Pokemon Go’s Most Rural Players Still Feel Utterly Unseen by Niantic

Players’ frustration with Niantic’s Pokemon GO continues as the game’s design increasingly favors urban players, leaving rural fans feeling neglected. In particular, the disparity in Pokemon spawns in urban and rural regions has always been a point of contention, with rural players often facing a scarcity of wild Pokemon, PokeStops, and gyms.

A Reddit thread discussing the spawn rates of the Galarian Birds highlights this frustration. Players in less populated areas find it nearly impossible to encounter these rare Pokemon, a problem only made worse by Niantic’s apparent focus on urban locations.

The Growing Divide: How Pokémon GO Continues to Alienate Rural Players

It is not new that a certain segment of the player base feels left out in Pokemon GO. The difficulty isn’t just about catching rare Pokemon. Rural players struggle with basic gameplay elements, such as finding enough PokeStops or participating in raids, which are essential for progressing in the game.

The disparity becomes even more evident when it comes to special raids. Every player’s ultimate goal is to catch rare Pokemon, but this becomes next to impossible with the raids that contain these Pokemon rarely appearing. Furthermore, these Pokemon have an extremely low catch rate, so if you miss them on the first attempt, they immediately flee from the scene.

The way the Galarian birds spawn feel very cruel.
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A Reddit user, u/Aggravating-Feed1845, encountered the rare Pokémon GO Galarian raid bird Articuno and expressed their frustrations with the game. According to the user, even after using a golden razz berry, ultra ball, and throwing a perfect curveball, the coveted bird ran away after one attempt.

The user also mentioned how you don’t get the best result despite maxing every resource in the game. Additionally, with the new incense mechanic, which makes it a scarce resource, catching rare Pokemon will become harder.

Even the Friendship System Needs Fixing

The game currently has several issues, but the Friendship System might be one of the most prominent. Given how exploitable the mechanic has become, players have been calling for a rework from Niantic, and rightfully so.

The game allows players to add upto 450 friends, and there are several benefits in doing so. You can commence trade, exchange gifts, and earn bonus rewards that would otherwise be unavailable. Obviously, it also helps gain XP and speeds up the general progression of the game.

The issue with the system is that many players intentionally remove their friends before they can earn rewards. To put it simply, a player claims their rewards but immediately removes the friend, stopping the friend from getting any reward. This has been happening for a while, and Niantic is yet to fix this issue.

How should Niantic work on minimizing the divide between rural and urban players in Pokemon Go? What are your thoughts on the current Friendship System in the game? Let us know in the comments below.