Two Pokemon Go Players Reach Level 50 Milestone After Skipping Level 49 Due to Errors

Two Pokemon Go players became among the first in the world to reach the game’s new Level 50 ceiling after benefiting from a Niantic hotfix that allowed them to skip Level 49. Popular Twitch streamers FleeceKing and Laurenlolly both reached Pokemon Go‘s Level 50 milestone, with FleeceKing claiming that he was the first in the world to reach the milestone. Both players hit the ceiling cap on January 25th after Niantic automatically leveled them (and a handful of other players) up to Level 49 to resolve complaints about a glitch in the system that caused their progress on several level up requirements to reset after the first day.

Players who want to reach Level 50 need to complete several Level Up Requirements in addition to obtaining tons of XP. Level 48 players need to obtain 50 Lucky Pokemon in trades, send 500 Gifts to friends, and obtain 35 Platinum Medals. The issues arose when Pokemon Go inadvertently reset FleeceKing and Laurenlolly’s progress towards Level 49. As Niantic’s support system seemingly couldn’t restore their progress, the developer’s solution was to simply let the players skip the Level 49 requirements altogether.

Once the players reached Level 49, the players simply needed to Make 999 Excellent Throws, Catch 5 Legendary Pokemon in consecutive Legendary Pokemon Encounters, Defeat Team Go Rocket Leader 3 times using only Pokemon with 2,500 CP or less, and reach a Rank 10 in GO Battle League. Both FleeceKing and Laurenlolly were able to complete those requirements rather quickly. You can actually see a video of FleeceKing hitting the Level 50 milestone below:

Of course, some disgruntled observers are claiming that both FleeceKing and Laurellolly’s accomplishments should be marked with an asterisk, as they both benefited from Niantic punting on an error created by their system. It is unclear whether Pokemon Go has since corrected the error that caused the Level Up requirements to reset or whether all players will benefit from Niantic’s fix once they hit Level 48.