While past Go Fests have also includedpaid ticketsthat provided additional bonuses like Mythical Pokemon and Special Research tasks, this year’s event felt particularly underwhelming to many free-to-play trainers who were frustrated by just how much was exclusive to ticket holders this time.
As oneReddit userput it, “This go fest was really trash for free to play users.”
The poster explained that, while they played in an area with a strong Pokemon Go community, theirGo Fest Globalexperience was “very mild or disappointing” as someone who didn’t buy the ticket.
“Previous go fest events gave additional boosts to paid tickets holders, but everyone could enjoy the event as they wanted,” they explained. However, thelack of rare spawnsand amount of Pokemon locked behind a paywall – including Unown andregional exclusives– meant Go Fest was primarily about Raids for non-ticket holders.
This led the poster to say, “basically as a F2P player this was just a raid day which is really disappointing for the biggest event of the year.”
Others agreed, with one commenter calling this year’s event “extremely underwhelming” and “Definitely not worth going outside for this event when for me it’s either raining super hardor it’s extremely hot.”
The difference in quality between paid and free-to-play trainers was made most evident by another commenter who shared their experience without a Go Fest ticket compared to that of their wife, who purchased one.
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As they explained, “She caught a total of 54 shinies (including the new releases) and a single hundo Sneasel and lots of the ‘special spawn’ Mons. I got exactly ONE shiny Necrozma (a bunch of 3* though), no hundos, and maybe a couple ‘special spawn’.”
While free-to-play trainers got the short end of the stick with the event, even some Go Fest Global ticketholders came away disappointed for reasons ranging frombad Shiny luckto thegrind necessary to get enough Solar and Lunar Energyto fuse Necrozma into itsDawn Wings and Dusk Maneforms.
Noelle Corbett was a Senior Writer on Dexerto’s US team. She is a Gaming expert, covering Pokemon, Baldur’s Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, and RPGs. She also has bylines at CBR.
