All changes you can expect to see in Pokemon GO Community Days during the Dual Destiny season

Niantic has just announced its next Community Day event for Pokemon GO. Not only will the Paldean Starter, Sprigatito, be featured in this event, but many features of the occasion will also be changed. Many of these tweaks are bound to positively impact the player, but there are also some questionable ones.

With Niantic releasing all of the details about January 2025's Community Day, we have a good idea of every change the developer is making to Pokemon GO's most popular monthly event.

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All changes coming to 2025's Pokemon GO Community Days

1) New permanent moves

New moves will be added to a spotlighted monster's move pool in addition to the event-exclusive attack (Image via The Pokemon Company)

January 2025 will mark the first time a permanent move is added to a creature's kit alongside the standard event-exclusive move. This new attack can be learned by any fully-evolved form of a future Community Day subject, even after the event concludes.

For Meowscarada, Sprigatito's final evolution, this means it will gain access to Flower Trick following January 2025's Community Day. As a Grass-type Starter Pokemon, it will also acquire Frenzy Plant during the event. However, both moves are charged attacks, so players will need a lot of resources to access both of them at once.

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2) Expensive Event Ticket

The research ticket for Community Days may see a doubling in price (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Historically, research tickets for Pokemon GO's Community Days have cost $1 USD. However, new information reveals that Niantic will double the price, although the rewards offered do not justify the increase.

The announcement for Sprigatito's Community Day highlights that the customary encounter with each member of the spotlighted Pocket Monster's evolutionary line will be replaced. Instead, players will receive three encounters with the spotlighted creature featuring a special background themed around Dual Destiny. Whether this change is beneficial is subjective.

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3) Free Timed Research

A new Timed Research will be available for all players who log in during future Community Days (Image via The Pokemon Company)

A positive change players can expect to see in Pokemon GO is the introduction of free Timed Research accessible to all trainers during future Community Day events. This means that event-exclusive themed-background Pokemon will not be locked behind a paywall, as one can be encountered by completing these tasks.

This is a welcome change for collectors and free-to-play users, as it addresses the frequent requests for more free content on message boards and discussions about the game. The focus on free-to-play benefits appears to be a theme in these changes to the monthly events.

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4) No more Four-Star Raids

Themed Community Day raids are officially over (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Pokemon GO has typically hosted special Four-Star raids featuring the middle or first-stage forms of the spotlighted creature. However, the announcement for Sprigatito's Community Day omits these raids. This means trainers will not have the chance to challenge Floragato to spawn more Sprigatito around raid locations.

While disappointing for those who enjoyed going on short journeys to seek out these raids, this aligns with the emphasis on free-to-play content. Although Niantic could have offered more free Raid Passes for this event, they already do so for Raid Days, which the developer likely wants to keep separate from Community Days.

Also check: Pokemon GO CP calculator

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5) New event-exclusive variants

A new type of event-exclusive variant will be available for collectors to find (Image via The Pokemon Company)

As mentioned prior, future Community Days will introduce new Pokemon variants featuring a different background. While Niantic has been vague about the specifics, it is likely that these Pocket Monsters will have a special background when viewed on their status screen in storage.

This change gives collectors more to anticipate, making the ultimate prize a shiny Pokemon with a special background. It introduces new content to the game without deviating significantly from the source material or being too complex to implement.

Also check: Pokemon GO Evolution Calculator

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For more information on the game, check out the articles below:

• Ditto disguises
• Sierra counters
• Cliff counters
• Arlo counters
• Giovanni counters
• Team GO Rocket Grunts