Pokemon Go players urge Niantic to change “useless” Research Breakthrough encounters

Filip Krawanski
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Some Pokemon Go players believe that Niantic should put in an effort to rework Research Breakthrough encounters and make them feel more rewarding to complete.

Research Breakthrough encounter provides you a chance to catch the set current month’s Pokemon after you complete one Field Research task every day for seven days.

Back in 2018 when the system was introduced, and into 2019, these Research Breakthroughs were exclusively Legendary Pokemon, but from 2020 onwards this changed to regular Pokemon encounters, some of which the community feels are too widely available to be this type of “weekly” rewards.

This takes us to April 2023 Field Research which includes many Pokemon players who feel are redundant and should be removed from the rewards pool.

Research Breakthrough April rewards upset some fans

Reddit user Anri_Of_Anglia shared a meme conveying their frustration with the current Research Breakthrough reward pool.

The Redditor reconfigured the famous meme of Jesse from Breaking Bad yelling “He can’t keep getting away with it” with the rest of the meme being a closeup of Parasect and Furfrou from the April Research Breakthrough reward pool.

However, several other Pokemon Go players have noted that there’s been a misunderstanding. Niantic never guaranteed that Remote Raid passes would automatically be rewarded for completing a Research Breakthrough in Pokemon Go.

The community seems to be especially disappointed by Parasect, seemingly because it’s not an exceedingly uncommon Pokemon to find in the wild.

“Well, Furfrou at least can be shiny. Maybe it’s a small chance but I haven’t seen a wild one in a while, so it’s better than nothing. Parasect tho…” wrote one user.

“You can literally find these Pokemon in the wild,” said another trainer after seeing the rewards list.

Pokemon Go finds itself in a bit of a tough spot recently, as more and more complaints pile on. Just earlier this week Pokemon Go players flamed a new Trainee Box that was dubbed to be the “worst [box] so far.”

About The Author

Filip is a Belgium-based journalist who was formerly on Dexerto's UK team. He spends his free time clearing out his endless gaming backlog or burning something in the kitchen. You can contact Filip at filip.krawanski@dexerto.com