Pokemon Go Releases Surprise Update Ahead of Pokemon Go Fest

Pokemon Go just announced a surprise update just days before Pokemon Go Fest. Players had just about given up hope on a new update before this weekend’s event, as it usually takes several days for an update to get onto Apple’s App Store.

The game’s developers likely needed to introduce the update to get the game ready for Pokemon Go Fest. After all, Pokemon Go‘s developers promised players a new in-game badge for attending the event, but nothing had been seen in the game’s code.

What’s really surprising about the just announced update is that it adds several moderately large features. None of the new features are game changers like the gym overhaul, but they will please a lot of fans.

Keep scrolling down to see what all the new update has to offer:

Stardust Farming in Gyms

The biggest change is that players will now be able to remotely feed their Pokemon berries when they’re defending gyms. Previously, players had to go to the gyms where their players were stationed to feed their Pokemon, which was a problem when leaving Pokemon behind in other cities or neighborhoods. 

There still will be an incentive for players to feed their Pokemon in person, though. Remote feeding will be “less effective” than in person feeding, which probably means that you won’t get as much of a CP boost for feeding Pokemon remotely.

Players will also now be able to feed their Pokemon berries even when their motivation meter is full. While this might seem a bit superfluous at first glance, it means that players can now still get the Stardust and Gym XP for feeding their Pokemon, even when they don’t need the boost. 

If players can feed their Pokemon berries remotely all the time, this update could introduce an easy way to farm for Stardust (which players need to level up their Pokemon) without ever leaving the house. 

Bug Fixes

Pokemon Go also fixed several frustrating bugs introduced in the new update. The game’s developers fixed the frustrating “lost Pokemon” bug, which occasionally caused a Pokemon to get lost in the ether instead of returning to gyms.

They also fixed a bug that occasionally shortened the clock on Raid Battles. Previously, Raids would automatically end when the timer ended in the overworld map, even if players battling in the raid still had time left on the clock. Once the new update goes live, players will have the full 180 seconds to complete the raid…even if they entered the raid just before it ends on the overworld map.

While not a “bug,” the new update will also let players spin Photo Discs on gyms where they just defeated a raid. Previously, players were “locked out” from spinning photo discs at those gyms with seemingly no explanation why. 

Other Updates

Pokemon Go is also adding a new feature that will give more information on how a player caught a Pokemon. Presumably, a Pokemon’s information screen will state whether it was caught in the wild, hatched, evolved, or caught after a raid.

This also brings up the question as to whether Pokemon Go plans on adding any other ways of obtaining Pokemon (like trading or via giveaways) soon.

Finally, the game is also modifying the search function to make it more user friendly.

The new Pokemon Go update will come out later this week. We’ll have more news once the update has been datamined in the next day or so. 

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