New Pokémon Go Gym Tweaks Are On The Way

Niantic just dropped an update on their official blog, detailing a fresh new update for Pokémon Go’s recently-revamped gym system.

This’ll count as version 1.39.0 for iPhone/iPad and v0.69.0 for Android, and rolls in a bunch of new quality of life changes, as well as some other interesting tweaks. Aside from the typical bug fixes, here’s the big changes you need to know about:

• There will be new icons on each Pokémon’s information screen to indicate how it was caught, and Niantic also added the ability for Trainers to spin the Photo Disc at a Gym after completing a Raid Battle. This is a great Quality of Life change, as you currently can’t refresh your item inventory after completing a raid, you simply get locked out of the gym until the raid timer is up.

• Trainers can now send Berries to their Pokémon defending Gyms from afar. This can be accomplished through that Pokémon’s information screen, but the Motivation they get back will be less effective from far away. Personally, I don’t love this change. I think the risk/reward idea of having a Pokémon away from you makes the gyms more attainable to other players, and giving people the ability to refresh their guys from afar just makes each gym that much more of a pain in the ass to grab ahold of. Maybe the decrease in Motivation gained will balance that out, though.

• You’ll also be able to give Berries to your Pokémon while they defend Gyms even if their motivation meter is full. This sounds like a waste of Berries to me, but maybe people who want the extra Gym XP progression will enjoy this? I dunno.

This new update comes ahead of this weekend’s Pokémon Fest at Grant Park in Chicago, where the world’s first legendary creature(s) are widely speculated to be released.

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