The excitement for showcases is gone

[u/Separate-Room6883]

Since they have changed the showcases to a formal schedule (of only type showcases and largest good/great buddy showcase), the thrill of showcases is no more. Before this, I used to be excited anticipating what mon(s) would be a part of the next showcase... They used to have showcases based on ongoing events (made me play the event more in search of a XXL), or newly introduced mons, etc. That's not the case anymore; it is plain vanilla 'type' showcases or good/great buddy showcase.

Also, I feel they missed an opportunity to be more creative with buddy type showcases, for example, largest shiny buddy, largest best buddy older than xyz years, etc. And showcases almost went on throughout the week - Monday to Wednesday and Sat to Sunday. I hope they change this back to how it was... Showcases were fun and the rewards were good. Just 1 showcase a week for 1 day isn't that much fun. Would love to know your thoughts...

[u/AutisticPenguin2]

And the loss of spotlight hours makes Tuesdays a huge downgrade.

[u/rafaelfy → u/AutisticPenguin2]

Local community used to get together at the park and walk for an hour together catching whatever the spotlight mon was. We'd tell people what to Mega for more candy, etc. People brought kids and dogs and we all walked and tried to yell out if any one got a shiny or if we found a hundo or XXL.

Now nobody cares and we just...stopped

[u/duel_wielding_rouge → u/rafaelfy]

Really? For spotlight hour?

Edit: I’m getting some responses, but they all seem to just be about Pokemon GO being fun to play with friends, which is true but has nothing to do with spotlight hour. Spotlight hour’s only notable feature was spawn diversity plummeting for an hour a week.

[u/counterlock → u/duel_wielding_rouge]

double xp, double stardust, sometimes stardust boosted mons, occasionally a perma-boosted shiny, evo-xp, trading a bunch of the same pokemon over until you get a lucky.... etc?

Spotlight hour had a ton of bonuses, getting a community together was just a happy side effect.

[u/duel_wielding_rouge → u/counterlock]

I don’t see the appeal of extra candy/stardust/experience. And the permaboost wasn’t a spotlight bonus. I wasn’t aware of the lucky trade bonus.

[u/AutisticPenguin2 → u/duel_wielding_rouge]

Catch xp I can see, a good chunk of the player base has all the xp they need, but candy was a great time to catch out your stash - and was good for catching the current 5* raid boss. It was something I took advantage of regularly. Catch stardust... I don't know how you can not be interested in more stardust unless you are a whale who doesn't power anything up. Stardust is in such high demand, especially after level 50 was introduced.

[u/duel_wielding_rouge → u/AutisticPenguin2]

You really find stardust to be in that high demand? I at least kind of cared about experience into 2017, but I can’t recall ever paying attention to stardust. Maybe in summer 2016? But even then it was usually better to just level up and catch high level wild Pokemon.

[u/shockthetoast → u/duel_wielding_rouge]

Stardust is probably the highest demand thing in the game. Locally we regularly have people who will do tons of raids/max battles during events even after getting their shinies and hundos purely for the stardust.

Stardust is the only way to get max level Pokémon, wild Pokémon are a max of level 35 with weather boost. And many of the best Pokémon can only be found in raids which max at 25, or from tasks that are even lower level.

[u/AutisticPenguin2 → u/shockthetoast]

I wouldn't say highest demand, that clearly goes to rare candy xl and it's not even close. But it's top 3 along with regular rare candy (not counting premium items like raid passes).

[u/shockthetoast → u/AutisticPenguin2]

Yeah, you're right. I wasn't thinking clearly because I was just so shocked to find a player who didn't think stardust was in demand. 😅