Pokemon GO Update brings great news for legit trainers

By Chris Burns/Updated: April 21, 2017 3:24 pm EST

Overnight Niantic has sent out a Pokemon GO update server-side which randomizes the stats of Pokemon based on player. While this won't make a massive difference to the average legit Pokemon GO user, it has already begun to wreak havock on spoofer communities and snipers of all sorts. This is a time to rejoice for the average player playing by the ruleset set out by Niantic – random spawns for everybody!

It's the end of line for hackers of several sorts! Pokemon GO will now be a whole lot more random than it's been in the past, and as a result, hacking collaborators will no longer be able to collaborate. They'll be able to get candy, sure, but the sizes and the unique abilities of each Pokemon will be far more difficult to predict – impossible, in most cases.

SEE: How Niantic still hasn't solved Pokemon GO's biggest problemUPDATE: It would appear that the random nature of spawns is not completely random. Only part of this universe is as random as we first thought. The following chart shows where each Pokemon trainer can expect spawns to be the same as a person standing right next to them. Regardless, this remains a big blow to snipers and illegitimate players of many sorts.How Level Matters now in Pokemon GO• Level 1 trainers: Pokemon finds same as Level 1 (IV, Moveset, Height, Weight)• Level 10 trainers: Pokemon finds same as level 10• Level 25+ trainers: Pokemon finds same as Level 25+• Levels below 25: Pokemon finds random unless player levels match

In the past, level 30+ was the cutoff point for Pokemon – they could not spawn with any better stats than they would in the presence of a level 30+ player. While that might remain partially true now, the randomness of their various stats stays the same only after level 25+ – as far as we know, so far.

Why does this matter?

In the past, users utilizing bots would be able to search the wide world of Pokemon and rack up reports about Pokemon. These reports – reading IV levels, moveset, height, and weight, would be accurate entirely. No matter the level of the bot account nor the account that'll be going to capture the Pokemon, the Pokemon would come up the same.

Now, cheaters – botters, scanners, map-scourers, will only be able to report the type of Pokemon they've found. It's possible that botters could level up their bot scanner accounts, but the time and effort required to do this will be immense. In the interim, Niantic has the time to enact ban-waves on all accounts acting mysteriously – like walking around the planet 24-hours a day.

In short, this update does not kill hackers directly. Instead, it creates a Pokemon GO universe in which it's a lot less fruitful to go about hacking and cheating. It also creates a slightly larger window for Niantic to see through whilst seeking out cheaters, hackers, and the like.

We'll continue to follow the codes closely and let you, the Pokemon GO user, know when what updates and how. Have a peek at our @TeamPokemonGO Twitter portal to learn all about the future. Leaks and tips, updates and pointers, all shall be told.