This week we have the first ever Evolving Stars event, and social media isn’t particularly hyped about. While many new or returning players are excited about the prospect of being able to grind for meta Pokémon candy, like Abra, Rhyhorn, Ralts and more, many long time players feel it is rather lacklustre. This event could easily be improved, so let’s take a look at how we would make it better.
Shiny Pokémon
First up, shinies. Most people look forward to events with specific spawns because it means they can hunt shinies they want, especially if they are brand new. With Evolving Stars, we’ve got no new shinies, and of the 15 wild spawns, only 6 can actually be shiny. Of those 6, 5 are prior community day shinies, only Scyther hasn’t had a community day, but it is a perma-boosted shiny.
What potential new shiny Pokémon could we have had? Well Litwick is incoming next weekend so wouldn’t make sense to release early because of how hyped the community are for Litwick Community Day. That leaves Tynamo and Helioptile. Both are fairly new Pokémon, which means Niantic are less likely to release the shinies so soon.
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It is always fun to get a new shiny to hunt for, but every event can’t contain a new shiny Pokémon, especially for fairly rare Pokémon generally. We’d run out of shinies far too quickly! I therefore have an alternative proposal, rather than release a brand new shiny, give us evolved shiny forms in the wild.
Some of the evolved forms featured as wild spawns, have actually been available shiny previously. Poliwhirl and Seadra were both available in their shiny forms for the Johto Tour in March 2022, but were then turned back off again when the event ended. They’ve been available before, so why not bring them back again? Evolved wild shinies are a really incredible hunt in GO, and showcasing them for this event would make sense.
While the other evolved spawns haven’t been released as shiny previously, how much fun would it have been for this event to start and us suddenly find out that the evolved forms could be shiny too? Surprise drops for events were once so thrilling, finding out via whispers on social media that something could be shiny that we weren’t expecting, having it all spelt out for us isn’t always the best way to hype up an event, and a surprise drop for this event would have shocked many people who weren’t expecting much.
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Imagine the joy of clicking on a Kakuna and it suddenly being bright green, so much more exciting! Pokémon GO restricts evolved shiny forms, even though they are available in all of the main series games, save for a few specific Pokémon, such as those with baby forms, or who have had their Mega forms released. Others have been released as part of an event, like Arcanine who was released to celebrate the Season of Legends. However it appears that Arcanine has been turned off again now, like Nidorina and Nidoqueen were previously.
There are some great shinies that could have been part of the event, even just Poliwhirl and Seadra would have been a welcome addition.
Bonuses
There’s a lot to do in the event, between Collection Challenges, Mega Gyarados raid day, and the continuation of the Cosmic Companion special research story, but there are no event bonuses. With evolved forms being the focus, perhaps an additional chance at candy/candy XL per evolved form catch, or a double stardust bonus. Both would be fitting for the event theme, and both would be appreciated by the community.
Stardust is such a valuable resource, and having double stardust with evolved forms would have been an amazing boost. It would have gotten many players grinding more, that might otherwise think the event isn’t so great.
One of the best aspects of the event is that the evolved forms give a guaranteed XL candy, so for anyone hoping to max out a Pokémon that they have a mega form, it’s a great time to grind, but adding a bonus for potential additional XL candy could have been fun too.
Mega Gyarados Raid Day
Switching Mega Gyarados raid day for a brand new Mega would have given us more to look forward to. Mega Gardevoir or Mega Gallade would have worked for the evolution theme, especially with Ralts being a wild spawn. Gyarados and Magikarp have featured a lot in other events, so seeing them featured again can feel a little overkill. Again, newer or returning players may completely disagree, and Mega Gyarados is a very meta Pokémon, it has just been featured a lot.
Star Pokémon
The event is called Evolving Stars, couldn’t it have also featured some slightly different Pokémon, such as Staryu, which can be shiny, and is a literal star? Or for a brand new Pokémon, Minior, the meteor Pokémon! There are a variety of forms of Minior, so even releasing one would have worked for the event.
I really thought Minior might be the new Pokémon featured with this event, it is a meteor, that fits with the theme of stars, and the Cosmic Companion research, and Staryu would have been another shiny Pokémon to hunt for.
Community Day Moves
The general consensus of the Evolving Stars event on social media seems to be ‘meh’ for long time players, but one that is more well received by newer players who appreciate the candy and evolution items. Another possibility for improving the event would have been to give us the community day special moves for the Pokémon who have been part of a previous Community Day. There is a large selection of prior Community Day Pokémon included, 8 in total, and the moves would be a fantastic bonus.
We have to evolve some of the Pokémon as part of the Collection Challenges, and evolving good IV Rhyhorn, Abra, Gastly etc without their Community Day moves seems a little frivolous, as they aren’t as meta relevant without them.
Final Thoughts
We’ve had some wonderful events in 2022, but sadly this one isn’t quite up to the standard we’ve been used to. We’ve become accustomed to more shinies to hunt, and just something a bit ‘more’ than evolved forms for Pokémon that have been around a long time. It wouldn’t have taken much to improve it, and it could have been really cool, especially if we had a surprised shiny drop for the evolved forms. Or are we just spoilt now? And is this the ideal time for a more chill event so we can accumulate resources ready for Litwick Community Day? Let us know how you feel about this event in the comments.
