New Update for Pokémon GO: Raids and New Gym Features

If you play Pokémon GO, you might have seen that the gyms have temporary been closed down by Niantic. The gyms shutdown is part of the huge update that is coming our way soon! The update includes new Items, Gym Features, Raid Battles, and some other things!

First up in the list of updates, are the new Gym features!

You can get Items from Gyms. Just spin the Photo Disc as you do with the Stops and Items will spawn for you!

No longer will it be possible to see a gym filled with ten Dragonite, or five Blissey as your opponent. The new gyms only have 6 slots for Pokémon, and all of them have to be unique. As opposing trainer you will now battle the Pokémon in the Gym in the order they have been assigned to it.

Gym Pokémon now have a Motivation Meter to deal with when being placed in a Gym. When they get beaten in a fight, their Motivation will drop. When the Motivation Meter drops enough, their CP will be lowered temporarily, making it much easier to beat. Their Motivation Meter will also drop by just spending time when being assigned. When the Motivation Meter hits Zero and it is beaten in a fight, the Pokémon will return to its Trainer.

The good news is that all Trainers of the team that is reigning over the Gym can feed the Gym Pokémon berries to keep their motivation up. So now, even if your Pokémon do not feel strong enough to battle with, there is still something that you can do to help out!

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Another thing that you can do now, is earn Gym Badges. You read that right! We can now earn badges for our efforts. You can level up the badges by feeding the Pokémon in the Gym berries, by spinning the Photo Disc, and by battling. You can earn increased rewards and bonuses from Leveling up you Gym Badges.

Now coming near you: Raid Battles!

Raid battles are a cooperative feature that is included in the update. A Raid Battle is a cooperative gameplay experience that encourages you to work with other Trainers to defeat an extremely powerful Pokémon known as the Raid Boss.These can happen randomly at any Gym at any time. When this happens all Pokémon that are assigned to a gym are returned to their Trainers and a huge egg spawns on top of the Gym. When the counter reaches zero, the Raid Boss is revealed!

To participate in a Raid Battle you first need a Raid Pass. Raid Passes can be gotten through the Gym Disc, once a day, and you can carry only one at a time. Of course, Premium Raid Passes can be bought in the shop. But with up to 20 players, you can participate in a Raid Battle. Successfully defeat the Raid Boss in the 5-minute time limit and you might be able to catch a powerful Pokémon of your own!

New Items available after defeating a Raid Boss, and only then:​

• Rare Candies - These candies, when used on a Pokémon, can change to any Pokémon's Candies
• Gold Razzberry - Greatly enhanced the chance of catching Pokémon, you can also feed them to the Gym Pokémon to fully recover its Motivation Meter.
• Fast Attack TM - Teach a Pokémon a new Fast Attack
• Charge Attack TM - Teach a Pokémon a new Charge Attack

The new Raid Battle Feauture will be first put into Beta for the next few weeks. After that it might be coming near you soon.

More Information can be found here: http://pokemongo.nianticlabs.com/en/post/raids​