Pokemon Go community roasts Niantic as Wayfarer ban spree continues to cripple legit players

Lucas Simons
Pokemon Go Niantic Wayfarer

Pokemon Go players have taken it to social media to complain about another ban spree that has been hitting legit players, and the Reddit community is fuming. Trainers are roasting Niantic nonstop and say “Wayfarer Experts are the worst.”

Pokemon Go is rounding up its latest season, Adventures Abound, and Niantic have been trying to improve the quality of life of the game, but this seems to be difficult to achieve while the Wayfarer app keeps banning players who are submitting new routes and PokeStops.

Players think that the criteria for their “approval” might be biased and have taken it to Reddit to complain about this issue. One of said players posted this in the Pokemon Go Reddit community and has caused quite a heated debate.

Reddit user blackcouchy1990 posted that there has been a lot of “Recent post about someone getting banned initially for 30 days by Niantic for creating pokestops, only to be emailed back saying it was a mistake and was meant to be 90 days.”

And another player commented on this: “I refuse to contribute now. I tried adding a whole bunch in rural areas. Followed the guidelines to the letter. Out of about 50 or so, none got approved. It’s like people are just gatekeeping at this point.”

On the other hand, user Naftris pointed out what they believe might be the cause for the current friction between players and the company: “Wayfarer Experts are the worst. Just 5 star the stop contribution. No one cares it might not meet all the criteria.”

Another of the issues seems to be the “submission spammers,” which, according to some players, are the ones that are causing confusion and the subsequent ban spree in the game: “That’s part of the problem. It’s all so random and completely depending on locals or AI. If you git some fanatics living near you: get ready for a ban. If you live in an area where every new pokestop is seen as a gift from the gods and a token that sacrificing 30 virgins to get one nearby actually worked, then you can be sure that standards aren’t as high.”

A player who has been marked as a top contributor exposed the other side of the coin: “I’m a rural player and I’ve contributed half a dozen stops and they all got approved and years later, are still there. After all this nonsense, you can bet that I won’t be submitting any more and risk some kind of penalty from these shitbirds not liking my submission.”

It seems that players are getting tired of the double standards for the submissions, and slowly but steadily, this has been chipping away at the trust between Niantic and the players.

In the meantime, trainers are preparing themselves for the Halloween Event Part 2 which is almost here. And if you want to know all about the Dia Muertos event, we got you covered.

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About The Author

Lucas is a Games Writer for CharlieIntel, specializing in covering Pokemon, including Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, Pokemon Go, and Pokemon TCG. A former Game Reviewer and PR Liaison for HD Tecnologia (ARG), Lucas is also an Audiovisual Media Producer, Game Designer, Narrative Designer, and author, having published several books including Press Start, a guide to video game writing and world building. You can contact him at [email protected].