Pokemon Go players call Niantic “shady” for hiding Base Capture & Flee Rates

Niantic has hidden Base Capture and Flee rates from Pokemon Go’s code meaning players will no longer be able to know exactly how hard it is to catch each Pokemon.

Since its origin, Pokemon has always been a franchise focused on catching as many Pokemon as possible. Be it the mainline entries or the spin-offs, acquiring new Pokemon has always been a core feature.

The main stat that determines how hard it is to catch a Pokemon is referred to as Base Catch Rate. In Pokemon Go, each Pokemon’s Base Catch Rate varies from 0.3% all the way up to a guaranteed catch.

In addition to Catch Rate, Pokemon Go also uses a Base Flee Rate which determines how likely a Pokemon is to run away. Previously, data miners could extract this information for the player base to use but that is no longer the case.

Niantic hides Capture and Flee Rates angering the Pokemon Go community

Pokemon Go players have taken to Reddit to complain after Niantic removed both the Base Capture Rate and Flee Rates for each Pokemon from the code.

This change means that Pokemon Go players have no way to accurately determine a Pokemon’s Catch Rate or Flee Rate. Instead, the community will have to rely on estimations.

The change has upset numerous Pokemon Go players with one fan responding: “The problem is not just inability to see BCR/BFR. The problem is that Niantic took their time to re-write a part that worked fine and the only application of this info was to find out mistakes with boosted Catch Rates.”

The Base Capture Rate and Base Flee Rate for all Mons have just been removed. It means no one will ever know how hard it is to catch a Pokemon moving forward And when they mess up Community Days and don’t increase Base Capture Rates, we will not be able to report on it so New Zealand will be screwed
by u/milotic03 in TheSilphRoad

Some players suspect Niantic has ulterior motives: “Sounds pretty shady. Not only they’ll get away more easily with their mistakes (less apologies/makeups), but they could slightly nerf the Catch Rate from 5* raids to push people to buy more passes and nobody will know for sure.”

Another member of the community proposed a less sinister explanation: “What if hard coding the Catch Rate was always the reason they forgot to change base rates? Changing it to another location that is easier to access may improve their ability to alter it.”

A few replies raised the point that a Master Ball is planned to be added soon, a unique Pokeball that always catches its target. These replies proposed that due to the nature of the Master Ball, changes had to be made to how the Catch Rate is calculated.