VERY interested to see how the battles pan out! I'm excited see what triple team configuration have to offer, and actually get to a point where using the battle system effectively. Every since they changed Gyms, I just spam attacks into them since their CP is always decaying and tactics are meaningless, especially if it's a 2 vs. 1 battle which it usually is since me and the missus go everywhere together. The Raid Battles are all about tossing as much DPS as possible into the Boss, so I never consider dodging or anything these days, and forgot a lot about the battle system for just spam-tapping attack.
That's why I'm really glad that they included the ability to train with your team leader. I really like that inclusion from a Pokémon game-type standpoint that GO hasn't really had with their mentoring-type NPCs, and I'm glad that they're playing a more prominent role with you in the game now. I'm a little hesitant about the Stardust/Candy powering things, because that seems like a way for whales to just muscle out victories, rather than putting it down to just skill and team synergy.
I really like that there are different tiers, and it'll be interesting to see how it works out for my teams with the Pokémon I have. I've got an Alakazam at exactly 1500 or 2500, so that'll be pretty neat to see how the tactics work at different levels, and giving some of the different tier CP Pokémon opportunities to shine that don't really exist otherwise.
Just as a heads up, I have 60 friends & I don't hit a huge number of stops throughout the week, but I do try and at least
open gifts regularly.
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