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This past week, Niantic delivered the Steel-type-focused Test Your Mettle event in Pokémon GO. Let’s see if this event offered a worthy week of gameplay.
What worked in this Pokémon GO event
- Togedemaru drop: We got another Alolan release here. It seems as if events that don’t have new Shiny Pokémon are getting a new species release instead. This works better sometimes and worse other times, because new Shinies tend to be more involved in hunts than new species. However, Togedemaru was a fun feature, and the rest of the wild spawns gave us plenty to hunt.
- Mega Aggron arrives: With the almost back-t0-back releases of Mega Scizor, Mega Alakazam, and Mega Aggron, we can now see the big picture. Niantic was saving this big wave of Megas (with Mega Banette very likely for Halloween 2022) for fall. Mega Aggron also gave us some solid Steel-type Candy XL hunting opportunities.
- Great wild spawns: With an abundance of Ferroseed and Beldum, this event gave us some of our best chances ever at certain rares Shinies and also grinding chances for Candy.
What didn’t work in this Pokémon GO event
- Weak raid rotation: It would’ve been great to have a more interesting Tier One and Three to enrich the event from all corners, but the weakness of the lower tiers made this essentially a wild spawn grind.
- Timed Research: I always like seeing research pop up, but I strongly feel as if Niantic has forgotten that the research questlines used to feel as if they had a climax. The final encounter used to be the best. To have an Aron as the final encounter here just shows a lack of awareness of how cool previous questlines used to be. At least make it an Aggron!
Overall
Test Your Mettle was a perfectly serviceable Pokémon GO event that had me frequently checking in on spawns. While it did not create a major drive to get out there and hunt, it did offer some solid wild Pokémon.