Niantic has revealed it is testing some new features in Pokemon Go that affect PokeStops and Egg hatching, as well as making the game more accessible for new players.
Following the Pokemon Go boycott in August over the removal of Exploration Bonuses, Niantic pledged to be more communicative with players about changes they implement in the game, and even set up a “task force” to look into the issues fans had been raising for months.
In September, the task force released its findings, promising a reversal to the Bonus removal, and acknowledged that devs needed to be more transparent. Now, on October 13, they’ve released their first update on testing coming to Pokemon Go, including a new egg hatch update, Special Research, and PokeStop changes.
New changes coming to Pokemon Go
In a blog post, Niantic laid out their testing plans for the coming months. “We’ll be testing minor gameplay adjustments in certain parts of the world,” it read. “We want to ensure the changes we make are beneficial to—and make a strong, positive impact on—the greater community, as well as each individual Trainer’s experience, before we launch them globally.”
While they didn’t reveal everything what’s headed to the game, they revealed that a big focus is on new players, including nickname suggestions, more Trainer Tips, and a Special Research story that “introduces new Trainers to the world of Pokemon Go.”
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As far as actual gameplay changes go, there will be updates to Egg hatching, including the ability to skip the hatching animation altogether, which will surely be a welcome change for those with multiple opening at once – no more being tied up for five minutes at a time.
They also announced “new PokeStop functionalities,” which have already been implemented in New Zealand at the time of writing, allowing players to “power up” PokeStops and Gyms – though it’s currently unclear what this entails, and when the rest of the world will get the feature.
Niantic ended the update by stating that full versions of these tests will roll out in the coming months, provided the features work “as envisioned” so stay tuned.