Pokemon Go Just Made a Big Change to Team Rocket Encounters & Players Aren’t Happy

July is shaping up to be a busy month for Pokemon Go, with Global Go Fest and anniversary celebrations galore. But June has had its fair share of events on offer to tide us over. Earlier this week, we got the debut of Paldean Pokemon Squawkabilly in the Flying Taxi event. As Team Rocket often does, the villains arrived shortly after for another Taken Over event. But the Flying Taxi: Taken Over event quietly introduced a controversial change to how these Team Rocket events work. And many players aren’t happy about it.

On June 25th, Team Rocket made another bid for power in the Flying Taxi: Taken Over event, which runs through Monday, June 29th. By now, most players are used to these events, which tend to follow a similar pattern. Team GO Rocket shows up more often, and players work to defeat Grunts and work their way up to battle Giovanni and his latest Shadow Pokemon. But Shadow Reshiram isn’t the only new trick up Giovanni’s sleeve this time around. As the fine print in this latest event description confirms, Giovanni “can now only be found at PokeStops.” That means no matter how many Rocket Balloons you click on, you won’t be able to battle Giovanni from home.

Giovanni Removed from Pokemon Go Rocket Balloons in Latest Team Rocket Event

Chasing down and defeating Giovanni is the only way to encounter the featured Legendary Shadow Pokemon for Taken Over events like this one. And that was already a tall order. You need to defeat enough Team GO Rocket grunts to assemble a Super Rocket Radar, then actually manage to defeat Team Rocket’s leader. Depending on his chosen lineup, Giovanni can be a tricky trainer for many players to beat. But thanks to this latest change, even finding Giovanni could prove to be nearly impossible.

For players like me who don’t live near any PokeStops, Team Rocket Balloons are the easiest way to battle Team GO Rocket. The balloons typically spawn in rural areas where PokeStops aren’t as common, giving trainers a chance to encounter Team GO Rocket without spinning stops. They’re a regular part of my personal rotation, since I have to drive to the nearest park or mall to spin PokeStops or gyms. And I’m not the only one. Many rural players rely on Rocket Balloon encounters to fully participate in Taken Over events like this one. But now, that’s no longer an option. As of the Flying Taxi: Taken Over event, Giovanni won’t spawn in Team Rocket Balloons, even if you have a Super Rocket Radar equipped.

Removing Giovanni from balloons is anti-player.
byu/Shaydosaur inpokemongo

Players are less than thrilled with this change. Though Pokemon Go has often faced backlash for features that make it hard for rural players to fully engage, it’s been getting better. Things like Remote Raids and increased spawns away from PokeStops have made it easier to enjoy the game in less densely populated areas. And that makes putting Giovanni encounters as a PokeStop-exclusive experience extra frustrating. As one Redditor puts it in the r/pokemongo Subreddit, it feels like an anti-player move. In addition to rural players, anyone dealing with inclement weather will have a much harder time battling Giovanni if he only spawns at PokeStops going forward.

To be fair, the Rocket Balloon encounters were notoriously buggy. So while Niantic hasn’t given a specific reason for removing the Giovanni Balloon encounters, it could be a way of dealing with the bugs. But like many changes in Pokemon Go, taking Giovanni out of Balloons seems to be having unintended consequences. Many players report that he seems to be spawning less often in general, making it pretty hard to actually complete the Taken Over event and snag a Shadow Reshiram.

Giovanni’s reduced appearances at PokeStops, unlike the balloon situation, is likely a glitch that will hopefully be resolved. But Giovanni’s return to balloons remains an open question. The wording of the blog post makes it seem like a permanent change for Taken Over events going forward, which might mean the days of battling Giovanni from home are officially over.

What do you think about the change to Giovanni battles in Pokemon Go? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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