Yesterday, the legendary water Pokémon Suicune replaced fellow legendary Pokémon Entei as the current 5* raid Pokémon available to battle against at gyms across the UK and the rest of Europe. It is the second of the three ‘legendary beasts’ of the second Pokémon generation to appear as part of the ongoing event, and will remain in Europe until October 31st, at which point it will be replaced with the third and final member of the trio – Raikou.
The transition of Entei into Suicune has coincided with the also-ongoing Equinox celebration, which has been happening worldwide since September 22nd and concludes tomorrow on October 3rd – a happy occasion for many players, as any who manage to capture it after a raid battle before the event concludes will receive twice the normal amount of XP for registering it in their Pokédex.
Originally, the Equinox event was slated to conclude today on October 2nd, but after a worldwide server outage last week on September 26th, Niantic conceded to extend the event by 24 hours following widespread anger and complaints from fans across the globe.
Image: Niantic, Inc. on Twitter
The server outage lasted for several hours, leaving many players using both Google accounts and Pokémon Trainer Club accounts unable to access the game and take advantage of the ongoing events, and prompted familiar complaints to amass on social media accusing Niantic of being useless at hosting the game and unresponsive to players’ complaints.
Whilst it did take Niantic until 2:20am on September 27th in the UK to completely resolve the server issues affecting players – nearly 15 hours after their original acknowledgement on Twitter of the issues being reported – the company have yet again proved themselves to be resilient in the face of harsh criticism, and their extension of the Equinox event in any capacity has been viewed by many as more than enough of an apology.
After a worldwide server outage last week on September 26th, Niantic conceded to extend the event by 24 hours after widespread anger and complaints from fans across the globe.
Finally, exclusive invites to EX raids against the powerful legendary Pokémon Mewtwo continue to be received by players across the globe, so avid players should continue to raid regularly and pray to see one land on their login screens. Only yesterday did players in Blyth at the Blyth Maritime and Mining Museum attempt to take down the formidable foe between 12pm and 1pm, with only a small number of players succeeding in its capture despite its relatively high base capture rate of 6%.
Further EX Raids expected to land in central Newcastle and the rest of the North East very soon.
