'Pokemon GO's New Update Changes Pokeball Throw And Curveball Physics

Jovi Figueroa

Pokemon GO's latest update changed the Pokeball throwing mechanics, and it's throwing trainers who have mastered curveballs off their game.

The newest Pokemon GO update has finally arrived, and it brought some very welcome additions and tweaks to the game that we have loved over the past months. Generation 2 Pokemon are here, trainer customization is upgraded, and we're seeing more special items and content.

But not everything on that latest Pokemon GO update was warmly welcomed by all Pokemon trainers. In fact, one of the most crucial mechanics of Pokemon GO has been severely altered, and it's throwing a lot of trainers off their usual game.

Unlike in classic Pokemon games where you get to fight with wild Pokemon to be able to catch them, in Pokemon GO, you only need a couple of berries and great PokeBall-throwing skills to complete your Pokedex. This is why learning how to throw a PokeBall in such a way that you will land a great or excellent throw is extremely crucial in Pokemon GO since it greatly increases the chance of capturing the said wild Pokemon, and increases the XP awarded, too.

In the past months since Pokemon GO started, many a trainer have polished the way of throwing curveballs, which is a way of throwing PokeBalls in a half-circle trajectory so it hits the Pokemon with a great or excellent throw. Eurogamer, in 2016, was one of the many who learned the ways of the true Pokemon masters, and helped Pokemon GO trainers master that curveball or L throw to be able to land better throws.

In fact, Pokemon GO has tweaked its PokeBall-throwing mechanics over the past few months and in July last year, started to offer better XP rewards for curveballs, Comicbookreported.

But it seems like after the newest Pokemon GO update that introduced the second generation Pokemon, Niantic, yet again, updated their PokeBall-throwing mechanics. And trainers who have learned to master curveballs and other PokeBall throws on the old PokeBall physics are having a hard time adjusting to the new mechanics to achieve great and excellent throws.

— Julian Hermano (@julian_hermano) February 16, 2017

— Pokemaster beykhun (@PkmnMstrBeykhun) February 19, 2017

Pokemon GO trainer Seegtease writes in a post which got a wave of consensus throughout Reddit:

I was fairly well adjusted to the distances and throw mechanic before and was beginning to master using one hand. It seems now, all distances are different and throwing isn't quite the same. I used to release my curve on the opposite side of the screen, now I have to swipe half the distance or I overshoot the circle. Nothing seems to require a vigorous long throw anymore.

In response to this PokeBall dissatisfaction, another trainer posts a video on how to throw excellent curveball with Pokemon GO's new PokeBall-throwing physics.

Well, after version 0.57.2 the Pokeball physics has completely changed. You might've noticed that the ball jumps higher and literally throws itself with just a tiny push.

This new change is great for thumb users, but horrible for finger users who try to use curved balls, since now, instead of throwing the Pokeball in an arc, you need to throw in "inside", kinda straight at the Pokemon, which makes hitting the circle really hard.

But worry not! The old physics still exist! They just went a little up on your screen. See this real-life-like diagram:

As you can see, the Squirtle in the picture is really hard to catch, but if you'd want to get a Great or an Excellent curved ball throw on it, you'd have to choose wisely.

Line X is the important thing here, which is roughly 20% above the bottom of the screen:

If the Pokeball is thrown from BELOW line X (point Y), it will use the new physics, meant for thumbs, and the ball will fly away. It might be easier to hit moving targets that way.

If the Pokeball is thrown from ABOVE line X, (Point Z left or Point Z right), it will use the old physics and will allow for more accurate curved balls using the finger.

This new change is great for thumb users, but horrible for finger users who try to use curved balls, since now, instead of throwing the Pokeball in an arc, you need to throw in "inside", kinda straight at the Pokemon, which makes hitting the circle really hard.

But worry not! The old physics still exist! They just went a little up on your screen. See this real-life-like diagram:

As you can see, the Squirtle in the picture is really hard to catch, but if you'd want to get a Great or an Excellent curved ball throw on it, you'd have to choose wisely.

Line X is the important thing here, which is roughly 20% above the bottom of the screen:

If the Pokeball is thrown from BELOW line X (point Y), it will use the new physics, meant for thumbs, and the ball will fly away. It might be easier to hit moving targets that way.

If the Pokeball is thrown from ABOVE line X, (Point Z left or Point Z right), it will use the old physics and will allow for more accurate curved balls using the finger.

[Featured Image by Pranch/Shutterstock, Inc.]

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