"Give routes to Team Rocket": Player suggests way to make Routes in Pokemon GO more interesting

Routes in Pokemon GO are a feature introduced in July 2023 as part of the Blaze New Trails event. Since then, they have been one of the most unpopular elements in the game, owing to rampant glitches, their overbearing nature, and the general lack of accessibility.

Although Niantic initially shipped out patches to iron out some of the problems players were facing with Routes, the feature has not had the impact the developer had hoped for.

In a recent Reddit post on The Silph Road community, u/Sangesland suggested a way to make Routes better than they currently are. Their idea centered around Team GO Rocket in Routes. They said:

"Give routes to Team Rocket"

This article discusses their suggestions as well as what some other members of the community had to say about them.

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What would Routes in Pokemon GO look like with Team GO Rocket?

Give routes to Team Rocket byu/Sangesland inTheSilphRoad

Going by u/Sangesland's suggestion, Routes in Pokemon GO would incorporate the following mechanics:

• Team GO Rocket members would take over Routes in a similar way as they take over PokesStops.
• You can fight Team GO Rocket Grunts on your way through the route, thus giving you more chances to capture Shadow Pocket Monsters and collect Mysterious Components for an encounter with Sierra, Arlo, or Cliff.

The user believes that Routes in Pokemon GO, at least as they stand, are "quite pointless and boring." They think that having these features will allow players in rural areas to capture more Shadow Pokemon since they usually miss out on them due to the lack of PokeStops.

Additionally, players would have more engaging content as well as an incentive to complete Routes, a feature that has felt quite bland since it came out.

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Community's reaction to Routes in Pokemon GO featuring Team GO Rocket

There were players who thought that this was an excellent idea, while others who believed that nothing good could come out of it.

u/GustoFormula thought it was an excellent idea as they believed many players miss out on fighting Team GO Rocket Grunts as they don't live very close to a popular destination.

Comment byu/Sangesland from discussion inTheSilphRoad

u/Peannut sarcastically mentioned how this was an excellent idea according to them, which made them confident that Niantic would write it down on "their 'good idea, let's not do it' board."

Comment byu/Sangesland from discussion inTheSilphRoad

Another user pointed out what they liked about this suggestion:

Comment byu/Sangesland from discussion inTheSilphRoad

Outside of these supportive comments, there was a wide range of arguments against including Team Rocket in Routes in Pokemon GO.

Comment byu/Sangesland from discussion inTheSilphRoad

Comment byu/Sangesland from discussion inTheSilphRoad

This appeared to be a common way of thinking among many players as they thought Routes in Pokemon GO allowed them to do what they were meant to do while playing the game anyway — walk around and earn a few extra rewards while at it.

More reactions in this respect are as follows:

Comment byu/Sangesland from discussion inTheSilphRoad

Comment byu/Sangesland from discussion inTheSilphRoad

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This suggestion about Routes, including Team Rocket spawns, did not go down very well with many players other than the ones excited by its prospect.