Pokémon Go received an update last night, bringing a host of improvements, while also making a few controversial changes. These are Niantic's full patch notes:
• Avatars can now be re-customised from the Trainer profile screen
• Adjusted battle move damage values for some Pokémon
• Refined certain Gym animations
• Improved memory issues
• Removed footprints of nearby Pokémon
• Modified battle damage calculation
• Various bug fixes during wild Pokémon encounter
• Updates to the Pokémon details screen
• Updated achievement medal images
• Fixed issues with displaying certain map features
• Minor text fixes
There are many nice improvements on that list, but take note of the fifth one: "Removed footprints of nearby Pokémon". Many players complained about the three-step glitch (made every Pokémon seem far away), so it's understandable that they had to change it. Unfortunately, removing it altogether makes finding Pokémon more based on luck than actual tracking. As if that wasn't enough it has also created problems for people who uses third-party tracking tools. Both PokéVision and PokeHound have become unavailable after the update. It seems that Niantic didn't remove the footprints just because of the glitch either, but also because they want to make it harder to use unauthorised third-party software.
It'll be interesting to see if they can resolve the situation. For now, lets just enjoy the improvements and the new warning prompts that hopefully will lead the far less Doh! moments.
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