From the different colours of Flabébé, to Sigilyph being available only in Egypt, to Stonjourner in the UK, etc., region-locked Pokémon have always been a charming thing to Pokémon GO that makes the game really feels global. Catching a regional Pokémon means more than just the simple act of throwing a Pokéball. It means you are preparing a unique gift for another trainer perhaps thousands of miles away from where you are, and ultimately it brings trainers closer to each other and makes trading in Pokémon GO all the more worth it if you seek to fill up your Pokédex.
And then, from wild catches, region-locked Pokémon appear in raids, most famously in the form of the Ultra Beasts and the Lake Trio. Particularly on the latter, we have seen them appearing in raids time and again, with Uxie appearing in Asia-Pacific, Mesprit in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India, and Azelf in the Americas and Greenland. As it will obviously be costly to tour around the world in the same week just to catch all 3 in raids, and that waiting for a trainer to trade one with you might take forever, the existence of the region-locked raids elevates the value of a particular item/feature in Pokémon GO: the Remote Raid Pass. It allows trainer to find their way into a lobby hosted at the other side of the globe, battling against the region-locked legendaries that they cannot find in their own region. It is not cheap, sure, but at least it is manageable, and trainers can always back off from the lobby if there are too few people so that they don’t waste their passes.
With Dynamax Battles, however, it is bound to be a much more painful experience.
Tomorrow region-locked Pokémon hit Max Battles for the first time, with the Dynamax Lake Trio making their debut. For most of us who want to catch ’em all, it is natural to think of using a few Remote Raid passes to get at least a copy of each of the two other Lake Trio legendaries that do not appear in our own region.
The difference? While a raid lobby can host up to 20 trainers, a Dynamax Battle is only for 4 trainers. Historically a five-star Dynamax battle is hard enough that you need all 4 trainers to know what they’re doing. If a trainer leaves after a battle starts due to an error or some other reason, or if you spot your teammates fielding Wooloo or Skwovet, almost instantly you realize the battle has become significantly more difficult to win. And worse, if you fail the remote Max battle, you will be completely at the mercy of the host to re-invite you into the same lobby.
Suddenly, every trainer becomes a lot more aware and, might I say, judgmental of their 3 other teammates. A level 60 in the lobby? Not ideal to some. One who doesn’t look well-dressed? Not ideal to the others… Who knows what silly standards one can think of when they remote a five-star Dynamax lobby, but we all know that because of these standards, someone in the lobby may drop out in the last few seconds. And if you are not fast enough, you may end up being the only one left in the lobby.
In fact, we have seen this play out before in the form of Super Mega Raids. You can still fail a battle with 10+ trainers in the lobby, if one trainer simply forgets to use the Mega Charged Attack to break the shield, everyone is left stuck at 1 shield left. That makes remotely joining a Super Mega Raid, or a five-star Dynamax battle, a unnecessarily frustrating gamble.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking to scrap the region-lock feature at all, because that is not the root cause of the problem. I just personally hope that the experience in joining a raid, or a difficult Max battle remotely does not have to be this stressful of a guessing game. Maybe, it can be improved if the Remote Raid Pass is only spent after the battle is won. Or maybe, it can be improved if there’s a way for the trainers in the lobby to somehow communicate with each other… There will be a lot of hopeful maybe’s, but until then, on October 24, one will still enter a Remote lobby for Uxie, Azelf or Mesprit with a rather doubtful mindset, and their finger ready to tap to leave the lobby at the slightest movement from the other 3 teammates. This might just have to be a Pokémon you hope for a remote trade with in the future!
If you have reliable trainers around the globe, you can now utilise private lobbies in Dynamax Battles. This could make a major difference, as it allows you to know your squad is prepared and that random trainers can’t hop in.
Either way, this is still potentially a painful experience, if you want to catch ’em all.
