GO Fest 2021 has come and gone. We at the Pokémon GO Hub hope you had the greatest time catching, raiding, hatching, grinding, and most importantly, creating memorable experiences.
Whether you played at home, in a park, or in in the city, we all had a different experience. We would like to put together our thoughts and opinions about the event into an article to see how our staff went and also to see how you, the community went.
I put together a Google form that asked a few questions to determine whether our staff enjoyed GO Fest, what they think could have been improved, if they preferred day 1 or 2, and what their most memorable experience was.
In no particular order, let’s see what some of our staff members thought about GO Fest 2021!
GO Hub Questions
Pokémon GO Username: PlatEspresso
Did you enjoy GO Fest 2021?
“I had a great time! I caught plenty of shinies and rare Pokémon along with completing the special research task. I ran into some local players which I haven’t seen in ages which was an awesome experience. I’m absolutely exhausted now that it is over though.”
What could have been improved?
“In my opinion day 1 was as good as it could be. There was a good amount of hard-to-find Pokémon, lots of stardust, tonnes of new shinies, just overall a great experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the Cave habitat which allowed me to catch Sableye for extra Stardust and XL Candy which I can use for the Great League.
Day 2 could’ve used some changes, like making the bosses (in effect) Tier 4 raids to make it easier on smaller groups and faster for big groups, like what they did for the Regi trio a while back. It was a struggle getting groups together for certain bosses, and the short timers made it pretty chaotic.”
Did you prefer Day 1 or 2?
“Day 1”
What was your most memorable experience?
“During day 2, I joined a raid train where I did raid after raid with my old group! It felt really nostalgic since I haven’t done anything like that in years. It brought back memories of older bosses which was a great experience for me.”
Pokémon GO Username: kittyrambles
Did you enjoy GO Fest 2021?
“Yes! I found it enjoyable.”
What could have been improved?
“For day 2, I think that the shiny rates should still have been increased like they were on day 1. For most people, GO Fest is about the shinies, not raids. Especially with so many people playing from home or in lockdown. I also think that it was ill-thought-out to include the “Walk 1km” and “Hatch an Egg” tasks. Many parts of the world are still in lockdown and people are isolating. These tasks were incredibly difficult to complete from home.”
Did you prefer Day 1 or 2?
“Day 1”
What was your most memorable experience?
“Day 1, I got to meet up with my friend Amoret for a short while and take a walk in a local park. It was boiling hot in the UK, so we were hopping between shady spots with lots of pausing for shiny checks. It was the first time I’ve met up with another player to actually play an outside event since the start of the pandemic, so it was lovely to see her and share that experience.
My most memorable catch was either the 96% shiny hat Pikachu from my first research task of the day or my shiny Deino from the first Deino raid I did of the day.”
Pokémon GO Username: MeteorAsh15
Did you enjoy GO Fest 2021?
“Absolutely! I played GO Fest entirely from the comfort of my own home. Amazing spawns, good music, an exciting Mythical… Niantic really nailed it! It felt like a celebration and justified itself as the premier event of the year.”
What could have been improved?
“Day 2 was relatively underwhelming in terms of the spawns. While this was how it was intended to be, I feel like day 2 could have been a little more exciting.”
Did you prefer Day 1 or Day 2?
“Day 1”
What was your most memorable experience?
“Ah yes! the first Cave habitat round brought me a list of Pokémon that screamed “Rare + Meta”!. Shiny Deino, Snorlax, and a host of Dragon catches made it beyond comprehension. I will cherish this for years to come!”
Pokémon GO Username: Ahilej
Did you enjoy GO Fest 2021?
“Yes, most of it.”
What could have been improved?
“Raid bosses on day 2 should have been easier to catch, similar thing to most of the Pokémon on day 1. Also, there was a lot of Pokémon that many people did not care so much about which were spawning on day 1.”
Did you prefer Day 1 or 2?
“Day 1”
What was your most memorable experience?
“The Cave habitat on day 1 was just great. Lots of good spawns and Pokémon to catch which was just lovely. Raiding for the first time in a long time was fun again, I just wish I had more free time on day 2!”
Pokémon GO Username: audsar2224
Did you enjoy GO Fest 2021?
“Oh yes! this was my second time playing GO Fest and I could not be happier about it. The spawns were amazing, the theme was fantastic and the shiny rate was jaw-dropping. Moreover, at the end of it all, the background music got me emotional. The spirit of Pokémon GO lives through us all and I’m so glad to have been a part of this event.”
What could have been improved?
“The raids on day 2 could have been made more exciting.”
Did you prefer Day 1 or 2?
“Day 1”
What was your most memorable experience?
“The music in the background when GO Fest ended takes the cup.”
Pokémon GO Username: ItsRudolf
Did you enjoy GO Fest 2021?
“Yes! I played it from home both days and still got 16 shinies on day 1 and a 100% IV Coballion on day 2. It was a real decent event for only $5. I think it’s safe to say that it’s been my favorite GO Fest experience so far. I hope that it remains this way for years to come!”
What could have been improved?
“There are many people in my local community that didn’t pay for the ticket and got way fewer rewards. Only one bundle with 3 remote raid passes on day 2 was kind of lame despite the fact that we are still in a pandemic.
I feel that it was centered around people who spent money on the game compared to those who didn’t. I just wish that there could have been more incentive to play GO Fest for those who didn’t purchase a paid ticket.”
Did you prefer Day 1 or 2?
“Day 1”
What was your most memorable experience?
“For the first time in almost a year, I was able to raid with my friends in my local community. Despite the distance between my friend group, with remote raiding, I was able to make sure to join them in raiding together which was an awesome experience.
GO Fest has always been about gathering people together and having fun. For day 2, I really felt this way.”
Pokémon GO Username: FitzCityYT
Did you enjoy GO Fest 2021?
“Absolutely! Overall, well done!”
What could have been improved?
“Raids on day 2 seemed a little too hectic for me. I felt like I couldn’t do all the raids I wanted to. I’m not sure exactly what the fix would be, but perhaps Niantic could look into making it less chaotic for people.”
Did you prefer Day 1 or Day 2?
“Day 1”
What was your most memorable experience?
“Traveling to spend day 1 at the White River Park in Indianapolis was by far the best place we chose to play at. Beautiful scenery, the walk was amazing and the atmosphere of thousands of trainers was just awesome! The photo ops were near and overall was a great place to play at with tonnes of Pokéstops and Gyms!”
Pokémon GO Username: EpicBookworm
Did you enjoy GO Fest 2021?
“I really did. I had a great time. We went into a lockdown 2 days out from the event. but I was still able to make the best of it and still manage to get a lot of cool shinies!”
What could have been improved?
“Day 2 didn’t work well if you were playing from home and didn’t have a planned group of people to raid with. I was sending invites and getting no joy, meanwhile, others were trying to send raid invitations to me and I was missing a lot of them. When it was possible to organize raids through Discord, it often didn’t leave much time to actually do the raid.
It was chaotic all day and there were times when raiding became more frustrating than fun.”
Did you prefer Day 1 or Day 2?
“Day 1”
What was your most memorable experience?
“On day 2, I was supposed to be meeting friends for an on-foot raid train for the first time in 18 months. It wasn’t able to happen, but in the first hour of the day, just as I was feeling really frustrated and depressed with the difficulty of getting a raid party together for anything at all, one of those friends sent a random Virizion invite.
I’d mentioned to her before the lockdown was announced that I didn’t have that shiny, but with the change to playing from home, I thought there was no way I’d find enough people willing to raid it with me – at least not enough to do enough raids to get the shiny. But my friend sent me that one invite, and I got a shiny 93%!”
Pokémon GO Username: JRESeawolf
Did you enjoy GO Fest 2021?
“Yes, I really did!”
What could have been improved?
“I much would have preferred more attention around in-person events rather than just cardboard visor handouts. More photo ops or special raids on site would have been nice.”
Did you prefer Day 1 or Day 2?
“Day 1”
What was your most memorable experience?
“Seeing new sights in Washington DC and helping out kids/fellow players to be able to raid Pokémon which were new to them.”
Finally, my own personal opinion on GO Fest 2021.
Pokémon GO Username: Avrip
Did I enjoy GO Fest 2021?
Absolutely! I managed to catch up with a lot of my friends and share in the joy of catching rare and shiny Pokémon which is always a positive experience for me.
What could have been improved?
Like many of my colleagues, I agree that day 2 felt a bit lackluster. Shiny odds felt greatly decreased. I didn’t end up getting any shiny Legendaries from about 40-50 raids. The only shiny I did get from a raid was a shiny Deino, which I can’t complain about. I feel as if Niantic could have increased the odds on shinies for day 2 which would have made it a more enjoyable day.
Did I prefer Day 1 or Day 2?
Day 1
What was my most memorable experience?
Catching up with people that are passionate about the game and sharing in my communities happiness when any of them experience something good such as getting a rare shiny Pokémon, catching a high IV Legendary is what it’s all about. I also enjoyed chatting with my community and just getting to know my locals better.
All in all, GO Fest was a positive experience for me, despite the rainy weather. Props to Niantic and everyone that made it a weekend to remember.
Community Poll
I posted a poll on Twitter to see what the community thought about GO Fest. 279 trainers voted and here were the final results of the poll.
From the looks of it, we can see that 72% enjoyed it and 27% thought that it could have been better. Overall it seems as if the majority had fun which is a step in the right direction as Niantic intends for each and every GO Fest to be bigger and better than the last.
Parting Words
The evidence is clear that trainers all around the world seemed to enjoy day 1 of GO Fest rather than day 2. We would love to hear from you, trainer. Feel free to comment on your own GO Fest experience in the comment section below.
Did GO Fest reach all your expectations?
Feedback is an important way for Niantic to be able to take notes on what went well and what could be improved for next time.
Until next time, stay safe and happy hunting!
