Niantic actually gave us some feedback about the latest update to the Pokemon Go game. Specifically with the 3rd party trackers and the 3 step system … Turns out they were more harmful than good.
1.) So about that tracker …
So lets get into this for a second. A number of things happened recently in regards to the latest update. One of the largest controversies that arose from the update however, was the removal of the 3 step system. Niantic recently confirmed on their official Pokemon Go Facebook Page that this removal was because the system was confusing and did not meet the goals that they originally had designed for it to achieve. It currently only shows what is within 70 meters, (I tested this personally last night to find a few Charmander that popped up on mine), so it’s not totally useless at the moment but it is a bit difficult to determine what direction you should be headed in. That being said, they did confirm that they are striving to improve upon the feature and that they are looking into improving upon the underlying design.
2.) Now … about the other “trackers”…
The second big fuss was about Niantic and Nintendo shutting down 3rd party sites and apps like Pokevision. According to Niantic, this was not some sort of action taken due to a violation of the Terms of Service (which it was), but rather that the access that third party servers had to the game was interfering with the overall quality of the game itself. This is currently unclear in regards to whether or not it was messing with how they wanted to have people play the game or the servers themselves but since they then referenced the global roll out and specifically Brazil, the thought of the 3rd party access causing further stress on the already almost overloaded servers is not that far of a stretch. Hopefully with the servers lightened by the shut down of 3rd party sites, the global rollout will be able to continue and trainers all over the world will be able to enjoy the game instead of just the ones in the current countries. Maybe after the servers have been set up to properly handle the game with an entire planet full of players (because lets face it, this game is far bigger than anyone could have expected and bigger than any game before it almost,) Niantic will be able to partner with a 3rd party site that wants to help players with finding Pokemon and give them legal access to the servers with Niantic’s approval.
3.) New shotgun seat responsibilities have been retracted
So one of the more subtle changes to occur was in regards to the API tracker. Im not a professional on the mathematics of these things but several reports have stated that the tracker has now been altered to scan every 5 seconds instead of every second. This in theory has been to crackdown on players driving and playing at the same time due to the increased scan rate hindering your ability to trick the app into thinking you are on foot. No word yet on whether or not they will set up the game to be bicycle friendly though.
4.) Down with the blue eevee, IN WITH THE RATICATES
Just kidding, but the last major change that is less frustrating and more literal game changing is the change to the strength of various Pokemon moves, and the fact that Vaporeon is no longer king of the gym. This did help to balance out gym battles a bit by changing up what Pokemon have a “good moveset” and which ones don’t. You may be seeing a lot more Snorlax’s now though … fair warning.
Oh yeah … and you can customize your trainer now …
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