Pokemon GO announces weekend five-star raids to make up for Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf technical issues

Pokemon GO
Pokemon GO's new raid weekend was announced to make up for a shiny appearance bug (Image via Niantic)

Controversy and Pokemon GO have met paths more than a few times in recent months. However, it appears that Niantic is eager to help the trainer base after its latest misstep. The mobile title will host an event where trainers can raid the Lake Guardian Trio of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf after an initial mistake.

After issues concerning the Lake Guardians' low shiny rates in Pokemon GO after raids, Niantic has announced that they will be returning players' Remote Raid Passes spent during the time the issues were present. To make it up to fans during the Season of Hidden Gems, a new raid event for this weekend was also confirmed.

Although Pokemon GO players will likely take up Niantic on the offer presented, not every fan was happy with the fix.

Check out the current Pokemon GO raid bosses that you can encounter in-game


Pokemon GO's Lake Guardian Raid event leaves trainers split

On Sunday, June 11, 2023, from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm local time, Pokemon GO players will be able to raid and catch Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit in their respective regional locations. The creatures' chances of appearing as shiny variants should now be the standard 1/10 compared to the 1/20 or lower that was reported by players from June 1 to June 5.

Though some Pokemon GO players will head out on Sunday to potentially catch these three Legendary Pocket Monsters, not every fan was pleased with the fix. Some remarked that the announcement didn't give much advance notice, leaving them scrambling to make accommodations.

The original controversy surrounding Pokemon GO's changes to remote raiding also re-emerged. Many players considered the fix provided by Niantic as the bare minimum that could be provided, even if they got a free extra Remote Raid Pass for the trouble. They called for reduced Remote Raid Pass prices and an increase in the number of raids that could be participated in per day.

Currently, the Lake Guardians raid event taking place on Sunday will allow fans to raid up to 15 times per day remotely. However, many fans demanded that this cap apply to ordinary gameplay instead of just events.

Meanwhile, some fans currently afflicted by the vast plumes of smoke from wildfires in Canada asked for their remote raid restrictions to be lifted. Since the air quality has vastly decreased and is causing health problems in Canada and the northeastern United States, trainers called for redress.

It appears that even though some fans are happy to receive their reimbursed raid passes with an extra one for good measure, other trainers don't think Niantic is doing enough to make amends. The Lake Guardians' shinies in raids may be fixed, but plenty of players are still upset over the company's recent remote raid changes.

Unfortunately for these fans, Niantic has remained steadfast in its stance toward the remote raiding changes. The developer has stated that it aims to keep most raiding gameplay in person. Recent interviews confirmed that the company believes the changes were necessary for the game's long-term health.