Pokemon Go - Challenge with Gyms and the latest udpate

Hi all,

I know we haven't posted for a while...sometimes life just gets in the road, but I feel strongly enough about this one to put it into words.

I have been encouraged by Deefooty, Robot, Chymes and TheRoadWorks to get into Polemon Go.  It is pretty easy to play and you can do it while you walk...in fact, that is the aim of the game - get out and walk!

It has been going well so far, and I'm a mid-range player:

LordMorgrim, L26, Pokedex at 133.

The reason for posting is around the latest update.  I get that Niantic have had to make some changes - it is typical for a new game and especially one that has such a massive following.  Even with the drop off of the 'fad' aspect of the game, the people that really enjoy the game are still playing, and that is millions of people each and every day.

Gyms are a key part of the game.  It looks great when your Pokemon is sitting at the top of the gym, and of course, the more gyms you get into, the more PokeCoins you earn.

When you battle Gyms, you compete for Prestige'.  If you attack an enemy Gym, the Gym loses Prestige, dropping it down one or more levels.  If you attack a friendly Gym (the same team as you), it is called training and you earn Prestige for that Gym, in an attempt to increase its level so you can put one of your own Pokemon in the Gym.

As the game started to sort out the good players from the casual players, massive towers of Gyms started to scatter the virtual landscape and the colours of those Gyms rarely changed.  It was hard work to pull down a Level 10 gym and people simply stopped doing it.  I absolutely get that it was a discouraging part of the game for the casual player.  Something needed to be done...and it was.

Niantic seriously buffed Gym attacks.  You can take 6,000 points off a gym and take down a high level gym fairly quickly.  It will still take some time, but it can be done.

I think that is a good thing.

The problem is, Niantic also seriously nerfed training prestige.  Now, it take a very, very long time to gain Prestige on a Gym.  This is a bad thing.  It takes such a long time that, even with a team, levelling a Gym up past Level 5 is just too hard.  As a result, there are a lot of little Gyms around an no incentive to train.

So c'mon Niantic.  Definitely make it easy to pull down a and take it over, but please, please don't make it so hard to level up that no-one wants to do it anymore.

All those big, glorious towers that would fill the virtual skyline?  We want them back!

Morgrim