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(Image: NIANTIC)

Pokemon GO has just announced their HUGE new Gym rework for the game coming later today and in the weeks to come.

Not only will the update introduce some pretty sizeable changes to the game's gyms but also a massive new feature in the form of raids.

You'll find everything you need to know about the latest Pokemon GO update on this story here (Pokemon GO Gym Rework) but as with all things Niantic, a lot of the nitty gritty details tend to get lost in translation or not mentioned at all.

That's why having communities such as The Silph Road often prove invaluable as fans post details of their discoveries the second they're discovered.

Last week, we had the chance to try out some of these new Gym and raid features with the Niantic developers at E3 2017 and also had the opportunity to ask them some questions directly.

At the time, we didn't really know what Niantic was going to show us, so some questions might have now been clarified in more detail by the Pokemon GO blog post, but we're confident there are some things they've left out.

Below the gallery, you'll find our initial observations of the new Pokemon GO update and also 21 questions and answers from the Niantic team.

For those interested, we spoke with Archit Bhargava, Global Product Marketing Lead, Ed Wu, Director of Software Engineering and Tatsuo Nomura, Senior Product Manager.

Where necessary, we've also indicated who was speaking.

Before we get to the questions we put to the Niantic team, here are a few initial observations from our brief time with the game.

This, thinking back, is also a good insight into a couple of details not mentioned in the Pokemon GO blog post (given to Daily Star ahead of release) and our questions that we asked on the day.

GYMS:

As mentioned in the main bulk of info released by Niantic, Motivation levels will need to be topped up by fellow team members. But Niantic doesn't specify how quickly this motivation drops in the game, outside of the battles from other trainers.

We were told that motivation will go down faster for the stronger Pokemon in a gym.

"So if you have a CP 3000 Dragonite at a gym it will go down really fast, like half in a day, something like that, the numbers are still being fine-tuned," explains Tatsuo Nomura.

You also earn a small amount of stardust for feeding berries to Pokemon.

RAIDS:

Raid bosses are broken down into four tier categories, indicated with a little monster icon shown above the gym and egg on the map.

There are no restrictions on which teams can take part in a raid. Instinct, Valor and Mystic can team up for a raid.

This can be done as either a public match, with anyone around, or if you want to do it with your friends, you can use a group code to create a private raid just for your friends.

In our own encounter, our group had to take down a 17,000 CP Gyarados.

Following the encounter, you'll get a few exclusive items, XP and then is the interesting part.

"Based on who controlled the gym, how much you did as a trainer and contribution your team did to the raid boss, will give you a variable number of what we call premier balls," explained Ed Wu.

These Premier balls are what we used to catch this Raid boss, which does obviously decrease in XP upon capture. You don't actually get to keep a 17,000 CP Pokemon.

It's also worth noting that the Raid boss felt very difficult to capture, with a lot of movement, between throws.

Q: Are you able to say what the pricing will be on the new Raid passes shop items, comparable to other items existing now?

A: We still haven’t finalised those details yet, but they won’t be that expensive.

Q: Is it likely they’ll be sold in tiers like the existing items?

A: Haven’t decided the SKU's for premium rates. We haven’t finalised that yet.

Q: Is this going to be a big part of the Chicago event?

A: Well, our hope is over the world can enjoy these raids and get a lot from them the events we’ll have in Chicago, Asia and Europe eventually. Those we look at more of a celebration or festival everything they love about that, playing with others catching Pokemon exploration, all of those aspects will be heavily dialled up. That’s going to be the event. A lot of fun, teams trainers will get to meet people all over the world and there will be some surprises.

Q: You mention you can spin a poke stop on top of the gym. not based on team's gym.

A: No, it can be anyone.

Q: Are the gyms 6 vs 6 Pokemon? As before it was 6 vs 10?

A: No, it's always 6 vs 6 now.

Q: Presumably when you battle them to get CP down and I know it’s motivation now so how does it work when you’ve defeated one Pokemon?

A: When motivation goes to zero that...

Q: So does it take motivation from the team collectively or like the top one first?

A: Each Pokemon takes it down a bit.

Q: Are there player limits on starting a raid or do you need a team?

A: We have different levels of that, we try to make it well balanced for people working together maybe our very very top level trainers can take on the easiest ones by themselves but you know, we want this to be a co-operative experience, we’ve tried to make it so when we battle that it doesn’t get harder when we battle with more people we want to make it feel good that if you take a friend along that everyone who joins in really enhanced the experience.

Q: It sounds like those high CP Pokemon, they're not being necessarily punished, but if after a day they lose half their motivation, in terms of the meta of the game, those very high CP Pokemon, they're not worthless, as presumably, they will be the ones most useful for raids? Unlike, say an 800 CP Ivysaur?

A: (Tatsuo Nomura) its player choice, you still earn Poke coins by leaving them in the gym, so there's some incentive in trying to add your strongest to the gym.

A: (Ed Wu) Definitely, it’s meant to be a trade off right? Between the frequency at which you give them berries and how tough it is for folks to challenge it.

Q: Presumably, it’s would be better to not stick your 3000 CP Dragonite in a gym, but instead to keep hold of that for a raid and then put a 2000CP Venusaur instead?

A: Yeh, I think what we’re excited about is that these new mechanics for us introduce all these different possibilities, tactically and strategically. It’s possible for these trainers to leverage the Pokemon they have effectively to help get the poke coins but also if there’s a raid coming up, they better have their strongest Pokemon with them who can help win that raid. it opens up a lot of possibilities.

Q: In Terms of the raid, do you need to see that Pokestop, sorry Gym, on the screen to see that Raid counter? Or if there’s one in a mile radius of you, will you get a notification? I’m thinking more for rural players who might have limited options available.

A: There’s an in-game notification when a raid is happening nearby. There’s also a feature where you can see nearby to see potential raids happening close to you.

Q: Have you specified how many Pokemon are ‘raid’ Pokemon?

A: (Tatsuo Nomura) We’re still fine tuning it as we speak.

A: (Ed Wu) Generally speaking we want it to feel epic, right. So something you’ll want to bring your friends and family over to see and challenge.

Q: Because you’ve got those slightly more difficult to obtain Pokemon available to capture with raids, like a Snorlax, will egg hatch rates change to reflect them being more obtained.

A: Egg hatch rates are always changing...

Q: Is this available on all devices …. like the Apple watch?

It's still only Apple and Android (no answer on Apple watch).

Q: How does this impact Pokemon GO Plus? At the moment you have different coloured flashes to indicate Pokemon, any integration with that? Like a purple flash for a nearby raid?

A: (Tatsuo Nomura) That’s a good question, because it’s such a limited device, and only has so many patterns, we, in this first release we decided to do not too much with it. No integration.

A: (Ed Wu) We do love the Pokemon GO Plus though, so we’re always looking to see what we can do.

Q: Is it likely that with that kind of integration for the game it could only come with say a Pokemon GO Plus 2? Or another iteration on the device?

A: (Tatsuo Nomura) [Jokingly] Pokemon GO Plus 2? How do you know that device ...

A: (Archit Bhargava) Nothing to say, yet.

Q: Does the type of berry given to Pokémon increase motivation differently? Will a Pinap berry offer more than a Razz?

Yes, Berries have different value effects on motivation.

Q: With the game now adding two more item types, and making the existing Nanab berries more useful in the game, will Niantic increase the 1000 item cap?

No information to share at this time.

Q: With gyms becoming Pokestops, will lure modules work with them?

No.

Q: Will lure modules on a gym offer any additional benefit not seen from a normal Pokestops?

No lures on Gyms.

Q: Will lure modules increase the likelihood of a gym raid starting at a given gym?

No lures on Gyms.