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Niantic recently announced the Mythic Blade event for Pokemon GO that will begin later next week and will mark the second event under the new season Mythical Wishes. At the upcoming event, a ticketed Special Research story will provide players access to Keldeo, the Colt Pokemon, which is making its debut in-game, and players are far from happy.
Mythic Blade is slated to start on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, at 10:00 am local time and run until Sunday, December 11, 2022, at 8:00 pm local time. Apart from the Something Extraordinary Special Research story and Keldeo's debut, it will also mark the first appearance of Crabrawler in Pokemon GO.
As expected, the community is unhappy with locking a Mythical Pokemon debut behind a paywall.
Why Pokemon GO players are unhappy with upcoming Mythical Blade event
The blurb for the Special Research story is as follows:
"Spark has taken a blurry picture by the waterfront—but of what? Could it be a Pokémon we haven’t seen before? You can work with Professor Willow to find the answer!"
The official announcement mentions that players can purchase the Special Research story Something Extraordinary ticket for $7.99 or the equivalent price in the player's local currency. The complete quest will allow them to encounter Keldeo in its Ordinary Form.
Ticket-holders can claim Special Research by opening the game between December 10 - 11 at 10:00 am - 8:00 pm local time. The Mythic Blade Special Research story also has other rewards, which are as follows:
- Keldeo T-Shirt avatar item
- 14 Rare Candies
- 12 Silver Pinap Berries
- 2 Incubators
- 2 Super Incubators
- 2 Incense
- Encounters with various Fighting-type and Water-type Pokemon
The fact that Niantic chose to put an encounter with Keldeo behind a ticketed event upon the Mythical Pokemon's debut has left the Pokemon GO community disgruntled and unhappy, with many commenting that Niantic is being "desperate for money."
Others noted that Niantic's propensity for adding microtransactions had "sucked all the fun out of catching cyber bugs" and resulted in many players leaving the AR title altogether. A few comments also harked back to Spiritomb being paywalled behind a similar ticket for Halloween this year.
Players also complained about the GO Tour: Hoenn - Las Vegas ticket prices and add-ons. Many were saddened to see the direction one of their favorite games was taking and hoped that the developers would reconsider making similar choices. It remains to be seen how Niantic will address these grievances, if at all.
Pokemon GO is well stacked with exciting events for December to celebrate the festive season. The schedule for the next 30 days of the AR title is as follows:
- Heading to Hoenn Mega Raid Day
- Mythic Blade
- Elite Raids
- Something Extraordinary: Keldeo Special Research
- December Community Day
- Winter Holiday Part 1
- Winter Holiday Part 2
- Winter Wonderland
- Hisuian Avalugg Raid Day
Pokemon GO players are set for a gala and hoping there aren't further debacles or hiccups.
