Pokemon Go update: data mine reveals major new changes – gym badges, raids, TMs, rare candy and legendary Pokemon

The Poke-times, they are a changin’. Big time.

What’s inside Pokemon Go’s latest patch update: 0.67.1 APK

Pokemon Go’s latest patch update is a big one. In many ways this is the patch that hardcore Pokemon fans have been waiting for – it’s the one that’ll finally add in many of the defining features from the main Pokemon games on Nintendo consoles and handhelds, finally turning Niantic, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company’s big geocaching phenomenon into a more fully-fledged Pokemon experience.

What exactly do we mean by these kinds of features? Well, fans have been working hard to data mine the game and thanks to places like the Pokemon Go Reddit, The Silph Road and Pokemon Go Hub we now have an even better idea of what the patch will include beyond what Niantic themselves have already announced as being in this Pokemon Go update. All the information here is as according to the datamine, and could be changed by Niantic before it’s made public – though that’s unlikely.

You can look forward to the following showing up in Pokemon Go as this patch is fully rolled out:

New Items in Pokemon Go’s latest update – TMs, Rare Candy, Raid Tickets

Here’s a big one – the new update includes a bunch of all-new items that’ll make a significant difference to how you play the game and add some new layers of meta to your Pokemon Go quest to become a Pokemon master.

• Raid Tickets

  Raid Tickets will give you access to the Raid Battles, which are the key to getting many of the new items listed below.

  • These come in two variants – a Free Raid Pass and a Premium Raid Pass. There is also a Legendary Raid Pass – we’ll cover that down the page some.
  • The Free Raid Pass can drop once a day for players of any level from spinning the Pokestop style icon being added to gyms. It can be used once per day.
  • The Premium Raid pass will be available from the in-game store, and can be used several times per day.
  • Raid passes are used up regardless of if you win the battle or not, so try not to spend it on losing battles.

• Technical Machines / TMs

  Special items that can teach your Pokemon new moves – ideal for trying to get some of the best moves taught to combat-ready Pokemon.

  • Technical Machines come in two variants – Fast TMs and Charged TMs – and as we know, Pokemon Go’s moves are all either Fast or Charged in nature.
  • These have a chance to drop as a reward for Raid Battles, but only for trainers over Level 15 for Fast TMs, and Level 25 for Charged TMs.
  • Each Pokemon has a variety of moves they can learn, and the move you get from a TM looks like it will be random.

• Rare Candy

  The classic Pokemon item used to level Pokemon up in traditional games returns with a new but similar purpose.

  • Rare candy looks like it’ll be rewarded from Raid Battles, and it’ll act as catch-all candy, working to help evolve any Pokemon you like.
  • The ‘exchange rate’ is 1:1, so 1 Rare Candy could be used on a Pidgey and would count as 1 Pidgey Candy, ideal for leveling up those rare, powerful Pokemon.

• Golden Razz Berry

  This new berry-type item will be available as a raid battle reward, and is a powerful new berry. It’ll restore a gym defender Pokemon’s motivation bar entirely, or increase a Pokemon’s chance of capture by 25%.

• Premier Ball

  A new type of Pokeball to go alongside the Poke, Great and Ultra balls. These are a staple of the main games.

Gym Badges & Gym Rewards in Pokemon Go’s latest update

Another classic Pokemon video game staple, Gym Badges serve to mark your successes in the Pokemon Gyms. In those games eight badges are enough to get you to the Elite Four for a chance to become Champion, but in the real world in Pokemon Go you’re going to be collecting a lot more than that. Here’s what you need to know about gym badges:

• Each Gym has a unique badge that levels up as you contribute to that gym.

  Any action you perform at the gym will raise your overall gym badge level through a set path – Basic, Bronze, Silver and Gold.

• Gym Badges track several major stats related to that gym.

  How many battles you win at the gym, how many berries you’ve fed Pokemon there and the total time your Pokemon have spent defending the gym will all now be tracked.

• The higher your gym badge rank, the better that gym’s rewards.

  Gyms will drop items both like a Pokestop and from raids, and the higher your rank at that gym the better your rewards have a chance of being. Making a gym your local home will be rewarding over time.

Gym changes in Pokemon Go’s latest update – motivation, defending & item drops

In addition to the gym badges, gyms in general have received an overhaul – that’s why so many gyms have been giving ‘gym disabled’ or ‘gym under construction’ messages during the roll-out of this large new patch.

• Gyms now have 6 defender Pokemon slots.

  The defending Pokemon trainer team can now slot in 6 Pokemon into any gym they control.

  • It has to be 6 unique Pokemon – the same Pokemon cannot be assigned twice, even by two different players.
  • Pokemon are fought in the order they were added to the gym, not CP (Combat Power) order as before.

• Pokemon defending gyms are now governed by a ‘motivation’ stat.

  Motivation determines how effective a Pokemon is at defending.

  • A Pokemon’s motivation will drop steadily as it defends a gym for you.
  • If a Pokemon’s motivation drops to zero, it will leave the gym and return to you.
  • Members of the defending team can top up their gym by feeding demovtivated Pokemon berries to restore their motivation, including the new Golden Razz Berry which will restore a Pokemon’s motivation to 100%.

• Pokemon still earn Pokecoins by defending a gym.

  This system works much as before, with the same maximum of 100 coins per day remaining.

Legendary Pokemon Raids – how to catch Legendary Pokemon like Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres and others.

Legendary Pokemon have been in the code for Pokemon Go since the very beginning, but these super-rare Legendary Pokemon have been tantalizingly unavailable for a very long time now.

Not so any more! With this latest update, they’ll actually become available in Pokemon Go – but to the most elite players only. Here’s how it works:

• Top players will get given a Legendary Raid Pass.

  These passes will be rewarded to players who fight a lot of gym battles and raid battles with the new gameplay systems detailed above.

• Legendary Raid Passes will give you access to a tough fight against a Legendary Pokemon.

  This fight will like other raids require some serious thought and likely be the hardest of them all.

• Legendary Badges featuring the head of legendary bird Lugia will count your victories.

  You’ll very likely have to battle multiple legendaries before being given the chance to catch one.

• Once you’ve won enough legendary battles, you’ll be given the chance to catch a legend.

  This is a rare thing so, y’know, don’t screw it up.

Quality of Life improvements and smaller updates to Pokemon Go

• It appears you’ll now be able to pre-set ‘battle teams’ of Pokemon.

  Data miners currently believe this will let you pre-set favorite Battle Teams of battle-hardened Pokemon, meaning less menu juggling.

• Push Notifications for certain new events.

  The code of the game features code for sending push notifications for several events, including when your Pokemon get booted from a gym they’re defending.

• Healing at the Gym.

  Some discovered code appears to suggest you’ll be able to use potions from the gym screen before battle, once again removing some menu navigation stress.

For even more in-depth patch and update details to an utterly ridiculous depth, be sure to swing by Pokemon Go Hub. As crazy as it sounds, we’re really only scratching the surface here.

from VG247 http://ift.tt/2ttiflp