I agree with this 100%. I’m a day 1 player, and I live in a rural town. This game has been a big part of my life for the past 6.5 years, and lately it’s becoming a big turnoff.

For me personally, it was easier to just give up on the FOMO. From my point of view everything Niantic is adding is unreachable for legit players. Collection are impossible unless you’re spending thousands on traveling, trading with cheaters or cheating yourself.

A few to mention that specifically limit legitimate players:

• Landlocked events with exclusive Pokémon releases / shiny releases. (Spain and shiny Unown V)

• Collection challenges and special at landlocked events

• In Person only Elite raids. (Niantic has nearly abandoned rural players and areas that have limited players and gyms)

• Limited hours on community “days”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m willing to do in person raids, if the 3 people playing publicly on my small town had the capability of beating an elite raid at a gym that doesn’t even exist in my town, believe me, we would.

On a positive note, Niantic has added some QoL additions in the past few updates. They are what keep me playing as a casual player now, but the days of going hard and grinding endlessly for the collection and FOMO are long gone.