Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: Go Battle League, Niantic, pokemon, pokemon go, Pokémon GO Battle League

What Is The Grey "Battle Pass" In The Pokémon GO Shop?

A new addition to the Pokémon GO in-game shop left some players confused this week. It happened when the Season of Alola kicked off, which players had been prepared for due to the news cycle and blog entries. This new addition, though, wasn't mentioned along with the Alolan news because it is actually GO Battle League related. It was a grey "Battle Pass" that popped up for free in the shop. So… what is it?

Niantic posted the following details to their Pokémon GO Battle League Season 11 announcement:

Timed Research Ticket: BATTLE For our most dedicated battlers, a Timed Research ticket will be available in the shop for free once the Interlude Season begins. This Timed Research will keep track of your victories throughout the Season. Each research page will require progressively more wins to complete, and doing so will reward you with a small amount of Stardust. Keep at it throughout the Season to see how far you can get!

Niantic also posted an update on the Gyms as well:

A new visual update will be released in March for Gyms and PokéStops. These in-game locations will now be visually different depending on whether you are within 40 m, within 80 m, or out of range of the location. This change is purely visual in nature and will not impact gameplay.

These changes come at a controversial time for Niantic. While these two tweaks are respectively beneficial and innocuous, the Pokémon GO community is in an uproar over a far more impactful change that many feel has affected the game negatively. Niantic has made it so Incense functionality has decreased dramatically for stationary players, leading some to suggest that this move makes it impossible for disabled players to enjoy the game. Others feel Niantic is simply getting the game back to its pre-pandemic state. We'll observe to see how this all shakes out.

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