe a gym. Even though Niantic promised to work on rural areas, there are only so many places in rural and rural suburban where all the possible gyms are accounted for. I know in my area, there are no other landmarks that can be used that are not on private property. There are two iconic (for this area) business signs which are local landmarks. One of these is even a gym. However, these are on the side of a 50 MPH highway and are dangerous to get to. The gym is also very difficult to get to if I was to drive to it. So I would use a Remote Raid Pass for a local gym in order to participate in Raids. The other local iconic structure is on the corner on a 40 MPH two lane main through street. The other stop is a local church on the other side of the street. Yes, as an adult, this is not overly dangerous to me. I can make sound judgments and am fast enough to get across the road. This game is meant to be a game for all ages. Kids should not be subjected to these dangers either. Yes, the distance means that I could stand on the side of the road. However, this is like being a sitting duck hoping that people see me. There are no curbs or sidewalks that are safer to stand on. This can be a problem.
The change in price for Remote Raid Passes was also arbitrary, capricious, uncommunicated, unfair, uncalled for, and otherwise just wrong. The new discounted box contains regular passes which are already a part of a discounted box and only two remote raid passes. A lot of Trainers are going to end up with a bunch of unused and unwanted in person raid passes, since they cannot get to in person raids. Consider also that at press time, COVID rates are climbing again. Some areas are starting to discourage group outings and reinstituting masking. In person raids will likely be affected by these events. This was also sprung on Trainers with the change that 1 remote raid pass will no longer be a feature of the 1 coin boxes. That was the main reason for getting these boxes for me. Otherwise, they usually not very attractive and not worth anything to me. The timing was also quite poor. The change was not at the end of the season or at least on a Monday when trainers would have a final weekend to do remotes at a discount. Usually bundles have a discount to them to encourage people to buy more than they might normally. There is no bundle discount to the Remote Raid Passes. What a pain! We also had no idea going into the day that the Remote Raid Pass bundle would go up. Without warning, we had a 20% hike in prices for Remote Raid Passes. This really doesn’t help anyone, especially since prices are skyrocketing.
Remote raids help to ensure that there are enough Trainers in raids. This is especially helpful in situations where there are multiple desirable raids. Examples include: Mega Latias/Latios (and eventually others) being 6* Mega Raids, the upcoming Island Guardians 5* week where all four of them are out at the same time, Rockruff and other raid-only mons being out, and multiple desirable support (1* and 3*) raids. I know at my Raid Hour, if we did not have Remote Players that it would be very difficult to win.
The worst part is that instead of a carrot, players who enjoy Remote Raids for various reasons are getting a rod. Don’t punish us for enjoying Remote Raids. Especially when there is little in the way of in person raids that a Trainer can do. Niantic knows where we are… give us a break.
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