Pokemon GO has a new update which adds the ability to appraise the player's captured Pokemon, courtesy of the three team leaders: Candela, Blanche, and Spark.

It may not have been the update we've all been waiting for, but Pokemon GO has received a brand-new feature in its latest patch - the ability to talk to your team leader.

It seems that the player's decision to join one of the three teams, Valor, Mystic, or Instinct, actually affect the game a little more after today's Pokemon GO update begins to roll out across the world. Now gamers are able to hit the new "appraise" button when viewing their catches in order to have their respective team leader comment on the strength of their Pokemon.

trainer tips

As shown above, user thenudedude on reddit posted screenshots of the new feature, as his team leader Spark praises the trainer's Lapras. It's not a huge change to the game but it does help players identify which of their Pokemon has the greatest potential for battle by calculating the creature's IVs (individual values). For those unaware, IVs are generated numbers that affect all 6 of a Pokemon's stats and are a huge part of the competitive scene.

Each of the leaders seem to have their own distinct personalities, which really come across more now that we can communicate with them in-game. The update also states that Niantic are hard at work on new and exciting features for Pokemon GO, meaning that we'll likely see more surprise additions coming in the not-so-far future.

In other recent Pokemon GO news, one trainer in Belgium used burner SIM cards to launch thousands of simultaneous scans of the Pokemon GO servers - an action that resulted in the entire country becoming banned from the AR game for a couple of days.

Niantic is becoming increasingly enthusiastic with its ban-hammer it seems, something that proved troublesome for charity streamer Jimmy Derocher as he attempted to legitimately gain more than 1,000,000 EXP in a single day before being banned by the company's anti-botting countermeasures.

Any players that have actually cheated should now be subject to Niantic's permanent banning, as players who have made use of third-party software or GPS hacks begin to report their inability to log onto the Pokemon GO servers. If you believe that you have been banned incorrectly, players can send in requests to be unbanned, though Niantic's response time appears to not yet be something to brag about.

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Pokemon GO is available now for iOS and Android devices. The newest update is available now in certain regions and will likely be global within the day.