Pokémon Go players are fed up with ‘zero interest’ Shadow Raids, demand feature reworks

Pokémon Go players are at their wit’s end with Shadow Raids this season, claiming they’ve become repetitive and stale for a number of reasons, and they’re begging Niantic to rework the Raid Battles as soon as possible.

The community said on Reddit on Aug. 20 that while Shadow Raids were interesting and fun with the release of Shadow Mewtwo and later Shadow Articuno, people have stopped them because Shadow Articuno has been in tier-five raids every weekend. At this point, it’s become nothing more than a burden that prevents more interesting raids, they say.

Fans also said lower-tier Shadow Raids are disinteresting because the Pokémon in them aren’t compelling enough, and purification gems are a “terrible mechanic.”

It’s not the first time they’ve complained about Shadow Raids. First, they lost their minds because Shadow Mewtwo raids were riddled with bugs. Then, they slammed Shadow Articuno raids after many struggled to finish it due to sagging participation.

The solution, in some players’ views, is for Niantic to change the formula next season by having more than one tier-five raid throughout the Pokémon Go season. They also want them to happen in different time slots throughout the day, and be accessible via Remote Raid Passes to make them easier to find.

As for the purification gems, players are demanding they be totally removed, or at the very least, lower the limit from 10 to five or allow players to carry more than four into a Shadow Raid so they can subdue the boss on their own.

“Five gems needs to be the threshold for calming the shadow down. It is too strong of a ‘you’re screwed if you play by the rules’ mechanic when you can’t solo a T3,” argued one player.

“The fact you’re only allowed to bring four to a raid means you cannot subdue a boss by yourself, making even tier threes impossible to solo. A cap that has literally no reason to be there and makes shadow raids somehow even more frustrating to play,” added another.

Niantic assured players it has been listening in other matters that cropped up this year, like the controversial Remote Raid Pass changes, so that’s probably the case here too, but it seems like players want Shadow Raids reworked sooner rather than later.