Trainers, it may feel like the Research Update has been part of Pokemon Go for a lot longer, but in fact, it has only been available for four weeks. In other words, roughly four weeks ago, we were living in a pre-quests world without Mew, without Professor Willow and without the, nowadays common, weekly quest rewards.
Today, we’re going to take a quick look at how the Research update has influenced Pokémon GO.
In this time we have seen trainers do the following:
- Complete Field Research for a variety of different rewards, from Pokemon encounters to Golden Razz Berries.
- Complete various 7-Day streaks with Research Breakthroughs and encounter the Legendary Pokemon: Moltres.
- Uncover the very first Mythical Pokemon: Mew.
- Saw the very first Community Day Orientated Field Research.
The overall vibe from the community is overwhelmingly positive about the Research update. With many Trainers catching Mew within a few weeks or so from release to having some players still hunting for a Ditto (Still stuck? see our article here for tips!.)
The below chart displays some of the rewards that can be received from the Research system:
| Task | Reward |
|---|---|
| Completing Field Research Tasks | 
Various Pokemon Encounters / Item Rewards |
| Completing the Research Breakthrough (Effectively a seven day streak of completed Field Research) | 
Moltres |
| Completing the Research “A Mythical Discovery” | 
Mew |
Research Breakthrough Rewards?
As you will know by now, completing at least one Field research task per day will yield a stamp. After collecting seven of these you can effectively cash them in for a Special Encounter. At the time of writing, we have seen the first three Research Breakthroughs all be the same Legendary Pokemon: Moltres. This makes us believe that the Encounter will change every month.
Field Research in the future?
Whilst we have only seen one new Field Research quest added (Catch 3 Mareep) to the game since its launch. There is almost no end to the amount of new requirements or rewards that Niantic could add to the game in the future to spice things up abit. We could see a shake up in Completion Requirements, Pokemon Encounter Rewards or Item rewards.
Special Research in the future?
This has been wildly speculated amongst players as the route that Niantic will go down to release future Mythical Pokemon – Meaning that Celebi could be next! However, as we saw with the Quest for Mew, Niantic aren’t afraid to put some fairly challenging barriers in our way – You should probably keep hold of 400 Wailmer & Swablu candies…just in case.
Another suggestion that we’ve heard mention of is for Niantic to release Regional Pokemon via the Special Research function. We think that this would be a great way for players to finally complete their Pokedexes.
Overall Verdict
The newest update has allowed old and new players alike to obtain new rewards for doing things they do all the time (Catching Pokemon, Spinning Stops etc.) We’re excited to see what’s to come!
What do you think about the subject?
