ItsAXN, the current reigning Pokémon GO champion of the world, shared a video on YouTube titled “Niantic, Please Fix PvP”, aimed to raise awareness on a large number of bugs that are present in Trainer Battles, making PvP unfair, unpredictable, and dependent on the device you are using.
AXN shared a number of issues that can happen in PvP right, almost none of which were acknowledged by Niantic, while prevalent and frequent to encounter. Here is a short list of the issues AXN shared.
PvP Issues
Android Frame Drops
Android devices have a large chance to drop a significant number of frames, resulting in missed charge move bubbles, turns when tapping, sudden move freezes, and other user experience damaging scenarios. It is not getting any better according to AXN, and it forces almost all professional players to use an Apple iPhone.
One turn lag
One turn lag happens when you bring in a new Pokémon after your Pokémon faints, and it makes it impossible to shield against an incoming move, it breaks the CMP (Charge Move Priority) calculation, you are unable to sneak in a move. AXN warns that a lot of games at the upcoming Pokémon Worlds 2024 Championship will be disputed because of this.
Debuff text broken
Debuff text has been broken for several months now, sometimes not showing that a debuff occurred at all, making it incredibly hard to run moves that result in debuffs. Trainers are forced to pay a close eye on the animation that happens, which makes it unreliable, especially combined with frame drops.
Worlds is around the corner, and none of the issues have been acknowledged
AXN shared that his biggest gripe is that none of these issues have been acknowledged by the company, citing the company’s Known Issues page as a joke, as it shows incorrect statuses of issues, mostly old and irrelevant issues, etc.
These problems have been around for months according to AXN, and it’s quite strange that none of them have been resolved at the slightest.
With Worlds 2024 being around the corner, AXN warns that we need fixes for these issues, as there will be a lot of dispute this August, making Pokémon GO look like an amateurish game compared with Pokémon TCG and VGC.
AXN also shared that this game has so much potential in PvP, but that we need strong action and fixes, and urges Niantic to take Pokémon GO seriously. The game is just too broken right now according to AXN, and it is very hard to get any traction with a broken game.
AXN shared that he knows a lot of creators and high profile PvP players who stopped playing due to bugs, and urged Niantic to take the required steps needed to fix Pokémon GO’s PvP system ahead of this year’s Worlds.
AXN also expressed his gratitude for being able to play the game and travel to amazing locations in order to compete, but noted that the current situation is not sustainable for the game.
