Ever since “Pokémon GO” first hit our mobile phones like a tidal wave two years ago, people have been wondering “Why can’t I trade Pokémon?” Well, Niantic and Nintendo have just announced that they will introduce a “Friends” feature to the game sometime this week! What that means is connecting with your actual friends to send items, earn various rewards, and FINALLY trade Pokémon! It took them long enough, didn’t it?
In order to trade, you and whoever you are trading with must be added to your “Pokémon GO” friends list. Once you have exchanged Trainer Codes, you’re in business! However, being friends has benefits in itself.
Gifts:
Whenever you hit a PokéStop, you might receive a Gift. Although you cannot open it yourself, you can send it to one of your friends. Within, they will find various items, perhaps even including an egg which will result in an Alolan version of a Kanto Pokémon! The gift also contains a cute postcard of whichever Stop you got the gift from.
Friendship Level:
Like every Nintendo game or dating simulator, you will also be able to quantify friendship! Whenever you send a gift to a friend or fight alongside them in a raid of Gym, you can raise your Friendship Level. A higher Friendship Level will mean greater benefits, such as attack bonuses when you fight alongside each other! Unfortunately, you can only raise this meter once per day per friend.
Trading:
Trading, too, will increase Friendship. So long as you and a friend are nearby and both are at least Trainer Level 10, you can trade! Trading nets extra candies for the Pokémon you trade away and that bonus increases if the Pokémon you traded was caught somewhere far away! The downside is that trades require Stardust, which is already vital in the pricy process of powering up your Pokémon. Furthermore, some trades require more Dust than others. Still, the higher your Friendship Level is, the less Stardust you will need to burn.
Another limitation is that some Pokémon, such as legendaries, shinies, and Pokémon you have not caught yet, require a Special Trade. these can only happen once per day with a Great Friend or Best Friend and requires a boatload of Stardust. If you’re thinking of trading away one of those precious babies, you’d better like the person you’re giving them to…
Also, when you trade Pokémon, whatever you give and receive will NOT keep their original CP. Depending upon your own Trainer Level and your Friendship Level with whomever you are trading, a traded Pokémon’s CP and HP will fluctuate either up or down. It might be a good idea to bump up your Friendship before you even think of trading if you will just get reduced returns like that.
Still, it’s better than not trading at all! Let’s see how this actually pans out when they release this update! I know I’ll be one of the first people experimenting with it!
