r/TheSilphRoad • u/Old-Board1553 • 26d ago

Discussion Anyone worried about the future of Pokemon GO?

I don't know about you guys, but lately this game is becoming a pain for rural players. I feel like everytime there is a event, Niantic or whoever is in control now shows you the middle finger all the time from the start of it.

I see people complain it will take a lot to max out their Eternatus. Like really? That's the major issue of this game and event for you? Put yourself in the spot of a rural player. You are basically forced to do Tier 5 raids, Tier 5 D-max raids or G-max raids in order to just get maybe a 2* or a floor IV. This type of raids are a complete nightmare for us, and they always forcing us to do it, and your only option is remote raids. Basically we are forced to spend at least 5400 coins on remote raids to get this Eternatus.

It's really sad that community don't support each other in this kind of situations, and demand changes in this game that helps rural players as well. Prices are high, and you are always and always forced to do this kind of raids. This game is not just about raiding, give people other stuff to do, I don't know catch 100 or 200 pokemons per day, something else, not just max out raids.

And I'm sure there will a be smartguy coming now saying, go make yourself a community, D-max can be done solo, or duo easily, sucks to be you a rural player, and so on.

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u/Ok-Set8022 26d ago

It has always been a pain for rural players nothings changed

148

u/Distinct-Crow-3726 26d ago

Yeah seeing a rural player complain about unfair treatment (which is fair) is the most consistent Pokemon GO complaint over the years ever, even at launch

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u/Kn0wtalent 26d ago

Don't forget its not fair to free to play player complaining

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u/Tigglebee 26d ago

You can still enjoy the game without participating in these big raid days. I just enjoy shiny hunting and exploring new places with my dog. So what if I don’t have maxed legendaries for ML, that’s a sucker’s game.

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u/pikapalooza 26d ago

My dog passed last week. He loved playing pokemon with me because he got to meet so many new friends. He was my good luck charm - I called him lucky dog all the time.

His name was pika and he was a very good boy. Go explore with your furry friend and have a blast <3

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u/pgogy 25d ago

Sorry for you loss

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u/pikapalooza 25d ago

Thank you. I'm sure he's still blessing me <3

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u/pgogy 25d ago

Mine enjoyed the long river walks as I walked my magikarp buddy to get that candy

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u/pikapalooza 25d ago

Sorry for your loss as well. Even though he was so tiny, he could walk forever. He took my mom on a 6 mile walk once!

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u/pgogy 24d ago

Ah he’s still with us but his heart can’t take long walks anymore :)

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u/micechoo 25d ago

So sorry. He looks absolutely adorable.

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u/pikapalooza 25d ago edited 25d ago

Thank you. He was my best buddy. And he knew he was cute. He had this little walk I never got on video where he'd walk with his front legs straight and kind of hop along when he was super happy and excited. Always made me smile.

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u/Tigglebee 24d ago

Sorry bud. It’s always tough. Hope you heal and find a new walking friend.

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u/GapKey29 13d ago

He’s a good boy

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u/Aspiring-Old-Guy 5d ago

You have my deepest sympathies and most heartfelt condolences my friend. Pika will always be a best boy!

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u/pikapalooza 5d ago

Thank you. I know he's bringing a lot of smiles and love in heaven.

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u/Ok-Set8022 26d ago

Exactly. The most enjoyment I have is popping headphones on, walking an hour or 2 and catching all the pokemon I see.

Can do that without spending a dime and anywhere

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u/LBG-13Sudowoodo 26d ago

Are there lots of miltank and wooloo around?

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u/Journeydriven 26d ago

This right here, there's a couple gyms nearby i made an alternative to farm. Now I get the occasional remote raids for the legendaries I want to add to my dex. I'm not too worried about perfect ivs

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/RustyRibbits 25d ago

With no option to get the legacy moves that are superior. Unless you pay of course. It is what it is and is as it’s always been.

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u/xSonicspeedx2 25d ago

I don’t even bother with pvp. That’s stress I don’t need after getting off work.

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u/Jacer4 25d ago

Dude for real, I don't understand how some people have all the candies in the world to pump into these legendaries to get them to 50 lol. I don't even really do UL because of the high candy invest.ent required for some of the better mons

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u/Kevkillerke Western Europe lv50 26d ago edited 26d ago

That's not true at all, above ace everyone has those Pokémon anyway and you play at skill level again

Edit: I'm only commenting on the ML part. I can agree with OP on the part about GL and UL.

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u/Tigglebee 26d ago

It’s skill based but it has an entrance fee.

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u/Kevkillerke Western Europe lv50 26d ago

That's a very good way to frame it. I agree.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/Kevkillerke Western Europe lv50 26d ago

That's a fair response. I guess it hit me the wrong way you said 'ranking high in ML is just a flex nothing more'. It sounded to me like you meant no skills are involved in ML, just a fat wallet

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u/Liminal-Lagomorph 26d ago

Huh? You don’t need to spend a dime on GL or UL.

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u/Kevkillerke Western Europe lv50 26d ago

I didn't say you have to?

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u/Liminal-Lagomorph 26d ago

The comment: “gl and UL are for people who don’t dump money into the game” You: “that’s not true at all”

Huh?

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u/Kevkillerke Western Europe lv50 26d ago

Seriously? 😅 I'm just gonna ask you to read the posts before again. I was talking about ML, that should be clear from the second part of my reply.

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u/BruceBoyde 26d ago edited 26d ago

Fwiw, I read the posts and I'm on their side. They criticized Master League as something you may need to spend money on because of the unlimited CP cap, and said that GL/UL are easier to contend in because they generally don't require XL candies. You said "that's not true at all" because people have the same pokemon (?), but that doesn't make any sense because what's meta varies between the leagues, and the thing that would cost money, or at least a lot of time, is getting the hundreds of raids done for XL candies.

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u/Kevkillerke Western Europe lv50 26d ago

What they said is that ranking in ML is more of a flex by having these Pokémon. I disagree, and say that above ace, or maybe lower idk, people playing ML have these expensive Pokémon available. So you still need skill to rank up, as you're playing against the same Pokémon you have.

Either way, main takeaway is that you shouldn't brush off ML as 'no skills required' vs GL or UL.

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u/JinHoshi 26d ago

So the confusion I think is because ranking high in ML requires the meta pokemon which usually requires either living in heavy urban areas and no lifing the events or spending to ensure you maximize, above that sure everyone has them and it’s a skill game again but they didn’t say it’s pay to win.

They’re just saying that GL and UL don’t require the peak meta pokemon to rank high in so you don’t have to spend money on events to develop them.

Nothing you said counters that statement, your point is just “yeah but even though everyone spent money maxing those meta Pokemon, they still have to have skill to out meta each others meta now”

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u/Kevkillerke Western Europe lv50 26d ago

What you say is correct. But I was referring to only the master league statement, which I thought I made clear in the second part of the comment. So I didn't want to take any standpoint in GL or UL.

But obviously it wasn't clear enough, I guess I'll just edit my comment.

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u/FudgeMuffinz21 26d ago

When somebody says “that isn’t true at all”, they’re typically talking about the entire statement they’re responding to.

I get that it may not mean that to you, but that’s what it means to the rest of the English speaking world.

So you should probably be the one to accurately communicate what you’re trying to say instead of asking people to read your comment again, when they accurately read and comprehended what you say

TLDR the mix up is your fault dummy

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u/Sleep-typing 26d ago

How is that a flex? "See how much money I have!"?

The real skill lies in the leagues everyone can easily participate at max strength. That's where skill sets you apart.

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u/catchthetams 26d ago

Is there a specific strategy for more shinies?

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u/Tigglebee 24d ago edited 24d ago

Don’t catch when you can check and participate in community days. I’m at 634 shinies, but I’m missing most legendaries.

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u/chaoszypher 25d ago

@Tigglebee exactly, Master league is nigh impossible. I prefer great and ultra league, much easier to “fairly” compete, and you see virtually NO legendaries

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u/Pale-Outcome4609 25d ago

I have maxed legends, but it literally took me from 2021 to 2025

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u/Sangy101 21d ago

This is the first big day I’ve been able to participate in cos I’ve never been in an urban area for one.

And yeah same, Pokemon Go is something I do to motivate myself for longer dog walks.

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u/Jandolino 26d ago

Yeah but rural <> rural players.

Living in a small town of 300 players could be considered rural by some.

Some people also refer to cities of 10k+ inhabitants as rural.

Imo thats very different from one another.

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u/Hibbity5 26d ago

Some people also refer to cities of 10k+ inhabitants as rural.

That wouldn’t be a city in the US at least. And it’s also about density. I know of places in the US that have 10k people but it’s spread over a large area so it still feels very rural unless you’re in the town center, but even that isn’t urban or even suburban.

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u/AxelHarver 26d ago

Yeah, I grew up in a town of ~12,000, but if you were to take the main highway through it, you'd probably guess it was a fraction of that. It's all pretty spread out. There may have been enough players in the area to do raids and such, but there was no real way to communicate with them, and there weren't really any places that would be worthy of calling a "meetup spot," and the one that I would say maybe could be, is pretty far out of the way and not well-known by anyone other than the surrounding neighborhoods, and maybe people who play sports there (baseball and soccer fields). So I still considered myself to be 100% rural. I had to drive close to an hour to the nearest city that I would say has a legitimate PoGo scene. Now I live in a city of ~40k, but with a "metro" of 104k (the 352nd largest metro in the U.S. according to wikipedia lmfao), and the scene is great, as long as you have the time to go to the main meetup spot, where's there's always a dozen or so people wandering around, and fill raids during big events, or one of the two lesser spots that still get a handful of people that dont want to make the drive across town to the main spot.

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u/dardios 26d ago

I live in a town with less than 4500 people. We have NO ISSUES getting two to three dozen people for major events. Usually have 2 to 3 groups of 20 rotating through the gyms. Use Campfire, it's a game changer. And yes, it can work in rural areas.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/Hibbity5 26d ago

Yeah, thanks. That’s why I specified that at least in the US instead of assuming everywhere was the same as the US because I know it’s not. Without knowing where OP is from, adding some info about a specific region without assuming where they’re from or that it’s the same everywhere is the best I can do.

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u/DavidBHimself Japan 26d ago

Fair enough.

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u/Outrageous_Plate_778 26d ago

Cities are never considered rural by anyone with a brain.

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u/DavidBHimself Japan 26d ago

Talk to people who live in cities of millions of people what they think of cities of dozens of thousands people.

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u/penemuel13 26d ago

But in an event like this catching Pokemon doesn’t get you any of the content - you have to raid and max battle to get points to even get the reward.

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u/GreenHeronVA 26d ago

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE TRAINERS IN THE BACK.

As a rural player, I was never going to get Eternatus. I didn’t even bother.

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u/akpak Team Valor - AK 26d ago

You can’t catch it from the raid; we all get one(1) from the special pass. Anyone should be able to get it, even solo.

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u/_martin_n Western Europe 25d ago

Yes and no. My son plays "for fun". He mostly plays for the big events and the fun ends after a couple of raids.

I help him out, play his account and help out getting what meta relevant Pokémon I can get for him.

If this was a research I could help him grind it out over a couple of months. This being a pass means he will lose his chance once the event ends.

He can play without that Pokémon. But this path does mean the game becomes less accessible for him.

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u/Phase6ix 22d ago

Eternatus is available on the free pass, you just need to make sure you do whatever the task is to complete the section. So far it seems to be completing specific raids, for me it was catch Zacian and Zamazenta.

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u/akpak Team Valor - AK 25d ago

Sure, but if you guys just go out and do regular pokemon Stuff this weekend, you might be surprised how far you'll get in the pass. Go do some of the dyna battles you can do together, ditto whatever raids you can do, do research tasks, catch wild pokemon. If it's like Go Fest's pass (and it should be), *everything* will count and points are uncapped.

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u/BCHiker7 26d ago

You can easily get Eternatus. Just need to hit level 60 on the pass and you get one. Points per task will likely get jacked up on the weekend. You shouldn't have a problem getting there solo.

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u/dodgowan 26d ago

Only if you have access to a gym and/or power spot.

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u/kruddel 26d ago

Serious question, I'm not having a go at you here - what are you doing in Pokemon Go normally? Like, in the absence of this event where you need to accumulate points via tasks to get Eternatus in the limited time research, which isn't possible because you have no gyms or power spots.

I feel like you'd be locked out of more than 50% of the non-event game play (without really thinking through in depth every aspect of the game)

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u/dodgowan 26d ago

Pretty much. I currently have 4 remote raids and enough coins to get a 3 pack. Going to use those 7 raids to get a couple of Gmax Pokémon I missed out on when we weren't able to remote raid them.

Apart from that I hunt shinies and use my daily incense. When I'm in town for shopping I chuck Pokémon into some gyms and hope they stay there long enough to get some coins. I do have a gym I go past when walking the dog but I've been in control of it for 6 weeks now as no one has been past to kick me out. I also work nightshifts so sleeping during the day means I miss quite a bit.

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u/WorldlyChemical4583 26d ago

Make an account for your dog on a different team. Then your dog can knock you out and get you the coins.

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u/Neracca Maryland(MoCo) 26d ago

Only if you have access to a gym and/or power spot.

I mean if you don't have access to that, why even play? Not trying to be a jerk, but not having access to some crucial features would keep me from doing the game.

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u/dodgowan 26d ago

Because I like pokemon pretty much. I can enjoy it but it is a bit annoying when some things are so far out of reach. I don't mind grinding either if possible. I've put 500km so far into my zamazenta so I can get XL candies for him.

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u/BoldShuckle USA - Mountain West 26d ago

If you have access to a gym and one other player to knock you out consistently, it's definitely doable. But I would guess those aren't guaranteed if you're very rural.

Once you see an event announced, start saving up coins for green passes and buy them whenever you get good bundles. 6 passes for 385 coins is the most common decent deal.

Hosting raids for the crown forms should be pretty easy using any of the popular apps. Even if you didn't raid at all during the week, it would take about a dozen raids per day on Saturday and Sunday. Even with one gym it's possible without spending money.

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u/Jjustincredible3 26d ago

Yeah. If anything it’s gotten a lot better than it used to be 

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u/DavidBHimself Japan 26d ago

No, it's gotten worse.

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u/Numpostrophe 26d ago

Remoting into max battles is pretty huge

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u/DavidBHimself Japan 26d ago

Yeah, I did it once today. It was very exciting to battle along Charmander and Wooloo. Luckily it was Articuno and I have some pretty strong wolves and I basically soloed it.

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u/Distinct-Crow-3726 26d ago

Then you can solo them? If it was only Wooloos and Charmanders. Or you could host them yourself

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u/DavidBHimself Japan 26d ago

I didn't know that I could, and the fourth player had one Blissey that helped a bit. In any case, this is beside the point, I think everyone agrees here that remote GMax battles are a bit too much of a gambling game, and a sure way to waste passes.

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u/JKS91Gaming 25d ago

This is why I check people’s levels before fully starting a raid, if I’m in the lobby on a max raid and it’s really anyone under 35 I usually just leave it so I don’t waste my pass because those people almost always have low level max mons

0

u/DavidBHimself Japan 25d ago

Thanks. I only realized a few days ago that you could check people's levels and I didn't think of doing it then.

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u/ChartreuseMage 26d ago

We are miles ahead of how the game was even several years after launch for rural players.

Daily incense, remote raids (regular and Dynamax, joining off the friends list easily), you don't need an Ingress account and to level it up to submit stops.

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u/DavidBHimself Japan 25d ago

Between the beginning and now, there was a time when the game was playable everywhere. But all recent changes have been all towards the direction of making the game plentiful for urban areas and sucking more and more for rural areas. And I don't speak theoretically, I experience both and play in both environment.

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u/MattEGM1 26d ago edited 26d ago

I don't think John Hanke cared about rural players when he launched the app, and even less so now. I think rural players may have gotten the impression that Niantic cared when the pandemic changes were implemented but they were introduced to keep people indoors. These changes were then withdrawn and the price of Remote Raid Passes increased to (presumably) increase the potential return on investment, or worth of the game before it was sold on to Scopely.

I empathise from the position of a regional town where I can engage in events, I probably wouldn't play if I lived rurally.

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u/PatientRaspberry485 Team Harmony / Lv 40 / 937974894942 25d ago

I was going to say the same. Best example is world of warcraft. People complain since 2007 that the game is dead. Now after 19 years it's still one of the most popular games. People just like to complain

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u/xSonicspeedx2 25d ago

^ this, I’ve always felt bad for rural players because the game has always been difficult for them. The only thing rural players always win in is the showcases which is impossible for city players. All you really need is a group of 4 people to run most stuff. I convinced my kids and mom to get in on the game and now they are more into the game than I am, they are all ahead of me in level.

We’re all sufficiently strong enough now after about 1 year of play that we can run most 5 star raids with just the 4 of us and if it’s something we simply can’t do, we use pokegenie to fill in the space. Just have one person be on a different team so you can knock each other out of gyms for the poke coins consistently.

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u/Not_Xiphroid 24d ago

At least they got 30 daily pokeballs and incense. Absolutely unplayable on release for them.

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u/RagnarWolfson 22d ago

I'm a rural player, and I have to drive 30 + miles just to get a pokestop and 50 for a gym. I constantly run out of poke balls. It's a real struggle for us hillbilly players

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u/Chaotic-Catastrophe 26d ago

Yeay who would have thought a game specifically designed to not be for rural people wouldn’t be more tailored to rural people….?!