Pokemon GO has been constantly updated since its release in 2016, with developer Niantic recently introducing Trade Evolution and several new Pokemon to the game. However, one minor cosmetic update has caused a wave of discussion across the trainer community.

Experienced Pokemon GO trainers are likely already familiar with Shiny Pokemon - a rare Pokemon variant with different colors than their standard counterparts. However, a recent patch to the Shiny Koffing has the community reacting with confusion and criticism.

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In a post to r/TheSilphRoad, a Pokemon GO subreddit designed to connect trainers from across the world to one another, one member discovered that Niantic had changed his Shiny Koffing's appearance. While Shiny Koffing previously released purple and green smoke, Niantic's patch changes the smoke color to a uniform purple. This visual fix created a mixed reaction among fans. While some were confused and thought that the smoke color alteration was intentional, others said they preferred the "bugged" version of the smoke and criticized Niantic for not focusing their updates on app functionality issues and other more glaring glitches. (One such glitch allows Buddy Pokemon to Naruto run.)

pokemon go shiny koffing changed in patch

Admittedly, the sudden and quiet change to the Shiny Koffing is unusual. As the Reddit thread noted, Niantic has been sluggish to respond to relatively harmless glitches (such as the ability to skip a Team GO Rocket scene). However, it is important to note that the developer still responds quickly to game-breaking bugs. To provide a recent example, when a Pokemon could not be accessed as a reward for completing Field Research, Niantic quickly pulled the research task from circulation to prevent further issues. Furthermore, because Pokemon GO is a regularly updated mobile game, not every update will necessarily introduce groundbreaking new features or sweeping changes, and the Shiny Koffing change could have easily been one surface alteration among several maintenance updates being made behind the scenes.

As such, the fan backlash to Shiny Koffing's recent visual "buff" might be somewhat overblown. Although trainers might have lost a distinctive feature to their dark Pokemon, there are hundreds of other Pokemon to search out and plenty of new content constantly being added to the game. It may be easy to criticize Niantic for not quickly addressing glitches. But when one considers that the developer is adding new lineups for Team GO Rocket leaders and other new content every month, Niantic's inability to address every bug in the growing game becomes more understandable.

Moreover, with the newest content, trainers might find themselves busier with attempting to determine the best new Pokemon for raids and PVP. While controversies and community events continue to pass through public consciousness, Pokemon GO still has plenty of territory left for trainers to explore.

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Source: ryanzhao333/Reddit