'Pokémon GO' Update Adds Legendary Pokémon, Raids, and Revamped Gym System
The "Pokémon GO" hype has died down quite a bit by the second summer of the game, but Niantic is working overtime to lure players back to the mobile game with one of its biggest updates to date.
Early builds of the summer update for "Pokémon GO" has been making their rounds to gaming news outlets, and a few features are already available for a few players that got included in the first wave of rollouts.
Among the huge revamps coming for the mobile game is a ton of changes that were made to the Pokémon Gyms, according to Tech Crunch. Gone will be the current gyms filled with ten of the same optimized Pokémon as the new system will allow players to place only one of each Pokémon species in their gyms.
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Pokémon Gyms will also be more transparent to challengers now, with the new gyms allowing six slots as soon as they are taken over. Also, the game is doing away with the vague "prestige" system where the number of Pokémon slots available varies, which is up to a maximum of ten.
All the Pokémon in the gym will also be listed ahead to enemy trainers, who will battle the assigned Pokémon in the order they were placed in instead of from weakest to strongest, according to Forbes. Gyms will now give out badges and can be spun for bonus items as well.
An early preview of the "Pokémon GO" update also features the new raid system, and players can participate in the timed events if they have the requisite raid pass. The raid can accommodate up to a maximum of 20 players. The players, regardless of team affiliation, can then work together to attempt to take down the powerful Raid Pokémon for a chance at item rewards and a shot at capturing the defeated Pokémon.
Niantic also confirmed that Legendary Pokémon are coming, some of them as potential raid boss objectives. More details are expected to be revealed in the coming weeks as the new "Pokémon GO" update starts rolling out to more players.
