Yesterday Scopely quietly made a dramatic change in Pokémon GO, and reduced the appearance of Team GO Rocket balloons from four times per day, to only once per day.
Until yesterday Team GO Rocket balloons had been able to appear the first time you opened the game after 12am, 6am, 12pm, and 6pm, with higher appearance rates during Team GO Rocket themed events. It now appears that Team GO Rocket will only appear via balloon once per day, typically when you first log in and your daily spawn also appears.
While there has been no official confirmation of this change on Scopely or Pokémon GO social media, trainers globally have reported the lack of balloons and some have reached out to Scopely via the in-game support to receive the following reply:
This was a very unexpected change, and it is not proving to be a popular decision from Scopely. Trainers are used to their balloons coming every six hours on normal days, and then every two hours during Team GO Rocket events. It raises the question of what will happen with balloons in the upcoming Team GO Rocket Take Over during the Harvest Festival event: Will they appear every two hours, or will six hourly be the new ‘boosted’ appearance rate?
This is a major disappointment for many trainers, especially disabled trainers, and rural trainers. People who play Pokémon GO in less densely populated areas can struggle with landmarks that are suitable to submit in Pokémon GO, meaning less access to Pokéstops, and therefore less access to potential Team GO Rocket battles. For disabled trainers who are less able to physically go out and adventure, Pokémon GO is once more becoming more inaccessible.
This makes Team GO Rocket a much trickier aspect of the game to grind, with trainers having to actively go out and hunt for grunts at Pokéstops now. Previously trainers could make a Rocket Radar within two days relying on balloons alone, but now it will take 6 days with just balloons.
While some may argue that the game is designed to encourage outdoor exploration, for busy lives, rural trainers and disabled trainers, this feels like a big loss to what is a very popular part of the game. Many trainers enjoy the Shadow Pokémon grind, and this feels like a big swing and miss from Scopely.
How do you feel about this change to Team GO Rocket balloons? Let us know on social media! We hope if this remains a permanent change that Team GO Rocket will be more active at Pokéstops so that trainers with access to less Pokéstops won’t feel too left out.
