"Thank you to Niantic!"

#PokemonGO: I know Niantic probably doesn't get much praise, whether it be through social media, here, or their website, so I wanted to make sure to do that.I was a Go Fest attendee in 2017 and went through all the nightmares that are well-documented. This year, I was cautiously optimistic about everything. When they said there would be no lines to get in, I was skeptical. When they said the extra cell towers would help, I was skeptical.But I was extremely happy with how things turned out. When last year's festival went awry, Niantic awarded us with a free Lugia, 100% catch rates on Articuno and Lugia in Chicago, 100 dollars in pokecoins, and, despite being against their will, may be reimbursing people for that event via the class-action lawsuit.This year, everything they promised, they delivered. There were no lines. Cell service was great throughout all of day one (though I heard issues with Verizon on day two). It wasn't nearly as packed as Grant Park was. There weren't nearly as many people there without tickets as I thought there would be, because killing all the stops and spawns in the park for non-fest goers actually worked when I didn't think it would.Sure, there's a couple things that could have been better. Hydration stations ran out, only seven food trucks in the entire park (4 north, 3 south) resulted in hour-long waits in line, and there were no raids. But compared to 2017, this year's event was such a great success and made me extremely happy to be a part of this community. My only idea, for the raids issue, would be that maybe in the future, if the event ends at 6 p.m., maybe from 6-9 p.m. outside of the event, but inside the city, special raids spawn for fest attendees? I don't know. There are smarter people than I to figure it out. But it isn't that big of a deal, anyway. Even without raids, it was a blast, and I couldn't be more surprised at how smoothly everything ran.Grant Park seemed like, even for months of preparation, that it was just thrown together in the week leading up to the event. This year, it was the antithesis. Everything seemed very well thought out, there were contingency plans in place (water bottles being handed out at help desk after hydration stations ran dry, e-mailing codes in case you didn't get your wristband, etc.). Everything was top notch.On top of it all, I really think the most satisfying part of the event was that Niantic delivered on their "no lines" promise. Even after their e-mail, I still expected to show up to lines, but they weren't there. Wide open entry. Of course, that made me a little leery security-wise, as there are sick people out there who could take advantage of such lax security, but having Chicago PD there throughout the park eased those concerns. Plus, the lack of security allowed my fiance and I to bring our dog in with us, which was the best part of our day. We couldn't find anyone to dog sit for us in our home, so we made the decision to bring her with us and leave her in the hotel room during the event. However, we left and for the next 20 minutes, we stood outside our hotel room door waiting for our dog to stop barking and crying in an unfamiliar place with lots of city noises. She wouldn't stop. So we made the educated guess of trusting Niantic's "no lines for security" promise, and took our dog with us, and if we got told we couldn't bring her in, my fiance was just going to go back to the hotel and not participate. I am so, so, so glad that we ended up being able to bring our dog and participate all day long together.So anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to Niantic and everyone involved with the event in giving me faith that they are able to adapt and improve. Hopefully I can keep attending Go Fest each year, and I can't wait to see how it improves each time.Edit: Also, I just wanted to say that I know a lot of people have been saying they wish Go Fest was not a physical, one-city event, so more could participate. I think Niantic did a great job in keeping everyone involved regardless of whether you were at the festival or not. Most of the same spawns were happening, and I think paying 20 dollars to get Torkoal, Unown, and an early Celebi is a good compromise. Plus, there is just something special about having a physical, centrally-located event that draws people from all over the country and world to play in person with other members of the community. You get things like trading happening in hotels, parties like TSR threw after Saturday's event, pre-event parties in hotels with trainers, etc. It really does a lot to bring people together, and I do hope they continue having a physical event of some kind. via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/2LlwAcc