The Event That Isn’t an Event: Let’s Talk Mystic Heroes

In the last week we’ve had a brand new event, the Mystic Hero event. Tasked with helping Blanche research evolution, we had timed research, field research and a new special research to complete along with some event bonuses… and that’s it?!

This is the event that hasn’t really felt like an event, because looking at your map, and how you spend most of your time this event, it feels very much like there in fact, is not an event. An event with no special spawns is certainly different, but it has made it feel rather lacklustre. With everything going on currently with the feelings about Pokémon GO in general being quite tense, it seems an odd choice to make to have a sort of non-event event. Is this a conscious choice to downplay issues by avoiding event themed raids, or a slight acknowledgement that many trainers are boycotting currently, or was this unusual event always the plan?

There could easily have been some event themed spawns that fitted either the Team Mystic theme, or were more Blanche specific. The Team Mystic colour is blue, so any blue Pokémon could have worked, or the spawns could have been inspired by Pokémon Blanche has used in their battle teams. With past teams comprised of Sneasel, Sealeo, Snowy Castform, Glaceon, Empoleon, Mamoswine, Suicune, Metagross and Articuno, and current teams consisting of Magikarp, Feebas, Squirtle, Alolan Ninetales, Glalie, Lapras, Gliscor and Articuno, the only real mention we got of any of Blanche’s partner Pokémon was the costumed Lapras.

It is unusual in GO for an event to occur with any featured Pokémon, whether it be spawns, eggs, or even raids. Timed research and special research are typically dropped with dedicated events that include spawns, so it does feel a little odd to get new research but for the gameplay to be the ‘normal’ spawns you get in your own biome. A really easy way to make the event more interesting could have been to remove the usual biome rules, and instead let all the current season spawns spawn anywhere. It would have at least mixed it up a bit! With no spawns, motivation is down, however, there is one shining light in this event.

The bonuses! We got a brand new bonus for this event, two guaranteed Candy XL for evolving a Pokémon. This is a really fantastic bonus, and ideal for anyone trying to grind out those Candy XL. I tend to be somewhat of a hoarder with Pokémon, so I’ve been hunting through my storage to try to figure out what I haven’t evolved yet, or what I’ve been saving for mass trading with pals that just hasn’t quite happened, and evolving what I can. I’ve even been evolving things like Yungoos before I send them to the Professor! While it doesn’t help with the ever difficult Legendary Pokémon Candy XL grind, it can certainly help with a lot of Pokémon that you have in your local area or that you can find in quests, so long as they currently evolve in GO.

This is such a fun bonus, and I hope we see it utilised in further events, especially ones with rarer spawns. While I’ve had quite a hoard of Pokémon I could evolve, with the spawns just being biome spawns, I’m mostly getting more Candy XL for Pokémon I already see quite a lot.

While the event doesn’t really feel like an event, it does also raise a further question… are we really going to get two more incredibly similar events like this during the Season of Rising Heroes with Candela and Spark? If we do, while I expect similar research, I hope they amp up the events a bit more with spawns so it feels more like an actual event. It can be nice to have times without special spawns, but is it really an event if the game is the same as it was before the event bar a bonus or two? One of the promo images for the Season of Rising Heroes shows Candela with a silhouette of Ponyta, Blanche with Lapras, and Spark with Elekid, it is a fair guess to say that if we do indeed get Valor and Instinct themed events, that the Pokémon shown here will be the exclusive costume Pokémon in the special research.

If this season is going to bring us two more non-event feeling events, I hope they at least bring us more bonuses like the evolving for Candy XL bonus. The game feels rather muted right now, and without anything new bar the research, many trainers are feeling even less inspired to play.

What have you thought of this ‘event’? Let us know in the comments!