'Pokémon Go' update notes: Prestige values change is good news for gym battlers

Did you give up on gym battles after Niantic made it nearly impossible to take and defend a gym in Pokémon Go? Thankfully, a new update should fix the problem.

Niantic recently confirmed that it had reversed a recent decision to change the amount of prestige a trainer generates when training at a friendly gym, news that was announced in a tweet from the official Pokémon Go account. This welcome change means you once again have a chance in hell of holding onto a conquered gym.

Pokémon Go update: Training your Pokémon at friendly gyms helps your team 

The level of a gym and the number of Pokémon that are able to defend a gym (the higher the gym level, the more Pokémon can be stationed there) are both determined by how much prestige a gym has in Pokémon Go.

If you attack an enemy gym and successfully manage to fight your way through all the defenders, you will notice that the prestige of that gym does down. The number of Pokémon you face will decrease as you knock down the prestige of the gym, and when the prestige hits zero, the gym is vacated. 

To increase a gym's prestige, on the other hand, Pokémon Go players have to find gyms owned by their team and then battle at those gyms. If a player can win battles against the defending Pokémon, the prestige of the gym is raised. As the gym level rises, your team can post an increasing number of Pokémon, and everyone defending the gym daily earns Pokécoins to spend in the Shop.

Pokémon Go update: Gym training goes back to normal and reverses a prior update

Prior to Pokémon Go update 0.41.2/1.11.2 on Oct. 10, you could train at a friendly gym with a single Pokémon only. Unless you beat all the defenders at the gym, which was difficult for a single Pokémon, any prestige you generated for the gym was negligible. 

The controversial update made it possible to take a full team of six Pokémon for training battles. Being able to take a full squad for training was a huge boon for gym battlers. Having a full squad didn't matter much after Niantic nerfed prestige gain rates, however.

Pokémon Go update 0.45.0/1.15.0 on Nov. 7 changed the prestige math by increasing the amount of prestige lost when a member of the gym is defeated by a trainer from a rival team. It also decreased the amount of prestige gained when training at a friendly gym.

The change was arguably meant to make gym battling more competitive by making it easier to attack gyms and more difficult to defend them. The update performed precisely as planned and made gym battling feel pointless as a result. What's the point of conquering a gym if you can't hold onto it?

So, TL;DR: If you care about gym battles, the latest Pokémon Go update is very, very good.

More Pokémon Go hacks, tips and tricks

If this news has inspired you to hit the gym circuit, you may also want to check out Mic's Pokémon Go guides. Here's everything you need to know about finding the long-awaited Pokémon Ditto, creating new PokéStops, how to maximize your chances of catching Pokémon, the newest top attackers and defenders lists and fresh information about how PokéStops distribute Pokémon eggs.