Pokemon Go recently had a massive overhaul to the gym system that lefts some players excited and others a bit frustrated. The new system has been massively rewarding to those players that previously could not compete in gyms due to the massive amount of gym hoarding that higher leveled players were doing. To solve this problem, Niantic changed the system to one that only gave out the coveted coin rewards after your Pokemon had been defeated and knocked out of whatever gym it had been placed in. Some players who have been upset with this system decided they would try to hinder opposing teams by simply just not knocking out their opposing Pokemon and try to starve other players of coins. What those players do not realize however, is that this tactic actually is helping the opposing players far more than they could have thought possible.
Here’s the thing. The new system doesn’t simply only reward players when their Pokemon get knocked out of gyms. (Despite many gripers wanting you to think this.) When looking at the original description of the new gym system, you will note that it discuss something called gym badges. You get these badges from spinning gym Pokestops as well as getting items from those Pokestops. What players trying to “starve out other players coin supplies” by refusing to attack gyms seem to not realize is that these badges have levels. These badge levels are experienced based and can be leveled up in all sorts of ways such as spinning Pokestops, defeating Pokemon in that gym, beating raid bosses on that gym or simply just HAVING YOUR POKEMON DEFEND THE GYM OVER TIME. You see, a trainer gets badge experience simply by just having a Pokemon in that gym and gets more experience for that badge the longer the Pokemon stays in the gym. By not attacking that gym, you are helping them level up their badge even easier and depriving yourself of badge experience. “But why should i care about that? That (Insert Mystic, Instinct, Valor insult here,) player still isn’t getting their coins so they aren’t gonna be able to take over gyms or be good at the game and stuff right?” No … just …so much no.
When you spin a gym Pokestop, initially you will receive less items than you would from a normal Pokestop. (Typically I get 3 items from a normal Pokestop and 2 from a generic gym stop.) But gym Pokestops are unique in that they have a lot of other neat variables that give you more items. Is that gym currently being defended by your team? You get a bonus item on your Pokestop spin for that gym! Do you have a bronze level badge on that gym? That’s another bonus item for you! Is your badge Silver level or Gold level? Each of those get bonus items! Yup. That’s right. If you sit there and let someone hang out in a gym for a week or more, you are potentially just giving an opposing player a Pokestop where they will receive at least 5 ITEMS ON EVERY SPIN, (6 if their team has control of that gym.)But hey, you are starving them of coins right so they won’t be able to do raids and compete against you in gyms and stuff right? NOPE! Ever since the new system came out, gyms are turning over more than ever. This means recovery items are more valuable than ever, especially with the amount of damage a raid boss can do to your Pokemon. Fun fact, when you have a gym that you can get a minimum of 6 items from on every spin, it gets a lot easier to stay stocked up on recovery items as well as Pokeballs and berries. I have a coffee shop that I frequent that i earned a silver badge at simply from opposing players trying to “Starve me of coins” and now I am always able take down their gyms and am prepared for pretty much any raid. Other fun fact, I’m only level 25 and can do all of this thanks to all you players who wanna starve opponents of coins. So keep up the good work and enjoy your strategy to stop other teams from gaining strength
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