GrowlitheGirl
The beginning of April 2021 saw the return of the egg-citing (sorry) annual Spring into Spring event in Pokémon GO. The event was a true celebration of new life with the return of baby Pokémon, bunnies, flower-crowns, and Exeggcute spawning by the baker’s dozen.
Unfortunately, the event was not without controversy. Flower-crown Happiny was one of the featured Pokémon and was only available in 2km eggs. However, it had a hatch rate of less than 2%. This reignited the debate on Pokémon GO’s loot-crate style eggs and the hidden hatch rates. Let’s go down the rabbit hole and break it all down…
CONCEPT
Eggs, flowers, bunnies, and babies – what’s not to like? The Spring into Spring event had many trainers hopping with egg-citement (oh dear), especially with 1-hour lucky eggs. The best events are those that have a theme and manage to live up to it. With egg-related bonuses, bunny-like spawns, and the debut of Mega Lopunny, the event really did have synergy and was overall really enjoyable.
The problem with egg-focused events is that it puts the spotlight back onto the issue of the hidden hatch rates in Pokémon GO. The Deino fiasco from a few months ago left a bad taste in all our mouths that still lingers today. The hatch rates of flower-crown Happiny were also bitterly disappointing and left many trainers eggs-tremely unhappy.
SPAWNS
After tripping over Bunnelby for the last month, many of us were terrified that the spawn rates would be reduced once the shiny was released. Fortunately, Bunnelby, Buneary, and Exeggcute were all common spawns. Flower-crown Chansey was much less common, but still available in the wild. Marill and Eevee were also spawning in boosted numbers which was a great opportunity for trainers to build an Azumarill and Umbreon for PvP. Overall, the spawns were decent and offered a nice variety for different types of trainers. Most of the featured Pokémon were also ridiculously cute, so bonus points for that.
BONUSES
The bonuses for the event were pretty egg-cellent. Trainers could enjoy half-hatch distance, double-hatch candy, and 1-hour lucky eggs. The bonuses really boosted the game-play experience and fit the Easter-themed event perfectly.
The Collection Challenge in the Today View was also fairly (eggs over) easy and awarded 50 Mega Lopunny Energy. Mega Lopunny requires an initial 200 Mega Energy, but it was still a nice start, especially for free-to-play (FTP) trainers.
RESEARCH
The research tasks were good for grinding event Pokémon (except the coveted flower-crown Happiny). Both flower-crown Pikachu and flower-crown Eevee were available from ‘Catch 5 Exeggcute’, an easy little egg hunt for most players.
There were 2 different tasks that awarded flower-crown Chansey. The ‘Use an incense’ task was quick and easy but could soon pose a problem for FTP trainers. The ‘Catch 25 Exeggcute’ was a bit more time-consuming but easy to complete in downtown areas. However, for rural players, catching 25 Exeggcute was more of a trial than a task. Still, with boosted shiny rates, grinding for flower-crown Chansey was worth the effort for many trainers.
Unfortunately, the research task for Rufflet was the infamous ‘Win 2 raids’. This task alienates FTP trainers and was a bit of a bag-filler, preventing players from picking up easier tasks to complete. The shiny rate for Rufflet was full odds, so grinding this task was a serious money pit.
RAIDS
The different raid tiers offered a nice variety of options for different trainers. Flower-crown Chansey, Pikachu, and Eevee were all available in raids. Togetic and Timburr were great for grinding good raid attackers, and PvP pros were excited to see Azuramill in 3* raids, providing a guaranteed candy XL.
The debut of Mega Lopunny also had many trainers hopping with joy. As a normal- and fighting-type, activating a Mega Lopunny is great for grinding extra candies for Pokémon of the same type.
EGGS
Oh, boy. With cute Pokémon and great bonuses, this event should have been an easy win for Niantic, but controversy abounds yet again. The hatch rates for flower-crown Happiny were horrendous, especially considering its value was purely aesthetic (its evolution was available in the wild!). Some trainers reported hatching over 100 eggs without getting a Happiny. That’s criminally bad.
The egg pool was littered with non-event Pokémon that made hatching the featured mons even harder. The truth of this was inescapable once the egg transparency feature rolled out globally to all trainers. Players could then see how rare a Happiny was, but what they could not determine was why. Flower-crown Happiny is adorable but pretty useless. Why did it have to have a hatch rate equivalent to Deino and Axew? Niantic’s decision to make flower-crown Happiny so rare was an egg-traordinarily bad one.
OVERALL
In many ways, the Spring into Spring event was a big success. The bonuses were great, the spawns were decent, and the whole event lived up to its festive name. The only downside was the Happiny hatch rate which unfortunately left egg on all our faces. Overall, the event scores a good 7/10.
But it’s time for me to stop rabbiting on – what did you think about this year’s Spring event? Did it have you bunny-hopping with joy or mad as a March hare? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, on our Discord server, or on Twitter!
