"I got banned on purpose so you don't have to": Pokemon GO player warns against potential account suspensions ahead of August Team GO Rocket event

Pokemon GO's upcoming Adventure Week: Taken Over event on August 8-12, 2024, may test the new limit imposed by Niantic on the maximum number of Team GO Rocket members that can be encountered. According to the Silph Road Redditor Faladyne, who stated the following as they established the limit may be 160 Rocket members:

"I got banned on purpose so you don't have to!"

I got banned on purpose so you don't have to! (Upcoming Team GO Rocket Takeover preliminary research/warning) byu/Faladyne inTheSilphRoad

In a recent change to Pokemon GO, Niantic imposed a hard limit on how many Team GO Rocket members could be encountered to crack down on illicit players from farming Team GO Rocket foes for Stardust. Numbers from the GO community have varied as to what the true limit is before receiving a temporary ban, but the above post paints at least a marginally clearer picture.

According to Faladyne, this limit can impose a ban just based on Team GO Rocket encounters alone, even if the Rockets aren't battled and/or defeated. They joked that some players' accounts would be "taken over" with temporary bans during the upcoming Adventure Week: Taken Over event, leading to some more jokes by players as well as some genuine apprehension about their gameplay.

Niantic implemented a limit on how many Team GO Rocket foes could be faced in Pokemon GO (Image via Reddit)

However, there seemed to be some confusion as to whether Pokemon GO players would be given bans for legitimate gameplay by repeating encounters to find specific Team GO Rocket grunt teams. Zelphyr151 pointed out that this shouldn't be a problem, as the limit seems to operate on how quickly paced requests are made to GO's servers during Rocket encounters.

Moreover, some trainers stipulated that they had legitimately encountered more than 160 Rockets during ordinary gameplay over a day and weren't banned, leaving a heavy dose of ambiguity as to whether Zelphyr's numbers were correct or if other factors were at play may have resulted in Zelphyr's new account getting banned while other players' accounts remained safe.

Trainers showed concern for encountering too many Team GO Rocket foes and being banned during Adventure Week: Taken Over (Image via Reddit)

Note that the discussions taking place on the Silph Road subreddit, while they include plenty of research, aren't confirmed directly by Niantic. Be that as it may, Pokemon GO players who are hoping to enjoy the Adventure Week: Taken Over event are understandably concerned about encountering too many Rockets and receiving a ban from Niantic's automated systems.

With Adventure Week: Taken Over kicking off in short order, will Niantic's safeguards backfire on the terms of service-abiding players? Or will these anti-cheat countermeasures pan out as intended and reduce the exploitation of the game by botting accounts and modded game clients?

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Should Pokemon GO players worry about Niantic's new Team GO Rocket limit for the upcoming Takeover event?

Will Niantic's new Team GO Rocket limitations cause problems for legit Pokemon GO players? (Image via Niantic)

Although the details surrounding the real limit of Team GO Rocket encounters and how exactly Pokemon GO distinguishes legitimate encounters from those enacted by cheaters seem to be murky at best, trainers may not want to worry too much about hitting this newly imposed limit during Adventure Week: Taken Over as long as they're playing within Niantic's terms of service guidelines.

Niantic understands that many Pokemon GO trainers will encounter a high volume of Team GO Rocket foes during an event focused on the sinister team, especially in high-population areas where Pokestops are widespread and plentiful. Some forms of protective measures are likely in place to account for legitimate players encountering Rockets compared to botted accounts and modded clients.

If trainers are truly concerned about hitting the presumptive encounter limit, they may want to avoid entering and exiting dialogue with Rockets rapidly and instead battle them conventionally without "team checking" or "shiny checking" them. Spamming taps to enter and exit encounters is likely ill-advised due to Pokemon GO's anti-DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) countermeasures.

All in all, it's anybody's guess as to how these new limitations will affect Pokemon GO players during the upcoming Team GO Rocket event. However, if trainers are taking their time and aren't barraging the game by speeding through activities, they should (at least theoretically) be fine and avoid any bans or other punitive measures.