Pokemon GO community furious with the present state of XL Candies, feels they need more QoL improvements

Candy is a Trainer’s resource for powering up a Pocket Monster's Combat Power level in Pokemon GO. The criteria for the item used to be Trainer Level 40, but with the start of the June 2022 Season of GO, the developers reduced it to 31.

The development of Candy and its uses have been a subject of dissatisfaction in the community. According to a Reddit post on The Silph Road community by the user yxalitis and other commenters on the thread, there is not just one but several problems branching out from Pokemon GO XL Candies.

As per the community, the developer team at Niantic really needs to add some quality-of-life (QoL) improvements for this issue.

Note: This article reflects the writer's opinion.

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Pokemon GO players claim XL Candies need more QoL improvements in the current situation

When level 50 Pokemon were added to the platform, the developers made a controversial decision to make XL Candy available. They decided to add a new Candy for Pokemon levels that were above 40, and ignored the idea of continuing the old formula of more Stardust and Candy. Later, there was a condition that the new item could only be acquired in Raids.

This entire ordeal caused an uproar in the community and several players protested against it. Keeping that in mind, the developers of Pokemon GO decreased the cap level from 40 to 30 and also improved the XL Candy probability rates.

The Pokemon GO community has a unanimous belief that it still isn't enough and XL Candy requires more user-friendly quality-of-life updates. Players believe that the journey from being a level 1 Legendary fighter to becoming a level 50 is hard to achieve and takes quite some time.

This doesn’t mean the community is disregarding the need to grind for Pokemon, but it could be a little bit more fun and less of a hassle if some minor changes were to be applied.

Commenters on the Reddit post pointed out several things that can be updated. Many said that walking distance is a problem that should be cut in half or significantly reduced after you become Best Buddy with a Pokemon.

Many also believe that in-person Pokemon GO raids should have a specified number of guaranteed Rare XL Candy. If the rate can’t be increased, then the developers should just make it have the same probability of dropping as the regular rare ones.

Also, there is only a 75% chance of getting an XL Candy while walking a buddy Pokemon above level 40. This must be changed and players should be guaranteed one to carry out the action.

People also firmly believe that the XL system has significantly disturbed the Master League and the Ultra League. It has created such a power gap between Trainers that most people don’t participate since they can’t compete with others. With these two cups out of reach, players can only root for the Evolution Cup, which also comes with great grinding.

The exchange rate for Pokemon GO Candies has been a heated topic in the community as well. The unreasonable exchange rate of 100 - 1 is straight up unjustful.

Trainers are asking Niantic to reduce the exchange rates, as they would need thousands of rare Candies just to exchange it with an XL Candy in double digits. This is a legitimate issue that needs some serious thinking from the developers' side.

There are many more problems with how the XL Candy system works in Pokemon GO. As time passes, it has started becoming more and more visible, and players' frustration has become more prominent. Pokemon GO developers need to quickly pay attention to these issues before it rapidly spirals into an even bigger mess.