Popular augmented reality game Pokémon Go was today updated to version 1.5.0, adding new features to make gym battling more straightforward. New to the game is a "Pokémon Appraisal" feature, which will see in-game Team Leaders offering tips on each Pokémon's attack and defense abilities to help trainers determine which Pokémon to use in gym battles.

While longtime Pokémon players are often already aware of which Pokémon are ideal to use against other Pokémon in a battle, the appraisal tool offers valuable information on abilities and weaknesses for those who are newer to the Pokémon universe.

pokemonappraisal
According a blog post on the update, it also includes unspecified "minor bot fixes" and a promise that Niantic is working hard on "new and exciting features" that will be added to Pokémon Go in the future.

- Implemented Pokémon Appraisal: Trainers will now be able to learn about a Pokémon's attack and defense capabilities from their Team Leader (Candela, Blanche, or Spark) to determine which of their Pokémon have the most potential for battle.
- Fixed a bug that kept defeated Pokémon at 1HP; these Pokémon will now return as fainted Pokémon. We're working on rebalancing the training battle, stay tuned.fixes

Earlier today, a report suggested interest in Pokémon Go is steadily declining, so Niantic will need to implement new features to keep players interested. Daily active users, downloads, and the amount of time users are spending on Pokémon Go each day are said to be "well off their peaks and on a downward trend."

Pokémon Go can be downloaded from the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Pokémon GO

Top Rated Comments

larrylaffer Avatar
larrylaffer
100 months ago
I went to downtown Long Beach last week. There are a ton of Pokestops there. At 10:30pm, the entire waterfront was swarmed with thousands of people hunting.

What was my first thought? Not "arg you damn kids", nor was it "I hate Pokemon". No, my thought was "My God look at all the calories being burned here!"

That's a positive, whether you like it or not.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kaibelf Avatar
Kaibelf
100 months ago
+1. I don't play the game; however, I think the game can only be credited for exposing some peoples behaviour, not creating it.
Kind of how the internet exposes people who seem to have a need to assert their superiority over others with different interests, when in the offline world people generally grow out of that around age 18.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
CarlJ
100 months ago
Can't wait until this game dies off into the sunset. Game has created more morons than I care to count.
You think the game is responsible for that? Not the person's parents and teachers and the person themselves?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Speedy Dingo Avatar
Speedy Dingo
100 months ago
Overnight successes rarely last -- this game is an example of that. Gimmicky and lacking any lasting reason to keep playing. My kids were interested for about two weeks.
Again, so because your kids stopped playing, it somehow makes the game "gimmicky and lacking". Right. So the other millions of kids still playing it must mean what? Believe it or not other people are still enjoying it, and the game can only get better as new ideas from the franchise get implemented into it.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
anzio Avatar
anzio
100 months ago
You think the game is responsible for that? Not the person's parents and teachers and the person themselves?
+1. I don't play the game; however, I think the game can only be credited for exposing some peoples behaviour, not creating it.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bdavis89 Avatar
bdavis89
100 months ago
They're being careful about testing new features thoroughly, since any misstep will earn them tens of millions of angry players and tons of news articles, and feature pieces on half the local TV news broadcasts across the country, so, yeah, new features are hard to implement.

But... why complain about Pidgeys? They're the Soylent Green of the Pokémon world - catch just 4 and you'll have enough candies (after transferring a few) to evolve one - and evolving is the fastest way to get XP, to level up.
Agreed in regards to testing new features. I'm not really complaining about the Pidgey's per-say, but rather thelack of ability to train and level up my starter Pokemon. For example, there's no way to level up my Charmander without catching other Charmanders. Chances are that I'll catch a better one, so won't even need my starter Pokemon anymore. Rather than straining to catch the occasional Charmander, I want to be able to level it up via training against wild Pokemon (Pidgey's, etc.). Just like the games.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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