Shiny Heracross Raid Wall in Pokemon Go?

Ultra Unlock Shiny Heracross

As some may well be aware, Pokemon Go is going through something of a tumultuous time recently. Despite the pandemic giving the game a sort of second lease on life, fans have been furious at the decision to roll back COVID 19 changes, which ultimately helped all players. Doubly so for rural or disabled folks. The storm begins anew, though, as fans noticed something interesting about the Shiny Heracross raid debut…

For those unaware, Heracross, since it’s release, has been a regional Pokemon. Only available in VERY southern areas of North America like Florida, Texas, or Latin America, as well as South America, the fighting bug has remained pretty elusive unless one has a friend or family member in those areas.

READ MORE: Pokemon Go: Does Shiny rate change during Raid Hour?

Upon completion of the Ultra Unlock goals during Pokemon Go Fest 2021, it was announced that Shiny Heracross raids would be featured worldwide for a limited time, the first chance for most to get a Heracross, and for all to get a shiny one. However, it seems this move may not have been as benevolent as expected.

Shiny Heracross Raid
Credit: Luchinho80 on Reddit

Fans on Twitter and other social media who live in areas in which Heracross usually spawns noticed that none of the Hercules Beetles were spawning around outside. While regional Pokemon aren’t absolutely everywhere, fans have noticed that even areas with consistent Heracross spawns have been completely dry, which only leads us to one conclusion: Heracross has been removed from overworld spawns so that only raid encounters may be the shiny form of the Pokemon.

While this isn’t exactly Pay 2 Win per se, as the game HAS given a number of both normal and remote Raid Passes through quests and weekly events, it is certainly disappointing. I must have done over 100 raids at this point and only found one shiny in my years of playing POGO, so forcing players to spam Heracross raids in a condensed timeframe over and over seems pretty, well, scummy.

When compounded with the fact you’re locked to a limited number of Remote Raid Passes, it seems pretty cut and dry that this was an attempt to force people to spend on raid passes for potentially 50-100+ raids for a CHANCE at a Shiny Heracross.

Pokemon Anime Heracross
Credit: The Pokemon Company

If you do have passes to burn though, we do have a guide for the encounter.

READ MORE: Pokemon Go: How to defeat Heracross, weakness and counters

Ultimately, the situation just perplexes me. People outside of the natural spawn region would already likely shell money at their chance for a shiny, so why intentionally screw over people who just so happen to be where the bug usually resides? It can’t lose them THAT much money and the PR is already horrible with little communication, fan boycotts, and now this.

I certainly enjoy playing Pokemon Go as a collector, and as such am rarely phased by shiny legendaries or regionals, but it’s hard to deny the game has had a HUGE focus on raids as of late. The COVID changes won’t hurt me TOO much, going back to college and all, but it feels like Niantic has lost touch with its playerbase yet again.

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