Pokémon Go Community Day, 6/16/2018

The monthly Community Days of Pokémon Go seem to be events that are most well-liked and most problematic. They offer really good Pokémon and really good bonuses that anyone playing can stand to earn. However, on more than one occasion, they've been fraught with issues that affect gameplay, whether on the players' (my) end or the game's end. Both of these seem to be true today as I and my raid group partake in this month's edition of the event.

Community Day for this month involves the Pokémon Larvitar, and its exclusive move for this edition is Smack Down with triple experience for catches, plus the customary Shiny form and extended Lure modules. Two things are noticeable from this month's edition. First, the exclusive move for this month is a Fast move rather than a Charged move, the first time it has happened. Second, a pattern has definitively emerged in regard to the featured Pokémon: in January, March, and May, the Pokémon were all starters, while in February, April, and June (this month), they were all ones that would hatch out of 10 km Eggs. It should not be hard to guess what might come in the coming months for Community Day.

This month, my raid group is fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on whom you ask) that Community Day is being held during a special time of year, so a gathering in one place could be scheduled in partial commemoration. And that is exactly what happened: a gathering in a well-known spot for setting up Lure Modules was set up. Even so, some people also chose to be elsewhere for variety, and many also ended up going out to spin the many PokéStops located nearby - which also had Lure Modules installed - to take advantage of the Community Day "catch 3" research tasks. It was neat how this was so.

What wasn't neat are some of the issues that we faced. For myself, there seemed to be signal issues, but this was easily resolved by moving somewhere else. For everyone in my area, there seemed to be issues of Pokémon not appearing for encounter, not appearing to be captured, and so on. Thus like Community Day two and four months ago, the event was extended in the area for an extra two hours, which is substantial and more than makes up for the issues faced. Perhaps the biggest issue now is sorting through all the Larvitar that I caught; there are more than 50 I haven't dealt with, and I'd like to keep the strongest and most interesting ones.

Community Day has only been around this year, but it has thrust many Pokémon into the spotlight, including their Shiny forms. That could explain why it's so well-liked, and in turn that could also explain why it has had its share of problems. This month seems to be no different, yet I have to say that things were still great this time around, being that today's gathering has achieved its purpose of bringing together many for the occasion, though the special time did help. The next Community Days have to be just as special, if not more.

One year ago: Limited Editions