The latest update to Pikmin Bloom, which promises “updated mushroom gameplay” and gifts for friends, looks like it’s out of ideas to keep players engaged.
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New update before winter break
It has been known for years that AR games are rather unpopular in the cold months. For this reason, Niantic often holds back updates to publish them in the winter to motivate players to go out anyway. So yesterday the first major update was announced by Niantic. But what is really in this update? We took a look at it in detail.
Strength is the key to high scores
At least that’s the headline of this mushroom remake. It is also announced that the mushrooms now get a health increase. And this is so massive that a fight alone against a mushroom from now on is wasted time and unnecessary. If my wife and I had defeated almost every mushroom with 2-4 stars, this is impossible from now on. Another reason to play Pikmin is also gone.
The key to boosting your score when taking down the upgraded mushrooms is the overall strength of your team, rather than the amount of time it takes to destroy them. Overall strength is the sum of the Strength values of all the Pikmin taking on the mushroom, including those sent by other users. Therefore, it is wise to send your strongest Pikmin and also work together with others in order to achieve the highest score possible.
In summary, this means: If you don’t have 5 players fighting the same mushroom at the same time, it is pointless to fight mushrooms, because only the sum of the fighting strength of all participants decides which rewards each gets. For a game that has hardly any players or community compared to other AR games, this could mean the certain death of the game, especially on land.
New mushrooms
In addition to the regular mushrooms, three rare and never-before-seen mushroom types will also be making an appearance, including blazing Fire Mushrooms and Crystal Mushrooms covered in brilliant crystals. Taking on these new mushrooms will require selecting a Pikmin that is adept at dealing with the mushroom type. For example, Red Pikmin are good with fire, so they’ll have no problem facing Fire Mushrooms.
The idea of these new mushrooms, unfortunately, seems very unimaginative and desperate. But it gets worse.
Previously, the upper limit for your friendship level with a Pikmin was set at 4 hearts, but it has now been increased to 8 hearts. Although it will take more time to raise your level beyond 4, doing so will also boost your Pikmin’s strength, so it’s sure to come in handy when taking on mushrooms.
You can increase a Pikmin’s friendship level by giving it nectar, going on walks together, or by sending it on Expeditions. If you want to quickly boost its friendship level, try giving it some special nectar as well.
Enjoy interaction with other players
You can now see the Pikmin of other users that are working alongside you to destroy the mushroom, and you can also send some simple reactions to them as well. After the mushroom is destroyed, you’ll be given a title that is based on the reactions you received. So be sure to interact with your fellow users in order to further enhance your mushroom experience!
A feature which we consider completely superfluous.
Other improved mushroom gameplay features
Additional information regarding tomorrow’s changes to mushrooms can be found below.
• You can now check the available rewards before you send your Pikmin to the mushroom.
• Pikmin that are ideally suited to a mushroom will receive a boost in strength.
• You can now give nectar to Pikmin being sent to a mushroom. Giving nectar to the Pikmin and causing a flower to bloom on its head will boost its strength.
Let’s summarize these improvements:
The battle of the eternal mushrooms
6 days… a considerable time for a fight against a mushroom. Although the combat strength here is not particularly high at 630, the duration of the fight still makes you think. Even with 5 people, the fight here must take several hours.
Also my fight, with 40 Pikmin and a combat strength of 960 would have taken over 9 hours on a small mushroom alone. With 2t we were done with the fight after about 4 hours. Compared to the fights before the update (10 – 15 minutes, depending on size) these times seem enormously ridiculous.
New ticket for the store
In addition to the already mentioned innovations, there are of course also new items for which you can spend money. For example, in addition to the tickets for the weekly challenges, there are now also some to reset the limit for mushroom battles.
To celebrate this great update we are the beta testers
In celebration of this mushroom update, a special Mushroom Task event will take place from 12:00 a.m. on December 21st to 11:59 p.m. on December 31st. You will receive one “Mushroom Recharge Ticket” if you can destroy ten mushrooms during the event period. This is a great chance to test yourself against the new mushrooms.
This is very easy to understand. We should be motivated to test the new fights on the mushrooms. As a reward for this, we get a ticket, with which we should also test whether the ticket works correctly.
Conclusion
For me, the update is a pure disappointment. While the focus of the game was previously on moving around, Niantic completely shifts the focus to obsessively coordinating with other players in order to somehow still be able to fight mushrooms with this update. Especially in the countryside where there are generally not many spots and few players, you are now also completely forced out of this part of the game. Unfortunately, there is no trace of new content or improvements for the players. Sad story…
