Hey, everybody. Right away, I want to say that Max Battles as a whole look incredibly cool. The team at Niantic did an amazing job with the models, the animations, and the rewards have improved. Just a tidbit: Both Zacian & Zamazenta's "transformation scene" seem really off. It's like something is missing there. And adding in a level of strategy was just genius because raids, as they are, put me to sleep. So, all of this, yet I'm actually having an issue categorizing what Max Battles mean to Go still. Is it all just a filler or a thriller? The one thing that I do believe is that you do not need to go HAM because Max Battles do not have anything to do with Pokémon Go. As said here. But it is something that you can do if you have the time, help, and resources to enjoy it, in my opinion.
Almost the same can be said about PVP because most players don't see the point in it, flat out don't care for PVP or just don't enjoy the toxic blind 3 format. Although, the difference here is that you can use any Pokémon caught in the game and you don't need to assemble a group of people. You wanna go a few rounds in a GL cup with your level 28 account with Pokémon that you just caught at home or on your way to the store? Win or lose, you can do it! Do you want to build a team of 3 Pokémon for Duraludon next week? Well, you'd better coordinate with a few local friends, save up your Pokécoins or spend money for a remote raid pass.
Max Battles also don't give influencers much needed content to share with their consumers. Even more so now since the devs have slowed things down this season, which is a good thing for people who drained their wallets during the Northern Hemisphere summer, but if you're someone who makes visual Go related content for whatever the case, it's just not interesting enough to share Max Monday battles or create a counters list for… Abra.
Again, I do like the feature, but it seems that my expectations of what they were going to bring to the game were short-lived. In the beginning, I remember going from group to group and seeing everyone just buzzing about this stuff. Shiny hunters were actually asking questions and building Pokémon like Dubwool and Greedent as damage sponges for the first time. Non-PVP influencers were using terms like tanks and constantly having to use TMs to reroll moves. Therebwas even PVP infliencers making videos on a PVE related feature. This sort of stuff was unheard of in these circles, and I have to admit that it was very refreshing to see.
So, are max battles just filler or a thriller? That's up to the user, but I'm leaning more towards it just being a filler for now on account that I just don't feel it's meant for me, and that's OK. Because not everything is for everybody. I just hope that the devs do more with it under Scopely. There's sooo much potential here, and I'm just concerned that it'll just get slept on like raids have been. I'll close out by saying this: PVE, in general, could use more love. The smallest update can make a world of difference if given a try. Cheers.
by A4t1musD4ag0n