With stage 5 and 6 of the Shiny Keldeo Pony Tales Masterwork Research being unlocked this week, many in the community were baffled to see yet another time gate at stage 5. Thankfully stage 6 is the first in the whole research line without a time gate!

First, what is a time gate? A time gate is a task that requires a set amount of days to be completed, and cannot be completed any quicker.

While Masterwork Research is designed to take a longer period of time to complete with challenging tasks, the time gates are now beginning to feel rather… uninspired. Sure there are some tasks that require a bit of work, but with the bulk of the grind being time gates rather than actual hard work, where has the real challenge gone?

Let’s take a look at the Pony Tales Masterwork Research first.

Pony Tales Masterwork Research Tasks and Rewards

Masterwork Research: Pony Tales (1/7)

Stage one actually felt like a fun challenge! Catching Pokémon from the first five regions discovered in Pokémon was a good task, encouraging you to learn which Pokémon come from which region. 10 days isn’t too bad of a time gate compared to some of the other stages, and they aren’t consecutive days which is always better.

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Masterwork Research: Pony Tales (2/7)

Stage two brings an even longer time gate, 15 days! The tasks are fairly accessible and not too much of a challenge, making that 15 day time gate feel incredibly long.

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Masterwork Research: Pony Tales (3/7)

Stage three brings in the first 21 day time gate, and arguably one of the easiest sets of tasks. 10 raids can be done in 10 days by free to play players, with Super Effective Charged Attacks occurring fairly naturally between raiding and battling Team GO Rocket. The tasks could easily have been grinded fairly quickly by very determined trainers, but either way, a 21 day wait held them back.

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Masterwork Research: Pony Tales (4/7)

Stage 4, and another 21 day time gate. Sigh. Powering up 3 Pokémon to their Max CP is easy (provided you have the stardust!), whereas 500 berries really depends on the area you live in. Rural trainers are going to struggle with that task, whereas city trainers may find it easier due to gym density. Either way, another 21 day slog held you up!

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Masterwork Research: Pony Tales (5/7)

And the newest page to unlock revealed yet another time gate. This time only 5 days, but 5 consecutive days. The other tasks on this page feel like more of a challenge, with 300 Excellent Throws and 200 Buddy Hearts needing some real work put in. (Who else remembers when the OG Mew Masterwork Research needed a single Excellent Curveball Throw?!).

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Masterwork Research: Pony Tales (6/7)

No time gates, and decent tasks here, more of this please!

Too Many Time Gates

With 5 time gates, at 10, 15, 21, 21 and 5 days, the minimum time these can be completed in is 68 days. That’s assuming you remember to claim your rewards and start the next time gate on the same day, so double up on the first of each new time gate. 68 days, and we still have 2 stages to go.

Time gates feel like a lazy way of making these Masterwork Researches hard to complete, but is a time gate really a challenge? Or is it just a delay tactic so it feels like it was hard work to complete it?

The rewards so far in this Masterwork Research haven’t been that great either considering the premium nature of it. Three Unova Stones, encounters and candy for the Unova First Partner Pokémon, Rare Candy, 3 Rare Candy XL, a Premium Battle Pass… the most exciting item arguably is a Max Mushroom!

It all just feels a little lacklustre. We all know and expect something that will take some effort with Masterwork Research, but with time gates dominating this one so heavily, is that really what it is all about? Many of the hardcore grinders would appreciate a real challenge, rather than simply being prevented from continuing with their progress because of a time gate.

The most challenging stage so far is stage 5, as 300 Excellent Throws will need some concentration and effort, and 200 Buddy Hearts also requires a real push! If Pokémon GO want Masterwork Research to be a real challenge, we need more of this, and less of the time gates. Give us more tasks that require hard work and actual thought about what we are doing in game. Stage 6 is also a big improvement, with 100 Field Research Tasks, and earning the Platinum Unova medal as the tasks.

While it may be frustrating to some to have to commit solid effort to this sort of Research, the types of trainers who tend to buy them are also more hardcore because it is a Premium Research. There will be trainers who totally disagree with me, and would rather stick with easy tasks and long time gates, but there are many trainers on social media sharing their distaste for time gates. Rural trainers will always struggle with complicated tasks more than city trainers, but time gates just don’t feel like an adequate mission.

Time gates feel like the easy option, but a real challenge? Now that shows who really is the very best, like no one ever was. *cue Pokémon series music*

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