Pokémon GO has done an admirable job of adapting the Pokémon series' primary combat into a simpler format that works better on mobile. That being said, there's still much room for improvement; the 'CP' system is constructed in such a way that certain Pokémon are not nearly as powerful as they perhaps should be, while others are a bit too powerful. Niantic has realized this, and has recently issued an update addressing the problem.
In a post on the official site, Niantic explained that it would be raising the CP of several Pokémon – including Alakazam, Gengar, and Rhydon – while it would be lowering the CP of others. This is being done as a means of leveling the playing field more, and the post mentions that similar tweaks will be made in the future if necessary. No other specific Pokémon were mentioned, but it will likely become evident in the next few days which Pokémon were affected.
What do you think? Are you glad that this change is being made? How else do you think the combat could be improved? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source pokemongolive.com]
Comments 23
Here's a spreadsheet documenting the changes:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_WS9FIGSlKVk6XAJTE3TxXIqlBPIQ5Lsx5qifE72vXY/edit#gid=0
Credit to the Silph Research Group for this
Other notable changes include a large Chansey buff, a Jynx buff, a large nerf to Wigglytuff, and a Lapras... nothing. Lapras is the only Pokemon that hasn't had a CP change...
Really glad this has happened, as a fan of both Alakazam & Gengar I was pretty annoyed to find they were weak... especially being three stage evolutions which take AGES to evolve.
I can understand a few people being annoyed however as this change effects pokémon that have already been caught... but lets not forget Niantic already nerfed Water Gun a few months ago.
@Mega_Yarn_Poochy Awesome, can't wait for IV apps etc. to be updated to reflect the changes.
This is indeed nice, but I would be much happier about it if they had not simultaneously nerfed/buffed some things that do more maintenance of the status quo with gyms than anything else. Examples...
Vaporeon (buff) - why on earth did this one get buffed? If anything, it should have been nerfed. Flareon & Jolteon also buffed, but those two I can understand, especially with Jolteon.
Arcanine (minor nerf) - until water types stop dominating every gym around, there is no reason to nerf him...even Exeggutor wrecks him from time to time. Yes he's the most powerful fire type, but buff other fire types first. Even if a minor nerf, it seems unnecessary.
Raichu (insignificant minor nerf) - was hoping for a buff and a retooling of the movesets so that Raichu actually has a remote chance of being decent compared to Pikachu (instead they just nerf Pika). I sense Pika bias.
Dragonite (minor buff) - why?
Wigglytuff (moderate nerf) - again, why? It had a lot of potential as a Dragonite counter, and its defense was nice (though Chansey got a massive buff). Maybe they're trying to conform it more to the games, but idk. Also minor nerf w/Clefable.
Nerfed all starters except Charizard - weird, but I only have Venusaur, so I can't gauge the wisdom of this, except in comparison to the Eeveelutions. In that regard, I'd say this is not ideal.
Exeggutor (minor nerf) - not really enough of one, but okay.
Overall, I'd say that this balancing is a step in the right direction, but in the wrong direction too. It's bringing the eeveelutions back into power too much, which kinda defeats the purpose of working to train/evolve more intensive Pokemon like starters when you can whip out some Eevees and get more power for far less effort. So it's a start, but there is more work to do. On a more positive non-complaining note though, I'm very happy two of my favorite Gen 1 Pokemon are more usable now though. Apologies for the rant-ness.
@Jayronauron I totally agree with you, specially with the vaporeons been buffed. My daughter and were discussing that. One of her vaporeons is a beast the wreaks havoc when we fight gym and now it got buffed about 300 CPs, so it is more powerful. My Snorlax got buffed too, if anything, Snorlax should've been nerfed, not buffed.
I think Niantic got some of these changes wrong.
I did wonder when I turned it on last night why my Rhydon had jumped from 1400 to 2000+
A number of accessible grass types got nerfed whilst Vaporeon got buffed, it's quite questionable.
You know that Blastoise is now substantially worse than Golduck? That's upsetting.
@Mega_Yarn_Poochy I like how they nerfed and buffed all the legendaries, too. Must've been a lot of demand for them to be adjusted...
@MitchVogel Yeah, I'm glad too. My 100% genuine Mewtwo was doing kind of poorly in gyms.
It seems that the Silph Research Group has also discovered that Ditto has been assigned the move Transform on Niantic's servers. Hm...
EDIT: Just to explain. Previously last week, all of the data for Ditto and Transform were added to our devices via the update.
However, some data, such as Pokémon's movesets, are stored on Niantic's servers. This allows them to change certain things in the game without requiring the update, like the big moveset change a few months ago and the Haloween event. Now, if you were to catch a Ditto (distribution of Pokémon and Pokéstops is another server side update), it would have the move Transform and, theoretically, be able to battle in a gym.
BUFF THE WIGGLYTUFF PLZ, SHE IS MY DRAGON SLAYER AND I WANT TO GIVE HER A HUG!
This is just some tweaking but doesn't actually balance much
My toughest pokemon is currently a Gengar, so that buff is nice for me.
I guess making it so that everyone is forced to use water types is kind of balanced... completely dumb, but balanced.
Just yet another example of Niantic not thinking things through before doing them.
I'm actually starting to wonder if they're only doing things like this so that when they fix them it looks like they're actually doing something productive... when was the last time they actually done something that made the game better besides things that merely attempted to fix their previous mistakes?
@Jayronauron Love your avatar (if not your team ). Considering the balancing doesn't make too much sense for most of he pokémon outside of Genger & Alakazam... I'm wondering if some of the changes are preparation for Gen 2. I know Porygon got nerfed, which makes sense considering Porygon 2 was originally going to be on of the powerhouses.
My kingler jumped over 600CP last night. I was so confused.
@Jammy01 Yeah, my top 10 is now mostly Kingler and Vaporeon.
I'm not sure which was a surprise to me; that the change happened so fast and sudden (around 3pm est), that the top three strongest Gyarados I have went from 2100+cp to around 2800cp, or that all the Pokemon that was fainted fully recovered (9+ Pokemon).
I still don't have any decent plant or elektric type, I'm so weak when facing the many water types.
At least they buffed Electrode and Magnemite, but I still can't many good grass types in gyms.
WIGGLYTUFF WAS NERFED, THE CAPS LOCK SHOWS THAT I'M CEREAL!!! :,<
Gengar? Sweet!
Just to clarify all the "Why did they buff xxx?":
They didnt simple buff individual pokemon. They changed the formula that determines the attack stats in PoGO using the stats from the main series.
Alakazam for example has very high special ATK, but very low physical ATK. The old formula took an average of these two stats - thats why he had such low Atk in PoGO.
Now the higher stat gets weighted ~86%, giving specialists like alakazam (high special attack) or rhydon (high physical attack) their role in the game back.
have legendaries been released yet? I have been out of the pkmn go loop for a while.
Also fun to note, according to Serebii, but Ditto's now available! I also have the tracker now, and I'm not in one of the listed test cities! Might be worth a look to anyone who hasn't played in a while!
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