Looking for opinions on current bonus bars

Hello everyone! This site has had a lot of discussion about the bonus bars since... well, the beginning of the bonus bars. I'm making this thread as a place to collect opinions on how the bonus bars are currently working, as I'm very interested in data, and also people's feelings towards the current system. I would also like to collect all the info about changes to the boosts/what Niet has said about the boost system in this thread, as it's currently a little all over the place and I would like to collect it to make it easier to view. This isn't a suggestion, and will likely not become a suggestion unless I feel there's enough evidence and support for any particular side. I genuinely just wanna hear how people feel about it in a general sense, as I only have my own point of view as a veteran player. I would like to hear from other veteran players, newbies, everyone in between! All opinions are welcome, no matter how 'experienced' you are! I also invite the general staff team and Niet to give any input. Helpful Info:

• Niet has previously stated that most bonus counters are intended to only activate every one to two weeks link
• The shinyhunt rawdata page lists every boost that was activated on a certain day, and gives a good sense of gaps between boosts. Natural activations are not differentiated from FabFri/MCW link
• From what I can see, we average 4,500-5,000 log-ins a day, with potentially less 'active' players. Numbers are likely higher on big boost days/events.

What I want to hear from you!

• How long have you been playing?
• Do you think the bars fill too quickly, too slowly or are alright as they are? Any specifics?
• Do you think the boost ranges are too strong, too weak, or just right? Any specifics?
• Do you think you are able to benefit fully from the boosts given? (ie Do you gain what you want from the boosts when they're active?)
• Should Fab Friday or the MCW boosts be changed?

This isn't necessarily a form, and I encourage you to write free-form if you want to! These are just some general points I would like to hear about. Lastly, keep things civil! I've seen how these threads go, and I understand the frustration from all sides. However, I want to keep this as objective as possible. I would recommend posting your personal opinion and leaving it at that. Please do not attack people if they have a different opinion to you.

Hi! I'm also really interested in data, and have played Pokefarm on and off for many years so I have a lot of thoughts on how the bonus bars have changed! I'm generally quite satisfied with how the bonus bars are right now in terms of how quickly they fill. We get bonus days pretty often! This wasn't the case back in PF1, where it seemed like a much larger deal when the bonus bar filled (mind you, my sense of time may have been warped back then, as I was ~12, and these are memories from 11 years ago). I think they're at a good place right now where it doesn't feel like bonus days are constant, but missing out on one isn't a huge deal, and waiting for one to come around is reasonable. As for the strength of the bars, the boost range for exp is just fine. Niet days need basically no tweaking, in my opinion. I feel this way about Ravyne and Shazi as well. Elta and Novan days I'm middling on, as I think the boosts could stand to be a little stronger on average. However, I am mainly making very large purchases using these counters, which is definitely not true for newer users. If the boosts do get buffed, I'd want the counters to be slowed a bit to prevent inflation. I...honestly don't exactly understand how the Sei bonus is calculated so have no comment. The fact that we get a shiny boost at all is amazing for someone who lived in the days before the pokeradar was accesible to free-to-play users. Garthic seems just fine to me, but isn't a counter I really use because I have over four million interaction points saved, and thus couldn't possibly run out any time soon. The Suriya boost...is hard to quantify. It doesn't feel like it does much, but I haven't actually collected data on drops during Suriya days or anything. Only seeing three scour results at a time, once an hour, makes it hard to really "feel" like you're getting anything. I think I'm able benefit from the boosts fairly well! I find it hard to fully make use of Shazi unless it's paired with a Niet day, but I think the element of randomness in whether or not that will happen is fun. I just don't personally have the time to hatch 200 eggs in a day without boosts (though Shazi is great for collecting wishforge evos from the shelter, and I can definitely adopt 200 eevee in like. An hour.) The currency days are easy to wait on for making big purchases as I mentioned earlier, and Niet and Ravyne days are literally always useful. The only time I can't capitilize on them is if I'm just too busy to play all day. Ravyne is probably my favorite boost, as I can pretty much singlehandedly obtain the gems for my closest WF upgrade in a day with a good Ravyne boost and some strategy. I haven't had any problems with MCW (though I've only been through two since my return from a three year hiatus), but Fab Friday has been a bit disappointing, in my opinion. This is really because of the vast difference in how useful the counters are. For example, Fabu activated the Eltafaz counter this week which would be great...if I had any GP purchases I needed to make. However, if Fabu activates Niet, Ravyne, or Shazi, I can literally ALWAYS make use of it. I can use Sei most of the time, and I've even done a spontaneous day-long hunt before because the Sei counter activated. In particular, Garthic, Novan, Elta, and Suriya activated by themselves just feels disappointing. Of course you can't win every week, but it seems to happen fairly often. It's not a total wash since the GP reward is nice, but I remember when Fab friday was FIRST implemented it was a lot more exciting and now it's just like...oh yea...friday again. I also think it'd be nice if the requirements for 200% were increased a bit, as it seems to get hit pretty handily every week from what I've seen. But those are just my opinions! While I've been around for a lot of the site, I've also missed a ton, and most of my memories are from very long ago, as I was most active in the 2012-2014 period, also largely on PF1. Overall, the bonus bars are a great system that I think has been implemented well, but I'm definitely not averse to tweaking them around as the site grows and changes. My main issue with them is the disparity in usefulness for the different bars; it would be nice particularly to see some kind of buff for Garthic, like more uses for interaction points.