Latest update rolling out!

[inkstone]

And here are the official patch notes:

• You’ll earn bonuses for the first Pokémon catch and PokéStop visit each day. You’ll receive a larger bonus when you do this seven days in a row. (note: this was a server-side update because I started getting the bonus yesterday whereas the game update hit my Android this afternoon.)


• When you defeat the Gym Leader at a rival Gym, there will be a brief period of time where only you will be able to place a Pokémon in the open Gym. (read: no more gym sniping!)


• The amount of Prestige a rival Gym loses when you defeat a regular Gym member has increased. The amount of Prestige gained by training at a friendly Gym has been lowered. (note: the prestige amounts are basically doubled and halved for fighting rival gyms and training friendly gyms, respectively.)


• Minor text fixes. (note: I don't know if it's just me but I don't like the new text fixes, which seem to involve making the font face smaller.)

Other changes:

• Pokestops are now speed-locked! I'm not sure what the limits are, but I suspect they're similar to speed limits for spawning?


• On the other hand, pokestops are now dropping A LOT more items. I don't know if it's linked to the daily quests or if it's random. I will tell you that the pokestop outside of my neighborhood gave me TWELVE ITEMS when I spun it. ETA: Actually, this seems to be an event that Niantic is hosting to celebrate the daily bonuses! More info!

What do we think about the update?

Comments

[kaberett]

OH IS THAT WHY PICKING UP ITEMS DIDN'T WORK ON THE BUS TONIGHT. >:(

Nod re lots more items -- I'm observing that too.

[inkstone]

Yeah -- I wonder if the boost in items dropped is to compensate for speed-locking pokestops. There are rumors that Niantic's been hit with lawsuits re: PokeGo & driving and while I don't know if they'd actually hold up in court, they are a major nuisance so I can't really blame them for changing the mechanic.

[yuuago]

I'm not a fan of the speed-locking at all. No more slapping pokestops while on the bus, I guess!

I do like that I'll be able to drain more Prestige, though. 8) There are a lot of gyms held by opposing teams around here, so this might make it easier for m to claim a few things back. ...And I generally find battling more fun than training.

[inkstone]

Yeah, we have so many level 10 gyms around me that I'd taken up training gyms more than battling them. I still battle the lower level gyms (to stave off them becoming level 10 gyms!) but it's been pretty stagnant around here. I'll probably start attacking rival gyms more often now.

[lilacsigil]

Speed-locking is a real problem when your pokestops are 25km or more apart! I'm having to pull over instead of drive past (my partner st_aurafina did the spinning, not me!)

[st_aurafina]

I no longer have a purpose in this relationship. Leave me by the side of the road. Preferably by a pokestop.

[lilacsigil]

Okay, but I'll leave you at a nice pokestop, not that creepy one in Nullawarre which doesn't really work.

[inkstone]

Yes, please, don't abandon your partner at any creepy places. XD

[st_aurafina]

We got heaps at our first pokestop. Which we had to be completely stationary for, I might add. And definitely more spawns around the stops.

Still mad about the speed limit on the pokestops though. We had a good routine worked out.

[jack]

"The amount of Prestige a rival Gym loses when you defeat a regular Gym member has increased."

That makes sense: it used be that almost no gyms were ever built up beyond level 3 or 4, because levelling them up was so hard compared to knocking them down. With the last changes to allow 6 creatures in levelling up, now almost all the gyms I see are level 10 for one team or another.

Hopefully there will be a balance where gyms change hands a reasonable amount, but there's some hope that placing in a gym will last for a couple of days. I think that was the original idea, judging by the reward pattern, although I'm not sure how much it varies depending how many people are playing locally.

But it's really hard to find a good balance point in a MMORPG, it may not actually exist.

[inkstone]

Yeah, I know some people are upset about this current change. But some people were also upset by the stagnant gym environment after the training change. I was excited by the training change, but I didn't like the gym meta it gave rise to. It's really tough to find a balance since this is, in the end, a glorified casual walking app that people keep trying to make into more. I don't know that there's a way to make both player groups happy.

[tyger]

I do not like the idea of this pokéstop change! Mainly because it's been the only way for me to *get* pokéstops for... a while now. Hopefully that will change, but it pretty much means there's no longer any point to playing pokégo in the car, which, honestly. I realise it's designed to get you to exercise, but looking at the map going past when going somewhere and playing 'can I get the pokéstop' has been super fun! (Also, I've learned heaps of weird local trivia things!)

Oh well, we'll see how it goes. I do like the idea of bonuses for doing things, though since I'm not really supposed to do any exercise until my post-op appointment it will, again, be a while until I can try it out. Body, stop being such a pain already!!

[dickgrayson]

My mother would take me on Pokemon runs to get the Stops but so far it is working. I hope we keep driving slow enough. Kind of annoying but I understand the change. The Gym change is not helpful as I mostly have level 10 Mystic here...oh well I will have to find other gyms. I wanted to get in one anyway. :D

[ephemera]

I am digging the bonus-and-extra-Pokemon's fest that's going on right now, and the wider range of critters that seem to be around it. THe bonuses are making me smile, too - I haven't seen the effect of the speedlocking, though - I think maybe London busses go slow enough they look like walking? (I still get the "you are a passenger!" notification more often while sitting stationary than I do out and about!)

[healingmirth]

Ha, I'm actually glad to know that the increased spawns are temporary, even if it's a privileged problem to have. It's starting to stress me out that there are so many Pokémon I can catch from my house instead of having to choose to venture 20 feet down the sidewalk. I keep running out of pokeballs =/

I took down a level 10 gym, in three shifts, yesterday, and it seemed pretty manageable. That's compared to needing over two full runs to level a gym from three to four today, which seemed like it took forever. I don't even want to think about being stationary outside long enough to level from 9 to 10 in chilly weather.