Hello Trainers! Pokemon GO 0.165.0 is slowly rolling out through Google Play Store (iOS App Store lags a bit behind). There is a lot to cover in this one from more code surrounding the Go Battle League, to updates to PVP, Shadow Eggs and more!
🚨⚠️ Disclaimer ⚠️🚨
Please be aware that everything posted here has been publicly reported by data miners. Information shared through these channels is not affiliated nor approved by Niantic, and is always subject to change. Do not take it for granted, features change and get scrapped all the time. It is very important that you are aware that these things CAN and WILL CHANGE. Additionally, this article contains my thoughts and opinions in regards to the code that was shared online – all of these should be treated as conjecture, not as hard statements. If you’re OK with that, feel free to read further. Potential spoilers ahead.
With that said, let’s get into it!
Official Patch Notes
The official patch notes can be found here. Below are some of the highlights.
Some big updates for the PvPers of the world with changes to the way stat changes are handled, and a big change to charge move priority, and a very vague “New ways to engage in Trainer battles.” Also, sadly it looks like the days of getting a buddy heart from spinning any gym are over, as Niantic has confirmed it was a bug… by fixing it.
Updates
-
Attack and Defense stats changes are now cleared after swapping during combat
-
During battle, when two Pokémon use Charged Attacks at the same time, the Pokémon with the higher Attack stat will go first. If two Pokémon have the same Attack stat, a random Pokémon will go first.
-
Removed EX Raid-eligible tag on Gyms with already scheduled EX Raids
-
New ways to engage in Trainer Battles
Bug Fixes
-
Resolved an issue causing Galaxy S10 devices running Android 10 to crash when entering AR+ mode
-
In-game notifications for when your buddy collects a candy now direct you to the new Buddy Profile page
-
Fixed a bug where the “Swap Buddies” button on the Buddy Profile page was incorrectly greyed out
-
Feeding berries to a buddy is now possible on a rotated device
-
Fixed an issue where a Team GO Rocket dialogue screen could appear when attempting to exit a Team GO Rocket battle
-
Your buddy must now be on the Map to receive a “Battle together” Affection heart, matching the existing description of the activity
-
Fixed a bug where Trainers could earn a “Visit a new place” Affection heart by spinning the Photo Disk at a previously visited Gym.
-
Fixed an issue where a Best Buddy Ribbon would not appear on Buddy Pokémon when first reaching the Best Buddy level
Anticheat Features
The data miners didn’t go into too much detail here, with good reason. All that was said was that there was some new tracking of in-game warnings and acknowledgements. I personally think this is great to hear, and I’m glad the details have not been released.
Updates to Form handling
IsPokemonsNormalForm NORMAL_FORMS ALOLAN_FORMS GALARIAN_FORMS ARCEUS_FORM_TYPE_STRINGS NUMBER_TO_FORMS AssociatedForms Alola Purified Galarian TwentyNineteen
It appears that Niantic has changed the way they handle the various forms of Pokémon. Likely this is just a way to have the game run more efficiently.
FRILLISH_NORMAL FRILLISH_FEMALE
Interestingly, Frillish has been separated into different gender forms.
Team Go Rocket Updates
Shadow Eggs
ACTIVITY_HATCH_EGG_SHADOW ACTIVITY_HATCH_EGG_GIFT
This is exciting! The potential to hatch shadow Pokemon? Maybe we will be able to get shadow eggs from spinning Team Go Rocket Pokestops? It would make sense, with Team Go Rocket corrupting the Pokestop, maybe the egg generated from it would be corrupted as well?
Sprites for Shadow and Purified Pokemon
shadowSprite purifiedSprite
It looks like Shadow and Purified Pokemon will show as their shadow and purified forms in your Pokemon storage, not just the symbols. This will bring them in line with Shiny Pokemon.
New Search
A new search term was added so you can search for Pokemon that you can evolve for free though trading. The search term is “tradeevolve”
Map Avatar shadows
.get_ShadowDirection ShadowDirection
Your map avatar has a shadow! Reports are that the shadow will move depending on the time of day as well. Neat!
Pokemon Buddies
Buddy fixes
.set!Tried to show level up notification for buddy
.{0}, but current level not available!Level up notification for buddy
.{0} exceeds current, skipping for now.Level up notification for buddy
.{0} stale, marking as read.buddy_milestone_notification_toastbuddy_level
Fixes for some of the buddy errors. There was apparently a lot more code, above is just a snippet. Hopefully, this leads to far less buddy related errors.
Best Buddy Badge
BADGE_BUDDY_BEST
New badge! Show off how many Pokemon best friends you’ve got.
XP Milestone
xpRewardsForMilestone
“Milestones” are the overlay messages you get in-game like for a lucky friend, and friendship level-ups. Maybe there are more ways to earn XP coming? XP for badges?
Friendship tracking
TwoWaySharedFriendshipData
It looks like we will be able to track things about friendship stats, including how many times you have got lucky friends maybe?
Weather levels
A huge weather update has shown up in the game code. Here’s a snippet.
.get_WindLevel1Speed .set_WindLevel1Speed .get_WindLevel2Speed .set_WindLevel2Speed .get_WindLevel3Speed .set_WindLevel3Speed
Different levels of weather? Maybe we will see increased weather boosted spawns with higher levels of weather in the future?
POI Edits
POI Submission and Edits
The code to allow Trainers to submit edits for sponsored stops is in the game.
SUBMIT_SPONSOR_POI_REPORT SUBMIT_SPONSOR_POI_LOCATION_UPDATE
Additional error handling to make sure Trainers have input all of the necessary information to make an edit.
MISSING_FILE_CONTEXTS DUPLICATE_FILE_CONTEXT MISSING_SUBMISSION_TYPE MISSING_SUBMISSION_ID uploadStatus UPLOAD_DONE UPLOAD_FAILED
Blacklisting from POI Edits
.get_BlacklistedOs
With the ability to edit Pokestops, comes the ability to lose the ability to edit Pokestops. So watch what you edit, or more importantly how you edit!
Poffin Bundles
Let me preface this with, assets for raid pass bundles have been in the code for a long time and they haven’t been used… so. Poffins now have assets for packs of 3 and 5 could they be showing up in the shop soon? Or will they languish in the void like the raid pass bundles?
PVP
PVP Buffering and Queued moves
TryExecuteBufferedAction QueueSpecialAttack combatBuffer
Buffering and Queues for both fast and charged moves, likely a way to clean up missed inputs and to improve the way moves buffered while charge move animations are displayed.
HasActiveAndAlivePokemon IsSpecialAttacking IsFinishedWithSpecialAttack IsWaitingForSwap ISingleCapacityBuffer ICombatBuffer CombatBuffer CombatCommand
Improved handling of Combat states which should help reduce unregistered inputs.
GO Battle Hub
BattleHub goBattleLeagueTutorialGuiControllerPrefab battleHubUiWid
Open Battle Hub and a tutorial! Will we actually see a tutorial?
.get_SeasonEndTime .get_SeasonEndTime>m__0 contentText dynamicHeightController SeasonEndTime
Code to display the season, and a countdown to the end of the season.
NUM_VS_SEEKER_CHARGES SEASON_NUMBER
It looks like you’ll be able to store multiple charges in your vs seeker, no indication on how many though.
pokemonEncounterImage AvatarRewardIds
It looks like Pokemon Encounters and maybe Avatar items will be rewards for participating? Perhaps this will lead to exclusive Go Battle avatar items that pvpers can show off?
Professor Willow
HasQuestDialogBeenShown
Has Professor Willow’s chronic short term memory loss finally been resolved? Will he finally realize he’s given us his speech already and not bother us a second time? Finally? Please?
Other Stuff
- RIP Great Box. Long live Adventure Box
- Minor changes game sync code for notifications
- Nintendo and Apple log in methods – Even more login options!
CreatePartyTab– Possibly to allow more tabs in the future?SwitchOrientation– Could Niantic let us play in portrait orientation?
Conclusions and Speculation
That’s it!! A lot to unpack there, not a lot to speculate about. The revelation that getting a buddy heart for spinning any old gym was a bug has left me sad, as I am sure it will be for a lot of you readers.
There’s a lot of new Battle League code, probably not quite everything that Niantic needs to flip the switch, but we’re getting there!
New code to help Niantic track down cheaters and breakers of the ToS is exciting as well.
As always, keep an eye out here for updates and details on new features and the pending release of the Go Battle League.
Until next time Trainers, be safe out there!
