Recently, I read an article where executives at Niantic downplayed the lack of shinies saying that they believe that too many shinies would degrade the experience of Go Fest and that they value bringing the community back together. I call shenanigans.
I see and talk to my community often and see them a lot. There are some people I see often and some I see once in a while. One of the major topics is what is your latest shiny – both in person and in our online groups. It’s one of those brag things and we can compare notes and maybe… do you have extras? Wanna trade… or mirror trade? Shiny Pokemon are the only special things that stay during trades, which is why they are valuable in trades.
My first disappointment was Turtwig Community Day back in September 2019. This was my first Community Day that I took and experienced the full day of. I didn’t get into the Community Days until then, I was pretty much an independent player and I do not remember the game news being as robust as is now. At least I did not know the outlets back then. I got 0 shinies after playing 3 hours that day I was catching everything I could get to that day. The feelings of being shut out when others are getting multiples, especially 10 or more was a major discouragement and disappointment. Community Day is when shinies should be handed out with some regularity.
Two of three Go Fests I got pretty much skunked as well. In 2020, I got 2 wild shinies and 2 raid shinies total. I played the overwhelming majority of the hours over both days. So if I didn’t do raids, I would have gotten 2 shinies. I remember the last shiny I got was the last raid and encounter of the Sunday. I remembered people saying 20+, 30+, and more shinies for the weekend. In 2022, I got 10 shinies overall – 8 wilds, 1 hatch and 1 raid. The raid (Kyogre) and hatch (Galarian Ponyta) really don’t count since they are not truly event specific. Kyogre raids were ongoing before and after Go Fest and the Galarian Ponyta hatch could have happened any time. This was also not my first Galarian Ponyta, so it’s not very special. I personally do not count them for those reasons. I only got 1 event specific shiny (Galarian Wheezing) and 1 released for Go Fest (Numel)… and 2 Mudkips. Yes, I like Mudkip, but they are #9 & 10, so there was no real special feeling). I played hard for 14 of the 16 and casually during lunch time both days. So to get about as many shinies in 16 hours of a Go Fest celebration weekend as I expect to get during Community Day in 3 hours? What did I pay for?
The Shiny Smeargle event from a couple years ago I got 0 shinies and I took all 60 pictures. I did get my Platinum Cameraman Badge, which is little consolation. I figured that by doing all 60 pictures, I would have had a virtual guarantee of getting Shiny Smeargle. That’s the only reason I did all 60 encounters. This is especially annoying since Shiny Smeargle was a one time only event. Those of us who did all the pictures and got stiffed have no chance at getting one unless Niantic decides to bring Shiny Smeargle back, which who knows when this will be! At least with normal shinies there will always be a chance to get them again.
I later found out that according to some calculations that a major Pokemon news source made, 38.8% or so (so nearly 2 out of 5) of Trainers did not get Shiny Smeargle even if they did all 60 encounters based on a 1/64 odds of getting Shiny Smeargle in each encounter. That is unacceptable, especially since there is no way to get it through normal gameplay means.
The whole buzz around Shiny Meltan time with quicker Meltan Boxes just shows how important shinies are. People around me have been talking about this opportunity. So if Niantic doesn’t think that shinies matter,…
For Community Day, multiple day events where one specific Mon is featured, and Go Fest events where there is a major emphasis on the shinies, I reasonably think that getting one an hour minimum is not too much to ask for. Over 60 encounters, asking for 1 during a promotion and limited time event like Smeargle’s event does not seem to be too much to ask for. Doesn’t even have to be good. This is one of the few things is people discuss and compare notes on.
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