Pokemon GO has started 2024 with plenty of new events like the newest Community Day, Costume Pokemon and more. For the newest debut, the Dusk Form Lycanroc Evolution is here aside from its two normal evolutionary chains from Rockruff, however, it seems that the addition of the new Pokemon comes in a manner that is much harder for players to obtain than previously assumed.
Lycanroc’s newest evolution comes with a chance-based mechanic where players can currently obtain a rare Rockruff from eggs that would have the option to evolve into Dusk Form Lycanroc. This means not every Rockruff will be able to evolve into Dusk Form Lycanroc, and it confirms that all Rockruffs players obtained before this update can only evolve into either Midday or Midnight form. This has sparked a bit of controversy among the playerbase as Rockruff has been a part of many previous events where the whole reason for players to play Pokemon GO was to get it. The Dusk Form is known to be rarer than the normal two Midday and Midnight options, but it seems as if players wanted a better mechanic to incentivise all previously obtained Rockruffs.
There is a critique on how rare the Dusk Form is as well as only the Rockruffs that come from the highest rarity chance from eggs have the Dusk form evolution, so getting one is really tough and would possibly now be one of the rarest things to have in Pokemon GO, especially for players looking to get a Shiny form or Hundo (Full IV). Players that already have a shiny or Hundo or Shundo (shiny and full IV) Rockruff are obviously from before this update, so they will not be able to evolve into Dusk Form.
This basically means all players will now have to start from complete scratch to get Dusk Form Lycanroc and so it raises the question of whether Niantic or Pokemon is going a greedier route than one where the community reception does play a role. Hatching eggs itself is considered one of the most arduous things to do in Pokemon considering how players can only normally incubate and hatch 1 egg at a time if they do not have any extra incubators from purchases or special Research Rewards in the game. This means players looking to get the Dusk Form Evolution would have to invest a good amount of money to get more incubators just to have a chance to get a Rockruff from the highest rarity chance.
This isn’t the first time a new debut through eggs comes so hard to get either, as many previous Pokemon debuts that hatch from eggs and their specific events have all had a similar case of high investment needed from players to fully benefit out of the game. Hence, for players that are avid players but don’t want to put too much real money into it, they’ll just have to play slow and hope that another event in the future comes with better chances of getting a Rockruff that would be high IV and at least a guaranteed chance that it would become Dusk Form Lycanroc.
It was kind of known already that Dusk Form would be harder to get, considering the manner in which players could get it in the mainline video game titles. The form was only obtainable in Pokemon Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon, that too from a Rockruff that would have the special ability Own Tempo. Only this Rockruff would be able to evolve into Dusk Form, meaning even Pokemon Sun and Moon had only the other two options available. Although nothing too special relatively when comparing stats to the other two evolutionary forms, Dusk Form is certainly considered by many as the best-looking Lycanroc, and many fans even have an attachment to it because of the Pokemon Anime series as Ash’s Rockruff evolved into Dusk Form rather than Midday or Midnight. So it might be more of an aesthetic and just self-satisfaction to have it for players themselves who are now trying to get it in Pokemon GO.
It might be a case that there may come an event in the future with better odds of getting Rockruffs and the special evolution, so only time will tell, and for now, players will just have to make do with what they have.
For more on Pokemon GO, check out the official website for the popular mobile title entering the new year.
