Pokémon Go tweaks proposed premium currency redesign after fan criticism

Pokémon Go's upcoming rework of how you earn the game's premium currency has been tweaked based on fan feedback.

A test of the new system has been running for a month now in Australia, but attracted plenty of criticism from the off.

As Eurogamer previously reported, the proposed new system drastically nerfed the number of Pokécoins you could earn per hour by controlling gyms, while providing a meagre alternative to earn a few extra coins by fulfilling a lengthy set of in-game tasks.

The new new system, which Australia has now moved over to, sees the old rate of earning gym coins return - albeit with a lower cap. Meanwhile, the amount you can earn from completing that list of tasks has been increased.

In this latest version of the test, the max number of coins earned through defending gyms (30) and completing tasks (20) totals 50 per day - the amount players outside of Australia can currently earn through defending gyms alone.

It feels like developer Niantic is intent on making players work harder for their coins, rather than leaving creatures in gyms and watching them bring back coins on their own.

There are advantages to this latest change, as it stands. The increased number of coins from tasks will benefit those unable to get many (or any) coins per day from gyms - either because they live in cities where gyms turn over too fast, or rural areas where they don't get turned over daily at all.

The return to the old rate of earning coins from gyms is particularly welcome - as it had encouraged more aggressive behaviour from players suddenly trying to stay in gyms much longer every day.

But it's not perfect. One of the daily tasks asks players to win a raid - something which many players will not be able to do every day, for various reasons. There are calls from fans to simply make the tasks and gyms equal routes to the daily 50 coins cap. Finally, Australian players are perhaps understandably feeling aggrieved from being continually used as guinea pigs.

There's no word yet on when these changes will roll out elsewhere in the world.

I've tried to talk to Niantic several times about the coin changes and their philosophy behind them, but the company has declined to comment.

"The world of Pokémon GO has more ways than ever for Trainers to play, and we are hoping to provide more Trainers the opportunity to earn PokéCoins through a wider variety of gameplay," Niantic explained in a blog post on these latest changes.

"We will continue to listen to Trainer feedback as we make updates to the PokéCoin rewards system. Stay tuned and stay safe!"