Niantic recently released a TREMENDOUS overhaul to the gym battle system in game that pretty much changes everything except the actual battle techniques themselves. Many players are pretty excited for the update due to how great it is for the general game population but some have decided to vocalize some concerns (and repeat previous ones,) with the new system. I’m gonna tell you why those concerns aren’t good for overall game health.
1.)People being upset that they can’t hold gyms the way they could before.
Well … yeah … because gym monopolies are really bad for the overall player base and general game health. It isn’t any fun to roll up to a gym as a new player and see the bar minimum Pokemon you have do beat to even start chipping away at a gym’s prestige is like 2500 CP. You don’t really start getting that strength until like, level 25 at least. For a new or lower player, it is SUUUUPER discouraging for them to even try to participate in the battle system thus, taking away the ONLY way to earn in game currency and one of the big elements of Pokemon games in general. So of course players are gonna get sick of just catching Pokemon and never working on leveling up and getting a good team together to compete with other players. If you aren’t even gonna be able to make a dent in a gym till a month or two down the road, why would you even bother if you are just a casual player. The update fixes this by adding in the motivation system that now temporarily decreases CP of a Pokemon as time passes or as it is defeated in battle. This not only keeps people from hoarding gyms, (like some were previously doing, thus taking away opportunities for other players who may not have as much free time to spend as much time gym battling,) but also gives lower leveled players an opportunity to maybe take down a few defending Pokemon in a gym and gives them an an opportunity to enjoy the gym system in the game. More players enjoying the game is good for everyone overall and having more players motivated to participate in the raid system will definitely make raids more fun for everyone involved.
2.) Legendary Raid Passes only being accessible by top players
Ok, so several things don’t work here. First of all, that’s not what Edward Wu of Niantic said. He said “Those who were very active in the gym system to give them a chance at catching legendary Pokemon at a later date.” (Check out that source from an interview with game reactor here.) That doesn’t mean you have to be a top tier player. It only means that you simply just need to be active in the gym system. So just go play in the gym system and go raid as often as you can and you should still be given the same opportunity as the top tier players. The other hitch here is that even in the original games, you can’t catch or even access legendary Pokemon until you have spent time leveling up your Pokemon and progressing through the game. Why would Pokemon Go function any differently? If you are going to want to take down some legendaries and have the chance to catch one, you can probably bet that you better have some strong Pokemon ready to do battle with it. The game also doesn’t allow you to instantly catch a Charizard or Dragonite right off the bat either so why would you not need to put some work in before catching a Moltres, Suicune, Lugia, or Mewtwo?
3.) But what about rural players! This makes it even more unfair!
Actually there appear to be more gyms and stops than there were previously. I cant say this for all the rural areas of the country but as I went out to catch some Pokemon for the last bit of the fire and ice event a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the park I was walking through appeared to have literally almost twice as many Pokestops than it used to and at least 4 more gyms than there previously had been. If this is any indication as to the direction they are trying to take with the game, then we rural players have much to look forward to.
4.) Speed caps
Sigh … how many times are we gonna talk about this … Speed caps are bad, because driving and playing is bad. Sure, you aren’t gonna do it if the remove the speed caps. You just wanna be able to ride in a passenger seat or have your kids ride and be able to play. I get that. I really do. But if we are being realistic here, then what do we expect them to do to combat driving and playing. If they don’t have the speed caps where they are, then people WILL drive and play and someone WILL get hurt. This isn’t about them trying to be insensitive to peoples needs. It’s about safety. There really isn’t any other way to get around this issue. If you have a realistic solution then I would love to hear it, but currently, having a maximum speed is the only way that I and others can think of to keep people from driving and playing at the same time.
5.) Only one free raid pass per day?!?!?!
Yes. This is sort of enraging but I must refer to my previous point and note the ease in obtaining the premium raid passes. I will give you that this does promote pay to win scheme a bit given that you can’t raid unless you have raid passes and that you are apparently going to need to battle in lots of raids to earn access to the legendary Pokemon. However, the premium raid passes, which allow you to have more than 1 raid pass per day to use, are only 100 coins and coins are now SUUUUUPER easy to obtain in the game. This means that despite Niantic trying to make a profit from the raid system, (They are a business. They do have to earn money somewhere,) it doesn’t actually take that much extra effort from players to get premium raid passes and if you are already playing in the gym system then you should already be getting enough extra coins to be able to buy extra raid passes anyways. It should also be noted that Niantic has a pretty good track record for giving its player base fantastic event specials either via the shop or via altering the game in ways that allow you to get extra xp or candy and whatnot. It wouldn’t be that odd for them to have an event that allows you to obtain more than one free raid pass per day or be able to hold on to more than one free raid pass at a time. I actually see the system as setting up such an event for the community perfectly, given how Niantic really want’s to promote events that see players working together and playing together.
6.) What about mah coins???
Ok. So yeah. You can’t get as many coins per day as you used to be able to. (We think. This information is still being investigated and verified.) You can however, get coins FAAAAAR easier than you previously could. The new systems gives out coins based on a few factors such as the level of your badge for whatever gym you were defending and how long your Pokemon defended that gym for. (Again, still being verified but this is what we have so far.) This means that you don’t have to go out and find/beat 5 gyms to be able to get your 50 coins per day. You really only need to get in one gym per day and defend it for about 8 hrs, (this was my experience,) to get your 50 coins. THAT’S WAY EASIER AND USER FRIENDLY. This is a much better way to motivate players to compete in the gym system and encourages gym activity far more than the previous system did.
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