Greater Friendship Levels in Pokémon Go?

Trainers who may be curious about their friendship levels with other Trainers may go into their friend list, sort the list by friendship levels, and notice that even Best Friends are being sorted in what appears to be roughly in order from the most interacted to the least, meaning that the interaction or engagement statistics are likely being kept even past the Best Friend level. This leads to the suggestion that greater friendship levels can or may be implemented if so desired. For that, I'd like to propose or hypothesize how these friendship levels could be implemented.

As with greater Trainer levels beyond 40, these hypothetical levels should be harder to achieve than the currently available and possibly considered "regular" levels. More interactions could be considered to be relevant, but this is both easier (for those who have been friends since the feature was introduced three years ago) and harder (for those who have recently returned) to achieve in the long run. Therefore, something else is needed to keep things hard but also level the playing field. One way to do this would be to make use of Lucky Friend counts, whether these statistics are retained or not, and perhaps also utilizing tasks as with Trainer levels.

Another matter of concern is the exact name of the higher friendship levels. The current names work as the buildup to a "pinnacle", but they don't suggest anything for beyond that "pinnacle" if higher levels were to be introduced. However, a qualifier like "ultimate" may be utilized to differentiate them from the regular levels as above, and the usage might be very well deserving. The system of higher levels ideally should work with the "four hearts" of the current levels, which are also used for Buddy Pokémon levels; given the penchant for new bugs to appear, this would be worthwhile rather than extending them or making a new representation.

With the above considerations in mind, here are the details of my proposal:

• Ultimate Good Friend: 180 days of interaction (+90 days after Best Friend), Lucky Friend at least 1 time
• Ultimate Great Friend: 360 days of interaction (+180 days after the above), Lucky Friend at least 2 times
• Ultimate Ultra Friend: 540 days of interaction (+180 days after the above), Lucky Friend at least 3 times
• Ultimate Best Friend: 720 days of interaction (+180 days after the above), Lucky Friend at least 5 times

These proposed levels would retain the "four hearts" but use them slightly differently, require sufficient interaction as well as Lucky Friend counts, and make use of a different qualifier yet retain commonality. As for bonuses, which lower friendship levels have, more balls in raids and greater attack power boosts can work, as does greater chances of Lucky Pokémon and becoming Lucky Friends; XP bonuses are a given as well. The possibilities for this are just as broad, so the above are only suggestions.

After three years of the friends feature being introduced, friendship levels may or may not be due for an expansion. If it does, any or all of the above aspects may be considered in order to expand those levels in a way that is feasible for current elements and future repercussions that arise from the expansion. At least, the vital means to make this happen may just be already present and apparent when one looks at their friend list.

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