After weeks of rumours and a little tease from Niantic itself yesterday, the company has announced that the oft-criticised Mega Evolution system in Pokémon GO is finally being revamped.
The flashy teaser above hints at more effortless ways to use Mega Evolution on your Pokémon. There's also a silhouetted 'mon within, almost definitely a Mega Kangaskhan, who was datamined last month.
Fans have long been disappointed with how Mega Evolutions have been implemented into the AR game, but now Mega Raids are being made easier, and once you've Mega-Evolved a Pokémon once using Mega Energy, you can evolve them again free of charge! These are the highlights of this update, which is being rolled out across the world gradually:
Highlights
- Most Mega Raids will be easier. You can now take them on with fewer people!
- You’ll be able to Mega Evolve your Pokémon from raid and battle prep screens.
- Pokémon you have Mega Evolved before will now have an additional visual effect added to their information page to commemorate this momentous achievement.
- We’re implementing Mega Levels and changing how Mega Energy is used.
The star of this update is Mega Levels, a brand new system that changes how Mega Energy is used within the game. Essentially, every time you Mega Evolve a Pokémon, their Mega Level increases, and you get more bonuses as their Mega Level goes up.
Niantic has made some changes to existing systems within the game to be more compatible with this, but also brought in additional boons:
Existing bonuses
- Increased Candy when you catch Pokémon that are the same type as your Mega-Evolved Pokémon.
- While attacking with a Mega-Evolved Pokémon in a Raid Battle or a Gym battle, the attacks of other Trainers’ Pokémon challenging that same raid or Gym will deal more damage. Their Pokémon’s attacks will deal even more damage if the attack is the same type as your Mega-Evolved Pokémon.
New bonuses
-Increased chance of earning Candy XL when you catch Pokémon that are the same type as your Mega-Evolved Pokémon.
- Increased XP for catching Pokémon that are the same type as your Mega-Evolved Pokémon.
- A Pokémon’s rest period decreases as its Mega Level increases.
It definitely seems like a significant improvement on what's become a popular gimmick in the main series, so it's fantastic to see it get some proper love in the mobile game.
Even though Mega Evolution is easier, the one-time cost does put in some understandable restrictions — otherwise, you'll be popping out Mega Blastoise at every opportunity! Once you Mega Evolve a Pokémon, they will become fatigued. And until they are fully rested, they cannot Mega Evolve again.
MORE MEGA MOMENTS: A one-time cost to Mega Evolve
With this update, after you Mega Evolve a Pokémon for the first time, you’ll be able to Mega Evolve that same Pokémon again without using Mega Energy!
- After Mega Evolving, your Pokémon will be fatigued and need time before it can Mega Evolve again. Once this rest period is over, that Pokémon can Mega Evolve again without using Mega Energy.
- You can use Mega Energy to decrease a Pokémon’s rest period. The Mega Energy required to Mega Evolve a Pokémon will decrease as the Pokémon’s rest period becomes shorter.
The latest Dev Diaries entry from Niantic goes over these changes in much more detail. These are all welcome updates to the game, and we hope this brings a lot more people out to do Mega Raids and Mega Evolve their Pokemon.
The update is out now in Australia and New Zealand and will be rolled out gradually to the rest of the world in the coming weeks.
How do you feel about the update? If you're in Australia and New Zealand have you had a chance to try it out? Let us know.
[source pokemongolive.com, via nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 15
I play this all the time and had managed to pretty much ignore mega evolution so they had to do something. Not sure that this will change that because it still has a pretty obvious cash grab in there.
In a nutshell, they've streamlined it to act like the Best Buddy system; use Mega Energy like candies for a first-time evolution, and you get free mega evolutions after a cooldown that reduces if you keep mega evolving to reach max level (30 days). Otherwise, repeat evolutions cost energy depending on remaining cooldown time.
On top of making mega raids easier, and featuring an XL candy bonus for catching Pokémon of the same type as your active Mega Pokémon, this should revitalise the whole system.
I recommend setting up a tag for all your best Pokémon capable of mega evolving, and doing one a day as you cycle through the cooldown periods.
@dew12333
I don't really see it myself, my impression is that these changes all cater towards free players because they're introducing cooldown mechanics and progression mechanics that should've existed in the first place.
Although mega energy is available through raid battles, it's also available through field research tasks and buddying with Pokémon. I think I'll actually make more of an effort to earn mega energy now that there's a one-time cost to get started on building a whole team of Mega Pokémon.
Also, the cynic in me tells me that the costs and cooldowns for legendary Mega Pokémon (Mewtwo, Rayquaza, Latias, Latios, Diancie, possibly Kyogre and Groudon) are going to be far higher than everything else.
"It definitely seems like a significant improvement on what's become a popular gimmick in the main series"
Is it? It's not in Sun & Moon until the post-game and it was replaced with Dynamaxing/Gigantamaxing in Sword and Shield. Although I'll never understand why they didn't wrap up the Mega designs in the Gigantamax mechanic, seemed like a no-brainer and quick way to double the amount of them.
I never liked it, it was tedious to find the stone and it meant that people were using the same Pokémon again, making vs more predictable. All that time adding variety only to then make it more beneficial for people to select a specific sub-set. Plus some of the designs were on Pokémon that didn't have 2nd or 3rd stages anyway so it felt like they should have been permanent evolutions.
I preferred Dynamax as any Pokemon could do it. The Gigantamax did push people a little towards selecting a sub-set again, but you weren't punished for not having one as you could still Dynamax.
So they confirm a new Mega Evolution, and it's of the region-exclusive Kangaskhan. I know they're going to make it more widely available through Mega Raids, but I already have Pokémon I've spent time and effort leveling up, like Mewtwo, Lucario, and Kyogre, who I've been patiently waiting to Mega Evolve, whereas I have exactly one Kangaskhan, and maxing out its level would take more effort than it's worth, since its stats are subpar. Well at least there's still hope; they said that most Mega Raids will require fewer people, and I feel like the ones that won't are going to be Mega Evolved legendaries.
@Ogbert
Mega Evolution has become a staple in the wider series, it's still heavily popular and fans keep asking for its return.
Mega Evolution is featured as an auxiliary mechanic in multiple spin-off games, which can't be said for Z-Moves or Dynamaxing.
I will say that Mega Evolution's implementation in Pokémon Go has been the least popular though, so I'm glad Niantic have taken steps to address that.
@KayFiOS
Unfortuntately yes, it's exactly as you say. They're still withholding the juicest mega evolutions like Lucario, Tyranitar, Salamence, Metagross, Mewtwo, and keep feeding us scraps.
We have to deal with the fact that things like Mega Audino exist.
Mega Heracross will come in the future too.
Fly, you fools!
@RupeeClock ah fair enough! Always felt like something that TPC/GF were trying to ret-con from the series. Didn’t Sun and Moon even have a bit about how it was cruel and dangerous and hurt the Pokemon somewhere? I seem to remember reading that.
Feels to me like a combo of Dynamax and Mega is the ideal solution. Give the benefits of mega but allow any Pokemon to do it, regardless of it they have a mega form or not. Or go and make sure every single Pokémon has a mega form so that they’re all equally viable and give them a generic mega stone to activate it (but maybe it binds to the Pokemon or something so you need multiples).
I just really hated the way everyone ended up having the same team again as they all wanted Mega options. Dynamax was not perfect but it at least removed that.
I'm probably in the minority, well I'm almost certain of it, but all these later added mega super ultra evolutions are dumb to me and ruin things like a Charizard. Charizard was a badass because he was the final form, add however many alternative/even more mega versions and it loses what made it special to begin with.
@Ogbert
Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon even had a solution for that dilemma, akin to Dynamaxing vs Gigantamaxing.
Any Pokémon that couldn't Mega Evolve, could instead achieve an "Awakened" status which itself is a big power boost. Both rely on finding an item called an "Awakening Emera" (as opposed to individual mega stones).
https://www.serebii.net/supermysterydungeon/mechanics.shtml
@Ogbert dynamaxing was boring you lose all the variety of moves and can only do basically the same moves as every other dynamaxed mon.
@Williamfuchs420 that was definitely the main issue with Dynamaxing! There's definitely a sweet spot between the two though.
@RupeeClock ah yeah that sounds like what I'd like to see in the main series!
they need to take mega evolution back to formula
I stopped playing when I filled up my Pokémon storage , how am I supposed to catch em all if I can't store them all
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