Pokémon Go Fest 2021, Day 2

Today is (or was) the second day of Pokémon Go Fest with a new global run. And run it did: today was promised to be full of raids, and it was exactly that. It had runs of raids, and it gave some Trainers a run for their money with more Legendary raids than ever before and great achievements to be taken from them. That includes for myself, and there was something to be had over the course of this second day.

Earlier, on the first day, I noted that a certain "real lord of the rings" is likely to be behind all the goings-on. The Mythical Pokémon of Hoopa - who is known for its antics of pulling out Legendary Pokémon from across times and places - manifested itself in the loading screen, turned the sky a dingy black, and put up ring-shaped portals by which the Legendary Pokémon can manifest as raids. Hoopa itself is currently absent as something to catch.

From 10 AM to 6 PM today, there were four hourly spans that influenced the appearances of Legendary Pokémon (and no Mythical Pokémon) in raids. These were Wind, Lava, Frost, and Thunder Hours, repeated once over, and each of these had their own selection of Legendary Pokémon. Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf as the Lake Trio of Sinnoh also appeared during Frost Hour, but only in their usual regions (Uxie in Asia-Pacific, Mesprit in Europe/Africa, and Azelf in the Americas). In addition, raids lasted for 30 minutes total, with 10 minutes as the raid boss egg appearance and 20 minutes as the raid itself. Those not interested or wanting to take a break from a Legendary raid can also take part in Level 1 and Level 3 raids, especially in order to use up the bonuses that are given for the purpose of completing these raids.

Those bonuses are 10 free regular raid passes to raid on site, as always obtained individually after surrendering one for use in a raid. For those that cannot raid on site due to restrictions, it is possible to obtain 3 remote passes from a free Shop bundle, by completing each one-task page of a Timed Research (8 pages total for up to 8 free passes), and in a modified Special Box and Event Box bundle in the Shop, with these being paid. There was also an extra Special Research focused on the raids in order to drive up usage of the bonuses in order to gain all that can be gained from all the raids that appeared - both Legendary and otherwise - and to celebrate this being the final day of this year's Pokémon Go Fest, also marked by a special "vocal version" of the nighttime music after the event concluded.

As with yesterday, I couldn't stand to go out of my neighborhood, so I made use of mostly the remote passes for raids beyond the area and regular passes for some reachable raids, particularly ones that I could become a remote host for. Overall, the raids ended up being  very intense, given the 20-minute period for each and the multitude of raids that appeared over the eight hours. Surprises were abound in the form of one or two lost opportunities - which are regrettable - and a couple of Shiny forms, one of which happened to have been sought after for some time and another being a threepeat. In the end, my item bag also ended up burgeoning due to Potions and Revives that could not be efficiently used, but my Pokémon storage is happy to accept all that I could raid for, up to the end of the day.

It's been an amazing and wonderful (and in some ways also an exhausting and complicated) weekend for Pokémon Go Fest in another global incarnation. For as long as the world is still mostly in its current state, it might not be hard to expect more global editions of this particular event. But if the content is like that of this year and the last, then the potential may be boundless, even with a binding state of the world.

One year ago: Team GO Rocket's Aerial Attacks

Two years ago: The State of Nominations

Three years ago: The Eevee Identity

Four years ago: Only One Save File