Within the past month, Niantic’s Pokemon Go has seen resurgence in popularity. This is mostly due to nicer weather and of course, the new Solstice event update. For some, the anticipation of the gym battles is a big deal, while others anticipate the new Pokemon that will be available to catch. Unfortunately everything comes with a price. News is spreading that a special event in the game, coming up on the game’s first anniversary, may have been leaked which is causing a major let down to some. With all of this commotion, players can still look forward to the re-workings of the gyms as well as multiplayer options, badges; something called motivation, and a new raid feature.
Players of the game seem to be mostly excited about the new gym features for the Solstice event, but why? Niantic temporarily shut down gyms in order to start working on revamping them in hopes to create a better experience for this new release. The goal is to provide players with the ability to enjoy a group experience and battle together against powerful Pokemon. Now, with this new update, there will be slots that allow players to hold up to six Pokemon. In theory, if a player is able to get more Pokemon in to these slots in the gym then they will have better success controlling and overtaking it.
A secondary feature has been added too, the raid feature. This feature is used in game to attack an opposing team but is acquired through gym fights or the game’s micro-transaction system. So far this feature hasn’t been added but there’s hope that this specific feature will possibly allow for legendary Pokemon to be added to the game even though it’s just speculation at this time. Luckily for players, if they were paying attention, Niantic was giving extra exp during the Fire and Ice event for good, great and excellent curveball throws and tosses. This has to make up for something, at least for the moment.
Along with the raids, fans of the game can already feel the nostalgia from this new update as well, badges. Everyone can now be like Ash, Misty and Brock! Well, sort of. Badges are required, and attained through beating a gym, but badges can be leveled up at poke stops. The cool part about this is the higher the level, the better items the player gets. Next to the excitement of getting new badges, and the possible addition of new Pokemon, the most anticipated part of the update is the Co-op game play.
Among the list of things that were reported from the release of the first version of Pokemon Go, there were a lot of complaints about the ability to battle with friends. Now, users of the game can do exactly that. Part of the Co-op gameplay system is the ability to join up to 20 players in order to take down an already existing gym. The downside however, is waiting for a rare and powerful Pokemon to conquer this existing gym. Only at that time can players participate in the raid. Don’t forget to feed your Pokemon after leaving them at the gym too or else they will fall from their ranks! Bonus however if you win and get those badges! What happens though after a gym is taken over? Many people had this question too after the original release.
No one likes the high level player that leaves his Snorlax laying around for everyone to fight but never conquer right? Well, Niantic hear what the people had to say and added a Motivation stat. This stat will determine that the strongest Pokemon in a gym don’t keep ruling over it. Hopefully this gives everyone a better chance at winning. Players can however; use in game items to boost motivation but on the flip side, players can also boost the cooperation from both the attackers and current ruling team. Mostly, it’s a virtual tug-o-war until someone invades enemy territory and wins. So far, all of these features have benefitted the interest of the players except the rumors about a possible event leak.
In passing, there have been some reports that Niantic is also planning a special event for Pokemon Go for their one year anniversary of releasing the game. The intention was to keep the event a secret of course in order to surprise the players but a data miner believes they found evidence to support that the event may be circling around new Pokemon additions. As a bonus for the anniversary event, Niantic added a special box that can be purchased from July 6th – July 24th where players can get poke balls, berries and other necessary items. If you find the special Pikachu with Ash’s hat then you hit the motherload of content! Pikachu will be released only during this time frame as a collectible in the game for the first year anniversary. So get him quick!
With all of these new features, players will need to take some time and relearn the game a bit. During this first year of release, Niantic didn’t do many updates to the game and eventually people started to dwindle and lose interest. This was the cause for the new updates and revamping of the system. So, if you’re an avid player and dig through all of these new features, give Niantic some feedback, they really are listening to what the players have to say. So if you’re curious, head on over to your game or app store and check out this release! The game is available on iOS and Galaxy.
Link for iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pok%C3%A9mon-go/id1094591345?mt=8
Link for Galaxy: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nianticlabs.pokemongo&hl=en