Pokemon Go Players Frustrated with New Season's Remote Raid Pass Pokemon Buff
Pokemon Go's newest season, Hidden Gems, kicks off today on June 1st with new Pokemon set to arrive throughout the season alongside other changes specific to different features. One of those changes that's going live makes it so that Pokemon used in Remote Raids will now deal the same amount of damage as those that are used in-person, a change that'll now be permanent moving forward. That sounds like a win for Remote Raid players who've been highly critical of Niantic recently for the company's changes directed towards these Remote Raids, so why are players still frustrated with this change?
"Honestly nothing's changed if you think about it," one player said in a comment echoed by other Pokemon Go players as the change was discussed in TheSilphRoad subreddit. To understand these frustrations, we have to go back a few years when Niantic first introduced the Remote Raid Passes. A post from 2020 introduced them to players with the caveat that those participating in raids remotely would put out reduced damage.
"At launch, Trainers battling in raids remotely will have the same attack power as Trainers who are able to battle at the raid location in person," the post explained. "At a later time, the attack power for Trainers battling remotely will be reduced."
Trainers, the season bonus "Boosted damage for Trainers battling remote in raids," has been removed from the Today View at the start of #HiddenGems; equal damage for battling in Remote and in-person Raids is now a standard feature starting June 1. #PokemonGO
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) May 31, 2023
However, players discovered shortly after a bonus in the "Today" section of Pokemon Go. That bonus said players would get "Increased damage for Pokemon participating in raids remotely" which didn't buff remote Pokemon to do more than in-person ones but instead made them do just as much. So, the nerf applied to Remote Raid Passes was effectively counteracted immediately, though players weren't sure how long it'd last.
That bonus kept refreshing over and over again to extend its duration which went on until December 2021 when the buff was turned into a seasonal feature in the Season of Heritage. That seasonal buff was present in every season since then.
So, fast-forward to today, and the buff which was really just fixing a nerf which was really never active in the first place has been made permanent. As the player said previously, "nothing's changed."
I might not be happy about certain other decisions you guys made in regards to remote raids, but this is a step in the right direction. :) Thank you. Now, please, now that you've started in the right direction... please, keep it going.
— Missingno. Master (@Missingno_Mastr) May 31, 2023
Another skeptic said "They just removed an implicit threat" meaning that Niantic could've at any time decided to nix the damage "buff" entirely and make Remote Raid users actually do less damage in raids, but that was never the case. And for that reason, some players are actually tossing a bit of praise Niantic's way. Several celebrated the change on social media given that it's very true that Niantic could've effectively nerfed remote raiders instead. The change can be viewed from either perspective, but it's still a net win for Pokemon Go players.