The good and the bad of the new gym rework in Pokemon GO

The gym rework got introduced in the next to last update on June 20th and of course criticism is starting to surface as people get more used to and evaluate the new system, there are also good things of course and I will go over both the good and the bad of this part of the update I will not be talking about Raids.

1. The new motivation system: the main principle is that your Pokémon starve and loose the will to defend the gym which is logical and also facilitating turnover. I know a lot of places didn’t need help in that department but some did, like rural areas. Often, people would choose these rarely visited places to colonize in order to perpetually collect coins. Spoofers of course did this but so did regular players not necessarily from the area. The point is, the idea of perpetually collecting coins daily is gone and I am glad. Why? Yesterday I left a Blissey in a gym at 11 pm and it came back to me almost 12 hours later with 50 coins. That by far has been the easiest poke coins I have ever made since the game started. It should be this easy, because at the end of the day you are wasting real world resources for a game, which is not very compelling.

2. Gym Badges: Another interesting development, it incentivizes you to stick to your area by having that area reward you better as time progresses. I have yet to see how far the bonuses go but if it’s anything similar to medals than it would just have 3 tiers, nothing special but certainly a good development.

3. Push notifications of gym activities: So revolutionary! Pokémon Go finally mastered the push notification without the aid of an additional device. If I had to say, it is obviously better than nothing.

4. The gym pokestop: this was also very good now I can finally slack off with my Snorlax at the gym.

5. Getting coins when the Pokémon returns: this was one of the main criticisms I heard about in the community, the suggestion was that it should be awarded at a certain point of the day but…I couldn’t disagree more. If a Pokémon is knocked out before that moment arrives, guess what? You get zero. Not even in the last system were you so poorly rewarded, at least you could take your ten coins and run for the hills. So, ultimately, I think the system is fair for the moment being. Although I do agree that it contradicts berry feeding a little bit, which is next on the list.

6. Berry feeding: Feeding a berry in order to prolong that Pokémon’s survival might at times clash with the purpose of receiving coins when it gets taken out but seriously, it is not that big of a deal. Maybe in places where the turnover rate is low, but in places where it is high, the berries barely do anything. I mean, I once couldn’t even avoid my Blissey’s demise enough for it to earn me one additional coin. So yeah. Only good strategy will guarantee you some coins.

With that said I’m about to wrap up this small review, maybe next time I will share some of those gym strategies with you. Just be sure to let me know I’m not talking with the void by leaving a comment and giving me a follow. Fair warning though, I post about a lot of stuff, not just Pokémon Go but if I get at least one potential reader to tell me, I will deliver. Talk to you guys some other day.