Pokemon Go’s Party Share update makes worst mechanic actually useful

Pokemon Go players can finally make use of the Party Play mechanic, as it’s possible to reap the benefits of specific items when traveling with others via the new Party Share feature.

In Pokemon Go, multiple players can team up with Party Play, allowing them to complete tasks and earn rewards. This is another great benefit for meeting up with local players in real life and catching Pokemon in the wild.

The problem that many fans have with Party Play is that the rewards are weak and often aren’t worth the bother of completing. This means it’s very easy to ignore the entire mechanic and just go on sad solo adventures on the overworld.

Teaming up with others now has a special benefit, as Niantic has announced Party Share, a new update for Party play added as part of the Max Out season. This was formally announced on the Pokemon Go Twitter/X page.

Party Share works when grouped up with other players. If you use Incense, a Lucky Egg, or Star Pieces, then everyone will gain their benefits while the party is active.

The trade-off is that the duration of these items is reduced. The usual length of time that an item is effective will be cut in half, meaning that four players could benefit from a 30-minute Incense, whereas a solo player could use it for an hour.

The other restriction is that you can only use four items per day. However, you can benefit from the generosity of others as much as you like. So, if you have lots of friends with Lucky Eggs, then you can mooch off their experience point boost to your heart’s content.

While you can’t gain the benefits of similar Trainer Boosts, like Daily Adventure Incense or the Coin Bag, you can increase the item’s duration with an event bonus, like the ones commonly used with Incense on Community Days.

The Party Share update is a massive shot in the arm for the entire Party Play mechanic. It was extremely easy to ignore it, as most people playing in real life only focus on Raids or Max Battles. Now that you can share item usage without burning all of your stocks, more people will be teaming up to tackle the Pokemon Go world.