Pokemon Go Season of Light spawns make shiny hunting miserable
Shiny hunting has become a favorite hobby for many Pokemon enthusiasts, but the spawns during Pokemon Go’s Season of Light events have made this favored pass time miserable.
Pokemon fans often claim that Pokemon Go is the “easiest” game to find and catch Shinies, and to an extent that’s true. The base odds of finding a Shiny in the latest mainline titles is 1/4096, although players can raise them to as little as 1/3 (USUM Ultra Wormholes) if they put in enough effort.
But Pokemon Go’s Shiny odds are among the highest from the get-go. The base rates are 1/500, but there are certain Pokemon that have a permanent raised rate of 1/63. The monthly community day gives players a 1/25 chance to find specific Shinies, and Legendary Raids offer astounding odds of 1/20.
So, mathematically speaking, players should be swimming in Shiny Pokemon Go encounters. However, the start of the Season of Light has been a rough go for Shiny hunters. Mainly due to how many spawns are taken up by Pokemon who can’t be shiny.
Pokemon Go doesn’t want you to Shiny hunt
For those who don’t know, not every Pokemon in Pokemon Go can be Shiny despite every Pokemon having a Shiny form. That’s because – for one reason or another – Niantic has decided to stagger the release of Shiny forms and normal forms.
What’s even more frustrating is that second-stage evolutions and beyond can’t be Shiny regardless of whether or not their Shiny form is in the game. So as long as the spawns around you aren’t taken up by Pokemon who haven’t had their Shinies put in the game yet or by second/third stage evolutions, trainers can start checking for Shinies.
For me, I love Shiny hunting regardless of the odds. It’s nice that Pokemon Go’s odds are so low, but it’s the hunt that I enjoy the most followed by an immense payoff. But what I can’t stand is how often I can’t hunt in Pokemon Go.
In the mainline games, you can hunt everything with the exception of some Legendaries and gift Pokemon. But in Pokemon Go, you can only hunt the Pokemon the game lets you at that time, and the player is at the mercy of whatever RNG machine is behind what spawns.
This normally isn’t an issue, but the spawns are getting increasingly worse since the start of Pokemon Go’s Season of Light. Taking a look at a subreddit or Twitter shows that many players who are looking for Shiny Pokemon aren’t even getting the chance to hunt.
Their hunts are impeded by the increase in non-huntable spawns. Fashion Week saw players swarmed by Gothita, a Pokemon that can’t be Shiny despite being in the game for years. So, instead of the limited-time event exclusive Sunglasses Absol or Bowler Hat Diglett, these spots were taken up by Gothita and the ever-present Murkrow and Glameow.
But now Fashion Week is and the problem is worse than ever. We’ve moved on to the Evolving Stars event, where second-stage evolutions are clogging up even more spawns.
From personal experience, this event has had some of the most invasive non-Shiny spawns in Pokemon Go history. Every time I open the app, it’s Poliwhirl or Kakuna, Pidgeotto or Haunter, Seadra or Tynamo. Six of the 15 event spawns can be Shiny, but it seems as if these six are nowhere to be found.
These are all Pokemon most trainers would be happy to hunt, but because of some reason Niantic only allows players to hunt the first stage of an evolution line.
I would gladly exchange this arbitrary barrier for a much lower Shiny rate. Give us 1/4096… heck, give us 1/8192 if it means that every Pokemon has a chance to be Shiny. I want to play Pokemon Go. I want to Shiny hunt. But thanks to Pokemon Go’s Shiny locks and spawns, I can’t and it’s frustrating.
Far too often I find myself opening Pokemon Go, seeing Pokemon that can’t be Shiny pop up on the screen, and then closing the game without a single encounter. As an avid fan of the franchise and a lover of Shiny Pokemon, I think I can speak for a large number of players when I say that – in its current state – Pokemon Go is at an all-time low for Shiny hunting.
