A cooperative Raid Battle system was added to Pokémon GO earlier this year. Raids let players join together to defeat a single powerful Pokémon at a Gym location. This week Niantic announced several big changes coming to both standard Raid Battles as well as the special invite-only EX Raids with Legendary Pokémon.
“We want Trainers to walk away from Raid Battles feeling like they’ve earned some amazing rewards, even if the Raid Boss flees,” states the update post. “To help make this more of a reality, we’ve made adjustments to the quality of items Trainers receive after defeating a Raid Boss. The addition of Stardust rewards for participating in a Raid Battle will help Trainers continue to power up the Pokémon they need to take on even more powerful Raid Bosses.”
Standard Raid Battles are getting the following changes:
- Trainers will now receive Golden Razz Berries for completing Raid Battles.
- The numbers of Potions and Revives awarded to Trainers for completing a Raid Battle will decrease slightly, but the quality of Potions will increase.
- The likelihood of receiving Fast and Charged Technical Machines for completing a Tier 3 or higher Raid Battle has increased.
- Trainers will now receive Stardust for participating in a Raid Battle, whether they win or lose.
- Magikarp will make a triumphant return to Tier 1 Raid Battles.
Additionally Niantic received a hefty amount of feedback to the oft-frustrating EX Raid Battles, which was the only way to gain super rare and powerful Legendary Pokémon.
The following changes are being added to EX Raid Battles:
- EX Raid Battles will take place most commonly at Gyms found in parks and sponsored locations.
- Trainers with a high-level Gym Badge are more likely to be invited to EX Raid Battles taking place at that Gym.
- Trainers who have completed a larger number of Raid Battles are more likely to be invited to EX Raid Battles.
- EX Raid Battle start times now take into account popular Raid Battle times at that Gym.
- Trainers invited to EX Raid Battles will receive an in-game notification if the EX Raid Battle is canceled.
- Trainers will receive Stardust and Premium Raid Passes when an EX Raid Battle is canceled.
With these changes the EX Raid Battle system will officially move out of beta (or ‘field test’) and into official launch.
Also happening this week is the Pokémon GO Global Catch Challenge. Every Pokémon you catch this week will contribute toward the challenge, with overall goals in the millions and billions. The rewards are listed below:
- Bronze Tier (500 million Pokémon caught): All Trainers will earn double XP, Lure Modules will last six hours, and more Pokémon will appear all over the world.
- Silver Tier (1.5 billion Pokémon caught): In addition to the Bronze Tier rewards, all Trainers will earn double Stardust, and even more Pokémon will appear.
- Gold Tier (3 billion Pokémon caught): In addition to the Bronze and Silver Tier rewards, Farfetch’d will appear all around the world for 48 hours and Kangaskhan will appear in East Asia for 48 hours!
The Pokémon GO Global Catch Challenge will conclude on November 26.
