Thursday, December 17, 2020

Quibbles with Candy XL

If there's a common thread to many things (features) in Pokémon Go, it is that many of them lead to "quibbles", which has been true at least once in the past. There seems to be a few of those lately, but right now I'd like to deal with one of them. That "quibble" concerns one of the latest introduced things that is also connected with the big "Go Beyond" update earlier this month, and that thing would be the Candy XL. As discussed previously, they're necessary for raising Pokémon levels beyond the milestone of Level 40. As simple as that is, the "quibble" lies with all the things that concern their usage and usability.

It is worth recalling to note that Candy XL is earned by chance, unlike regular Candy that is guaranteed. For some people, this may not sit well. Though it has been demonstrated that catching Pokémon of higher levels does reward more Candy XL, this "by chance" matter can become a source of problems, as it means one may not always earn Candy XL for the purpose of powering up Pokémon. Yet, each Pokémon requires 296 of their respective Candy XL in order to get to Level 50 after getting to Level 40, and that is an amount that is indeed not very little. Therefore, a lot of effort is demanded even for a single Pokémon.

For very rare (Legendary and/or Mythical) Pokémon, the effort may be even greater. It means that each of them would require many, many raids to even achieve the required amount of Candy as above, and only during the time they are available in raids, if they are available as such. For the ones that are available only once over a certain time, as in the generationally representative Mythical Pokémon of Mew, Celebi, and so on, they don't have any practical chance of getting to Level 50, as they would require 29,600 of their regular Candy to be turned into Candy XL, after the necessary costs to reach Level 40, and few Trainers earn that many Rare Candies even within the time spent for overall efforts.

That does call into question the value of converting regular Candy to Candy XL. The present exchange rate of 100 to 1 of each respectively may very well be said to be exorbitant, as some Pokémon have evolution costs that equal or even exceed this rate. Even with the chances of getting Candy XL by other means, it seems far easier and less costly to earn them in that way, making the exchange rate very lopsided - it does not seem to represent the value that is indicated. A better exchange rate for them would be 20 (or even less) to 1, which should be more reasonable considering not only common Pokémon but also very rare ones as above.

In order for Trainers in Pokémon Go to take things and "Go Beyond", Candy XL now becomes a very important consumable item. Yet as important as it is, it too seems to have its issues or "quibbles". For this, they run the gamut from effort to practicality to value, any or all of which are relevant for Trainers at any time, even during complicated and difficult situations are the present. For as long as the "quibbles" are present, it may very well become rather difficult to make justifications for certain ideals regarding them. It's a common thread that seems to make itself evident at inopportune times even when they are opportune.

Two years ago: Raid Dramas
Three years ago: Hoenn Pokémon Are Go!

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