Niantic has been testing the "Pokémon GO" Nearby tracking system in more areas now outside of San Francisco, but it looks like they will need to address a few more problems before they officially release the feature.
According to Kotaku, the tracking system is only useful to players who are near a PokéStop. That means trainers who are living in more rural areas miles away from the nearest PokéStop won't be able to use this feature effectively. Nobody wants to wander aimlessly for hours just to catch a Pokémon. Not even hardcore fans of the game.
Ironically, the regions they are testing the tracking system in have a lot of rural areas. Some trainers from rural areas have been complaining on Reddit that the Nearby feature actually "breaks the game" because the Sighting feature has stopped working.
"Anyone as rural as I am has to actually plan routes to and from their destination based on where the stops are," rural "Pokémon GO" player Hatweed told Kotaku. "We can't play it at our leisure. If I have to make a day trip out of my mobile game, did the designers do a good job?"
Well, the Nearby tracking system still has a long way to go. And perhaps Niantic will finally understand why trainers prefer to use third-party tracking apps. Hopefully, the developers can do something to improve this since trainers have been clamoring for this feature for months now.
Meanwhile, reports say Niantic may roll out a massive update this December. The update will allegedly include the long-awaited Trading system and the Generation 2 Pokémon found in the game's code. A lot of players are going to be ecstatic if this happens, and this can certainly bring back some players. However, several sources believe the update players have been waiting for probably won't come out until January 2017.
