"Niantic really trying to get rid of their players": Pokemon GO community is unhappy with current weekly breakthroughs

Pokemon GO possesses a feature known as Weekly Research Breakthroughs. If trainers complete a Field Research task each day for a week, they can encounter a Pokemon to capture. While this used to herald some pretty impressive Pocket Monsters, recent changes by Niantic have been less than captivating.

Compared to previous Research Breakthroughs, Shedinja and Starmie are a far cry from the rare Pokemon that used to appear. As one might expect, some Pokemon GO players have been somewhat upset by the developments and have voiced their concerns on social media.

One such forum showcasing discontent among the community is the game's official subreddit, where players haven't been shy about posting their negative feelings.

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Pokemon GO subreddit reacts to weekly breakthrough changes

In a post by Redditor u/iliketurterls, a popular meme format is used to joke about how Niantic doesn't seem to be able to tell the difference between Starmie and several Legendary/Mythic Pokemon. While made in jest, the post signifies the drastic shift in Pokemon quality after Niantic's recent changes to Weekly Research Breakthrough encounters.

It wasn't long before Pokemon GO players chimed in with their own dissatisfaction. Here are some of the comments on the post:

Many of the comments voiced their disapproval at the removal of yet another method to earn Legendary Pokemon in Pokemon GO. Previously, trainers were able to acquire them through the GO Battle League, but this has been the case less often due to other changes made by Niantic. Starmie simply doesn't measure up to the Legendary Pokemon that were released previously, and players in the comments made this abundantly clear.

Other players in Pokemon GO's subreddit supported the phasing out of Legendary Pokemon, stating that either Legendary Pokemon are meant to be rarer or remarking that Niantic accustomed players to collecting incredibly powerful Pokemon too early on.

Many Pokemon GO commenters also talked about the state of Niantic at large, particularly their changes that placed many rare Pokemon behind paywall-esque content like special event tickets, Special Research tickets, and regional events that not all trainers can attend. Players have remarked that they've begun to go F2P (free-to-play) due to the presence of all the paid content that Niantic has rolled out in recent months.

Niantic has certainly been no stranger to criticism lately, particularly by Pokemon GO players on social media. From the various rewards provided to the state of the competitive GO Battle League meta, some players have been turned off enough by Niantic's changes and content choices to reduce their playtime or swear off the mobile game indefinitely.

Niantic may be able to recoup their losses and bring players back with things such as the recent Ultra Beast Arrival event, but many players have problems with the way the developers have done business lately. It may be time for Niantic to make a more heartfelt and committed attempt to fix many of the in-game issues that have caused player complaints. However, the mobile developers can't ever please the entire fanbase, and they may have to make concessions while keeping the core playerbase intact.