After months of speculation and anticipation, Mega evolutions finally debuted in Pokemon Go. Today we'll be going through how Megas work, what I like about the system, what I don't like, and what Niantic could do to make it better in the future. We'll also take a look at the changes made to the raid system as a whole, as I think it is important to understand while talking about Megas.
The arrival of Mega raids saw a shift in the way the raid systems works. We now have only One-Star, Three-Star, Five-Star, and Mega raids. The variety of Pokemon in One and Three-Star raids has increased and the rewards will match those of Two and Four-Star raids. A bigger variety and more rewards as well as the difficulty remaining the same has me on board so far.
Speed is now the name of the game for taking down raids. We no longer get a team bonus for raiding and instead get more premier balls the faster the group wins and Mega raids give more Mega energy. On the surface this seems fine as the goal is usually to find a large group of people to take down raids as fast as possible. However, the team aspect to me seems like one of the fundamental concepts of the game and removing that from raiding seems odd. The focus on time is problematic for other reasons that we'll get into later.
What I liked
Mega Pokemon are best utilized for raiding and they do a great job at helping you take them down faster. When a Mega Pokemon battles in a raid all other Trainers' Pokemon in the raid will get an attack boost and all other Pokemon that share a type with the Mega Pokemon will gain an additional attack boost. Only one Mega boost can happen at a time though. I really enjoy this as it gives Megas a presence in raids and will help you do more raids during a raid hour. The rewards are worth while with Mega raids offering Five-star raid rewards. I am a huge fan of the four silver pinaps in particular. Being able to get shiny encounters is also fun and adds an extra layer of excitement. Unfortunately the encounters won't have the Community Day moves and if you get a hundred percent IV you will need to Elite Charge TM it. Mega's also have they're own Pokedex and I have heard a lot of people say that it is pointless. I agree that Mega Pokemon could be included under the regular Pokedex entry, but personally I enjoy the extra work to keep me busy since I play so often.
What I Disliked
Unfortunately, even though I found some things to be excited about there are a lot of things wrong with the Mega evolution system. The most jarring issue is that they are in the raid system. This puts us in a "hamster wheel" situation where you need to do raids to get the energy to evolve your Mega Pokemon, so that you can do more raids to actually use them. It's hard to argue this since the best use for Mega Pokemon is raiding and the fact that you might need to do multiple raids depending on how long the battle takes to get the fifty Mega energy is disappointing. In addition, I think the new changes to the raid system don't synergize well with how Megas will be used in some situations. For example, I saw a lot of people online saying that Mega Pokemon will help with duos and trios that are battling raids, which to be fair is where Mega Pokemon would be the most useful. But because of raids focusing more on speed to get premier balls this doesn't really help those duos and trios. Sure they will be able to beat raid bosses they otherwise wouldn't be able to because of the Megas, but they will still do so slowly, and get few premier balls. The incentive is still to get a maxed out lobby and those duos and trios and even rural players are the people that will miss the team bonus.
Another concern is the longevity of the Mega raids as they add more of them in the future. Will Mega raid bosses rotate or will the pool just get bigger and bigger, thus making it potentially difficult to find one you need. Even right now it can be difficult to find enough of the raids you need. Especially if you're not part of a raid group and don't have people who can send remote invites.
As of right now Mega Pokemon are banned in the Go Battle League which is a bit disappointing. Only a bit though because if you have seen any content creators use Megas it is clear that they are too powerful at the moment. The blog Niantic posted did mention that this could change in the future. Perhaps they are waiting for when all of the Megas are released for more diversity, or they will do something like a Mega Master League.
Moving Forward
In my opinion, having the Mega Pokemon run through the raid system is a terrible idea. You could have done a quest line like they are doing for Beedrill, but the buddy system would have made the most sense. I would have liked to see a system where you get your Pokemon to best buddy and then instead of getting hearts for the day you get Mega energy. That way people could spend money on poffins if they want to get energy faster. I would even keep Mega raids for people who don't want to use the buddy system and that way Niantic has another way to make money if people want to grind them out. This seems like a win-win for both Niantic and us players. If we're sticking with Mega raids then I would make the Mega energy universal instead being specific to each Pokemon. That way if you need a Mega Charizard before raid hour but you can only find Blastoise then you are good to go.
Niantic really dropped the ball with Mega Evolutions and I hope they listen to the players and move them into the buddy system. With that said, it is more productive as a community for us to voice our concerns respectfully and to give constructive criticism. It makes us more likely to get what we want and makes us look inviting to new players who are coming across our comments. If you're looking for some Vlog Content check out what Sue Ann is doing over on our Youtube Channel. Stay tuned for our article on the best budget Pokemon that is coming out later this week. Follow us on social media to stay up to date on all of our content and join the fellowship.
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