It is commonly believed by numerous players who participate in forums, that “Pokémon GO” Raids have been the only meaningful activity in the game. However, during the upcoming Halloween event, Niantic should ideally focus on introducing other features, and not simply play around with Raids. It has to try out new gameplay mechanics to get both old and new players excited again.
Raids shouldn’t be the primary focus
It’s time, the game got back to its roots so that it can capitalize on its initial appeal. This would, in fact, be fun. Events such as Halloween are excellent opportunities to introduce new twists and mechanics.
This is something Niantic should do more often, though that is definitely not the case now.
As already mentioned, the idea is to not only focus on Raids, something the maker has been doing continuously for months now. Players should be made to get out in the wild and start catching critters again. Forbes has listed a few options that Niantic could introduce during Halloween.
Defeat, free the spirit and catch
The first step is providing trainers with a Silph Scope to identify ghosts and ghost spawns on the map. There could be ghost Pokémon and also the ghost versions of other Pokémon. On rare occasions, there could also be Spectral Dragonite, Spectral Scyther or Donphan. Spectral Pokémon could be like encounters with a mini-boss.
During such encounters, one has to battle the bosses and then free the spirit. Once done, the critter would turn into a normal Pokémon, which then must be caught in the normal way, just like Raids. Defeating the Spectrals would entitle the trainer to TMs, rare candy, golden razzberries, ultra balls, loot prizes, and XP.
If the trainer is able to catch the creature after freeing the spirit, he or she gets bonuses.
Of course, no one should be able to use the Silph Scope indefinitely. Instead, it could have a certain number of charges in a day. Players would have to make the most of these charges and use them to their advantage.
New game mechanics needed
Paul Tassi of Forbes believes if such a system is introduced, the “Pokémon GO” Halloween event would be more meaningful than simply having 10x Murkrow spawns and Houndoom raid bosses.
Now that Niantic has expanded the team considerably, it would not be difficult for it to introduce new gameplay mechanics.
In the end, Niantic may simply introduce some scary spawns, adding Gen 2’s Murkrow and Misdreavus, candy bonuses, XP and raid bosses, such as Sneasel and Houndoom. The game needs something more to stir things up a bit. Players will get interested again, once they see it evolving. Being in the same position, as it was a year ago, is unjustifiable.
Stay tuned on Blasting News for more updates on the “Pokémon GO” Halloween event. For now, read our story - 'Pokémon GO' Halloween event could introduce spooky Gen 3 Ghost-types.
