Late last night, Niantic announced that the Pokémon GO update they had been slowly leaking details about was soon to go live. Check out the official tweet below:
This new update brings a couple expected features.
MEDALS REVAMP
The first is a refresh to the medal system. Players can now get a catch bonus for a Pokémon type as they catch more and more of that type and earn the necessary medals. For example, as you catch more normal type Pokémon, your “schoolkid” medal will become bronze, then silver, then gold. For each medal you receive, you earn a catch bonus that makes it easier to catch (in this example) normal type Pokémon.
TRAINING SYSTEM UPGRADE
The next part of the update that was previously announced is the overhaul of the training system. When training at a local gym owned by your team, you will now be able to bring six Pokémon, just like you can at rival gyms. Previously, you could use only one Pokémon to try to take on the whole friendly gym. Also, the CP levels will now adjust to be closer to the levels of your Pokémon, likely making it much easier for newer or casual players to take advantage of gyms, instead of just being terrified of the 2000+ CP beasts that usually dwell there.
Now for the unexpected updates. Super exciting!
LESS EVOLUTION ANIMATION
Niantic has decreased the evolution animation time. Why is this exciting? Because you can now jam pack even more mass evolutions into that 30 minute lucky egg window! This is an enormous buff to lucky eggs. If you don’t know what a mass evolution is, don’t worry – basically, it’s a way of leveling very quickly within the game: Players stockpile the Pokémon that cost least to evolve, then pop a lucky egg and go on a crazy 30 minute evolution streak, since they earn 1000xp for every evolution with the lucky egg. Niantic has not released an official new animation time for evolutions, but you will most likely now be able to get well over 60,000 XP from just one mass evolution. This will no doubt make it easier to climb those daunting levels later in the game.
UPDATED WALKING DISTANCE
The last unexpected update is a bit more minor, but still exciting nonetheless. The Pokémon Egg screen will now periodically update the distanced you’ve walked without you having to exit and reopen the screen. You can now metaphorically watch the pot boil as you walk, getting closer and closer to hatching that 10k egg without looking away!
While none of these updates are enormously game-changing, they should add another layer to playing. Every little update will help make the game better and keep it fresh, so it’s good that Niantic seems to be staying on top of things. Hopefully the next update can be trading or trainer battles!
Are you excited for any of these new features?
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