We are currently in the weeks that are leading up to the next Pokémon GO Fest to celebrate Pokémon GO's fourth anniversary. There are three weeks leading up to the actual event. Trainers from all teams can complete Timed Research quests each week on the way to unlock more Pokémon appearing during GO Fest.
This first week is focusing on Flying-type Pokémon. With that a Flying Pikachu has been added to the game, which can also be Shiny. Ducklett, first discovered in generation 5, has been added to the game too. On top of that, Shiny Pidove has been added to the game.
With the focus on Flying-type Pokémon you can now encounter much more of these Pokémon in the wild and there are several Field Research Tasks focusing on catching Flying-type Pokémon for Stardust or the ones with common Tasks that reward Flying-type Pokémon as an encounter.
I have encountered several Flying Pikachu in the wild so far. They also appear in Raids, but I have not done any of those yet. Several Ducklett have spawned for me so far too. In this picture you can see my first encounter with one and its Pokédex registry.
After catching several of the Flying Pikachu and Ducklett, I have done some trades with a friend. Eventually managed to get both Lucky Flying Pikachu and a Lucky Ducklett. Not really the best stats on them, but still nice to already have them Lucky. Especially for the Pikachu because Flying Pikachu is only available during this week 1 Skill Timed Research.
Last but not least, the GO Fest Skill Challenge. This challenge consists of 3 parts. In the following picture you can see all 3 of them.
With the encounters from Challenges 2 and 3 you will get Ducklett and Flying Pikachu. Completing all 3 parts of the Challenge will add one point towards the global challenge for players of your Team to unlock extra Pokémon encounters during GO Fest.
After completing all 3 parts you will unlock an Elite Skill Challenge. That one has some small rewards and does not count towards the GO Fest unlocks. It is mostly for bragging rights.
This year there is no mention of unlocking special Raid Days like we had last year with Raikou, Entei and Suicune. That'll be due to lockdown measures so people won't have to come close together. Perhaps they will still give some like those eventually, otherwise we'll likely won't see those again until next year.
Usually there are different GO Fest events in various locations across the world during the summer. However this is impossible now as large gatherings on the scale of GO Fest are currently cancelled everywhere. Niantic has now developed a new format for this GO Fest, and it'll be accessible for players all over the world.
From my understanding the GO Fest can be celebrated by everyone worldwide, but there will be some exclusive features of the event that are only accessible to those who buy a Pokémon GO Fest 2020 ticket. More info will likely be released as we get closer to GO Fest 2020, which will be taking place on July 25 and 26.
I haven't decided yet if I'll purchase a ticket or not.
Are you looking forward to GO Fest? Will you be purchasing a ticket?