As Pokemon Go nears its first anniversary, Niantic is preparing a major update that completely revamps the somewhat underdeveloped PvP Gym system as well as adding a brand new raid feature. To help eliminate the grind and repetitiveness of battling over a Gym, Niantic redesigned the battle system to only allow defenders to add six unique Pokemon to defend the property and added a new motivation system on top of that.
As each Pokemon is defeated, a new motivation meter drops, temporarily decreasing its CP and making it easier for attackers to win. Pokemon Go defenders can give berries to their Pokemon to raise the CP and motivation back up however. If motivation drops to zero, the Pokemon will actually leave the Gym completely after its next loss, returning to its trainer.
For many though, battling over a Gym now grants players unique badges with passive bonuses. Here's how to earn them:
What Are Badges?
Longtime Pokemon fans should already be quite familiar with the badge system, which are essentially trophies players receive after beating a Gym Boss. In Pokemon Go, these items represent how much a player has battled at or defended a particular Gym. In addition to bragging rights, badges grant a passive bonus, earning more items when spinning the Gym Photo Disc.
How To Earn A Badge
Badges are earned in three different ways, all related to interacting with a certain Gym.
- Battling in the Gym.
- Defending a Gym for a certain length of time.
- Giving a defending Pokemon a treat.
Each badge comes with four different tiers: basic, bronze, silver, and gold. Each tier can be unlocked the more the player interacts with a specific Gym, likely increasing the passive spinning bonus for each new tier that is achieved.
Viewing Earned Badges
To see a list of currently owned badges, players need to view their Trainer Profile from the map view. Once the update goes live, a new Gym Badge section can be selected, displaying a list view of all currently owned badges. Tapping a badge will bring up all of the details including all of the current player interactions at that location.
Alternatively, players can view any badges displayed on the globe using the Badge Map icon.
Do you like all of these changes Niantic is introducing? What other changes are you hoping to see? Let us know below in the comments.
Pokemon Go is available now n iOS and Android.
Source: Niantic