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.
The first gen 2 Pokémon I found got away because apparently curveball mechanics changed #PokemonGO— Julian Hermano (@julian_hermano) February 16, 2017
— Julian Hermano (@julian_hermano) February 16, 2017
Look at those moves! I do enjoy the added movements. The throw mechanics I have to get used to...again #Koffing #PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/ayB05ToGw5— Pokemaster beykhun (@PkmnMstrBeykhun) February 19, 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.