Pokemon Go players had been speculating as to what was next for the game following the completion of the legendary bird cycle. Niantic have answered that with the release of the Johto dog legendries. These legendries will be touring the world with only one available per zone at a time. The current locations are as follows:
Entei – Europe and Africa
Raikou – The Americas
Suicune – Asia-Pacific
These locations commenced on the 31st August and will change on September 31st when the legendries will swap locations. This release comes on the back of further changes to the raid system, not all of which players are happy about. Some positive changes are that you can now see the number of players in range of the gym before you commit a raid pass, which helps to avoid the wasting of a raid pass in not being able to gather enough players for the battle. Some players have complained about the numbers showing not always being reflected in the number who join the raids but it worked well when I took on Entei as it showed nine players in range and had a total of ten in the raid when it started. Further to this raid rewards now give higher potion types (super/hyper) to those who meet the level requirement for those drops, instead of just the basic potions, available before, which proved useless when trying to heal up a fully wiped out team after a legendary raid.
Changes, which aren’t quite so welcome, include the raid rewards, the number of which seem to have dropped significantly. Rare candy drops have plummeted (I didn’t get any at all in my last legendary raid) as have golden razberries. Rare candies aren’t so much of an issue as at least you don’t need those to capture the raid boss. However, after my battle with Entei, I was given just three golden razberries and yet nine balls. This, in time, could lead to difficulties in capturing those hard fought for legendries which already have a low capture rate, without further restricting the number of golden razberries to below the ball count. The egg timers are also back, which is a disappointment to many players who heralded the removal of the eggs in favour of two hour battles an improvement. And it does feel like the game has gone backwards. Two hour battles allowed the time to gather a team but also gave flexibility for those players already in the area to get a quick battle done. Reintroducing a mechanic which leaves players standing on street corners waiting for a countdown just as the autumn chill sets in, does seem like bad design.
After my poor luck with the legendary birds, I’m pleased to announce that my Entei encounter to catch ratio is currently 1 – 1 following 3 – 2 with Zapdos, so perhaps my luck has changed or a bug has been fixed.
I wish happy catching and warm jackets to all you Johto dog fans out there.
