Pokemon Go players beg devs to change “absurd” friend mechanic

Lucas Simons
Pokemon Go friend system

Pokemon Go trainers are tired of the current friendship system and are asking Niantic for a change in how this feature delivers rewards.

Pokemon Go players are diving into the current season World of Wonders, which includes the debut of Charcadet and its evolutions. However, the friend system is currently bugging players, preventing them from enjoying the fun.

This feature allows Pokemon Go trainers to send gifts and participate in various activities to raise their Friendship Level, which yields various rewards as long as you remain in that person’s friend list. However, players revealed that there’s a problem with those who have reached the higher tiers in friendship levels.

Shared by user ‘manofmystery951118,’ a Reddit post showed the community how hard is to reach maximum friendship with your Pokemon Go contacts. The OP revealed that some users only reach the “Great Friends” status, and then go ahead and delete their friends from the list.

Many agreed with this player, and reported that the same had happened to them with other users who they called “Friend spammers.” According to Pokemon Go trainers, these players tend to farm the lower tiers of friendship levels since it appears to be faster for veteran players to get bundles of 10000 XP each per added friend reaching the “Great” status.

One of the trainers even recognized the spammer from the OP’s post: “This SAME PERSON did the same to me. Had to do a double-take when I saw the name. If you’re seeing this CHXIRBXY, I hope you know how much distaste you bring to others you are ‘friends’ with.”

Trainers gathered in the post, and agreed that it’s time for Niantic to change the system: “I’m shocked at how many posts like this I keep seeing I just genuinely can’t imagine being such a d*****bag to do this,” an angry player stated.

Cases like this have been reported by many players, and they believe the devs should change how the game distributes rewards, to prevent this behavior. One of them expressed: “I wish Niantic changed how this system works. Perhaps something similar to the daily bonuses will be better than this.”

If you want to stay up to date on the current Pokemon Go events, here’s what you need to know about the upcoming Spotlight Hour events. And here you have the current month’s Raid Schedule.

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About The Author

Lucas is a Games Writer for CharlieIntel, specializing in covering Pokemon, including Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, Pokemon Go, and Pokemon TCG. A former Game Reviewer and PR Liaison for HD Tecnologia (ARG), Lucas is also an Audiovisual Media Producer, Game Designer, Narrative Designer, and author, having published several books including Press Start, a guide to video game writing and world building. You can contact him at [email protected].