As part of the Luminous Legends X event currently active inPokemon GO, which makes it easier to encounter Fairy-type Pokemon in the wild, Niantic announced a Marill-focused Limited-Time Research event scheduled for May 9th, 2021. Unfortunately, when a mistake on Niantic’s side caused the Marill event to start early, the company responded by resetting all players' progress in the research tasks.

TheMarill Limited-Time Research eventis a one-day event meant to highlight the Water/Fairy-type Pokemon and give players a chance to encounter Marill. When it started without warning on May 7th at 8 AM, many players focused on frantically trying to meet the requirements within the time limit rather than question the early arrival. About 10 minutes later, Niantic tweeted an apology for the mix-up and announced that event progress would be reset for any player who made progress or even completed it early.

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ManyPokemon GOplayers are quite upset about having their hard work wiped. Fortunately, gamers will not lose any of the Pokemon they caught during the event’s mistaken early launch. The Marill Limited-Time Research event is still scheduled to release properly on May 9th, its original release date, so players will soon have a chance to redo the event and reclaim their lost rewards.

Limited-Time Research events aren’t quite asengaging and rewarding as Community Day events, but they still offer players a great way to highlight a new Pokemon each month. They’re also a great way to boost the odds of catching a single Pokemon gamers may have their high eye on, acquiring a Pokemon with high stats, or finding a rare shiny Pokemon. One incredibly dedicated fan has even managed tocollect every single Shiny Pokemonout there and displayed the impressive collection onPokemon Home. Niantic has confirmed that Shiny Marill, which is green instead of blue, will be available to encounter in the upcoming event.

Although a lot of event progress was lost thanks to Niantic’s error, this could be seen less as a punishment for daring to engage with the event early and more as an opportunity for a trial run. After all, the event will be open again in a few days, unchanged, allowing players to pick up almost exactly where they left off. Captured Pokemon won’t be affected, so perhaps gamers should view this aborted event as a brief bonus to theLuminous Legends X eventand the ongoing global Fairy-type Catch Challenge. However, players who used valuable items to finish the event faster may not be so easily placated. Niantic may want to consider refunding particularly expensive items in the name of building developer-player relations.

TheLuminous Legends X eventcontinues to bring a variety of Fairy-type Pokemon, Field Research tasks, and Xerneas five-star raids toPokemon Gowithout fear of resets.

Pokemon GOis available on Android and iOS devices.