Niantic has announced 'Friends' for Pokémon GO - a new feature for the game that will finally allow players to trade their prized Pokémon with one another.
Scheduled to start rolling out to players later this week, Pokémon GO Friends will allow you to connect with your real-life friends and keep track of their adventures in the game. You’ll be able to send them items and earn bonuses on top of the Pokémon trading feature.
To become friends in Pokémon GO, players will need to share Trainer Codes (which act just like friend codes on Nintendo consoles). Once you've invited another player to become your friend, they can then accept you and you’ll see them in your Friends List. Having friends will be beneficial for all players; spinning Photo Discs at PokéStops and Gyms will provide you with a chance of receiving a gift that you can pass on to your buddies, and these can even include an egg containing an Alolan form Pokémon.
To trade Pokémon with a friend, you'll need to be standing close by and be at Trainer Level 10 or higher. Completing a trade earns a bonus Candy for the Pokémon you’ve traded away, and that bonus can increase if the Pokémon you traded were caught in locations far apart from each other. All trades are powered by Stardust, and some trades require more Stardust than others. Legendary Pokémon, Shiny Pokémon, or a Pokémon not currently in your Pokédex, all require a Special Trade to complete, and these can only occur once per day with a 'Great Friend' or 'Best Friend'.
Trading is a feature that players have been asking for since the game first launched, so we're glad to see that it's finally made its way into Pokémon GO. Will you be checking out this feature when it arrives later this week?
[source pokemongolive.com]
Comments 20
Took 'em long enough, but it looks like there is a catch too. Greeeeeat
Looks like Niantic has a lot of things done correctly with this. Hopefully they don't screw it up. I'm still playing the game so I reserve judgement until it comes out.
It took them 2 years to get features that were standard for 20 years... 😶
EDIT: Also, that lack of international trading is annoying. Not everyone can go globetrotting for Pokemon. 😓
Finally!! This update will be huge!!
@eaglebob345 well at least we finally have them.
@JJ286 Yeah, but these features should have been their priority rather than gimping the way you can earn coins in-game and those raid battles.
Regardless, I picked a pretty good time to start playing again. I picked it back up a few weeks ago after the Let's Go announcement after being away for a year.
I love the Special Trade thingy, otherwise people would abuse trading.
I used to wish for the addition of trades on Pokemon GO some years ago. I only started playing again cause I wanted to be ready for Pokemon Let's Go and most of my friends have already quit the game. It's a good addition but I think it's a little late to be of any use (at least to me). Maybe this trade system could be useful as a trade system for Pokemon Let's Go when you don't want to bring your Nintendo Switch with you or it maybe utilized by people that they don't want to pay for Nintendo Online Services just for trading Pokemon.
FINALLY. A feature that should have been there from the start makes its way to the game nearly 2 years later. Seriously, Pokémon has always been about interaction with others and trading. Why did this take so long?
I’m glad the feature is finally somewhat present, but the trading isn’t beneficial for me. My friends and I work for the same agency but in different counties. We live in the same neighborhood, but can only get together a few times a month because of life. So while this could be good for many folks, the proximity required to trade is a downer for a few.
Bah!! Such bad timing! I just got back from my trip to the UK, where I could have flipped my Tauros for a MUCH higher value. Oh well. At least I stocked up on Mr. Mimes and Volbeats
@eaglebob345 agreed. And it’s not even all the basic features (no friend battles). It’s also still years behind the form of trading in the handheld games. Maybe it’s a way not to encroach on core features of the handheld games, but I think I’ll be enjoying the ‘Go’ aspect of this year’s switch titles more than the traditional entries. Not enough time for battle grinding anymore.
As an aside, does anyone know how to reset your progress and start over without creating a new account? I think I’d like to do that in prep for Let’s Go and only focus on Gen 1 catches.
Should've been there day 1
@TAZBONES It must feel like a long time but it probably was not "some years ago." It came out in July 2016 so not quite two years since it released. Sorry just a nitpick. It's true that it would have done wonders for keeping people interested in that first year if a similar feature was added then.
In the end, from my point of view this thing greatly surpassed their capacity quickly and they simply needed to catch up the infrastructure.
Lol, Pokemon Company forcing Niantic to get up off their mounds of money and actually do something because Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee is coming out and trading has to work by then.
@DarkKirby Exactly what I was thinking 🤣
I'm really pleased to see this feature added to the game. It's just a shame about the proximity needed to trade. My best friend lives in another town and we get to see each other every couple weeks so I can't see myself doing much trading. Pokémon Go isn't exactly very popular where I live either so I doubt I'll be trading with any strangers either.
And... we have to be in person? It's a bloody PHONE GAME for Pete's sake! Why can't I trade with my friends in America without BEING in America!?
I feel trading will ruin a lot of things.
It's much cooler to catch your own Pokémon. It's not fun when you get legendaries/shinies/strong Pokémon for free from your friends etc.
I still believe they effed it up with legendaries.
They shouldn't be in raids (not everyone lives in cities), they should be random encounters in really fitting places. If you want Lugia, take a cruise to the middle of the ocean. Want Moltres? Climb up to the top of a mountain. Celebi? Find it in a dense forest.
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