The new Pokemon GO patch has hit for iOS and Android, and it brings a plethora of tasty changes to everyone’s favourite AR game. The patch has bumped the game up to 0.3.0 and 0.33.0 for the respective operating systems.
The patch notes contain a healthy dose of fixes. Some more significant than others, the fan favourite “Minor Text Fixes” returns, along with a fix to the issue of “Nice,” “Great,” and “Excellent” throws failing to award bonus XP. They have even managed to resolve the issue surrounding iOS battery saver mode. They’ve also gotten around to a couple of minor visual fixes, adding in the three leaders over their silhouette.
More interesting changes come in the form of a warning that the game will not play above a certain speed, and the addition of a feature that gamers must confirm they are not driving in order to continue playing. One can assume this has been added to curb the actions of the few after a number of well-known incidents.
The most important fix by far though, comes in the form of sporadic beta testing of a new “Nearby Pokemon” feature. The feature, previously featured as a deeply frustrating three steps system, has been broken essentially since release with every Pokemon displaying as “far” despite their actual distance.
This new system adds two sections to the “Nearby” field. The first “Nearby” is as it ever was, a small selection of the nearest Pokemon to you, the change comes with each Pokemon being displayed with a picture of the Pokestop they’re near. This is surely going to come as a boon to those players who were early adopters of the now defunct Pokevision.
The second section adds a “Sighted” category, this shows pokemon that have been sighted in the area but aren’t near Pokestops. Currently there’s no way of tracking where these are or how you get closer to them, and as such they require a significant amount of effort to locate, but it’s something that could easily become more active through further updates.
The update has provided quite a big change to the game, in some respects, there’s even the ability to change your nickname (but only the once). It remains to be seen whether the tracking changes will see their way to more widespread release, but as they stand they are a vast step up from the lacklustre three steps system we had previously.
We’ve included the full list of patch notes below. Hopefully they indicate big things for the future of Pokemon GO.
Patch Notes for Pokemon GO version 1.3.0 (for iOS) and version 0.33.0 (for Android):
- Added a dialog to remind Trainers that they should not play while travelling above a certain speed. Trainers must confirm they are not driving in order to continue playing.
- Made Improvements to the accuracy of the curveball throw.
- Fixed a bug that prevented “Nice,” “Great,” and “Excellent” Poke Ball throws from awarding the appropriate XP bonuses.
- Fixed achievements showing incorrect Medal icons.
- Enabled the ability for Trainers to change their nickname one time. Please choose your new nickname wisely.
- Resolved issues with the battery saver mode on iOS and re-enabled the feature.
- Added visuals of Team Leaders Candela, Blanche, and Spark.
- We’re currently testing a variation of the “Nearby Pokemon” feature with a subset of users. During this period you may see some variation in the nearby Pokemon UI.
- Minor text fixes.