It’s not tracking, trading, or 1v1 battles, but still is a welcomed feature! The grind is real in Pokémon GO and the recent changes to gyms have made it even more hard for casual trainers to obtain Stardust. If you haven’t noticed, most gyms are always capped out at level 10 by hardcore trainers with little turn over due to the time and resources needed to beat a gym. This is such an issue that some are even complaining about “gym hording” in some areas. Though this new feature won’t address the issues of gyms, it’ll help put Stardust in the pockets of the daily casual trainer.
Daily Catch Bonus
Catching a Pokémon once day will earn the following bonus:
- 500 XP
- 600 Stardust
Catching a Pokémon every day for 7 days straight will earn the following larger bonus:
- 2,000 XP
- 2,400 Stardust
It is also mentioned that if you catch a Pokémon at any time on Tuesday local time (local time of your GPS I assume), you’ll be eligible for the next daily bonus on Wednesday at 12AM local time. I read this two different ways:
- Catching a Pokémon during any day has its bonus counted at 12AM the next day. Playing everyday and keeping the streak will continue to earn the max bonus (2000 xp, 2400 Stardust).
-or-
- The accumulation cycle for weekly bonuses start every Wednesday with the lowest bonus (500 XP, 600 Stardust), and catching Pokémon everyday leading up to the next Tuesday can earn you the highest accumulated bonus for the week (2000 xp, 2400 Stardust).
We’ll know exactly what this means when the update goes live.
Daily PokéStop Bonus
Visiting a PokéStop and spinning the Photo Disc every day will earn the following bonus:
- 500 XP
- A number of additional items
Visiting a PokéStop every day for 7 days straight will earn the following larger bonus:
- 2,000 XP
- A greater number of additional items
Like with the catch bonus accumulation, we are unsure if you can indefinitely keep a streak going, earning the max bonus, or if it’ll reset every week, starting you back at the first day bonus.
Conclusion
While little perks like these are certainly welcome, it further distracts from the features trainers really desire. I also wanted to point out that the announcement post mentions that “Trainers will soon be able to receive a bonus for certain daily activities, including catching a Pokémon or visiting a PokéStop once a day.” Does this mean the two daily bonuses mentioned aren’t the only bonuses coming with this update? We’ll report more as information becomes available.