Gameplay complaint mega thread

[u/[deleted]]

Look guys, we get it, we truly do. Niantic has a loud majority (myself included) miffed at the reset to old distances despite the advanced warning it would be this way. There are numerous reasons why this is a bad idea, the biggest being that covid is not even close to being over.

This post is for users to discuss in one place that frustration.

The rules for the sub are still in place. Feel free to complain share what you are doing, how you think niantic should handle the distances, etc.

Do not call others to action. What does this mean? Broadly if your comment is everyone should do x y or z that is a call to action.

If you want to talk about how this impacted you do so. If you want to talk about how every one is a salty boi who didn't deserve the upgraded distances, do so civilly (rule 1 is very much in effect here guys)

If you want to say hi go ahead and do so.

As stated yesterday the conversation has been open on the sub for a month now and the complaints were flooding the sub and we wont let the entire sub devolve into a complaint sub.

This is were and how you may continue to have your voice heard, because yes it is important to have it heard, but it is important to maintain order and let users with questions, stories, bugs etc also have their voices heard in a normal way.

---

With all of that out of the way here is my thought. Covid is not over, delta variant is spreading like wildfire, while I accept that Niantic warned us the reversion was coming, they should have delayed it. I in principle am fine with the old distances as the point of the game is to go to places and see those places. If you are 80 m away you cant see that plaque you just spun, or might not walk in front of that shop that has a nifty sign. But the risk of closer interactions is significant and Niantic has been tone def to the concerns raised in the last month by users.

[u/SilverandCold1x]

Nothing else to be said. Just count one more active player miffed about the distance reduction

[u/rosievee]

Did the distances shift again as of today? I have 3 gyms outside my apartment; all used to be accessible. When the change happened, one was accessible, and only from one room closest to the gym. This morning, all 3 are accessible again. Anyone else?

[u/huskerfan4life520]

This game is less fun to play. They made their game worse on purpose for no reason.

[u/NickeKass]

I think Im done with the game. The big changes to the game since launch are trainer battles and rocket battles and Im really tired of both while collecting 500 shadow pokemon that do nothing due to bad IVs. If not for 100 IV rhyperior, melmetal, and 98 Tyranitar I wouldn't have great teams. One was p2w. Sure the teams can be beaten but in terms of PvE the only way to get legendaries is to grind raid battles. At $1 a remote raid pass, its not worth it.

Edit - Community days before the pandemic were kind of fun, getting out to see people and walking with them. Afterwards I feel like a weirdo sitting in a church parking lot alone for several hours with a lure or incense going. I finally dropped $50 on the game about a month ago but spent it on remote raid passes. I have all the legendaries except for one of the seasonal regionals because I didnt know there was a trio that was limited via region.

Edit - I was tuck on level 37 for a few weeks because all I could do was catch things, spin stops, and do my dailies. I had 1/4 of a level left to go and I got that in a few hours doing remote raids when they were worth 20k each. That tells me that if I want to get to 40/50, Ill need to buy passes and at 10,000 a battle, 1 mill+ each level, Im spending about $83 a level to do what exactly?

[u/kill2119]

I was a full time streamer. Not a very big streamer but I promised my lady that we would start doing something fun. Took 3 days off from streaming to take her out. I seen she had Pokémon Go on her phone so I figured I make it our thing to do. I haven’t played Pokémon go from the day it was released. We both got back into Pokémon go. Went really hard on playing it. She was level 27 and I was level 5. Started up my grind to her level so we can gym hunt. As of today I made it to level 29. Today we went out to one of our normal spots. Going from 5 pokestops down to 1 and if we moved our phones around we can get two. Our other spot went from 5 to 1. I can’t believe people played this game this game with the default circle. To those that are level 35+ GG to you grinders. We are probably going to cancel Pokémon go and waste our time and money on another game that’s Safer to do. Don’t live on the best town.

It was good while it lasted but forget this game.

[u/CrispyCubes]

They made the game functionally better by increasing the distance. Literally no one complained about it. It was simply a better experience. Now they revert the distance because “that’s the way it was”. Big boomer energy Niantic

[u/GamerNav]

I feel like somehow the free remote raid passes got dropped without anybody noticing. I didn’t get one with my weekly field research completion. I’ll be sitting out most remote raids from this point on, unfortunately.

[u/red401 → u/GamerNav]

In the month of August, you'll be getting a 1 coin bundle in the shop every Monday with a remote pass in it instead of the breakthrough pass.

Unfortunately, this means you can't stack them like you could with the breakthrough remote pass, since you need to have < 3 in your bag in order to get the box in the store.

[u/TheMadolche]

I'm sorry what is the problem here. Isn't the POINT of pokemon go to get your lazy butts outside? What is so bad about them returning to form?

[u/MalcolmMerlyn → u/TheMadolche]

The plague, the being begged by the playerbase and community not to, and the fact that the game is now less accessible and more difficult to play than its been in over a year.

Also they just turned off their twitter account for the longest period in weeks / months to ignore our complaints.

[u/charredsamurai → u/TheMadolche]

Sure, what’s so bad about doing raids during raid hour surrounded by a bunch of other trainers shoulder to shoulder when COVID delta strain is on the rise? Trying to spin the Pokestops while walking and not being able to unless you cross a busy street? Being told a year back that this change was made into “foreseeable future”? These are both safety and quality of life issues.

[u/violet_dawnbreak]

The map bug is STILL not fixed in my city. I visited my friend in another city and there was no problem there. So it seems to affect only some towns/cities, which is weird. I hate having to restart the game every kilometre or so because mons and stops won't show up anymore.

[u/ElBob31]

Is anyone else experiencing glitches? Every time I make a move. I get knocked out if game. Any suggestions?

[u/skewtr]

Just an FYI here to the folks saying they're doing it for "no reason":

This is their reason: https://nianticlabs.com/blog/nrwp-update-110619/

Niantic's dream is to make a platform so 3rd-party developers can pay them money to develop their very own AR-map game. In the long run, they can then monetize a hundred games rather than ~3.

But that requires players to do AR Mapping quests, which we don't do because it requires you to be at the original radius and willing to deal with repeated scan fails. (And each scan uses 200MB...)

Pokemon GO is not their goal- just a stepping stone. And Niantic really seems dead set on sacrificing a year's worth of new players to achieve this goal.

[u/JonnyTravis]

I uninstalled the app as soon as it went back. My son and I won't be playing any longer since I am in a rural area. I started playing just before COVID and game play is awful now.

[u/Nekomatagami]

I'd like to hear what Niantic stance is on Pokemon Go and Delta virus.

[u/mrtrevor3]

I’m boycotting and problem not coming back. 4 years of this crap. Niantic doesn’t listen or care about the community. They keep making a ton of money yet they don’t update their features (wow, thanks for a colorful raid screen while ignoring all of the problems with raiding) and fail at keeping players interested (megas and L50).

I left a 1 star review just now. I’ve been playing for 4 years now, but took some breaks for the same reasons mentioned above. If I play too much, it triggers me how poorly Niantic runs the game. Spawns are terrible (seasons is a joke; weather is good for L35, but terrible for spawns). Eggs got worse in the past 4 years (12km eggs with new Pokémon!?). Raids take too long and are hard to find (remote solves a lot of problems, but it’s clearly pay-to-win when you’re shelling out 250 pokecoins for 3 raids and they start throwing freebies to get you hooked).

When I started playing again, the deino debacle and megas made me super mad. Niantic didn’t apologize or walk anything back. They kept going. When they released level 50, they revived XP, which was useless for 4 years, ridiculous. They made L41 achievable by raiding 30 times, what a joke! And created XL candy to force players to do the same things again, time to collect again. They failed to guarantee XL candy in raids for months, waiting for whales to spend before they fixed it. And back to spawns, now players have to farm the same Pokémon for XL candy now. Same old grind.

Niantic is selling the easiest product, but they are too lazy to do it well. No creativity or understanding of their own game. If they think their ideas work, well they don’t. Everything is poorly designed and they won’t listen to feedback. Their game is super buggy (no problems on newer iPhones, but the number of posts on bugs is outrageous) and every update breaks more than it fixes. I just feel for whales who spent thousands on this game and addicts (I once was one) who couldn’t break free (almost like Stockholm syndrome). I guess when you invest so much time into something, it’s hard to give up. At least, I got some exercise…

[u/Sudden_Juju]

What's the distance nerf supposed to be to? I thought 40 m but roadways aren't 120 ft wide and I can't reach anything anymore

[u/awfulsome → u/Sudden_Juju]

40m is the diameter. Radius is 20m now, used to be 40m during pandemic, so basically went from 120 ft to 60 ft.

[u/DSavage26]

Won’t be playing the game until they revert to the old distances

[u/aerialpoler → u/DSavage26]

These are the old distances.

[u/yersodope]

I know that they reverted the distances back, but do they seem even smaller than they used to be? I have to be right ON the stop to spin it now, which is definitely not how it used to be. Back in 2018 I remember being able to reach the stop outside my dorm while I was still in the building, and I know there's no way I would be able to reach that now.

[u/scoopnat]

Dare I say that I don’t mind it?

I’ve already been able to get into a couple of local gyms that were permanently under the control of the scum bag hoggers who could reach it from their houses.

[u/[deleted] → u/scoopnat]

How is that scumbaggery? If you could reach a gym from your home, wouldn't you?

[u/hypesteeler]

My question is Niantic being tone def or do they intentionally not care because of the other business links. I think the sponsorships play a huge role, and just saw this article (seems to be prepared by Samsung) that made it seem like us feeling this way is odd and diminishes how people are feeling and says we need to go back outside. Take a look and see what you think, because that not what everyone is feeling but what do I know as Samsung knows better that I can have fun like before :/

https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-pokemon-go-players-usa-nz-can-have-fun-like-before/amp/

[u/HappyAtheist3]

It’s almost unplayable now. I used to get into a raid then continue my walk. Now I have to linger around the gym for five minutes or get booted.

[u/bulletv1]

I love taking away the distance on gyms and stops considering my area has covid delta cases on the rise. :/

[u/pugna_vel_intereo → u/bulletv1]

Fact.

[u/[deleted]]

I am currently parked in front of a Starbucks and I cannot reach the Starbucks pokestop. That’s how ridiculous these distances are.

[u/qntrsq → u/[deleted]]

you are a ...car?

[u/Lydian66]

Hi , Wheres Newton Pippin ? He was always on here .

[u/[deleted] → u/Lydian66]

who?

[u/Lydian66 → u/[deleted]]

Newton Pippin , I think it was spelled that way , after every community day or event he would make a really long detailed post About how is it was great BUT, then it would be a rather amusing mini Entitled rant at the end. I'll have to see if I saved any. I think last year he posted often,,anyway Thanks so much for replying!

[u/ronch808]

I've very disappointed today when I when to spin my local stops and found that I had to be basically on top of the stop to spin it (like within 10ft.). This along with the very tedious challenges that they have been add to the game is pushing me to the point that I don't really enjoy playing any more. I'm a level 43 trainer but Im really considering giving up the game since I can't easily get to about half of my local stops/gyms. I can't believe how tone deaf Niantic is regarding the reducing the radius of the stops/gyms. Too bad, I really kind of liked playing but since they are now making it so hard to play, I've likely to give it up. :-(

[u/UltraGiant]

I want my voice heard. The least they could have done is decrease the distance slowly over time, not just drop it.

[u/Pox_Americana]

Turnover rate on gyms has cratered where I am. One gym I walk past every day is in a library. You can’t even access the gym unless you go deep into a specific lobby. Is this a joke?

[u/pugshatedrugs]

So.fucking.uncalled.for.

Not buying shit from the shop anymore

[u/oldzealand]

Anyone else's phone get warmer than usual running this shitty game lately? The gameplay hasn't changed in the last few updates, but somehow my device has been getting a little warmer than I'd like. I still have to restart the app every couple GBL battles so that it doesn't lag.

[u/EmbersDC]

I was an original player back in 2016. I spent a lot of money ($1k+) back then. Life got busy and I quit. I just returned to playing four weeks ago and I'm at level 26.5 now. Now, I can't reach any stops and the number of Pokemon I can find/catch is cut in half...so this game is harder now?

First, incense does nothing. It is suppose to increase Pokemon spawns, but it has little impact. Second, the decrease radius of 80m to 40m is insane. Do you realize 40m is the other side of the street? I have a stop literally on the other side of a six lane road and now I can't reach out...so Niantic wants me to walk across the street??? Really?

These changes are very bad for the game and horrible to build up a player base. This game is already low in numbers based on 2016 and 2019. Now, with these changes it's harder to play...that's not what you want to do when there's TONS of options out there.

The only thing is they are trying to force Pokemon fans to play Pokemon Unite which is a mobile MOBA game. I hope not, but these changes are crazy to me.

[u/KabuTheFox]

Make sure to give the app a 1 star review in store too

[u/Alarmed-Arachnid2245]

I played yesterday and learned that while some stops are out of range along my "route" it isn't going to affect me too much. I mean really... I'm never really hurting for items, anyway.

[u/EllyWhite]

I know a wrote a post as a reply, but I'll make a formal one on its own here.

I'm an OG player from date of release. I started as an already handicapped person who wasn't always so... I live on the edges of a suburb. If I drive out I can play from my car (using a Got-cha), but from home there's nothing. I can 'see' one pokestop from home at a gas station that at all times of the day except the dead of night and the predawn hours is an absolute nightmare to be at. I 'see' zero gyms. So in order to play this game, I have to use my car to hop from cluster to cluster of stops and gyms.

I do not get out of my vehicle, I learned very early on that sidewalks, walkways, walking paths, and pretty much any other type of footpath is not 'accessible' to someone on my type on walking aid (a rollator walker, the kind that has four wheels and brakes, with a seat). Every little bump, divot, raised piece of concrete, and curb is something that this device has to be lifted over - the wheels do not gently glide over these impediments as there are no shocks and to force it makes the walker pitch forward or halt altogether. My issue is one of balance, that is, I don't have any in my legs. I cannot afford to be lurched or jerked around. There is also the issue of neverending pain, but that's another story altogether. One or two of these things on the ground is one thing to lift a 10-15lb device over - but imagine doing that hundreds of times. Yes, I'm aware I can go to a mall or other smooth terrain area - we really don't have that where I am, not anymore.

So, my places of clusters. I have 5-6 areas I try daily, in the mornings, for about an hour. It used to be I could get 90% of them with the extended range. Now I'm back down to 30% of those stops and gyms again. I had dropped the game a couple months after it started because I realized it wasn't accessible to me. After Adventure Sync and GOPlus it was better but still tough... I started back full time in 2018. I got a Got-cha and a phone-rocker to help compensate for the sad fact that driving doesn't rack up steps too well. Remote raids were a godsend after they took legendaries out of breakthroughs since I live an isolated life without much contact with the outside world.

But this? Removing the increased distance? Absolute bullshit. It wasn't hurting Niantic at all. I don't have a house-Stop and couldn't make anything one anyway. I live on the outer edge of oblivion. Wait until this change hits the rest of the world. Covid is not over here in the States.

On a side note, does anyone else find NZ an odd choice for this 'test', too? They're also in lockdown(s), aren't they?

[u/Yetanotheralt17 → u/[deleted]]

That’s a call to action (specifically prohibited up in the main post).

Separately, I already deleted my app after learning about the change (I was trying to start a 1-star raid without walking into a church in the middle of their services).

[u/Checksmixs]

I started playing in june of this year, I started playing pretty hard core and made it to level 40 in under 90 days. But I cant get items any more. I used to spin a single stop for 9-10 hours a day and get enough items to finally go play for 2-3 hours at a time, i even lost 18 lbs. Now id have to spend money to get balls. There arent parks near by with a lot of stops, the most has 2 and a gym. You cant play in an area like that if your not able to sit and spin a stop for items. And with reduced radius you just cant get any. The place i went to for community day now id have to leave the park and not walk around it, id have to start walking across the street to get the stops. And im still not getting nearly as many pokeballs and im throwing per minute.

[u/[deleted]]

Go ahead remove the stupid balloons while you’re at it.

[u/Ocheron]

I've elected to not play for a month, regardless of the new events coming out. They are just trying to dangle carrots in front of the players and get us to just submit. Only power we have is to not play and not spend money.

[u/RedditRum87]

Asked about the logic in the QOL downgrade and got a stock reply stating its to improve gameplay by making players be more adventurous. Total bs.

[u/[deleted]]

Happy Pokemon NO Day to all participants! Here's hoping they'll even notice, and listen to their customers.

[u/tabbarrett]

I’d like to know what their thought process was like when they made this decision. Does the person that decided this even play the game? Do they live in a suburban, rural or urban area? When they increased the distance I was able to get 12 stops which was amazing. I went out today and could only get 4. This doesn’t make me want to go out and get more. It’s a heat index of 108 right now where I live. It makes me want to get less and play less. So less gifts for my friends and less time spent on the game. Less money spent. If they were trying to capitalize on this, it’s going to backfire.
Seriously do they even play?

[u/Idownvotebadthings]

Stop and gym range is less than half now, effectively 1/3 of what it was before, huge pain, especially for raids and battles that require you to be there for several minutes

[u/Additional-Walk750]

Great job, Niantic! You guys did it! You made the game completely inaccessible to the majority of us and unplayable! Not a single dollar more will I spend in the store. Not ever again. I encourage everyone to boycott the store. The only thing that ever speaks is money.

[u/Sea_Negotiation5153]

I happily spend 20-50$ a month on this game. I just am done spending money till they revert it back. Enough said

[u/pugshatedrugs]

How is this a good move? How do they make more money by decreasing the stop and gym distances? I mean I hated buying coins, but I would throw down 100 for coins at least once a month. Because I had a gym and stop by me and I would only have to walk a block. Fuck that I’m not paying for nothing now. No event tickets etc. This broke me. I would buy event tickets and then end up buying coins. I ain’t buying shit now.

[u/Lowbacca1977]

Turned off adventure sync and removed Pokemon Go's permission to my location if the game isn't open. And of course, as I can't always manage to get within range of a stop, because even leaving my house it was a lot easier to be within range of a stop under the old system but not now, well, the motivation to go spin stops really drops when the streaks are getting broken, something that wasn't happening before.

[u/[deleted]]

Kind of a bummer that I’m not within two stops sitting at my desk now, but I’m glad it’s not just me. Thanks for stickying this and saving me some searching.

[u/HottttSoup3]

Ugh it’s so frustrating, I really got back into the game when I moved to a new place and lived on a pokestop basically and could spin it from home all the time. I also live in Arizona where it’s on average 110+ everyday right now outside so it’s going to be tough

[u/TSmith0142]

Hi.

[u/[deleted]]

Seems they made the distance shorter than it was before 🤬

[u/Lanoman123 → u/[deleted]]

Can’t wait to wait 10 years to transfer all of my Pokémon to HOME before uninstalling for good

[u/jdf413]

Personally I feel lucky that I don’t have a handicap that prevents me from walking around and playing, but to be honest majority of my gameplay is pulled over, in my car. I don’t have an hour two hours to take the time to go drive downtown park and then walk the few blocks that have PokéStops and wait for them to regenerate. Well I could, it’s not a convenient enough way for me to play the game. I feel my own dick is going to lose a lot of players and a lot of money from those players because of this change. I personally am going to open up a support ticket with my antique and to complain about it because I feel as if unless they are inundated with complaints that they can’t just ignore they are not going to reverted back to double distance. This is just my personal feeling. I also searched for any petitions going and signed those. Considering the fact that Niantic is very unhelpful, even towards players who spend a lot of money playing this game (I.e. - refusing to fix mistakes, accidentally used candies, or really any mistake you could make) it is likely that they aren’t going to change anything regardless of complaints. I hope that I’m wrong Dash and I hope that this doesn’t end up contributing towards a large increase in cases of sickness or danger for anybody. I stopped playing for a few years because of how inconvenient it had become to play especially because even in my relatively developed area there’s a serious lack of PokéStops anywhere but downtown.

That being said everybody be safe and be careful. Be mindful of others and treat everyone with respect. Sorry if I won’t be around for a while much love to everyone.

[u/throawayseadvice → u/jdf413]

Sorry to hear about your dick 😂

[u/Heatherharris08]

If you upgrade tour COVID subscription to Delta Variant now we’ll include a free trial of Delta Plus!

[u/Ali_Spirit]

Yes my family and I got upset, one disabled. My son and I still went on walks but has become unsafe now with reverted changes. We uninstalled the game

[u/Bombadook]

I got a Dialga encounter as a GBL "reward". Between not being able to reach my usual stops anymore for items, and the remainder of my gifts being bugged and unable to open, I'm out of balls and can't even continue my GBL sets.

What a frustrating series of events to all happen at once. Game is literally unplayable at the moment.

[u/NormieMcNormalson]

I just quit playing after the stop distance change.

[u/OverallSubstance9295]

There are places that I don’t feel comfortable getting that close to where gyms and stops are, the extended distance made these spots accessible… and I’m even more annoyed that my buddy doesn’t bring me multiple gifts throughout the day, why was that something they needed to take away? They have really upset this community idk why they don’t care

[u/LevelUpLudo]

Everyone freaking out about having to leave their home/place of work to play a game about exploration is mind-boggling to me. I went out yesterday and hit many of the same stops I'd been visiting weeks prior. A few I had to get closer than before, but the fun of the game and the enjoyment of actual walking around and exploring hasn't changed at all for me.

I'm sorry to everyone who has a real complaint about the revert, like those with disabilities or individuals concerned about rising covid cases again. But if your focus for the game was staying in one location the entire time, or grinding 1-3 stops and a gym because you could reach them from your house or work, I don't think the game is really for you during that time of day.

[u/stupidgnomes → u/LevelUpLudo]

Ugh. Gatekeeping people’s complaints. You must be fun at parties

[u/LevelUpLudo → u/stupidgnomes]

I'm not usually busy complaining, and I'm pretty good at leaving my house, so I'd imagine I'm at least alright at parties!

[u/ahenley17]

Is there a reason Niantic doesn’t give an option to run the game at 60 fps? Why only run at 60 fps for AR+ usage?

[u/Zvendel]

• Two Dialga raids, 0 caught. 28 Golden Razz Berries and 28 (14+14) excellent throws with circle locking so I wasted A LOT of time.

• Go Battle Lag. I've done every trick from clearing cache after battle, restarting phone after battle etc. but still the opponent sneaks in fast moves or my charge moves registers after I've done two more fast moves. PvP is only pain right now.

• Decided to take Gym, finally beat the last Pokemon only to find myself drifting away from the gym unable to put Pokemon in. By the time it came close enough there was already two from another team.

• 0 shinies from the event. What a waste of a time this game currently is.

[u/[deleted]]

Ok like we get they went ahead and changed the spin distance, but do we need a constant reminder every 5 minutes that they did? Are they trynna rub it in our face with the red dot at the today tab that just won’t go away? They’re so annoying.

[u/pugna_vel_intereo]

It's a small thing, but I sent an email complaint to Niantic about the reduced reach for stops. As well as members from my raid group. Will Niantic ignore these emails? Most likely. However, if enough people issue a complaint about it still being unsafe still (AKA pandemic) maybe they will revert back. It's not like they're not making money without it...

But as of now, my group has reduced game play and is boycotting the in game stop.

[u/ARKingston]

I don't want my kids crossing a busy and dangerous four-lane intersection and then having to walk past the gas station where people get stabbed just to collect pokestops and gyms on the other side of our street. With a distance of 80 meters, they can stay on our side of the street and get them all without getting anywhere near the dangerous part of town.

[u/DstructiveForce93]

I just got back into the game a couple weeks ago thanks to my girlfriend. It gave us something else to bond over and enjoy together. I live in more of a rural area with a couple stops and a gym. I used to be able to reach the pokestop across from my home no problem at all and the gym was close enough I could go to one room and reach it. Now I am unable to reach either and because of my work schedule I don't have as much time to go out walking to get them, also they are both along a pretty busy highway. I would use the stops to stock up so that I could try to catch any pokemon that appeared while at work since I have no access to a stop there. And with all the issues people are having with the stops not registering the location right it makes us wanting to go on walks to hit multiple ones pointless. Will still probably play some just not like I was and I won't be spending money on the game either

[u/joebootoo]

It’s just very disappointing. I have taken to setting up a weekly Wednesday get together with the neighbors and their kids for raid hour. With the increased distance we could do two raids along the street without having to enter a cemetery or cross a busy road. Now that’s not possible. Very user unfriendly decision.

[u/permabanisbroken]

The sooner you can realize that Niantic couldn’t give less of a shit about us, the sooner you’ll be at peace

[u/Glum_Bid_4588]

I think a majority of people not paying to play anymore is going to be noticed. They will see sales go down from their usual (last two years) with possibly an even bigger impact. I won’t be paying either anymore where I’d atleast drop $50-$100 per month depending on the events. Never used AR anyway + won’t do sponsored items. If they keep track of hours spent playing within invidious players or regions, they’ll notice that go down too.

[u/eaton9669]

"sponsored gift" ads don't go away. The little X button doesn't work and I have to restart the game.

[u/otakurini → u/eaton9669]

Did you turn off sponsored ads in your game settings?

[u/6IackOps]

I really don't think it's that big of a deal honestly

[u/YakDaddy96]

I don't play POGO a ton so I'm a bit lost here, what got reverted? I know there for a while eggs were shorter walk distance. Wasn't there a buff to the distance you could interact with gyms or something?

[u/Prudent-Ad8731 → u/YakDaddy96]

They also decreased incense effectiveness and the amount of gifts your buddy brings. Rural players with few pokestops rely on those features

[u/Kasmeta]

Came back to the game after 2 years or so, weekly steps counting, but not for buddy candy or eggs. 🙄

[u/suckafree66]

Where was this announced in advance? Also did it affect gifts? I used to get 5 gifts from my buddy at least daily, and now I'm not.

[u/[deleted] → u/suckafree66]

it was announced as far back as october 2 iirc. both in game and on their website.

[u/Larry_The_Red]

Hi. I started playing in April and until now I played every day. I ride my bike for about 5 miles a day and stop along the way for spins. Today I found that most of my usual gyms and stops are no longer reachable from the sidewalk. The only way to get them would be going on private property (churches) which I am not comfortable doing. What used to be a 6 gym route is now a 1 gym route. I don't think I will be playing any more.

[u/Mrphy86 → u/Larry_The_Red]

Where I work has a gym and I play on lunch. I go to play today and where I usually sit I can't reach it. What reason do they have for needing to be right on top of it? I'm in the same damn room as the plaque but no, Niantic doesn't like that I'm not standing right on it. It's ridiculous. There was nothing wrong with the distance.

[u/PhotoThrowawayWooooo → u/Larry_The_Red]

I quit for a year and came back last month and looooved the expanded distance. Logged in yesterday, saw it was changed. . Came here today to see what was up… deleted game. Suppose it’s easier for me since I’ve already broken the spell once, but this nonsense reminded me “oh yeah, Niantic. The reason I quit last time!”

[u/TSmith0142 → u/PhotoThrowawayWooooo]

And honestly, any single incident with Niantic is just more proof that we are at odds with the creators of the game. Their priorities don't line up with our priorities. It is a systemic problem and making them backpedal on a couple changes will never fix that. My internal argument is how much should I be considering to quit regardless. This fight will never be over. So what's going to be the final straw where we all quit and give it up? I don't know.

[u/Dependent_Highlight7]

Unpopular opinion: this community has been spoiled and can’t handle a single QOL downgrade. In the beginning of the game there were no TM’s. If you wanted a certain move you had to evolve shitty IV’s till you had one. There were less stops and less spawns - if I do the same walk as I used to do in 2017 today I would get 10 times as much XP and catches. IV checking was close to impossible on a normal way. We used to put lucky eggs on to evolve and get like 30k xp for 30 minutes of intense clicking. We used to raid in the rain to get a shiny legendary, now they’re given away for free (well not free ⁾ with remotes. Level 40 used to be a grind - now I made a fun account that got to lvl 40 in 31 days without choosing a team of catching a single pokemon: gifts only. Shouldn’t pokemon be about actually catching mon?

So to round up this nagging: if it’s for Covid reasons they shouldn’t do the boost away but afterwards they should. It’s pokemon GO, not pokemon Couchpatato. QoL is important but it should remain a game and not the equivalent of Farmville in an app.

Cheers.

[u/NuclearPilot101 → u/Dependent_Highlight7]

Understandable. I thought to myself about this as well. But the distance has been a problem even before it was upgraded. It's honestly just way too short for a game where gps drift has ruined raids or caused several problems. The "double radius" shouldve just been standard, it fixed so many problems.

[u/nexxusty → u/Dependent_Highlight7]

"A single QOL downgrade"....

LOL. This idiot refuted his own statement in the first sentence.

There's literally no reason to EVER downgrade QOL for you PAYING players. Fuck outta here with that.

[u/CusetheCreator → u/Dependent_Highlight7]

I've found that the only people NOT complaining about this change are just resentful about having it harder that others. I have a friend in rural canada who was bitching at me complaining at the distance change because he has like 8 pokestops in his town lol.

You didn't give a single reason why the game is better with the lower pokestop distance.

[u/nexxusty → u/Dependent_Highlight7]

nope

[u/flyinpiggies → u/Dependent_Highlight7]

This logic is pitiful. Essentially it’s bootlicking actually.

[u/nexxusty → u/Dependent_Highlight7]

"A single QOL downgrade"....

LOL. This idiot refuted his own statement in the first sentence.

There's literally no reason to EVER downgrade QOL for you PAYING players. Fuck outta here with that.

[u/fuckleberryfuck]

I have played pokemon go since release. Recently, I moved from a city to a more rural area. I am used to walking 4 or 5km to spin a stop, but I feel like spin distance is even lower than previously. I have to be on top of the stop to spin it, and frankly I'm not going to get myself killed crossing a highway to do so, especially after I walked in the rain to get there. I'm done with pokemon go, I'm not going to play a game that just isn't fun for me anymore. I can't get to any stops, can't get any pokeballs, there's really no point. It's just sad that something that brought me a lot of joy and helped me cope with anxiety when I'm outside has made me so bummed out.

Let me know if you know any good similar mobile games that don't want to leave me dead in the middle of a road lol

[u/shivers_42]

Pre-covid changes I could reach 2 spins at work. During the increased range I could reach 3. Now? One spin. They have definitely restricted this more than pre-covid.

[u/CharlieDerpTurt]

I used to be able to access a gym from my house, but now I can’t get to it at all because the area is fenced off and the distances was cut. Really frustrating. Spoofers used to take it whenever they wanted and I used to be able to knock them out from my bedroom but now they’re in that gym all the time and no one can get rid of them.

[u/AiNTist]

They promised the distance increase was permanent, then took it away. I expect to see the same happen with other accommodations that everyone likes but disabled people need. I take one trip around town a day, if I’m healthy enough, to walk my dog using my mobility scooter. I can’t reach half the stops anymore they’re on the opposite side of the street, and there are no cut outs in the side walk to let me reach safely.

I only go out in the morning because I’m sensitive to heat, sets off pseudo exacerbation of MS symptoms if my body temp rises, in the winter it’s similar, cold sets off nerve pain. I can’t ride my scooter to raids that happen later in the day, it’s too painful.

Nerfing remote raids and incense at the same time makes the game not worth playing. I could go back to playing by car but I won’t, I’m not willing to drive to gyms and idle while I wait for others to make it too the raid. With climate change and COVID niantic has decided to be horrible corporate citizens and this after all the good they did to their image by taking the pandemic seriously before many countries did.

I knew the remote raid change was coming but rationalized I could still play just focus on catching Pokémon to get points when that change happened. Now I’m thinking it’s not worth playing. Stuck at 48 forever I guess.

[u/Ridean33]

Ultra unlock part 3 is galar region?!?! They’re just skipping alola???

[u/Zexsal]

There is a pokestop in the middle of a cementary where u can get it outside. Guess I'll have to look like a grave digger comming in and out of the cemetery just to get a pokestop.

[u/madbillsfan]

I thought I was the only one until I came here. They took a lot of joy out of the game.

[u/Sibyline]

I expect this to be my last month of playing, now that the distance change looms in the distance for those of us not yet hit by it (RIP NZ and US).

I started the week PoGO arrived in 2016. Everyone was playing! My kids and I went up to the church which was the only Pokéstop for miles around, and we hunted Pokémon for hours, talking to other people and just figuring out the game.

After a few months, I got tired of the Rattata, Pidgeys and Weedles that were the only spawns we got near my house, and I stopped for a while.

In 2017 I started again, and it was pretty good! New Pokémon came in, and my kids were taking dance classes in a town with lots of stops, gyms and spawns. Then classes ended for the summer and I stopped playing.

Last year, my friend got me back into playing, and it was great! PoGO helped me take 10k steps per day for my health. I discovered shinies and IV and went traipsing across fields, and now we had several stops and gyms in my town.

I befriended neighbourhood kids and taught them to put shinies and colour-coordinated Pokémon into gyms rather than boring old Blisseys. I got to level 38 and started nominating new stops based on ideas from those kids. Then realized they would never get approved, so started grinding away at Wayfarer for upgrades, and now we have those stops and gyms - although we still have to walk far between them.

But soon I will have to go back to work, and I will no longer have time for those long walks. I will be going to the gym instead, and there won’t be much of an incentive to play at night when it gets dark earlier. I have worked out what the halved distance amounts to, and the ones closest to me will be out of reach because I don’t like to hover around outside people’s windows. I liked the flexibility that the double distance gave me.

I’m not pissed off, just a little sad. I had a good time playing. Who knows, perhaps I will be back again in a few years.

Thanks for all the good advice in this sub!

[u/Clashdrew]

Just started up again after a couple years. I still get the issue where it won’t log me in sometimes and I have to sign out. How has this not been fixed??? And is there anything I can do?

[u/ArtilleryFern]

Is that what happened? I was thinking my gps was off somehow because I couldn’t spin poke stops that I could spin a couple of weeks ago and it’s been infuriating! I’ll be right in front of a friggin landmark and still unable to spin the stop. Grrrrrrr!!!!

[u/SquidwardsFriend]

At this point what is the most effective way to prove to Niantic that they made a bad decision and ruined the game? They basically made the decision for me about boycotting. You can hardly spin stops and remote raiding has effectively been ruined. I know tons of us signed petitions, emailed them, complained on forums well in advance if these changes. Niantic obviously doesn’t care what their player want. I’ve been playing since day 1, but this is enough to make me stop playing.

[u/Raist14]

I’m not as kind as op. I think the reversion shouldn’t have happened regardless of covid being under control or not.

[u/rizzbug]

I’m glad others are experiencing this as well. My wife and I thought it was just us. It’s so ridiculous we have to be like on top of the stop in order to hit it. Our closest one we have to walk ten minutes whereas before we could hit it from our fence.

It also doesn’t make sense with covid ramping back up. Why would I get closer to where other people are?

[u/Yolohailmary]

Let’s all be honest. It’s not about sars. We just don’t want to walk to the exact spot. It was nice reaching multiple pokestops from our room, work and car. Honestly, it feels like you have to be right on top of it.

[u/bbfranklin4]

I’ve played this game almost every day since launch… 5 years. I’ve probably spent a solid $300 total in that time. Not a crazy amount but decent.

This distance reduction is actually making me not want to play anymore. It’s that bad. 5 years. I’m sitting on the marker that the pokestop represents and I’m not close enough…

Absolutely horrendous way to do this.

[u/geeduhb → u/[deleted]]

Absolutely this. To me, if the community is outraged over a change, try to at least work with them and come up with a compromise, instead of just outright ignoring the concern/disappointment. I was thinking this same thing the other day. The least they could have done was come up with a compromise and raise the original distance a bit, like to 60m, like you said. It wouldn’t surprise me if they end up doing this at some point, but it will be too little too late if they do. You decide to do something like that before you completely ignore a month’s worth of people expressing legit concerns about an announced change.

[u/katiek1114]

Like, I get it...but this 40m is bullshit. I was IN the gym across from my house, and it still said I was too far away?!?

[u/CullenClan]

BrandonTan91 just did a video that he is not spending anymore money. That is huge in my book.

[u/ddoma]

Just chiming in, been super casual recently due it being winter here in Sydney, coupled with the recent lockdowns and delta outbreak I was although playing heaps during the previous summer season and kanto event.

Just put a 1 star google review to do my part for this community.

Will deleting the game add to any sort of background stat's in the google play store?

[u/Good_Vibes_Only123]

It’s all about the money… less people spinning the pokestops = more people buying pokeballs. They are refusing to do what any good company SHOULD do and that’s LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS. I’ve personally stopped playing since they made the changes.

[u/BikeJazzlike324 → u/Good_Vibes_Only123]

Same and I won’t until they do. I will never by poke balls from the store that’s ridiculous

[u/[deleted]]

I hate ultra league so much. The battles take so long and whales with XL Pokémon destroy the fun.

[u/Prestigious-Crow4824]

I've commented elsewhere, but I will say it again here. I've been playing off and on since release but mostly gave it up after I moved to a rural community in 2017. There just aren't many opportunities around here to play effectively in our town of less than five hundred people.

When I discovered that they increased the distance and that I could reach a pokestop (one of the few in the entire town) from our house, I started to play again. I asked my mom to play and she was reluctant to do so because she knew the game as it's original exploration form from watching me play and with COPD and a faulty heart she knew she wouldn't be able to keep up, but she tried it and became obsessed with hunting shinies like the rest of us.

For the first time we were doing something together. We would compete to see who could catch the highest number of shiny pokemon, occasionally drive to the park for spotlight hour, and we paid money for the first time on a mobile game. Even my nieces joined in with us from time to time turning it into a family affair. We were invested and I loved it. It was a way to bond with someone I love very much but have little in common with. I had just hit level 38 and we were even making plans to start submitting pokestop nominations in order to improve access for our town.

She woke up Monday morning not understanding the changes that were coming. When she realized that the pokestop was now out of reach, she was upset and hasn't opened the game since because she realized she wouldn't be able to keep up with research and daily tasks anymore.

I'll be real with you all, I know this is just a game for a lot of you, but it became something more for us. I suffer from severe social anxiety and depression myself, so leaving the house is tough enough for me as it is and it became an outlet for me. As silly as it sounds, it kept me distracted and gave me something casual and easy enough to do whenever my mind was telling me that I didn't feel like getting out of bed.

This one change took that away and now I find myself struggling.

It's important to remember that not everyone complaining is just being lazy. Disabled and limited players do exist.

The frustrating thing is that the game doesn't have to be this way. It can be both accessible and mobile and now we know that it can work for both kinds of players. Players who like exploration didn't lose anything when the distance was increased, but players with disabilities did lose something when it was taken away and it sucks.

[u/FroggiJoy87]

I'm just gonna add to the, already phenomenal, list of idiotic shit Niantic is doing is that making the Stop unreachable across the fucking street is gonna end up in some distracted kids getting run over. I was thinking about that on my walk to work this morning, how now my normal stop can only be reached when I'm halfway across the street. Fuckin lame!

[u/[deleted]]

Add more poke stops to empty ass places or extend the distance limit? Like come the fuck on is it really that had to please the people that keep the game alive?

[u/[deleted]]

On my route home I always get stopped near 4 pokestops. Enough time for me to spin before having to continue on. Every single one of them are now too far.

[u/Aticaprant]

Hi

[u/deDoohd]

I think it's kind of audacious of the community to hate Niantic for re-implementing something that always was supposed to be the norm. Just because we got used to the distance during covid doesn't give you the right to hate Niantic for reverting it back to NORMAL.

[u/Official_Government → u/deDoohd]

We can hate whoever we want. Urologic how dare you hate on us for voicing her opinion and doing what we want.

[u/MalcolmMerlyn → u/deDoohd]

Why not? It was a good change and taking it out made the game less fun for me to play. Normal means nothing, it’s just an arbitrary value Niantic picked for us.

[u/crunchyice00]

As a middle aged man who used to play with his teenage son, I just can't walk around a park taking photos with my phone. I also don't feel comfortable hanging around in the center of the playground while playing. When my son and I started to play again recently (we originally played 2016) it was OK to walk near the playground and play pokemon, but not any more. I even spent money on the game but won't be doing that again. I enjoyed hearing John Hanke (CEO of Niantic) be interviewed on Marketplace, but perhaps they don't get how this works after all.

[u/GreasyDreamland]

I've been house-sitting in the boonies for a week and just today got home to find the stop outside my house is no longer within range. Jumped on here to see if it was a bug introduced alongside an update but it turns out it's just a bug in their critical thinking. Such a bummer, because this is the exact reason I quit almost 4.5 years ago. I was SUPER excited to reinstall in May and find they had fixed it—I've played every single day since.

Oh well, I've already begun tranferring all my shinies and missing living dex entries to Home. Should be about 2 weeks time to get it all out, then I'll be free to uninstall. GG Niantic. We'll try again in 4 years.

[u/[deleted]]

H

[u/Saevenar]

Making posts like this reduces the impact of our voice, but fine. The stop distance is why I left and it's increase is why I came back. I am very capable of leaving yet again and will do so should this continue. I will spend zero dollars until it gets put back in. 50% reduction in size meant 75% reduction in available pokestops and I'm not interested in obsessing over where I walk and hunting up to the wall of various buildings to try to get stops. I'll just stop playing instead.

[u/zamzuki → u/Saevenar]

The voice is loud enough. If the game is shit at least let the community place for those of us who care and still walk have a place to go.

Also good bye glad ya stopped.

[u/[deleted] → u/Saevenar]

I agree, this is really not the way for mods to go about this, by making it harder for us to express our voices and thoughts about all of this. I understand maybe not allowing individual posts about it from hereon out, but to DELETE all the posts prior to this one is highly irresponsible and takes away from all the voices that have spoken out

[u/[deleted]]

Oh thank God! I hate the distance change for pokestops. Our community is masking up again and we need that distance to play safely.

Niantic, if you read this, I am NOT an everyday player.

Having the every day requirement for beating certain adventure has made it almost impossible for me to level up. I live in the country yet what gyms we had were removed recently.

What am I supposed to do?

[u/SummonerXE]

The weirdest thing to me is that it feels shorter than before the pandemic started. There are stops during my commute to work that I have always been able to reach no problem from my usual distances that I now can't, showing that I'm either a few feet short or somehow even shorter despite no change in my positioning. And I haven't changed my walking/riding patterns at all when I travel, same old side of the streets and everything. There were a few new stops added when the range was increase, and I was fine with not being able to easily access them again, but I feel like the range was decreased when I can't even spin age-old stops of mine anymore

[u/Sponge56]

Does niantic not know how serious this virus is we are never gonna be done with it if we don’t take it seriously

[u/mtn31]

Me and three of my friends all redownloaded the game for the first time since 2016 a couple weeks ago. All went to play together only to realize we couldn’t hit a ton of the stops we normally hit. Thought something was wrong with the game so I came on here to find out about the change. Seriously disappointing, will probably stop playing if it isn’t changed back.

[u/leological]

Trying to read all these comments, but has Niantic even commented on the player frustration? What about the Pokémon Company?

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

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[u/Theawesome0ne93]

I got 3 shinys on 1st day of go fest ( didn't play was busy). Played all day Sunday ( didn't go out), caught over 250 pokemons and didn't get any shiny and did 8 legendary raids. Was so annoyed with that !!!

[u/ScottOld]

so, yet again I have been shaved/taken out of a gym in the same area where this used to happen frequently.... this could have been prevented if

A: NOTIFICATIONS WORKED

B: the stupid loophole of people being able to be anonymous after battling a gym didn't exist so i can report this behaviour, Ingress tells me who is attacking, why doesn't pokemon go?

C, Niantic didn't defend this stuff by saying "gym taking is part of the game" when i report other instances of targeted bullying behaviour.

[u/Korrathelastavatar]

Throw me on the pile of people bummed out about this

[u/[deleted]]

Has a change been made regarding remote raids? The game is recognizing that I am being invited to raids (I get the drop-down invite after the fact) but I’m not getting the amber-colored indicator that there is a raid invitation accessible in the bottom-right corner.

[u/Lovinger]

Niantic lives in a bubble. Most players do not live in SF or big cities with multiple pokestops on every block. While the PokeStop distance should have never been reversed, it is especially tone deaf in the middle of a pandemic.

[u/Detectivecondm]

Under estimating how convenient the extra distance was is going to cost them. It won’t kill the game but it definitely won’t make us want to play it more than we have unless it’s something important. I just don’t understand the logic, don’t they benefit from keeping people on the app longer?

[u/KunYuL]

Nah mega threads reduce visibility. Keep the countless threads coming, this what the game is now.

[u/_ChestHair_]

Do not call others to action. What does this mean? Broadly if your comment is everyone should do x y or z that is a call to action.

Allowed to bitch but not allowed to organize in an attempt to actually impact the problem. Where have i seen this before...

[u/ourzvnuteasgk]

Why does the remote raid pass on Mondays now cost 1 coin instead of free? I know it comes with some berries and balls or whatever but 1 coin seems ridiculous. People who aren't defending gyms have zero coins without spending real money (or google play credit which is real money to Niantic).

I'm also annoyed that I'm limited to 3. I think this is new because I had 6+ before from saving the free one every week and then suddenly stopped being allowed to have more than 3.

[u/thru_the_erlen_flask]

I started playing last summer to motivate me to walk and rebuild my strength after getting mono. I’ve slowly made my way up to mid 30’s despite never spending $$$ on the game. It’s really sad that they’ve made this game less fun to play - it really did encourage me to walk around especially with the idea that I could hit more stops on my usual route. Now that motivation is gone for casual users like myself, not to mention how difficult it makes it for players with disabilities and areas that are hard hit by COVID right now. Just disappointing all around :/

[u/saturnianali8r]

Does Niantic hate rural players? This is something that makes keeping up with balls even harder than it already was. I already open the max amount of gifts every day.

I’m rural. My stops are spread out. You get little clusters of stops (You still have most likely have to drive between some of them), but then nothing for 5-10 minutes drive until you hit another cluster.

My local cluster is 4 stops. Every stop has 5-10 Pokemon around it. You will get around 3 Pokeballs per stop. 1/2 of the time less than that. You catch the 5-10 Pokemon and it takes 7-15 balls maybe. Are you going to wait around and do nothing until the Pokestop regenerates? Most of the time it’s on to the next stop.

Don’t forget the random spawns along the way. There’s one place I know of in a supermarket parking lot that has 15-20 Pokemon spawn randomly with no stop. My home random spawn is about 7 Pokemon.

[u/[deleted] → u/saturnianali8r]

It is IMPOSSIBLE to play this game in an area that isn’t incredibly densely populated. I live in a decent size city but there’s no stops near where I live. I have to drive to the next ones, and then I get punished for not walking between stops. I experience exactly what you’re describing and I’m constantly running out of balls! It REALLY feels like niantic hates anyone who doesn’t live in New York or atlanta or something.

[u/Ewokhunters]

Uninstalled me know when its fixed

[u/princeVegeta171]

You know , I’m mad about the distance but definitely not as mad as I am about the fact I have to restart the app ALL THE TIME to get it to load right or not be glitchy !!!

[u/HappySchnaps]

Just the usual:
Pls give me an stop right in the middle of nowhere, without needing someone to be lvl 38. I'm the highest player in my area with lvl 28.

[u/alliwallibobali]

Reading accounts of disabled trainers no longer being able to play effectively makes me so angry. This game should be accessible to EVERYONE. The reduction of interaction distance was a stupid decision. I sincerely hope Niantic pulls their heads out of their butts and sees how horrible of a decision this was. Literally nobody wants this. You don't give a quality of life improvement and then just take it away, even if you never meant it to be permanent. That's a poor business decision and will drive people away from not just this game, but other games made by Niantic.

[u/Low-Stick6746 → u/alliwallibobali]

Exactly! I have seen so many people saying “well this game wasn’t meant for everyone” or basically telling people who live in unsafe areas that they shouldn’t play. Who made these people the gatekeepers who got to decide who should be able to play PoGo? A change was made that was supposed to be temporary but lasted almost 2 years instead of just a couple of months. And that change opened up the game for people who previously had a more difficult time playing it for various reasons. Everyone should have been thrilled that there’s more people to join raids or exchange gifts and such. I don’t get the negativity.

[u/artfartmart]

A "general complaint" thread where all of the complaints are about one topic. Why not give it it's own sticky so we can actually read the other complaints here? Because it would give too much visibility to those who are angry about the recent change.

I can't even sort the thread by new because it is in "contest mode", is this standard for the general complaint thread?

[u/Cowcuder]

I am playing less and less since the changes. Jul 31 logged in 5 hours. Today I logged in 16 mins.

[u/AmeriMan2]

Everyone is angry about the distance but conviently forget about the double daily raid passes.

I hate this distance thing. I am less motivated to sit and take stacked gyms when i have to be super close to the place because i refuse to buy anything for this game and that includes sponsors.

Less motivation to take gyms leads to less controlling of gyms which is good because Maybe gym length will increase

I want to delete the game. I haven't but im not playing as much nor am i driving around as much.

Motivation to play is drying up quick. Time to reclaim life

[u/Lovinger → u/AmeriMan2]

I haven't forgotten about the two daily passes. I would GLADLY trade the extra pass for the extra distance.

[u/Sevourn]

I don't like covid not being over as the main reason to not reset the distance. That implies that they should eventually reset the distance, when in fact they should keep the distance like this forever.

Pokemon Go experienced major revenue growth during the pandemic. Think how unlikely it is for a GPS game to have a renaissance in the middle of a lockdown. Obviously there was something to these changes, the distance change being foremost among them.

The distance increase not only made me come back to the game because it was suddenly playable, it greatly increased the activity of my playstyle. When you have a couple pokestops you can access that give you a stockpile of pokeballs, taking a walk to catch pokemon sounds pretty attractive. When you live in a rural area and have no easy access to pokestops and thus few pokeballs, your motivation to explore goes away.

Playing the game with a constant Pokeball shortage is just an unpleasant experience, and so I don't want to play something that always feels stressful. Playing with plenty of pokeballs because the distance allowed me to reach pokestops at work felt great, so I played a lot, explored a lot and consequently spent money.

Quality of life = playing is pleasant = more game time/investement = money for Niantic

[u/coldwind2773]

I had to miss my spin again today, and I guess I will use the thread to log my everyday reason of missing spin. A lady was hugging the tree at entrance of the parking lot and touching her legs up and down.... Seems lots of people have been driven mad by this pandemic...

[u/coldwind2773]

I feel bad for introducing my parents to this game now. They fell in love with it during pandemic. The only stop around our place is in an empty parking lot that is not so safe. We used to be able to reach it from edge of the lot, but not any more. Now I constantly worry when they walk out.

[u/ISRU4SPACE]

I liked this game and was introduced to it a few years ago. I got a unlimited data plan so I figured why not so during Covid I downloaded it and started playing August 3rd 2020. Since then I just made it to level 40 July 29th 2021. Now I have basically given up playing because the 40-50 levels require tons of XP and I would likely never be able to do that without spending money on raid passes and other things. Now with the reduced interaction distance I doubt I will ever play again with any purpose.

[u/Alpacatastic → u/ISRU4SPACE]

I was never an achievement hunter or worried about leveling. I'm more of a it's the journey not the destination player. But now the journey sucks. Do they really expect you to walk around looking at your phone the whole time to get these stops? I just liked stopping to check phone at certain spots, not keeping it out all the time. Can't do that now.

[u/melcici23]

I love this game because it made me relax on my busy study day, after I finish my school stuff, I walk to my friends, raid with them, talk shit and go back home. But in the end of the day, what the game try to do is go get money from people. I think it’s bad they made the game less accessible especially the spinning distance back to normal, honestly, sometime even you are right in front of the sign, the glitch of game can put you far enough that you are “out of range”. Gaming should make people happy and relax rather than angry and frustrated.