Pokémon Go introduces PVP battles

Augmented reality monster catching game Pokémon Go is planning to introduce a classic feature from the original Pokémon games: player-versus-player battles.

In a pinned tweet, Niantic – through its Pokémon Go account – confirmed that Trainer Battles feature will be introduced soon, though it gave no deadline for its rollout.

The Pokémon franchise has often allowed players to fight each other using teams of monsters.

Though Pokémon Go allows players to battle monsters belonging to other players place in gyms, these battles are against an automated enemy, rather than another player in real time.

Niantic has not yet explained the mechanics of how a Trainer Battle will be fought, but it revealed that battles will be in three leagues – Great, Ultra, and Master – which correspond to different tiers of  their Pokémon's strength, based on Combat Power (CP).

"Think that CP strength is the only deciding factor in Pokémon Go Trainer Battles? Think again, Trainer! Trainers will need to choose a league before going into a Trainer Battle, with each league having different maximum Pokémon CP limits," it tweeted.

The league caps are 1,500 CP limit per Pokémon for Great League, 2,500 CP limit for Ultra League and no CP limit for Master League.

By putting limits on how strong a Pokémon can be, players would need to be more creative in choosing which to use, rather than defaulting to pure brawn.

"Developer note: When designing Trainer Battles, we wanted to create an experience that everyone can enjoy and ensure that different kinds of Pokémon can show their strengths! With Leagues in Trainer Battles, we hope to create a system that’s accessible to many Trainers," explains Niantic.

Originally hinted at the launch of the game two-plus years ago, Trainer Battles is another feature to only recently be introduced along with Pokémon trading, which was added about six months ago.

Copyright: The Star Online/ Asia News Network