"A Japanese fan catches a Meowth in ‘Pokémon Go’ using the game’s augmented reality technology."
In spite of Niantic’s best efforts, they were forced to take a loss on July 22’s Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago. As part of a mea culpa for the way the event went down, Niantic promised not only to refund attendees’ money but also to give them a complimentary Gen 2 Lugia and about $100 worth of in-game currency, or 14,500 PokéCoins.
Niantic has already begun rolling these rewards out, and we’ve got more information on them below.
Pokémon Go Fest: You won’t be able to check your Lugia’s stats until you power it up
On the Silph Road thread talking about the rollout of the rewards, players noticed something odd about their complimentary Lugias — specifically when players tried to check their IVs.
“Mine came in as CP 2019 with 15 Attack, 15 Defense and an HP of 133,” wrote thephlyingmonkey. “All the IV checkers are stating that it is an impossible combination.” Players quickly figured out that you need to power your Lugia up at least once using the 15 candies provided before you’re able to assess its IVs. The results left players pleasantly surprised. Multiple players reported their Lugias as having 98% perfect stats.
“Seems like gifted Lugias all have above 93% IVs,” wrote asura152. One player questioned why Niantic didn’t just give everyone a perfect IV Lugia for attending the event, but given how difficult legendary raids are, we’re not going to look a gift Pokémon in the mouth.
Pokémon Go Fest: The complimentary PokéCoins could drastically increase your quality of life in-game
The real prize for Fest attendees is the $100 worth of PokéCoins that are set to land in your account. If you’ve received your Lugia but not your 14,500 PokéCoins, restart your app and they should be deposited.
To get a comparable amount just from gym battling under the new system, you’d need to earn the max amount of PokéCoins (50) per day for 290 days. So “windfall” only scratches the surface of what you’re able to do with it.
If you live in an area with a lot of PokéStops, it would be prudent to spend some of those coins on increasing your backpack’s storage. For 1,000 coins you can get an extra 250 units of space, perfect for making sure you’re not throwing regular PokéBalls in the trash to make room for better items.
The Ultra Box might not be a bad idea either — it comes with premium raid passes, Pinap Berries, incense and lure modules. Whether you’re planning on doing heavy raiding or want to catch as many Pokémon as possible to justify your expanded Pokémon storage, it’s got a little something for everyone.
Or you could just blow it all on incubators and Lucky Eggs for maximum hatchery. The choice is yours.
More Pokémon Go news, updates, tips and tricks
Raids are here — and not just for ordinary Pokémon. Check out our coverage of the legendaries now in-game, Lugia and Articuno. If that’s not enough, check out our tips for making the most of raids and what counters you should focus on finding, as well as what to do with the Golden Razz Berries and TMs you find after completing them. Find out what went wrong at the Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago while you wait for the debut of theEuropean Safari Zones in August and September. Finally, check out some reporting on the issues plaguing rural players a year after launch, how the game created a spacefor black female gamers and how Pokémon Go can continue to build its community.
Ever since the first Legendary Pokémon (read: ultra strong, ultra rare Pokémon that require groups of 10-20 players to capture) appeared in Pokémon GO shortly after the upset that was GO Fest, one thing has remained unclear: were the Legendaries here to stay?
Niantic had multiple in-game events/bonuses running in parallel with scheduled ending times, and no one seemed to know if these ending times also affected Legendaries. Everyone seemed to have heard something different, and no one really seemed to have a clear answer.
Niantic CEO John Hanke has just released the most official answer yet, releasing a proper schedule for the comings and goings of the next few Legendaries to hit the game.
Here’s what it looks like:
Articuno (Team Mystic’s mascot) was released on July 22nd and will be available through Monday, July 31st
Moltres (Valor’s mascot) will be released on Monday, July 31st and will be available through Monday, August 7th
Zapdos (Instinct’s mascot) will be released on Monday, August 7th and will be available through Monday, August 14th
Curiously, no word yet on whether Lugia (the other Legendary released on July 22nd) will hang around.
It may seem weird to have something come and go like this — particularly something that most players will want and be upset to miss. But releasing them all at once would keep people interested for a day or two, max — staggering them like this keeps them popping back in for weeks at a time.
And will these birds ever make appearances down the road, after their initial in-game stints are through? No word on that yet, either — but I’d bet on yes. It would be a bit weird (and self-defeating) if newcomers were never able to get their hands on them. For many, Pokémon has always been about completing a collection; if your collection will always be missing some of the game’s most substantial ‘mon, why bother?
When it comes to figuring out who was to blame for turning the first real-world Pokémon Go event into a disappointing disaster, Verizon is pointing its finger at Niantic.
The wireless carrier's engineers worked with Niantic, the game's developer, before the event opened in Chicago on Saturday, a Verizon spokesperson told Business Insider. Verizon boosted its capacity for the event, and had representatives in place to make sure its network was up and running.
"This was not a Verizon issue," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that company engineers "reported that even when attendees were experiencing issues accessing the game itself, other applications like YouTube worked just fine — which indicated the issues were outside of Verizon's control, like an issue with the game's server itself."
Niantic representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Verizon's statement.
An estimated 20,000 people showed up at the Pokémon Go Chicago event in the city's Grant Park expecting to catch some rare Pokémon. Most left disappointed after the game stopped working. Not everyone was affected by the outage; players on T-Mobile generally had a better time accessing the game throughout the day.
Since the end of the event, attendees and others have been speculating about what caused the game's outage.
One theory: The game went down due to server issues at Niantic, thanks to the increased activity on the app. That wouldn't be unusual. At the height of the game's popularity last summer, the game was plagued with outages and bugs.
Unfortunately, Niantic, which is partly owned by Nintendo and developed the game on its behalf, has declined to discuss the outage.
Another theory: The problems with the app were due to a lag in cell service, Verizon's denial aside. Again, that wouldn't be unusual. Cellphone carriers' networks often get overtaxed during big events or moments of crisis — such as the Boston Marathon bombing — when thousands of people attempt to use their systems at once.
"When you get a really big surge in capacity on a cellular network, it's not unusual to get the problems that are attributed to it here," said Bill Menezes, an analyst at Gartner who specializes in unified communications, network systems and service.
Most networks are set to handle a normal day's traffic, and network providers rely on Cell on Wheels (COWs) to increase their capabilities for big crowds, Menezes said. That's essentially what Verizon did, according to the company's spokesperson.
Despite not commenting on the outage, Niantic was quick to ensure its (former) fans that they would be getting refunds, as well as $100 worth of in-game coins.
Tickets to Chicago’s Pokémon Go Fest event sold out in under 10 minutes for $20 each, and many tickets were later resold online for hundreds of dollars, with many attendees traveling from outside of the country. Pokémon Go is the first big success for Nintendo with a mobile phone game.
Rules designed to stop Pokemon hunters "overrunning" parks in Milwaukee County have been suspended following a legal challenge.
Milwaukee's parks appeared in Pokemon Go as Pokestops, real world locations players visit to gather in-game items.
But officials said the volume of players had "unintended consequences" and ordered games-makers to apply for permits to include parks in their apps.
The order will be suspended while the legal challenge is considered.
Trampled grass
Several landmarks in Milwaukee's parks were included as points of interest in Pokemon Go when it launched in 2016.
But the Milwaukee County parks service said the number of players had increased littering in the park, overwhelmed toilet facilities and resulted in "trampled grass".
In January, it introduced an ordinance requiring developers of augmented reality games to obtain a permit before including the parks as points of interest in a game.
Games companies must detail how they will deal with security, waste collection and toilet provision, as part of the application process.
Critics say the requirement might stifle the development of mixed-reality games, which companies such as Apple and Microsoft are investing in.
In April, a legal challenge was brought about by games company Candy Lab.
The company does not make Pokemon Go but is developing a poker app that encourages players to visit real-world locations.
It said video games were protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and claimed the park ordinance violated that right.
A preliminary injunction was granted on Thursday, so the permit requirement can no longer be enforced until the case has been heard.
Developer booed on stage as gamers left unable to connect to play popular augmented reality game after mobile networks and servers overloaded
The first ever, official Pokémon Go Fest collapsed into chaos on Saturday, after attendees who had queued for hours for the chance to catch Legendary Pokémon Lugia found the game almost unplayable due to overloaded mobile phone networks.
Developer Niantic has apologised to fans, offering a full refund on the $20 ticket, $100 worth of in-game Pokécoins, and giving a Lugia to all registered attendees, but the event still casts a shadow over what was supposed to be a very public celebration of the game’s first anniversary.
Taking place in Chicago’s Grant Park, Pokémon Go Fest featured real-world amenities like photo opportunities with Pokémon and talks from Niantic employees. But the big draw was supposed to be in the virtual world: challenges for the three Pokémon Go teams – Valor, Mystic and Instinct – a medal for visitors and a plethora of rare Pokémon in the area, in addition to the chance to be among the first in the world to capture the first of the new legendary Pokémon to come to the game called Lugia.
But trouble started almost immediately. From 6am on the day – four hours before the event was due to start – players were complaining they were unable to log in, as the concentration of high-bandwidth connections swamped, then collapsed, mobile networks in the area.
By 2pm, Niantic had acknowledged the issue, though not in time to prevent its chief executive being booed as he took to the stage, to chants from the audience of “we can’t play!”
“I spent more time trying to get the game to load than I have playing it,” one attendee told The Verge."
With the festival over, Pokémon Go fans are now free to try and find Lugia worldwide. A second legendary Pokémon, Articuno, has also been added to the game.
Both Pokémon are caught rather differently from traditional ones, with a number of players in the same area needing to join in with a “raid”, and fight en masse to take down the legendary Pokémon. The raids are joinable for up to two hours, and if enough players take part and win the fight, they’ll all have the opportunity to throw Pokéballs at the legendary Pokémon to try and catch it.
Earlier this morning, it appeared that there was a plan. The plan involved things like catch challenges, reward tiers, a special Legendary Raid at Chicago's Grant Park followed by a global unlock 24 hours later, and so forth. That plan didn't work. Pokémon GO Fest, on a practical level, was a spectacular failure: people in the park weren't able to play the game, throwing a massive wrench into the works for a global event that was meant to serve as a grand celebration of the game's first year. So, Niantic decide to go ahead and make a new plan. At one point, it seemed they were going to give out Lugia without a raid and release it for battling over the next 48 hours, which seemed lame. That plan seemed to go by the wayside as well. Ditching a carefully choreographed reveal, the developer decided to just go ahead and release two Legendary Birds: Lugia and Articuno, to be specific. And it's great.
In Chicago, Pokémon GO Fest became something closer to what people had been hoping to get out of the day-long event. Within a moment of Niantic's announcement, gyms within a two-mile radius lit up with special raids and people one again spilled out of their hotels to go out hunting. I first noticed it once I heard cheering outside my window: the Articuno outside was jamming up traffic on the relatively narrow street, people screaming "Articuno!" when that "gotcha" finally appeared on screen. It was a tough fight, but there were a lot of us.
The same was true for a couple of Lugias inside the park across the street— trainers all hunched around, sitting on the ground, taking out the brand new legendaries as fast as they came up, telling everyone around them to use Pinap berries because of the guaranteed catch. It was what I had imagined with Pokémon GO Fest to begin with, now finally made possible by breaking it out of the confines of Grant Park. In about an hour I had amassed a small non-canonical army of fierce flying Pokémon, buoyed by the suite of bonuses to XP, stardust, buddy catching, candy and everything else Niantic had decided to throw out there.
Sure, the whole thing was fan service. The event itself had turned out to be a complete bust, so the developer decided to just go ahead and throw as much as they could at the Pokémonning populous to make them happy. And guess what? That turned out to work just fine. Pokémon GO can be a stingy, stingy game, and so when the developer decides to turn on the faucet it can be an exciting experience, especially when the streets are flooded with thousands of eager trainers.
It doesn't seem that the raids achieved that kind of density around the world, but the birds were popping up a day early just the same. No, it wasn't the plan. But it seems to have produced a sort of giddy excitement.
For a bit, it was like taking a time machine back to last summer, with everyone out in the street, exploring and finding Pokémon. In some ways, that's why Pokémon GO Fest the actual event was doomed to fail: it tried to rope in an experience that's meant to live outside. On a practical level, it failed because you just couldn't cram that many people playing the game in one spot and expect the technical side of things to hold. On a conceptual level, it failed because it just wasn't what this game is meant to be.
The craziness of the Chicago's Legendary hour doesn't really serve to excuse the fact that nothing about Pokémon GO Fest went off as advertized. People still stood out for three hours in the beating sun to gain access to an event that revolved around a broken app. But the mad fun of that moment certainly served to remind everyone here of just what's special about a game unlike anything else on the market (except Ingress).
Heading into Niantic’s Pokémon Go Fest — a gathering of roughly 20,000 Pokémon Go players in Chicago’s Grant Park — everyone seemed to have the same concern: the weather reports said a thunder storm was coming.
The weather turned out fine. Most other things, unfortunately, did not.
As a result, Niantic has just announced that they’ll be refunding attendees in addition to crediting them $100 of in-game currency (or Pokécoins). Estimates from Niantic leading into the event pinned the crowd at around 15-20,000 attendees.
(Update: It’s currently unclear if Niantic will be automatically refunding attendees, or just those who ask. Niantic says they will send an email with details to attendees shortly)
First and most notably: the game simply didn’t work. Within minutes of the first attendees filing into Grant Park, the cell networks got shaky. Within 20 minutes of the doors officially opening, every network was down. I’ve done my fair share of liveblogs over the past decade, so I’m used to getting around network congestion and finding some semblance of signal. There was nothing.
If you could get online, Pokémon Go itself was having issues. Tapping a monster to catch it would result in nothing but an error screen — a particular punch in the gut to many a player who traveled far in hopes of completing their Pokedex, as the Park was set to spawn some of the game’s rarest monsters. You’d tap an Unown or a Heracross (usually only available in very specific regions, and certainly not in the middle of Chicago), and the game would crash.
Meanwhile, real-world logistical issues were abound. Hours before the event started, the lines stretched around the block. 3 hours later, much of the line remained outside. Massive displays meant to show which teams were ruling the in-park gyms were instead just turned off.
When Niantic’s John Hanke took the stage, he was greeted by an audience a few thousand deep, many of them chanting “FIX YOUR GAME” or “WE CAN’T PLAY!”. Some more aggressive attendees approached the stage to personally share (read: shout) their discontent.
As of 2pm Central Time, Niantic plans to continue on the with the event’s agenda in hopes that they can get things working.
Legendaries are typically the most powerful monsters in the compendium, so getting one this weekend is likely going to be tough. Fortunately, players are already figuring out the most efficient counters to all the possibilities.
During the legendaries trailer, we can spot a handful of familiar faces: Zapdos, Moltres, Articuno, Ho-oh, Lugia, and even Mewtwo. Technically, the second generation of legendaries should also include the likes of creatures like Suicune and Celebi, but they weren’t actually pictured in the footage at all. Judging by how heavily Pokémon Go has emphasized the birds already—they are, after all, the emblems for the different teams—and judging by the trailer itself, it seems like a pretty good bet that the first legendary is going to be a bird. Hell, we know that the birds are already in the game, they’re just not widely available yet.
It would follow, then, that you want a monster that can take down a legendary bird. For months now, players have theorized that one of the best possible match-ups is Golem. It’s a funny choice—Golem isn’t the first critter that comes to mind when you think of strong Pokémon, and he’s not exactly tearing up competitive Pokémon in the main games. Still, some of the most hardcore players out there are powering up Golems right now, or at least recommending that everyone do so.
Golem, you see, is a rock / ground-type monster that has a max CP of 2916 and an attack of 211. This means he’ll be effective against Articuno, Moltres, and Lugia, all of which are weak to rock, and he’ll be effective against Zapdos, because ground-type is strong against electricity. No surprise, then, that players specifically want Golem with with Rock Throw, Stone Edge, or Rock Blast, all of which A) can actually hit their flying targets B) are powerful moves. If you have a Golem, and the Stardust/Candy to spare, it might not be a bad idea to start beefing that rock up to prepare for the upcoming legendary raids.
After more than a year of speculation, evidence is mounting that ultra-powerful Legendary Pokémon are coming to Pokémon Go very soon.
Pokémon Go creator Niantic Labs has never publicly acknowledged that Legendaries are coming or given an expected release date, but there are several reasons to believe we'll see creatures like Mewtwo and Lugia in a matter of days.
If you don't know, Legendaries are extremely rare and powerful Pokémon from the original game series. And until now, they've been completely absent from Pokémon Go, even as the game has added more creatures from the second generation of Pokémon.
All signs point towards Niantic finally unleashing Legendaries at the first-ever Pokémon Go Fest event in Chicago's Grant Park on July 22. The ticketed event is expected to draw 20,000 players, hearkening to the game's original video trailer that showed thousands of players fighting Mewtwo together in Times Square.
Here's all of the evidence that points to the imminent release of Legendaries in Pokémon Go:
An analysis of the app's code in late June by The Silph Road found new references to Legendaries, including the fact that they'll be encountered through the game's recently released Raid Battle feature.
The Silph Road believes that Legendaries won't be able to defend gyms (likely because of how powerful they will be in relation to normal Pokémon), but the site says that Legendaries should be able to attack gyms alongside normal Pokémon.
Graphics have also been uncovered in the game's code for dark Legendary eggs, badges, and a Legendary raid pass.
A recent promotional banner for Pokémon Go in the Indian App Store mentioned "the first legendary Pokémon."
Niantic has been covertly testing tier 5 Raid Battles in the game. Players have spotted the tests in the nearby tab, but haven't been able to find the raids on the map. The highest Raid Battle tier currently available is tier 4.
Niantic announced earlier this week that players at July 22's Chicago event will have to participate in special challenges alongside players around the world to unlock a worldwide "Mystery Challenge." Based on the game's first trailer, lots of players will have to participate in a Raid Battle together to take down Legendaries.
The Pokémon Go Fest event in Chicago will feature an "Ultimate Gym," which suggests that Legendaries will first be unveiled there.
Pokémon Go is a year old, and while Niantic is celebrating the smash mobile game’s first birthday with hat-wearing Pikachu sightings in the game and this July’s Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago, there’s also a big functional addition to the game: Raid Battles and the totally rebuilt Gym system.
Just rolled out over the last couple weeks, the Raid Battles hatch powerful Pokémon at Gyms throughout the game for limited-time showdowns—and up to 20 players can take them on at the same time, working together towards a big bounty. Meanwhile, the Gyms themselves have changed in structure, not only in the way they’re managed by teams and players but also in the way they parcel out rewards for staying put.
Outside of February’s influx of second-generation monsters, it’s surely the largest feature addition the game has seen to date—and it might get your competitive juices flowing again if you grew tired of the old Gym system. Here’s a look at how the game’s updated elements work, and how you can thrive in both.
Ready to Raid
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Raid Battles pop up on Gyms all around the map.
If you live near any Gyms and you’ve played Pokémon Go over the past several days, then you’ve probably already seen some Raid Battles on the map. They pop up every so often on Gyms, and you’ll either see an egg or a Pokémon at the top of the beacon, both with a timer below. If there’s an egg, that means a Raid Battle will begin as soon as the timer hits zero. If there’s already a Pokémon up top, however, that means you have a limited amount of time left (less than an hour) to take part in that battle before it finishes up.
As of this writing, anyone with a player level of 5 or higher can take part in Raid Battles, and it’s unclear whether Niantic will bother lowering that any further—it seems like a fair bar to cross in terms of play time and experience before taking on these challenging fights. If you see a Raid Battle in action, simply approach the gym and you’ll be able to take part.
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Uh, that won’t be an easy fight.
Well, at least if you have a Raid Pass. Each Raid Battle requires one of the passes, and luckily, you’ll get one per day simply for visiting a Gym and spinning the Photo Disc. Wait, spinning the disc at a Gym? That’s right: Gyms now also double as PokéStops with this latest update, and that’s true of Gyms that are hosting Raid Battles, as well. If you use your free daily Raid Pass, you can buy more for 100 coins apiece in the shop.
Each Raid Battle carries a difficulty rating between one and five, although level five Battles haven’t been unveiled just yet. A level one Raid Battle might put you up against a monster with 1165 CP—as I have encountered several Magikarp at that level. Meanwhile, a level four Battle could find you on the opposite end of an insanely overpowered Tyranitar at nearly 35,000 CP. That would be impossible to take down alone, right?
Exactly. And that’s why Raid Battles are multiplayer-centric events. Sure, you can take them on solo, but the chances of you beating a level three Battle solo seem nigh impossible. But if you can wrangle a few friends, or team up with some random players nearby, then you have a much better shot of winning out. Up to 20 people can participate in a simultaneous Raid Battle, should you happen upon the incredible scenario of 19 other people congregated in the same spot to play Pokémon Go.
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Avoid going into battle alone if you can.
That’s pretty unlikely these days. Back when Pokémon Go first launched, you’d see packs of people roving around parks and cities, playing together and enjoying the initial thrill of the launch. Pokémon Go still has a solid player base, but not nearly to that early level. In my very first Raid Battle, I happened to find two other people to play with—and that wasn’t quite enough firepower to take down the level four Charizard we faced. But in every other Raid Battle since, I’ve ended up playing solo.
If you don’t have Pokémon Go-playing pals handy to Raid with, then you might want to try some of the fervent online communities around the game. For example, I found a Chicago-centric Facebook group in which players were posting appealing Raid Battles and looking for allies, and then that pointed me to a Subreddit of nearby die-hards. And from there I found a Discord group with active users looking to play in packs. Your city or community may vary, but it’s worth a look around.
Pokémon Prep
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You’ll all fight in unison during Raid Battles.
In any case, whether you’re playing solo or with an assembled group, it’s worth doing a little bit of prep before each battle. You’ll have two minutes to pick your ideal lineup of six Pokémon, as well as lavish them with any healing or revival items you might have.
When choosing your lineup, it’s worth considering which Pokémon are the best counters to the boss monster—the ones that will do the most damage, not necessarily just your Pokémon with the highest CP ratings. In this case, we can turn to the hive mind for help: hardcore Pokémon Go resource site The Silph Road has a full listing of the best counter Pokémon on its Subreddit; it’s worth keeping that page bookmarked on your iPhone, or maybe copy down the critical info into Notes.
Once the two minutes have passed and everyone is ready, it’s time to battle. These battles are much like the familiar Gym fights, albeit now with all of your other comrades encircling the boss. You’ll tap for basic attacks, hold down a finger for a special attack, and swipe in either direction to dodge—and you’ll have 180 seconds to collectively take down the boss. The time limit can be a killer: I’ve done solo Raids in which my six Pokémon might have eventually been able to take down the boss, but I ran out of time because it’s such a slow grind on your own.
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If you win, you can try to capture the beleaguered boss.
Should you succeed, you’ll get a nice bounty of XP as a result, along with special items like the Golden Razz Berry, Rare Candy, and Fast and Charged TM (technical machines) used to teach your Pokémon new moves. You’ll also get a small stack of Premier Balls, which are white with red markings.
And then you’ll need to use the Premier Balls to try and capture a weakened version of the Raid Boss you just pummeled. You can use candy to help your cause, but only the Premier Balls are available to try and capture the Pokémon—and if you run out of those balls before it is captured, then it’ll flee and you’ll leave empty-handed. That could be pretty crushing after a hard-won battle, especially since rarer Pokémon are found in some Raids.
That’s the gist of Raid Battles for now. We’ll probably see additional Pokémon types added as Raid Bosses over time, and surely we’ll get the promised level five Battles at some point—maybe at the aforementioned Pokémon Go Fest in a couple weeks.
Gear Up for Gyms
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Gyms look a bit different now, but the changes are more than skin deep.
While the Raid Battles are the most enticing part of the new update, you may also notice that the Gyms themselves have changed quite a bit when not in the midst of a Raid. Making all the Gyms double as PokéStops is a nice bonus, but that’s only one part of the transformation.
As before, each of the game’s three factions can battle for control of nearby Gyms in the game, and if your team commands the spot, then you can place one of your Pokémon there to protect the Gym from attackers. How it unfolds from there is a bit different from before, though. Now your Pokémon will stay put until it loses motivation, which happens gradually as other faction players challenge it.
Once a Pokémon’s motivation is sapped, it will return to your lineup the next time it falls in battle. But you can help each Gym’s Pokémon stay motivated even after you’ve placed a creature within. That’s because you can now feed Berries to the Pokémon when you visit, which helps ensure that they’re powered up and ready for the next challengers. Any common Berry will help boost their motivation a little bit, while the new Golden Razz Berry can fully restore all of the monsters’ motivation.
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Gym battles look a little flashier now, even if they play about the same.
In other words, if you have Pokémon holding down a nearby Gym, it’s worth popping by regularly to toss some berries their way. That’s especially true thanks to the Defender bonus, in which you can earn free PokéCoins each day that a Pokémon stays put. You’ll also earn the new Gym Badges for visiting and protecting Gyms—and as those Badges level up over time, you’ll earn bonus items each time you visit in the future.
From what I’ve noticed, the new motivation system seems to allow teams and players to stay more entrenched in Gyms than ever before, especially if an area has a lot of players from the same faction. The ability to keep your Gym’s Pokémon powered up with Berries—and the fact that anyone can pitch in, not just the owners of those particular Pokémon—certainly helps with that. I spent a lot of time wandering around and playing the game before I found an allied Gym with an opening for my Pokémon, but again, your experience may vary.
All told, however, the Gym changes seem to encourage and reward frequent, continual play, which is sure to appease the die-hards and maybe provide incentive for old fans to get back into the habit. Both the new Gyms and the Raid Battles can seem intimidating if you don’t play much, but if you start with the lower-level Raids, keep an eye out for Gym openings, and try to keep your defending Pokémon motivated, then even casual players can have a lot of fun (and success) with these new additions.
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