Hello coaches
Niantic recently posted a video interview with Matthew Slemon, who is the Chief Product Manager for Pokémon Go. Essentially, Matthew’s team is in charge of the roadmap for Pokémon Go. He shared interesting information about the future of Pokémon Go, the level cap, and Mega Evolutions.
You can see the full interview here.
Level 50 is coming
Apparently, the level cap has been discussed in Niantic’s offices for quite some time, and the issue of how to do it has been the biggest reason for debate among teams.
Matthew indicated that they did not want trainers that passed the level 40 experience requirement to only reach level 50 when launched. They want level 41 and beyond to require a little effort, which is what leveling up should be. He said that leveling up to level 41 and beyond will not be as simple as just a grinding experience.
So let’s speculate here for a minute! Niantic can handle the new level limit in many ways. Will there be medal requirements? I think that could be part of this, Ingress has medal requirements, but that is something that the coaches could have already completed.
I think we are going to look at the field research requirements. You try, if you want, tasks that we will have to complete to advance to the next level.
For example, we could see something like this:
Tier 41
* 30,000,000 experience
* Make 20 great pitches
* Catch 50 different species of Pokémon
* Mega evolves 5 Pokémon
Mega evolutions
Matthew confirmed that you will be able to Mega evolve your existing Pokémon. This is very exciting news, as there were a plethora of theories suggesting that you would have to catch Mega Evolved Pokemon from forays or investigations.
Check out this article for a complete list of Mega Evolvable Pokémon in Pokémon Go!
What comes in 2020 and beyond
Matthew was pretty lazy with this one, but said new Pokemon, more events, and more features are coming. He also indicated that Niantic is trying to find the right balance between improving existing functions and launching new ones.
He hinted that 2021 could be a year when we see fewer new features and more improvements to existing ones.
The next 6 months seem to be very exciting, and I’m sure 2021 will bring even more excitement. Stay safe there coaches.
