Pokemon Go PvP players abandon “boring” Go Battle League over lengthy grind

Niladri Sarkar
pokemon go pvp great, ultra and master league promo image for go battle league

The Go Battle League (GBL) gives Pokemon Go players a chance to face opponents in battles and improve their Rank, but it seems like the PvP community isn’t too happy with the current GBL system as some have even stopped playing.

One of the most popular features of Pokemon Go is the Go Battle League, where you can build teams with the strongest species in the game and take part in Pokemon battles to prove your battling skills.

But unlike the mainline games that involve lots of strategies for Items, Abilities, a variety of moveset, and breeding to get the best stats, the PvP system in Pokemon Go has long been dubbed “boring” and “monotonous” as it has less room for any real strategy.

That’s not all, as the frequent glitches and “luck” involved in the battles have led to fans giving up on the system despite a new GBL Season that began in the game in September.

Pokemon Go PvP players have “zero interest” in Go Battle League

After Reddit user ‘gfox446’ shared a post highlighting Rank 20 in the Go Battle League and wrote, “Okay, this isn’t fun anymore. This is gonna take 10 years,” several PvP players were quick to join the comments section, where they shared a similar opinion.

It was apparent from the comments that the Pokemon Go playerbase is not pleased with the PvP scenario in the game, as one user put it, “You just summarized all of Pokemon Go with that sentence.”

Another brutally trolled PvP’s lack of competitiveness by mentioning, “PvP is just sitting there tapping your screen and hoping you picked the right team to counter the other team.”

Aside from the strategy issues, some even bashed the randomness involved in getting a good matchup, even making PvP veterans give up on the game.

A player added: “I completely gave up on PvP, takes too long and is too luck-based.”

But it appears that the battles are not the only problem as even the GBL rewards seem to be disappointing as a player commented:

“Last ‘season’ or whatever, I was determined to see what rewards were behind the 5 pages of 100 battle league wins because it HAD to be awesome, right? Something that takes so much consistency, and a moderate amount of skill has to be dope, right? Nah. Nothin.”

pokemon go pvp battle in the go battle league
Players don’t like that PvP battles are too dependent on shields and random battles against hard counters.

In the mainline games, fans can pick any Pokemon they want and even use creative strategies to beat a difficult Mewtwo Tera Raid with something as weak as a Magikarp.

But with no such possibility in Pokemon Go, some are extremely frustrated to the point that they stopped playing the game altogether.

“PvP was the reason I stopped playing Pokemon Go. To rank up you either get the top tier Pokemon and get bored because you won’t rank up if you play what you actually like.”

Issues like these as well as the dreaded GBL lags aren’t new, and the Pokemon Go community has constantly voiced their concerns over the years. Sadly, these problems seem to be in the gameplay even today.

While you try your luck at the Go Battle League, check out the best teams for the Great, Ultra, and Master Leagues in Pokemon Go.

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About The Author

Niladri is a Writer who specializes in Pokemon Go, Scarlet and Violet, and competitive VGC battles. With more than seven years of experience in copywriting and SEO content writing, Niladri has previously written for Pokémon GO Hub and Smogon. He has been covering Pokemon for CharlieIntel since June 2023. Niladri can be contacted at [email protected].