‘It’s completely dumb’: Pokémon Go players want major raid change to boost catch rate

Pokémon Go players are at their wit’s end with the low catch rates in raids. They find it often takes too long to catch them, regardless of the raid’s difficulty level, and are now urging Niantic to increase the catch rates starting this week.

The frustrated player leading the charge pointed to their experience of struggling to catch an Infernape in a tier-three raid as an example. They insisted Golden Razz berries and curve throws, which are supposed to increase catch rates, didn’t help.

“It’s completely dumb that after a long, hard-fought raid, the raid Pokémon can just break out over and over and waste your time,” they said on Reddit. “It’s just a waste of time and energy and makes raiding not really all that worthwhile.”

Others agreed, claiming the catch rates in five-star raids are even more abysmal, and that catching the Pokémon should be the least of anyone’s worries when it comes to raids. Some even went as far as saying it felt like a casino or a lottery, which they believe is done by design to keep players hooked.

Instead, players want it to be more like the catch rates in the core series.

“I think it should be updated to current Pokémon mainline game standards. You beat the raid, the Pokémon is a guaranteed catch,” one player said. “This is a feature that has been fixed in the main games, at least in Sword and Shield and all of the raids in Scarlet and Violet,” another added.

But not everyone shared this view. Some are convinced those who struggle to catch Pokémon in raids, especially tier three ones, simply have a lack of skill and need to practice making perfect throws and excellent throws to increase catch rates, and they let the rest of the community know about it.

“I believe you do have the ability to catch it however you must improve on your skill to fix this issue,” one player said. “Curveball isn’t enough. Are your throws excellent? Or great at least? Even though there’s RNG, you need to get better at throwing,” another added. This was met with some resistance, with a handful of players accusing them of being delusional.

It’s not the first time catch rates have been a topic of interest in the Pokémon Go community. The addition of Master Balls earlier this year caused players to panic about the possibility of catch rates becoming even harder since Master Balls are a guaranteed catch.