Yes, yes, yes! The Gym Rework is here. Gyms are closed, and Niantic announced some major updates. I'm going to analyze each and every feature being added. The main article can be seen by clicking here. Let's start with Gyms itself.
Gyms
One major change regarding gyms is it now acts like a PokéStop as well. You can spin its Photo Disc and get items, just like a PokéStop. Also, the article says, "Gyms are no longer based on Prestige and training. Instead, they now feature six permanent slots that can be filled by the controlling team’s Pokémon. Each Pokémon assigned to these slots must be unique. For example, only one Blissey can be assigned to a Gym at a time. In addition, opposing teams will battle the Pokémon in the order they were assigned to the Gym." That means there's no more 10 Blissey gyms, no more 10 Dragonite/Tyranitar Gyms.
The Pokémon assigned to a Gym has a "Motivation Meter". This meter goes down every time it is defeated, and its CP goes down with it, making it easier for opponents to defeat it. Once its Motivation goes 0, the Pokémon will leave the gym the next time it is defeated. The good news is that you can replenish its Motivation by feeding it berries. This will give your Nanab Berries some use. I know most of you only use Razz and Pinap Berries. I throw my Nanab Berries, but now, I won't.
You can also now earn Gym Badges when interacting in Gyms, much like the main series Games, but you can level up that Gym Badge each time you battle that Gym and even spin the Photo disc of that Gym. There are rewards for levelling up these badges and we'll see what the specific rewards are when this update is released.
Raid Battles
A new Gym feature called "Raid Battle" wherein you will need to defeat a Raid Boss, a very powerful Pokémon that has a huge CP, and win special rewards. This feature encourages cooperative gameplay. You will need a Raid Pass to participate, and you get one Free Raid Pass per day, and there are Premium Raid Passes you can buy in the in-game shop. Up to 20 players can battle the boss all at once.
The article says: "Before a Raid Battle begins, all Pokémon assigned to the Gym will return to their Trainers, and a large Egg will appear atop the Gym. When the countdown above the Egg reaches zero, the Raid Boss will be revealed." One example given is a 25,346 Tyranitar, and the sprite of the Raid Boss is larger that your Pokémon's so that alone shows you how powerful these bosses will be. You can compare it to the scene in the original Pokémon GO trailer where Mewtwo is being battled in Times Square.
EDIT: Click here to know how Raid Battles work
New Items
This is where I literally squealed. The article says, "After defeating a Raid Boss, you’ll receive a collection of rewards, including some new items obtained only by defeating a Raid Boss: Rare Candies, Golden Razz Berries, and two types of Technical Machines—Fast and Charged."
Technical Machines, or TMs, are items that let you teach a Pokémon a new move, may it be a Fast or Charge move. I've tackled in an earlier article the need for TMs in the games and Niantic listened! You can read the article by clicking here.
Rare Candies can turn into a candy of the selected Pokémon. That can be useful for those who need certain candies of rare Pokémon. In the main series games, Rare Candies are used to level up Pokémon, but since Stardust are used in Pokémon GO, these candies are used a different way, which is a welcome addition for me.
Golden Razz Berries, as said by the article, greatly increases your chances in catching a Pokémon, most likely greater than Razz Berry. One additional effect is it fully recovers the Pokémon's Motivation meter so it goes hand in hand with the new Gym mechanics
That's all for the update. You can comment what you speculate will be added that is not stated in their article, like the ability to use Lure Modules on Gyms or even being able to track Pokémon when they're near gyms, much like PokéStops.
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