Niantic Pushes Update to Mega Evolution: Begins Fixing the System's Shortcomings

Niantic has made yet another announcement in regards to Mega Evolution: this time highlighting changes to help improve quality of life for players! The newly released Mega Evolution system, which has been a major source of controversy and contention for players since its initial release, is going to undergo changes in the coming days and weeks, as was previously stated by Niantic via their twitter account:

Trainers, we are excited that we were able to introduce Mega Evolutions into the world of #PokemonGO. We are actively listening to your feedback and look forward to sharing more about how this feature will grow in the future.

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) August 28, 2020

As of right now, it seems that the plan is two-fold. First is to implement fixes to existing systems in the short-term, and the second is to expand the system in new ways.

Newly Implemented

• The cost to Mega Evolve a Pokemon that has previously Mega Evolved has been reduced. Previously, Mega Beedrill had a cost of 25 energy to Mega Evolve beyond its first time while the starters had a cost of 50 energy, but this has been reduced to 20 energy and 40 energy respectively. Note that this does not change the initial cost of mega evolution.
• The amount of Mega Energy gained from Mega Raids has also increased, with the maximum being changed from 50 to 70, with some players reporting energy gains as high as 90, though this has not been fully confirmed yet.

The initial cost is still high but more reasonable given the increased energy gains from Mega Raids, while the cost to Mega Evolve again is substantially more reasonable, costing less than the maximum energy gains from a single mega raid, which makes it substantially more viable. However, the system can still be defined as Pay to Win to a degree due to the burden of being nearly required to pay for raid passes in order to fully take part in the system. But this may change in the near future! 

Coming Soon

• Pokemon will be able to be walked to farm Mega Energy! Depending on how much energy is earned, this alone could basically fix the system to some degree. Even if the system is difficult, it can become accessible via this change alone as it does not cost money to use, is not based on what raid bosses are currently active, and does not require multiple players to utilize. That is, of course, assuming that this system can give fair gains from walking.
• More methods to earn Mega Energy will be introduced, such as via research tasks and "other gameplay". At this point, we're all for adding more ways to use Mega Evolution without making it too trivial to obtain, we're just also hopeful that mega energy research will have higher odds of showing up than what we're seeing in this current event.
• Players will earn bonus candy when catching Pokemon whose types match the typing of the current Mega Evolved buddy. This alone is potentially huge! Many players will now look forward to the release of Mega Pidgeot, as its presence will boost candy earnings in the upcoming Porygon Community Day. Or perhaps having a Mega Charizard X/Y for Charmander's October Community Day? Another thought: in Dragon raids in particular, a Dragon Type mega will not only boost all dragons on the field, it can also give more candy from the raid boss! This also works for Ghosts and some Pokemon with proper sub-typings, but Dragon is the most pronounced case for this. The possibilities here are endless!

Mega Evolution is never going to be effortless, nor should it ever be. However, Niantic is extending their hand to the Pokemon Go community, and has shown their willingness to listen to the community. While the Gamepress Team is still a bit hesitant and will be until we find out how other sources of Mega Energy will be handled in future updates, we're also relieved that changes are coming, and thankful that we no longer feel that our time and effort spent preparing for Mega Evolution was a complete waste. We genuinely look forward to the future, and are hopeful that Niantic will make this system actually work soon!