Pokémon GO has been updated, activating new daily bonuses, fixes to Gym battles, and other features, developer Niantic announced.
The daily bonuses offer XP and Stardust for catching a Pokémon and extra items for visiting a Pokéstop, with extra XP and Stardust available at the end of the week, if you earned a bonus for seven straight days. This translates to 2000 XP and 2400 Stardust each week, on top of the 500 XP and 600 Stardust per day for catching a Pokémon.
Gyms have also received an update. For a brief period after defeating a rival Gym Leader, the player who beat that Leader will be the only one allowed to place a Pokémon in the Gym. This fixes an issue where players would often have freshly-defeated Gyms poached from them by rival teams. In addition, defeating a regular Gym member will lose that Gym more Prestige, whereas training at a friendly Gym will net you less Prestige than before. This allows for Gyms to be more balanced between the three teams, and giving players a better chance at taking down high-level Gyms.
Since launch, Pokémon GO's "nearby" Pokémon tracking system suffered from multiple bugs, making the feature essentially useless. Various third-party services, such as PokéVision, have acted as unofficial fixes but were shut down by developer Niantic. However, a new and improved in-game tracker is on its way, according to TechCrunch.
The system is now split into two categories: "Nearby" and "Sightings." Nearby Pokémon can be found close to corresponding Pokéstops, as determined by the Photo Disc shown. Sighted Pokémon appear like they currently do, without any further indicator of range or direction. The new feature has been limited to San Francisco since August but is currently seeing a limited rollout. Those areas include the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area (including Oakland), the Seattle area, and the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is not currently known when or if the feature will be available worldwide.
However, Niantic has also quietly updated how Pokéstops function. Previously, it had been reported that wild Pokémon would not spawn if the player was traveling "too fast," as the game warns. After the newest update, players on Reddit are now reporting that Pokéstops are similarly "speed locked." Some Pokémon GO Plus users are not being affected by this change, but their claims are being disputed. Players have been vocal in their displeasure, with some sarcastically suggesing the entire game should be "speed locked." One questioned why the "I'm a passenger" acknowledgement is still available, as the update now prevents anyone in a vehicle or on public transportation from playing the game.
Pokémon GO is expected to receive more major updates in the future to add trading, though a release date has not been announced.
What do you think of the new update? Will the new "speed locks" stop you from playing Pokémon GO? Are you excited to finally take down some Level 10 Gyms in your area? Sound off in the comments below!
