Pokemon GO players are complaining about the Incense changes. Should Niantic withdraw them?

Pokemon Go

The Pokemon GO community believes that the latest Incense changes were a mistake.


Incense is a well-known and well-liked in-game item that has repeatedly helped many players who couldn’t leave the house but wanted to take advantage of the bonuses of various events, Community Days, and so on. As it is commonly known, Incense attracts nearby Pokemon to the player, so you can easily catch a lot of them without leaving your place.

During many events, Incense is buffed and the creators extend its duration up to 3 hours. In the past, such changes were intended to help people who, due to quarantine, could not leave their home, and did not want to lose the attractions of their favorite game.

With the start of the new season and the introduction of another region to the game – Alola – the developers decided to change the way Incense works, which the game community did not like.

Incense changes in Pokemon GO

The incense modification was announced a few days ago, because information about it appeared on March 1, 2022, i.e. on the day of the start of the event related to the newest region (more information about the event here: The Welcome to Alola event in Pokemon GO has started – new Pokemon, tasks and rewards).

With the beginning of Season of Alola, the stationary Incense bonus will be removed (from now on, one Pokemon will appear every 5 minutes).

In its place, a new bonus will be introduced that extends the duration of Incense from 60 to 90 minutes.

A few days passed, so players had time to test the changes made. Unfortunately, it turned out that for many it turned out to be a complete flop. There were entries on the internet complaining about the removal of the old bonus. Players thought that Niantic just killed their favorite item.

These types of memes are circulating in groups about Pokemon GO.

How much was Incense weakened? To see it fully, just count the number of appearances before and after the change. Previously, within an hour, the player could attract as many as 60 Pokemon. Of course, they didn’t always catch all of them as it was sometimes hard to keep up with. However, even if they caught every second of them, after 60 minutes they would have 30.

After the changes, Incense will attract 18 Pokemon in 90 minutes. As you can see – the changes are huge.

Many fans believe that the incense modification turned out to be a complete flop. Players are angry at Niantic because they feel cheated – the items they collected suddenly turned out to be practically useless.

People from smaller towns and villages who were saving Incense to catch many creatures whenever they had time to do so, for example during Spotlight Hour, especially suffered. After the changes during the thematic hour, they will only be able to collect 12 Pokemon attracted by the item.

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