Player Reviews

As someone who has used this site on and off for several years, I do have a lot of thoughts about it, and figured now is as good a time as any to review it. First off, this site is very fun! While I’m not as invested in it as I was before, I do have lots of fond memories doing hunts. I love a lot of the fakemon and variants and new megas! I think the community on this game is amazing. I love how I’m able to obtain items and perks that you usually have to pay for without actually spending a single cent on the site, it feels actually somewhat balanced in the regard of not being “pay to win”. All that said…. The biggest issue with this site is staff. I have witnessed for years how the staff has acted primarily snarky and passive aggressive towards players. Which of course causes players to act passive aggressive back, in a never ending cycle. And no matter how many times it’s brought up, excuses are made and nothing changes. There’s also always been very little transparency about changes on the site, even when more transparency is promised. This site has also been kinda neglected in favor of the new site, which is understandable, but does make this site much less fun than it was when there were actual events. There are honestly tons of other issues I could note, but those are the biggest ones. Basically, there’s a lot of good with this site and a lot of bad, and I really do hope it does eventually change to be more good than bad. Since as it is right now, I personally do not recommend it. (Also, as a note for transparency, the latest stuff with RMT does not personally affect me and I think it’s probably for the best. That said, I think the staff handled the situation terribly.)

I really don't recommend this site anymore. There's been way too much changes that happen without public announcements (and I don't mean in forums if you go searching) to discuss first and much pandering to a minority. They ask for community feedback, yet bury the place for such in an obscure corner of the forum not a lot of people would see. Sprite changes, Type Race restrictions (there was a poll at one point so I'll give them that), now removal of RMT WITHOUT adjustments to the official way to purchase ZC, it's just wrong to change these before making public announcements that give us notifications so we can give our opinions too. Not to mention so much approved suggestions that people have been waiting years for and no new progress towards. There's far too many times where dissatisfied people are considered "toxic" when I feel these feelings are very justified as a consumer and shouldn't be considered toxic for being the opposite opinion to the staff. Harassment is not okay I know this much, but when the player of your site isn't happy, you should listen to them and give them a chance to speak their mind honestly, not just argue/cancel them because "they don't agree with the staff". Unless the site has a better system of, you know, maybe not being so militant and a little greedy with how much money it costs to buy simple things, I feel I likely will not play much anymore minus the daily log in and maybe type race. I'm just tired of feeling like the player can't be heard without being belittled for being negative or maybe using one word that makes your entire argument invalid in their eyes. I still give the site an extra star as overall besides the official site and rules/staff unprofessionalism at times, I've had a very positive experience and I did enjoy collecting Melans/Legendary stuff. I just hope one day this site will change for the better as I don't wish to give up on it.

To be honest the whole thing is but a mixed message run by people and people do what people do and some people are just not up for it. I say this because I really like the game but overall unprofessional Dialogues and Lack of communication with the public let alone potential shady action behind the walls this game has degraded so much with little improvement and more and more problems. This isn’t just about the RMT I am saying as generally as a whole I might not been the most active but the game is starting to falter so maybe it’s about time the people running it instead of keeping the dishes undone per say get the dishes done already and stop beating about the bush I know it hard but your not the only ones being punished here this. So much need improvement sadly it might be to late for this game it’s all up to the people running it to improve it and ask we the public what we think needs the most attending too and a search bar for crying loud how are we supposed to find info you say if we can’t find anything

The game itself is an amazing concept, but everything that happens "behind the scenes" and the way the site is ran just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Most of this game is Pay-To-Win, and when contacting staff they speak to you in a more personal and unprofessional way like using words such as, “I, me, I’m,” instead of words like, “we, our, we’re...” This creates a weird and awkward situation when contacting staff when asking questions and such and just feels tense as if you’re being talked to as if you are uneducated compared to the staff member helping you. All and all I’d say that the staff here are rude but helpful.

As we are currently training new Moderators, I figured it best to take this claim of unprofessionalism quite seriously, so I investigated. I found no contact between you and any moderators via PM or Forum, so I finally checked the Support Centre and found one ticket. A ticket in which you requested help in locating your account, but not before having created a second account in direct violation of our "one person = one account" rule. Consequently, you were given a bit of a talking-to about it, but the situation was resolved and here you are now with an unlocked account. Having reviewed the communication between you and our moderator-in-training, I can conclusively say that they handled it very professionally indeed. In fact I will be using that ticket as an example of how to deal with similar cases in future. The use of first-person singular pronouns is totally fine. Staff members are individual persons who work together but still independently. When one of them says "I will look into this for you," that's not unprofessional, that's personal dedication! I hope that this clears things up, both for you and for future readers of this review.

First off, I'd like to state that I bear no intense grudge toward this site, or toward anyone who operates/is associated with it. That being said, I'd also like to state a few of the reasons why this site irks me, and why I believe it deserves such a "harsh" review. We'll start with the things I like about the site: the userbase is friendly and welcoming, often aiding new players in figuring things out and sometimes even gifting them special Pokémon to welcome them onto PFQ. The community is perhaps the best thing about this site, and for that, it deserves some credit. Another thing I enjoy is the vast diversity when it comes to Pokémon. They come from every gen, accompanied by Fakemon, as well as their shiny, albino, and melanistic forms. The problem that comes with this is how insanely difficult it is to obtain every single one. That's where the all-time biggest rank, Arceus rank, comes in. You claim it by having your dex completely filled, but the moment a new Pokémon or Fakemon is added to the site... you lose it. I've never had it (or any of the "higher" ranks), but the fact that it's a constant battle to maintain your status makes it sound a bit more like a heavy chore than a fun goal to aim for. Pokerus is a bit similar, but not significant enough for me to get into. This problem also occurs with hunting. Loads of people have already talked about the pay-to-play issue here, so I won't be getting into it. All I will say is that someone who does not wish to pay for Hypermode and premium items, such as myself, will find it incredibly difficult to hatch a melan, or even an albino. This can easily turn away newer players, and for a very good reason. Now, onto my biggest issue with PFQ: the staff. I may have left out the paywall section of this review due to others already describing it in detail, but this is such a big issue -from my point of view- that I believe it needs to be addressed once again. Not every staff member applies to this problem. A good chunk of them are polite and willing to help users without a snide tone to go along with it. But for Niet, the owner and main coder of the site, it's really not the same. Take a look at the Suggestions thread, and by extent, the Rejected and Approved threads. Most responses to rejected suggestions (from Niet) are curt, brief, and shut down every valid point that has been brought up throughout the discussion. Once Niet comes in, that's the end of it. No more discussion. Suggestion rejected. While you're in Approved, glance into the thread regarding a block feature. It's approved, yes, but when you look through the latest posts, it's a lot of the users waiting, asking for a teeny-tiny scrap of information on how the feature is going, only to be finally responded to (after about a month or two) with that same begrudging attitude. Niet could've responded politely, perhaps even apologized for the long silence when the users were nicely prodding for a bit of info, but instead they received a vague reply that was mainly chalked up to "I haven't done anything with it, so that's all you need to know" which also ignored the questions that had been asked a long time ago. When the users become understandably upset about this, they are told off for "attitude" and Niet, who is arguably a part of the attitude, continues to do as he does. In spite of all the negative things I've had to say about this site, it's not *bad*. It runs well, it has plenty of content, and stands on the sturdy support of its wonderful community. It needs a bit of improvement, but that's where PFN comes in. I have hope that it will be better than what PFQ is, and I'm crossing my fingers that this will turn out to be true. But until then, it doesn't seem like there will be much change. Many users have brought up the issue with Niet, yet I don't see it being resolved. It feels like the negative reviews are just being brushed off, only for the problem to continue as if they never existed. That makes me feel quite disappointed. Nonetheless, I'll remain on the site for the sake of the friends I've made. I am aware that my review has come off as rude and a bit intense in some places, and I do apologize for this. That being said, though, I feel the site could benefit from a small change in attitude. Thank you for reading.

I can't say I would suggest this site to other's, if I am perfectly honest. This is despite the large amount of time I spend on it myself. For one, if you are a free to play gamer I don't suggest you melan hunt. It's really just. Not fun. And the game will remind you how much better you could do if you had hypermode or shiny charms every time you check your shiny chain, which cost real money (yes you can buy them from other users, but the site has to get paid by someone to get them). That is another issue. It doesn't say this anywhere, but development of this game has stopped. There will be no more improvements, just bug fixes. This isn't posted anywhere clear for clients and customers to know before purchasing items, the money for which goes to pay the dev to develop a new pet project. This goes to another issue, while they have been working at it, communication is abysmal and it is fairly clear the site doesn't have anyone who has actually worked in real development. Ultimately anything major must go through the single dev who, to most of us, doesn't seem to treat this as a job and rather like a hobby, which considering it pays all their bills and allows them to use the money from this site to start a passion project that ended development here without any real warning (and without stopping or warning anyone who is using real money to buy currency), feels like quite a slight to those who use real money I imagine. I personally am free to play and have made many friends through here, which is really not due to the site itself much. The forum lacks basic features like a search function, while users who post questions or suggestions and haven't manually scoured the forum are treated a bit briskly by staff. There is also not an official block function, and trying to get one has been like pulling teeth. If the dev doesn't understand something, and that includes LGBTQ issues or racial issues, they don't see the importance of it and seem very much to dismiss it. I was around for PF1 as well and if you were, I can't say I have seen much true change between the dev now and then, they just seem to be more silent since they seem unable to communicate professionally, and this is something that plagues a lot of staff communication especially in the discord. A cult of personality is wanted, encouraged, and anyone who disagrees even respectfully is shut down extremely harshly. Comments from the dev often feel like a game of Schrodinger's joke. If you were upset, it was just a joke and *sigh* I guess no one understands me. (Yes this is how the dev behaves towards members) Honestly the site needs a good, mature PR person who is given leeway to manage the communication. But as far as the staff, they are almost all volunteer (and the artists are paid peanuts) and this point is used to dismiss complaints about lack of communication. "Everyone has a life" they say, but... Considering that the dev and their co-admin apparently do this as a full time job (it pays their bills) and they have free time to have their community watch them game on Twitch, I do not see how basic expectations of communication is too much to ask for. I will probably receive some blowback for this review. Disagreement is often not allowed and especially does not seem to go unpunished. It's a shame because at it's core it has a lot going for it, it's the best game of this type to work on mobile, and I keep wanting to like it. But when it is ran in such a way as development is silently ended because of the emotional state of the dev, and either through lack of thinking things through or experience shady or dishonest things are done involving real money taken from children, it's hard to want to invest in it beyond the surface. As it is, I would say it has potential, but as I said there is nothing more being done for this game (a new one that is drastically different and sounds like it won't appeal to much of those into clicker games and it rather more about what the dev wants is being developed, but if you like this style game specifically it doesn't sound like it is made with you in mind).

Okay, but you have to pay to get a lot of fun. I wish you could access hyper mode things without hyper mode. It just makes this website less free and fun. It also gets boring after a while and some pages are very hard to find. But some parts are fun so I’m giving this review 2 stars instead of 1.

Can’t find anything

it's too confusing for me, I have no idea how I'm supposed to get credits, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do-