Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go halts PvP season ratings to reassess PvP, and that’s a good thing

The recent changes to Pokemon Go may have caused a lot of confusion among players and developers, but the decision was made with good intentions. In this article, we will explain how these changes came about and why they were necessary.

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Season 10 of Pokemon GO, according to Niantic, will be a little different. For those who don’t remember, POGO PvP leagues use both a ranking and a rating system, requiring players to play a certain number of games per season to re-earn their potential rank (which determines the rewards available to them per set of 5 matches), but also allowing them to gain or lose rating that they might otherwise barely maintain.

This implies there will be no rating system in Season 10, no post-rank 10 ranks, and, most crucially, no new mechanics or move rebalances in Season 10. While we don’t know how this will influence awards, there are a few things I’d want Niantic to look at while the game is on pause.pokemon_go_super_effective-191x300

Balance of types

Niantic has become better at balancing types, to be sure. Poison has improved, and Bug has received some attention. This is partly due to the balance of moves, but it’s also a means for Niantic to fix particular weaknesses of whole kinds.

POGO’s developers are in a hard position since The Pokemon Company does not seem to want Niantic to produce new moves/types. Many Fairy-types that don’t learn Charm, POGO’s lone Fairy-quick move, in the main series are rendered ineffective owing to the absence of a same-type fast move. Worse, since they only have one move, Fairy Pokemon tend to seem plodding and steady all of the time, with a few outliers from pokemon with different typing possibilities. I’m hoping that during this hiatus, Niantic may observe how this limitation impacts various pokemon in specific cups – that it restricts not just pokemon selections but also whole kinds.

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Access to legendary and meta-relevant pokemon

While I get that Niantic wants players to raid to help pay for the game, prize pokemon in general may be either wonderful or terrible, and this isn’t necessarily limited to PvP. While the reward pokemon this time seemed generally relevant, Niantic’s theme additions often feel like booby prizes, which is a bummer when you have to either win 3/5 matches or spend approximately $1 US to win a battle for something as pointless as Pyroar.

This was amplified in Season 10, when the chances of seeing a legendary pokemon were lowered. It wasn’t only that these odds encouraged non-PvP players to join league fights; it also helped sway the general meta and “equip” younger players so they could compete on a little more level playing field, particularly when new legendaries were more helpful in PvP than PvE.

It isn’t only legendary pokemon either. Consider the introduction of new PvP-oriented pokemon, such as Jellicent’s basic form, Frillish. Because it was a powerful PvP pokemon, having access to it via PvP awards offered everyone an incentive to participate, veterans and novices alike. Because males were mostly confined to PvP, collectors could join in as well, but this also provided the PvP community with a “currency” with which to trade additional pokemon that had previously been restricted to raids.

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Walk-spoofing and Master Leagues

Master League Classic, which limits participants to level 40-max pokemon, is more or less OK, since collecting enough rare candy to power up even new legendaries isn’t that difficult at this time, but IV placements are. The Master League Premier Classic is in a better position since it eliminates the legendaries. The fact is, not only great players, but also spoofers and general cheats, shine brightest in Master League.

Let us begin with the Master League. It takes a lot of effort to raise a Pokemon to level 50. In fact, I’ve just recently reached the maximum degree of my flawless Blissey. Blissey is an uncommon pokemon that has to be walked 5 kilometers with your companion to get 1 XL candy, or 2.5 kilometers if you utilized the premium Poffin goods. You may also get XL sweets by capturing or hatching Blissey or members of its family, although this was uncommon until recently. Trading also allows you to do this, and the current season guarantees you 1 XL candy every time you trade a pokemon, which has really helped me reach the finish line, especially with recent events starring Blissey. It took me a few weeks to get to the Best Buddy rank with my pokemon, but even with all of the current XL candy bonuses/features, it took me almost four months to level up my Blissey.

That’s simply a single rare pokemon. Legendary pokemon require a 20-kilometer walk (10-kilometer walk with Poffins), do not spawn in the wild, only allow groups to catch them once per day (more opportunities cost money/coins), and you can only trade one legendary per day, severely limiting a player’s ability to quickly power up said pokemon.

Nonetheless, owing to the ability to fool the system into believing players have walked much more than they have, Master League includes a notable amount of max-level, Best Buddy legendaries, even recent ones. These pokemon aren’t everywhere, but they’re prevalent enough that I’ve run across them in the little time I spend playing Master League each season before quitting up and waiting for a more balanced cup to come.

To put the amount of effort required simply for walking a pokemon into perspective, I usually walk at least 6km every day, frequently closer to 10, which is barely enough to obtain 1 XL candy from a legendary pokemon while using a Poffin (which are premium items/rewards). To max out a pokemon’s level, though, you’ll need 296 XL candies (not including purified or shadow variants).

People that “walk” over 200km per day may sometimes get the new end of raid walking accomplishment when I combine with random players for raids. That’s almost 124 miles, so the individual would have to walk at over 8 miles each hour for 16 hours a day. Normal people don’t do that unless they’re a prominent athlete, but despite the fact that I instantly delete these guys from my friend’s list, I’ll run across one of these players at least once a week on average, and I’m not a daily raider.

Rare candies alone can be utilized to power up pokemon in Master League Classic and Premier, however I know a few individuals who have confessed to abusing the game’s walking counters so their rare candy stashes won’t be struck as severely when new (or newly relevant) pokemon appear.

Part of me thinks this is a clue that Rare XL Candies should be distributed more widely so that spoofing becomes less significant. However, this might have an impact on Niantic’s bottom line as well as player motivation. It’s possible that if Niantic increased the maximum IVs and levels in Master League, it would not only level the playing field but also make spoofing less viable. Niantic might make fully powered up pokemon eligible for additional customisation to encourage users to keep growing those perfect’mon, which would benefit not just the PvP crowd, but also seasoned raiders who have had workable teams of virtually the same pokemon for many years.

My goal is that Niantic continues to strengthen its ranked PvP environment, regardless of what they do. I may have a lot of gripes, and PvP ladder matches aren’t my favorite game mode, but I can appreciate the technical advancements we’ve seen since Niantic’s Go Beyond Update altered formats. From a casual standpoint, I’ve been pleased, and I hope this trend continues, particularly if Niantic is considering how to eventually integrate Mega Pokemon into league play.

pogo-avAndrew Ross of Massively OP is a self-confessed Pokemon fanatic and ARG aficionado. He knows all there is to know about Niantic and Nintendo! His column, Massively on the Go, features Pokemon Go as well as other mobile MMOs and augmented reality games!

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