This one went a whole lot quicker than the last one. Things were genuinely dicey with Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago, when Team Instinct seemed to be trailing its intended goals by a surprising margin going into the last day of the global research challenge. This time, however, not so much. Things went as smoothly as they ever had for the global research challenge attached to Pokémon GO Fest in Dortmund, and all three teams plus the GO Fest attendees were able to finish the required challenges with plenty of time to spare. Here’s the final progress meter to gaze at, though it just says “completed” a bunch of times:
Last challenge had a bunch of candy-themed rewards, while this one revolves around XP. Here’s what we’ve unlocked:
- GO Fest Dortmund Attendees: 1,000,000 research tasks to unlock 3x Catch XP
- Team Instinct: 15,000,000 research tasks to unlock 1-hour Lucky Eggs
- Team Valor: 15,000,000 research tasks to unlock 3x Hatch XP
- Team Mystic: 15,000,000 research tasks to unlock 2X Raid XP
And, of course, the grand prize for completing all four challenges: a three-hour long Entei Raid Day on Sunday, July 14, complete with the opportunity to encounter a shiny Entei. Entei isn’t nearly so valuable as last challenge’s Raikou, but hey: a shiny legendary. That Entei raid day will also stack with the double raid XP, meaning that popping a double-length lucky egg will earn you a whopping 40,000 XP per raid, which could burn you through a couple of levels with no problem.
The final set of challenges will come along with the Pikachu Outbreak in Yokohama, Japan, and it will be Stardust-themed to round this thing out. And those are the three major events of the summer, but I get the feeling that it’s not all that Niantic has planned. Team Rocket has now made appearances at GO Fest in both Chicago and Dortmund, and we’ve seen hints of new questlines lurking in the game files. It seems like Niantic is preparing to release another major update to the game, and by the looks of it, it could be the biggest thing to hit the game since trainer battles. Nothing is certain yet, but it seems like we’ll be hearing more soon.
