The New PvP Charged Move Mechanism

If you're an active player of Pokémon Go, I trust that you've used the PvP feature in different ways, whether it's to battle another Trainer for glory, a team leader for practice, or the lately introduced Team GO Rocket Grunts for keeping things under control. Some time ago, though, there had been an important change in how Charge Moves work. Instead of tapping a button in order for it to gain power, one instead swipes past icons on the screen to collect them and add to the move's power. It's a fundamentally important change.

Before evaluating the change for what it is, it's important to understand how the new mechanism works. Upon activating a Charged Move during a PvP battle, the words "Get Ready!" will appear briefly before a "Swipe!" command replaces it, prompting one to do so for a flurry of icons that appear in certain ways. The power of the Charged Move depends on how many icons were swiped, which also carries a qualitative evaluation of Nice/Great/Excellent, the same qualifiers as Poké Ball throws. After that, the Charged Move is executed, and the rest of the battle proceeds.

The new mechanism is admittedly quite dynamic. With it, the Charged Moves seem like they are more "alive" and represent their true nature. What's more, it's difficult for a move to come out weaker as long as one tries; once an icon has been swiped, it contributes to the power. This is unlike the previous simple repeat tapping mechanism, where - by my experience - sometimes does seem to come out weaker even though I've tried. The qualifier labels, being the same as Poké Ball throws, also seem to present a sense of "unity". So, on one hand this is an improvement.

On the other hand, the new mechanism may have some nags. It certainly adds a learning curve and dexterity to Charged Moves, given that the technique is different for each move type; even now, I've still not seen how some types work in this system, and sometimes I still have problems with the types I already do know. One would have to practice quite a bit to get the hang of how the new Charged Moves work to execute them with the best power possible, and the hope is that one eventually will, sooner or later.

Pokémon Go is a "living" game, being that it's constantly updated with new features over time, unlike other Pokémon games that tend to remain mostly the same or "inert". The change in the workings of Charged Moves in PvP is just one part of that, something done to keep the game fresh among its players. It also has its own positives and negatives that affect its execution. Beyond that, it just becomes another dynamic to the game, one that is just as dynamic and active as the players that play the game.

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