Pokémon Go rolls out an unannounced update yesterday bringing several updates mainly for balancing the game.
Increased Spawn Rates
There have been reports of increased spawn rates of uncommon and rare Pokémons. This change is a warm welcome to get out of the monotonous grind of catching Rattata and Pidgey. Reports are also coming in for significant increase of region specific Pokémon. There are four Pokémon which are region based as shown below.
Region Based Pokemon
| Region | Pokémon |
|---|---|
| Asia | Farfetch’d |
| Australia | Kanghaskhan |
| Europe | Mr. Mime |
| North America | Tauros |
The update also made changes to rural areas where it is almost unplayable due to lack of Pokestops and low spawns. This move will make the game not only playable in big cities and trainers will have the chance to explore outside of major cities capturing wild Pokémon as the game is expected to be.
Increased Egg Hatching Speed
It has been reported that the max speed allowed for egg hatching was increased from the previous 10.5 kmph. The distance will be updated more frequently as well, so that trainers may not need to walk in a straight line to obtain best results anymore.
Attack Moves Changes
Contrary to previous update where we have seen some moves have its damage altered, this update mainly focus on move set changes to certain Pokémon. While some Pokémon have one fast/special attack move changed, others had a move completely removed.
Note: This change will only affect newly caught Pokémon, so you want might to hold on to your Gyarados with a Dragon Breath move.
Fast Attack Changes
| Pokémon | Old Move | New Move |
|---|---|---|
| Diglett | Mud Shot | Mud Slap |
| Dugtrio | Mud Shot | Mud Slap |
| Graveler | Mud Shot | Mud Slap |
| Golem | Mud Shot | Mud Slap |
| Seel | Water Gun | Lick |
| Grimer | Acid | Poison Jab |
| Muk | Acid | Lick |
| Koffing | Acid | Removed |
| Weezing | Acid | Removed |
| Staryu | Quick Attack | Tackle |
| Starmie | Quick Attack | Tackle |
| Gyarados | Dragon Breath | Removed |
| Porygon | Quick Attack | Zen Headbutt |
| Omastar | Rock Throw | Mud Shot |
Special Attack Changes
| Pokémon | Old Move | New Move |
|---|---|---|
| Jigglypuff | Play Rough | Dazzling Gleam |
| Gengar | Sludge Wave | Sludge Bomb |
| Hitmonlee | Stomp | Brick Break |
| Chansey | Psybeam | Hyper Beam |
| Starmie | Psybeam | Psychic |
| Mew | Hurricane / Moonblast | Blizzard |
Conclusion
This update was a server side patch and the changes seems promising as we saw increased spawn rates, increased egg hatching speed, and attack move set changes.