Got to get that Lapras while the getting is good. Pokémon GO's Water Festival ends tomorrow, marking the end of a weeklong glut of Squirtle, Lapras, Magikarp, Totodile and other water Pokémon. Typically, these Pokémon are found more commonly in watery areas, which is less than ideal than the desert dwellers in the Pokémonning community. The Water Festival not only increased spawn rates for people regardless of their locale, it also made some rare Pokémon -- Lapras in particular -- easier to snag. As per the initial announcement, the event comes to an end tomorrow, March 29th, at 1 PM PDT.
The event also contained another surprise tucked away amongst the fishes. The Water Festival also introduced shiny Pokémon into the game for the first time, putting a premium on golden Magikarp and their evolution, the coveted red Gyrados. It's an addition that we've seen coming for a while now, but it's still nice to see in the game. Shiny Pokémon are rare variants of normal Pokémon with different colors but similar stats, making them ideal for a game that revolves around collecting Pokémon but doesn't quite have a handle on fighting with them yet.
The Water Festival was a bit unexpected, being the first Pokémon GO event not tied to a real-world holiday, but it's been more than welcome by fans. It didn't have any sort of increased candy or stardust rewards to entice people into turning on their phones, but the promise of a Lapras or a Gyrados seemed to be enough to get people playing. That, combined with the introduction of a special Magikarp hat, seems to have propelled the app back up the charts after a decline following the post-Gen 2 high.
Right now, events are the main way that Pokémon GO has of building interest in the game. As we approach the one year anniversary, we hope that the team can also integrate some of those gameplay features we all won't shut up about. It's still an interesting game, but it would much better with an actual combat system.
