"Please remove from the reward pool": Pokemon GO player complains about Research Breakthrough encounters

The Pokemon GO developers at Niantic have had their fair share of complaints and controversies in 2023. In another criticism leveled at the company, one player took to Reddit to discuss their issue with the current slate of Research Breakthrough rewards.

Pokemon GO Redditor Anri_of_Anglia posted a screenshot accompanied by a meme from the AMC show Breaking Bad. In the post, Anri lamented that they had completed a Research Breakthrough just to receive an encounter with Parasect or Furfrou, two Pokemon that are difficult to get excited about after all of the research work being conducted.

Pls remove from the reward pool. by u/Anri_Of_Anglia in pokemongo

"Pls remove from the reward pool" was the headline of the post. Plenty of Pokemon GO players took to the comments section to share their thoughts on the current slate of Research Breakthrough rewards.

---

Pokemon GO Redditors discuss encounters for Research Breakthroughs

Parasect is fairly common, leaving Pokemon GO players wondering why it's a research reward (Image via The Pokemon Company)

In past years, Pokemon GO players could expect some pretty solid rewards from completing their research and achieving a breakthrough. However, the addition of the likes of Furfrou and Parasect has hardly had fans yearning to finish their ongoing Field Research enough to receive a breakthrough.

Parasect, while being an evolved Pokemon, is fairly common in the wild in many areas. Furfrou may be rarer, and it does have a shiny variant to catch via breakthroughs. However, the creature has no real applications in battle.

Comment by u/fraflo251 from discussion Pls remove from the reward pool. in pokemongo

Comment by u/Gamesgar0 from discussion Pls remove from the reward pool. in pokemongo

Comment by u/YogurtOne2724 from discussion Pls remove from the reward pool. in pokemongo

Comment by u/Gravysaur from discussion Pls remove from the reward pool. in pokemongo

A few Pokemon GO fans lamented that even though Parasect can be caught in its shiny variant elsewhere, the lack of its inclusion in breakthroughs made little sense.

Why not give players an incentive to catch a shiny Parasect to entice them to finish their research? After all, Paras can be found in the wild and evolved into Parasect, including shiny Paras, so what factor is at play to actually make players want to complete their research?

A similar question could be asked of Furfruou because even though it has a shiny variant, it also has many different forms with various haircuts. Why not rotate the haircut forms to give players some variety in their Research Breakthroughs?

Comment by u/Artrock80 from discussion Pls remove from the reward pool. in pokemongo

Comment by u/LadderLeading1195 from discussion Pls remove from the reward pool. in pokemongo

Comment by u/Vint73 from discussion Pls remove from the reward pool. in pokemongo

Comment by u/Affectionate-Sea278 from discussion Pls remove from the reward pool. in pokemongo

Many players also reminisced on the days when creatures like Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno could be received from Research Breakthroughs in the game's earlier days. However, most Legendary Pokemon have since been relegated to other areas such as raids or appearing as PvP rewards, and the PvP system's legendary rewards have also been diminished as of late.

Given the fact that so many players were driven to complete research to acquire Pokemon they covet, the current slate of breakthrough rewards simply doesn't measure up to those in the past.

Comment by u/SceptileLover11 from discussion Pls remove from the reward pool. in pokemongo

Niantic has hardly been willing to listen to player criticisms lately, and there doesn't appear to be any indication that it will change its current course on Research Breakthroughs. It's an unfortunate fact, but the company appears to be sticking to its guns for the foreseeable future.