Has Pokemon Go gotten better in rural areas?

[abby_ella]

I downloaded Pokemon Go when it was first released, and headed out to the woods behind my house, only to find... Zero Pokemon. Like, literally nothing. I found online some people complaining about there being no gyms or anything in rural areas, but I would have expected some Pokemon to be, you know, out in nature.

Has this problem ever been improved upon, or does it just not affect enough people to be worth the time and money to fix it?

 

[Cometstarlight]

I think it's improved massively for rural players, but if you live way out in the middle of nowhere, I don't know how to help the pokestop/gym situation.

There have been plenty of events (one ending tomorrow) in which Pokemon spawn literally everywhere. I usually only see one or two Pokemon at my house at any given time, but this event had three or four spawns when I would boot up at my house. Even then, the spawns were usually Pokemon that were rarer or that I didn't see that often.

The research option now allows for rural players (and anyone really) to participate in little sidequest missions that ultimately end in getting a legendary (thus far). I've gotten two Moltres just by doing those, so those who didn't have access to raids can have the ability to get legendaries. The mythic quest can still be a bit rough on rural players since some tasks revolve around raids or pokestops or something very specific, but overall, I think research has been a great addition to POGO.

As for Pokemon in nature- POGO was created to get people out of their homes/comfort zones and meet other people/travel to new destinations. It's more likely that Pokemon spawn where there is a lot of cell phone activity (at least, that's what research on the game has shown) so going out in the middle of the woods may not gain you a Pokemon.

There are still problems, the aforementioned lack of pokestops/gyms in some areas make it difficult for some players, but I think it's vastly improved since day 1.

 

[Sprinter1988]

I live in a village. There are quite a few spots where pokemon spawn for me, but not nearly as many as when I go into the nearest town. I also have one pokestop - its the village pub.

I'm definitely making progress, though at a far slower rate than everyone else seems to have done. Most days I go for a walk around the village and then go into town at least twice a week, so its not that bad.

But yeah, going into the woods is not really an option.

 

[Erron Black]

I live in a rather rural area(I've got like 6 pokestops and a gym around my town but spawns are minimal and usually unexciting) and it definitely has gotten better. The weather system helps out with getting Pokemon you rarely see,(Saw two Bagon at our Post Office a while ago for example) field research helps with filling dex and getting candies for various Pokemon like Houndour, Onix, Numel, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Gastly, etc... and the Research Breakthrough rewards you with a Moltres atm + Special Research grants Mew and can be done at your own pace.

They're definitely appeasing both rural and urban players with the newer updates and the direction they're heading is a pretty good one atm.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

Yea it seems a bit more varied now thankfully. Still a bit of a hassle at times, but I'm glad that there are plenty of stops and Gyms where I'm at.

 

[MayTrainer]

Last time I played was in January when I finished the balls. I disinstalled the game since the nearest gym/pokestop is over 10km... some weeks ago we discovered that the game got some new PokéStops and Gyms near us (I think thanks to some Ingress players).
With the Gyms/PokéStops near us (they are 5 minutes walking) I restarted the game and was able to get 2 Articuno (thanks field reseach!)