Pokémon Go Gym Rework

Even though I haven't played Pokémon Go in some time due to reasons that I've explained in my Go post earlier, I still have the desire to play. Its dipped popularity doesn't keep it from new features being added and overhauls of existing features. One of the more important ones of the latter just came recently, and that is the reworking of Gyms. From the start, Gyms have been lauded as an important competitive feature, but they've been somewhat mediocre. With the recent updates, now it seems Gyms can become more lively.

One important change is Gym composition. Now Gyms are limited to six Pokémon, and they all must be different. This, I'm told, eliminates "squatter tanking" gyms that are full of a single Pokémon like Blissey. I think this does one more thing, which is to make the Gyms parallel the main series Trainers and the VGC "species clause"; this in turn may increase interest back into the main series. In any case, this is a welcome change that helps increase the diversity of Gyms and deters those taking advantage of the game's mechanics.

Two other changes are raid battles and "Gym stops". Raid battles are cooperative battles against a powerful (Legendary) Pokémon, allowing Trainers to encounter them, but the Trainers must be of a high enough level. The latter meanwhile lets Trainers obtain Gym Badges and items like Pokéstops, though this also entails working the Gyms. Both of these are great additions, though the first one is admittedly exciting to partake in and experience.

Not all games are perfect from the get-go, and Pokémon Go is included as one of those games. This gym rework and subsequent improvement confirms that the previous deficiencies were recognized and now have been alleviated. This may or may not help Go regain some of its former popularity, but it surely helps those who are still engaged and may draw back former players like me. Should I play again, I might just now go into a gym and claim my team - something I haven't done since the beginning - and enjoy Gyms, which is the whole point of this improvement.