Pokémon GO wows trainers with new feature: “This is how a raid at a catch-oriented event should be”

In Pokémon GO, the big closing event for GO Fest 2022 took place on Saturday and brought you a new feature when catching. The trainers of the reddit community are now summing up and calling for further important changes. We at MeinMMO have looked at what this is all about.

What new feature is it? On August 27, 2022, this year’s GO Fest found its grand finale. In addition to numerous spawns and bonuses, the ultra beasts Schabelle, Masskito, Voltriant and Anego were also an important part of the event.

However, unlike what you are used to from catching in Pokémon GO, Niantic provided you with a new catching feature in the form of so-called ultra balls for the GO Fest finale. Now the trainers on reddit draw a clear conclusion.

What are the Ultra Balls? The Ultra Balls are special balls that make catching Ultra Beasts easier. They were first introduced in the main Pokémon games Sun and Moon, where they are 5 times more effective than normal balls in relation to the Ultra Beasts. You can recognize them by their blue and yellow appearance.

Find coaches “The new balls were great”

What do the coaches say about the new balls? If the trainers in the reddit community have their way, the developers of Pokémon GO have hit the bull’s eye. The main reason for this praise is the speed when catching.

Most of these Ultra Beasts could be found in the Level 5 Raids, but you’ve also had a chance to encounter them in the rewards from the Special Research for A Bright Reunion.

Why is catching fast so important? At such an event, there are even more Pokémon in focus, which is why you want to continue playing as quickly as possible and don’t want to spend forever catching a single monster. Niantic definitely did that with the Ultra Balls, because catching the Ultra Beasts was super easy and really quick.

So you didn’t have to set golden raspberries to catch them, as you are used to from the legendary raid bosses, but you could also use pineapple berries without any problems to get more candies and the beasts still stayed in the ball.

Compared to the global GO Fest in June, catching Anego with the normal premium balls that were available to you after the raid took significantly longer and was also significantly more expensive in terms of berries. This is also reflected in the conclusions of the players on reddit, who find many words of praise for the new balls (via reddit.com):

• glumada: “Catching ultra beasts – this is what a raid at a catch-oriented event should be like. I and everyone I know have been very pleased with how easy the UBs are [Ultrabestien] could be caught during the event. No more wasting time trying to catch a Legendary Pokemon during a short event with a high chance of Shiny.”

• TakahashiSato: “I agree, it was very nice to be able to catch quickly again, but it’s just part of the game that Ultra Balls make them easier to catch. I’m actually surprised they gave it to us and it wasn’t just a visual thing.”

• Target880: “The new balls were great. During last summer’s event, I spent more time catching the Legendary Pokemon after the raid than battling during the raid as you defeat them very quickly when 20 people are involved.”

• BCHiker7: “Yeah, it was definitely the ultra balls. The base in-game catch rate for the Beasts is 2%, same as the Legendaries. So it was the Ultra Balls that made the difference. They even made sure we got Ultra Balls in Special Research.”

• MegiddoZO: “Anego was definitely not that easy to catch when it was still catchable with regular premium balls.”

After Niantic finally gave the trainers an advantage in the raid, there are now also voices that further changes should follow. We’ll show you what the reddit users want.

The coaches want these important changes

The introduction of Ultra Balls has shown many Trainers how many Pokémon you can actually catch at an event like this when the waiting time to continue playing is shorter and you can secure the monster faster.

Better catch rate: Game speed has been a huge topic for trainers for a while now. A reddit user recently pointed out that catching the animation takes too long, which ultimately has a negative effect on the spawns of the daily adventure smoke.

And also in the comments on reddit, some wish that it would also be great in the future, i.e. outside of such events, if catching just went faster. Axume4 could generally imagine a better catch rate and writes:

I know people like the ultra ball rationale, but the whole game would be greatly improved with higher catch rates. Think about it, you pay 100 coins for a raid. You throw 15 fabulous throws and the thing pops out and flees. Not to mention the time it takes to throw 15-20 balls and time them.

It’s about time they improve the catch rate or add a mechanic that improves that. Especially now that experienced trainers only raid for the XL candies. This means there is no real reason to do the raid. There is no reason to further discourage players with an unreasonably low catch rate.

Axume4 (via reddit.com)

The trainer Dragunov1987 sees it similarly and would generally like an ultra ball system for the raids in the game. He explains on reddit that Niantic could even say that each player has a certain number of premium balls and a last ball as a kind of master ball with which the catch finally succeeds.

In addition, he would like it if there were rewards if you didn’t use up all the balls on catching (via reddit.com).

What is a Master Ball?
A Master Ball is a special ball introduced in the Pokémon Red and Blue Pokémon main series games. This is the strongest ball in the game because it’s guaranteed to catch a monster.

Why are Ultra Balls not suitable for this? While some Trainers would welcome the generalization of Ultra Balls, you may not find them useful in game. They are specifically designed to better catch Ultra Beasts. Catching other Pokémon is much more difficult with it.

In order to improve catching in the raid for all monsters, you would need a different ball. Here, the master ball from Dragunov1987 mentioned would basically be an option, but this does not yet exist in Pokémon GO.

Another important wish of the coaches

But the better catch rate and the introduction of new balls is not the only thing that coaches want in the game in the future. The call for a “GO” button in the raid lobby is also getting louder.

The trainers have been wanting this for some time. Especially with smaller raids, trainers play alone or only in a small group, as these are easy to manage. Nevertheless, although it is not foreseeable that more coaches will want to participate here, they have to wait until the preparation time is up. And that’s what feels like forever.

The trainers hope that a corresponding button will allow them to start raids faster themselves without having to wait for the preparation time. Target880 writes the following on reddit:

What they should do next is add an “I’m done preparing” button for the lobby. It’s pretty pointless waiting for the timer to count down to zero when you’re ready and no more people can join.

Adds the ability to skip low-level raids to at least level 1. I can understand not picking up tier 4 and 5 raids where the lobby isn’t full so you have a chance to join even if you didn’t plan it with others.

Some notifications to opt for would be nice too. You already get notifications that there’s a raid going on, why not one that people are in the lobby for you to join.

Target880 (via reddit.com)

It remains to be seen whether Niantic will introduce other features in the future that improve the game from the trainer’s point of view like the ultra balls. Should there be any new information on this, you will of course find out about it from us on MeinMMO.

How did you like the Ultra Balls for the GO Fest finals? Do you also think that there should be a better catch rate in general in the future? Or don’t you think that Niantic should change something about the previous system? Feel free to write us your opinion here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers.

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