‘Pokémon Go’ Update Changes IV & Moveset Level Cap Again To Fight Cheats & Hacks

Pokémon Go players have been adjusting to Niantic’s recent IV and moveset changes over the past few days, but it appears the developer isn’t done yet. New reports from The Silph Road subreddit suggest Niantic is cracking down more aggressively on cheaters at the expense of inexperienced players.

A week ago we discussed the discovery that a Pokémon’s IV percentages and movesets suddenly became randomized for low-level trainers. After analysis from the experts, it was determined that those below level 25 would receive randomized IV values and movesets for the same wild encounters. Now, however, those with accounts as high as level 28 are getting inconsistent results as well. At the time of writing, it’s believed the new randomized cap may be level 30. Beyond that point, the monsters one finds are assumed to be the exact same.

Read: Pokémon Go Developers Shut Down 2 Popular Tracking Apps

As previously discussed, the primary reason to tie IV and move stats to one’s level is to possibly stifle cheaters with low-level accounts. Prior to the tweak, nefarious trainers could use GPS hacks to instantly find the strongest Pokémon in the world. However, now that a trainer needs to be at an advanced level to reach the standard values, most bots would be banned before the threshold is hit.

Since the cap has seemingly been raised even further, it’s not just the cheaters who are feeling frustrated. Fair low-level players claim they’re getting shafted too. While plenty agree with the change, others suggest it has the potential to “harm [the game’s’] entire community” because it robs an increased portion of the population from the shared enjoyment of revealing the locations of powerful monsters to others.

No matter one’s stance on the issue, it’s abundantly clear that Niantic is sick and tired of those who take advantage of Pokémon Go’s flaws for their own personal gain. Earlier this week, we also revealed that two of the most popular third-party tracker apps were shut down due to threat of legal action. Cheating has been a problem in Pokémon Go since the game’s release, and, now that its feature set is starting to stabilize, taking care of wrongdoers has apparently become a top priority.

Pokémon Go is available now on Android and iOS.

What do you think about the apparent rise of the IV and moveset level cap? Are these changes enough to stop cheaters, or do they hurt the community? Tell us in the comments section!