Pokémon Go Community Day Weekend, 12/12/2020 and 12/13/2020

As always, it's that time of year when Community Day of Pokémon Go holds its annual recap of all its featured Pokémon. Now, this is only the third year that the event has progressed, and due to the current conditions that became apparent this year, there was a radical shift in the way things were conducted as the year progressed; it was all to alleviate the burden of not being able to partake in the event as had always been the case (as it was in January and February of this year). The recap edition this year appears like a blend of new sensibilities and old approaches.

Like last year, featured Pokémon from this year's editions were present in the wild across both days of the event, starting yesterday from 6 AM and ending tonight at 10 PM. The first six (Piplup, Rhyhorn, Abra, Seedot, Weedle, and Gastly) on the first day yesterday and the other five (Magikarp, Porygon, Charmander, Electabuzz, and Magmar) on the second day today became more prevalent during the common event period of 11 AM to 5 PM; during this period, bonuses of halved Egg hatch distance and doubled Stardust were active. Pokémon from last year's run of Community Days, meanwhile, became available through Level 1 raids and 2 km Eggs. Likewise, Field Research tasks gave out "Catch 3 Pokémon" due to the recap nature of the event, and for the respective final evolved forms, they gained the exclusive moves to which they are associated.

There were also differences, aside from the extended periods as above and the use of Incense instead of Lure Modules as per the norm for the rest of this year. The most notable difference is that for the first time since Community Day had started, Pokémon from the 2018 editions cannot gain their exclusive moves from that time during this "super" recap period, though this will be rectified at some point in the future, or can be so now and immediately with use of Elite TMs. As well, since the introduction of the bonus paid Special Research, this was effectively the only way to get one; this year, there are four pages of tasks of catching particular Pokémon from this year's editions. With Timed Research, a one-page set of tasks now reward more kinds of balls as well as an Elite Charged TM. Mega Gengar and Mega Charizard X were also more prevalent in Mega Raids on the specific days they were more prevalent.

This current time of year, personally for me, would be rife with theme events, as had happened for the previous editions. However, the current conditions practically prevented that from happening, and thus I was freed to a certain extent to participate in both days by walking to PokéStops, grabbing their Research tasks, and using them to compel myself to capture more Pokémon. Yet on both days, the local weather was pretty much the main issue that prevented extensive progress, as it rained throughout, and even on both days, it triggered a new kind of weather warning in Pokémon Go. In both cases, Poké Balls quickly became highly demanded items, especially when it prevented further progress by actual walking after all available options have been exhausted. The opportunity of this year's super "recap" edition became utilized mostly for building up Candy stock and evolving a few desired Pokémon that could use their exclusive moves by their final evolved forms, which should be perfectly acceptable.

This year hasn't been quite opportunistic for much of anything, including the Community Day of Pokémon Go and even in my particular local case. Even with that, Community Day with its characteristic activities since April has been quite captivating. This is particularly the case even now, as Community Day utilized a blend of older approaches with new sensibilities for its "super" recap for the end of the year. All that is left to do now is to wait for the current conditions to resolve themselves so that Community Day can be enjoyed even more fully as it once was and even more so later on.

 

One year ago: Performance Critique: Pokémon Theme feat. Otaku

Two years ago: Trainer Battles Are Go!!!

Three years ago: Will You Be There?