Pokémon Go plans to introduce item sharing within Parties
Plus upgrades to Routes.
Pokémon Go is set to introduce a form of item sharing when playing within Parties, according to a fresh datamine of the game's files.
This looks set to allow players to share the effects of active items such as Lucky Eggs, Star Pieces and Incenses with other players - though the feature is still in testing so may yet change, PokémonGoHub warned.
The suggestion, though, is that one player will be able to pop a Lucky Egg for double XP and press a button to then share that boost with everyone else in the Party - saving resources and PokéCoins spent on buying premium items separately.
Parties were introduced last October and allow up to four players to see each other's avatars on the in-game map and complete mini co-op challenges. Most notably, being in a party provides a boost to your raid attack power - allowing smaller groups to beat tougher bosses more easily.
The only downside to being in a Party I've found is that it contributes significantly to your device's battery drain. Here's hoping there are also improvements coming there.
Upgrades also look to be on the way for Routes, the game's user-created walking feature introduced last summer. Up to three Zygarde cells will now be findable per Route, the datamine suggests, and there's a couple of new profile badges planned for completing a certain number of Routes, and completing a certain number of unique Routes. (The first of these has now gone live today.)
Pokémon Go developer Niantic recently said it was taking feedback after the rollout of its avatar changes received a mixed reaction from players.
The game's next big event will be Go Fest 2024, held in Madrid here in Europe and New York in the US, before a global celebration in July. The annual meetups will introduce the Pokémon Fusion mechanic to the game, as well as powerful beast Necrozma.