Pokemon GO is a game all about making friends, and whether those friends are humans or tiny monsters, the message is the same, get out there and socialize. At it’s core Pokemon GO is a social game, and the focus for Niantic has clearly been on that aspect over the last two years.
One of the major manifestations of this was the addition of expanded friends lists and friendship features, including trading Pokemon with your pals. These friend features were introduced last month to encourage cooperation in Raids and other gameplay elements, and they’ve definitely worked.
Niantic being the fine folks that they are also included other incentives to encourage growing your friends list in Pokemon GO. The higher your rating, the better a discount you get in Stardust when trading with them. Players can also send gifts they get to their friends that include free items and Eggs.
“If you’re near a friend and have a Trainer Level of 10 or higher, you can trade Pokémon you’ve caught with that friend. Completing a trade earns a bonus Candy for the Pokémon you’ve traded away, and that bonus can increase if the Pokémon you traded were caught in locations far apart from each other! All trades are powered by Stardust, and some trades require more Stardust than others. As you build your Friendship Level with the friend you are trading with, you’ll find that you can complete the trade with much less Stardust.”
There are multiple tiers of Friendship, each with their own unique rewards in terms of XP, discounts and boosts in battles. Players inch closer to the next tier of Pokemon GO friendship for each day that they ‘play together.’ That includes raiding, trading, or battling with the friend or opening a gift from them.
Pokemon GO’s friendship system is so popular and useful that an entire community has sprung up around players helping each other out with gaining friends and gifts. Other sectors of the POGO community have stepped up and contributed resources to make the system easy to use as well. One such case is the chart below from the SilphRoad subreddit:
In other Pokemon GO news, Niantic has teased the addition of Generation 4 Pokemon, announced plans for community day events for Eevee and maybe Eevee’s shiny evolutions, and even some new Legendary Pokes.
Pokemon GO is available now in select regions on Android and iOS devices.
