Pokemon Go Makes Bulbasaur Much Easier to Catch During Community Day

Pokemon Go players shouldn't have too many issues catching Bulbasaur during today's Community Day event.

Players in Europe and Asia are reporting that Pokemon Go has significantly increased Bulbasaur's base catch rate....but only during the Community Day event. Even though Pokemon Go hasn't made a change to Bulbasaur's base catch rate in the GAME_MASTER file (the file that tells Pokemon Go what stats various Pokemon have), it appears that some sort of server side change has made Bulbasaur much easier to catch.

A Pokemon's base catch rate is the equivalent to a player's chances of catching a Pokemon without any sort of catch bonuses. Basically, it's the likelihood of a player catching a Pokemon with a straight PokeBall throw that doesn't land inside the hit circle.

Bulbasaur typically has a catch rate of just 20%, which is relatively low compared to other non-Legendary "Basic" Pokemon. Under normal circumstances, players don't have the best odds of catching Bulbasaur unless they stack up their catch bonuses.

However, it seems that Pokemon Go developers wanted to make sure that players had a fun Community Day event that didn't involve wasting a ton of PokeBalls or Berries on a handful of Pokemon. Even high level Bulbasaur have green catch circles, indicating that players have much higher odds than usual.

This isn't a permanent change, though. Once the event is over, players are reporting that Bulbasaur's base catch rate returns to its usual low success rate.

Giving temporary boosts to Pokemon's catch rates could make future Community Day can't miss events, especially if Community Day eventually includes fully evolved Pokemon. Players could use Community Day to stock up on some really powerful Pokemon....and also have better chances of grabbing a Shiny Pokemon during a Community Day event.

In addition to stocking up on Bulbasaur, players can also evolve an Ivysaur into a Venusaur that knows the special move Frenzy Plant. Frenzy Plant is a two bar charge move with a base attack of 100, which makes it one of the best Grass-Type moves in the game. A Frenzy Plant Venusaur is even more powerful and effective in gyms than Exeggutor (the current "king" of Grass-Type Pokemon in Pokemon Go) in certain scenarios.

The Bulbasaur Community Day event takes place today from 11 AM to 2 PM PT in North and South America. Don't miss out on this chance to grab some great Pokemon and meet other players!