‘Pokemon Go’ News & Updates: Niantic Announces New Feature, Increases Rare Pokemon Catch Rate

"Pokemon Go" will be getting a new update soon that will institute some major tweaks to the way pokemon trainers catch pokemon, as the update will now modify the medals players earn when catching a specific number of pokemon with the medals themselves giving bonuses to capture rate.

Niantic's "Pokemon Go" already has an achievements system in place, which rewards medals based on the number of pokemons a player has caught within a specific elemental type. Now, the new feature announced by Niantic on the official "Pokemon Go" website, as shared by IGN, will make those medals a little more worthwhile and actually affect gameplay by increasing the chances to catch certain types of pokemon in an upcoming update.

The update will implement a new feature in "Pokemon Go," modifying those medals players receive based on the number of pokemons they capture in a specific type. Each medal will now give a bonus for the specific elemental type it is associated with, whether fire or water for example, or increase the odds of players successfully capturing other pokemon of the same type which includes rare pokemon.

Niantic explained that "for example, as you reach a higher tier for the Kindler Medal, your bonus to catch Fire-type Pokémon such as Charmander, Vulpix and Ponyta increases." In other words, gaining the "Pokemon Go" medals will be more than achievement badges and will actually now affect the odds of catching a specific pokemon with each medal tier with each tier making the succeeding one easier.

As some pokemon have multiple types, the calculations in how the medals becomes a little more complicated; Niantic explainsthat for example in the case of Pidgey, which is both a Normal and Fighting type pokemon, the catch rate will be affected by the "Pokemon Go" medals the player has accrued in both types. Although instead of adding the bonuses together, "Pokemon Go" will simply calculate the average of the bonuses from the medals of the Normal and Fighting categories.

It is not clear just how the update will actually affect the gameplay in "Pokemon Go," like if it will specifically increase the encounter rate of a pokemon elemental type or if throwing pokeballs will have a higher chance of succeeding and the pokemon themselves having a lower chance of escaping. No date has been revealed for when the new catch bonus feature will arrive to "Pokemon Go."