Pokémon GO Update – Here is What has Changed; Still No Sign of Game Release in Nepal

It has been over few months since Pokémon GO has been “Geo-blocked” in Nepal. Niantic has been actively releasing the game in many Asian countries, and Nepal should be expecting to get its release by the end of the year (hopefully so). A lot has changed since the game was unplayable in our country. The game has been updated to version 0.35. Many new features like Appraisal, Customization, nearby-tracker has been changed along with nerf to a couple of strong Pokémons and moves. Confused? Don’t worry, we at Techlekh have got your back.  Listed below are the major changes you’ll see when our beloved game is finally available.

Appraisal

The Faction Leaders (Candela for Team Valor, Spark for Team Instinct and Blanche for Team Mystic) give you an insight of your Pokémon’s hidden IV value. IV stands for “Individual Values” that are different to each Pokémon. IVs cannot be changed or altered, and if your Pokémon has less than desirable IVs, it cannot reach its maximum potential.

The leaders of each team say different things to give you a clue about your Pokémon’s IV. Determine if your Pokémon is strong or grind-able by following the convenient chart.

Here is what Candela has to say about my Exeggutor.

Trainer Customization

Have you ever felt guilty about choosing the wrong color of your clothes? Well, the new update has the ability to change our appearance and the trainer’s name. There is no limitation on changing your appearance but, “name-change” feature is available only once. So, be careful become while choosing and changing your name.

Sadly, there is no provision to change Teams so far, but it’s rumored to be included in the further updates.

Pokemon Go has added a new feature that checks if you are traveling at a certain speed. If you are travelling then, you must confirm that you are on the passenger seat, and not driving.

Some improvement has been made to the Poke-ball throwing mechanism too. The points for “Curve-ball, Nice throw, Great throw and Excellent” are correctly awarded now.

Increase in number of occurrences of Potions and revives has also been noticed. [Not official]

Many moves have been changed, and some moves have been removed from the game.

Moves Removed:

• Gyarados: Dragon Breath removed
• Weezing: Acid removed
• Koffing: Acid removed
• Mew: Moonblast removed

Moves Changed:

• Chansey: Psybeam to Hyper Beam
• Gengar: Sludge Wave to Sludge Bomb
• Grimer: Acid to Poison Jab
• Hitmonlee: Stomp to Brick Break
• Jigglypuff: Play Rough to Dazzling Gleam
• Mew: Hurricane to Blizzard
• Muk: Acid to Lick
• Omastar: Rock Throw changed to Mud Shot
• Seel: Water Gun to Lick
• Starmie: Psybeam changed to Psychic

The following Quick Attacks were changed: 

• Porygon: Quick Attack to Zen Headbutt
• Starmie: Quick Attack to Tackle
• Staryu: Quick Attack to Tackle

The following Mud Shots were changed to Mud Slap: 

• Diglett, Dugtrio, Golem, Graveler

Many Poke-moves’ attack powers have been modified. Here is the complete list of the changes, (credits to u/Ustafo) https://bit.ly/2btfY5t

The change severely nerfs Vaporeon by nerfing the DPS of “Water Gun” to 6. Vaporeon was the strongest Eeveelution due to its very quick base attack time on Water Gun and a strong charge move on Hydropump.

Many other minor changes have been introduced along with the patches and updates. The Battery saver mode was removed and then re-added. The “new-tracker” is still in the beta, and is available to very few trainers.

The game isn’t available in Nepal, and there are no updates on its possible release so far. Follow TechLekh to get updates about every change that is happening to the game.

Guest Post by Aabhusan Gautam. Find him on Facebook. 

A massive DOTA 2 freak and a passionate Chelsea FC fanboy, he will always be found rambling about either of these topics.