The Mega Evolutions and raids in Pokémon GO are being fundamentally reworked. Initial players are already using the new system and reporting on the changes.
What kind of update is this? The Mega Evolutions are being revised. Selected Pokémon in the game can now undergo an evolution that costs Mega Energy. This makes them really strong and provides bonuses for other Pokémon. However, the community has long been dissatisfied with the system, and Niantic confirmed after many leaks, that they are improving the Mega Evolutions.
In Australia and New Zealand, the new system is already active. We show you what the trainers are saying about it and how it works.
Here’s how the new Mega Evolutions work
What is known: User hurryupthecakes reports on reddit about his experiences with the recent Mega changes that he has already been able to test as a player from Australia/New Zealand.
– The initial Mega evolution costs for a species for which you have not yet performed a Mega evolution are 200 (100 for Pidgeot/Beedrill)
– The costs for the standard level are 40 (20 for Pidgeot and Beedrill), just like the current costs. The reduced costs for the higher levels are not yet available. Data mining shows that they drop to 20 (10)
– Once you have performed a Mega evolution for a species at least once, a Mega symbol appears on the Pokémon’s page that brings you to the Mega summary. There you can see how many evolutions you still need to level up and what cooldown you are currently in
– For each Pokémon species, you can only progress in the Mega level once a day. After the first time, a “Daily Limit Reached” message appears on the Mega summary page. You can still perform more Mega evolutions that day, but you won’t advance in Mega level
– The costs for the Mega evolutions are steadily reduced while you are in cooldown. My Beedrill, which got a Mega evolution yesterday, had reduced costs of 19/20. My Pidgeot with 4 days and 6 hours remaining has costs of 12/20. A friend’s Charizard is somewhere between 2 and 3 days and has costs of 9/40. These points suggest that during the cooldown, the costs drop from “Max” to “0”.
– If you perform Mega evolutions for the maximum energy costs daily, you need 6×40 + 23×20 energy to reach Max level. (700 energy in total, 350 for Beedrill and Pidgeot)
Source: User hurryupthecakes on reddit
How does it work in raids? User ThisNico (via reddit.com) adds: “If you want to perform a Mega evolution on the preparation screen of a battle (like in a raid lobby or in the team selection against a Rocket leader), you need to already have the Pokémon in your team. Once that is the case, there is a Mega symbol you can press to enter the Mega evolution menu.”
ThisNico also points out a problem. Because if you already have an active Mega evolution, you cannot access the Mega evolution screen from a battle preparation. An error message appears then. “Changing that would be an important quality-of-life change that Niantic hopefully is aware of,” explains the trainer.
Keep in mind that the system is currently in testing and is not yet available worldwide.
When is the new Mega update coming? Niantic explains in the blog post that it will be “soon” available to players worldwide. However, there is still no specific date.
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