Pokémon Go players have pointed out the biggest issue with the recently-released Routes feature, as complaints multiply around it.
In a Reddit thread from July 31, a player expressed frustration over Zygarde cells’ system in combination with Route completion and complained about a “horrible” user experience.
They explained players identified a pattern that could land them more Zygarde cells when completing Routes, which encouraged them to slow down when getting close to a Route finish to trigger the appearance of a cell and collect it.
But using this method can be dangerous: “Today I had an instance where the green sparkle literally appeared for half a second, and then the route was completed and it disappeared,” the thread’s author wrote.
“This is honestly such a horrible user experience that I wonder how this feature was tested if at all,” they added. “Niantic, please either make it so that the end-of-route rewards give you the Zygarde cell, OR make it so that the cell does not despawn as soon as the route ends.”
The thread rapidly obtained many upvotes as users massively agreed with the author’s complaint. In comments, users shared similar experiences they had with Route finishes.
They said being encouraged to slow down and walk around the end of the Route before finishing it was tiresome, and they sometimes missed the Zygarde cell despite using this method.
Others complained about how the whole cell spawn feature was designed, saying they often missed collecting cells due to them disappearing too quickly and forced them to pay attention to their phone’s screen at all times when walking through Routes —which can be over six-kilometers long.
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As a result, players who are willing to put time and effort into getting Zygarde to full form through collecting cells have to focus primarily on that whenever they walk through Routes, rather than completing other content in the meantime.
“ight now the game is requiring us to stare at the screen the entire route or else we risk not picking up the Cell in time… most of the Routes in my city are not inside Park so it’s very dangerous to focus only on the screen as we have to avoid other pedestrians and cross the road,” complained another user in the comments.
Since their introduction to the game on July 21, Routes have been receiving criticism from players for lacking incentive rewards and shaky design. The developer admitted it was one of the hardest features it created due to being user-originated and linked to geography. It’s still recent, though, so improvements might be coming soon to Pokémon Go.
