Niantic hosts another double XP event for Pokémon GO during Thanksgiving week

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Pokémon GO players had a chance to participate in the Halloween event last month, in which ghost Pokémon spawns were increased, distances to hatch eggs were decreased, and double candies was rewarded for the entire week the event ran for.

Now, Niantic has announced a second event coming to the game in celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday this week, but this time the rewards are a little different.

Beginning on November 23rd at 00:00 UTC and running through to November 30th at 00:00 UTC, players will be able to collect double XP and double stardust while completing in-game actions.

Those include, but aren’t limited to catching Pokémon and spinning PokéStops. Players hatching eggs or competing in gyms should also see double experience for every task completed in those fields as well.

There are other ways to get stardust in the game, but as we learned in the Halloween event, not all methods of receiving stardust were doubled, so we’ll have to wait and see to know exactly which ones will be doubled this time around.

Niantic says the event is a way to thank players for this Thanksgiving:

Trainers,

It has been an incredible experience since we launched Pokémon GO a few short months ago in July. We are passionate about creating experiences that encourage exploration and promote exercise. We are humbled that hundreds of millions of you around the world have joined us on this journey. So we would like to say thank you – and what better way to say thank you than to celebrate our community.

So, starting November 23rd at 00:00 UTC and going through November 30th 00:00 UTC, we will double the amount of XP and Stardust you receive when completing in-game actions.

A recent game update over this past weekend brought bug fixes related to hatching eggs and text displaying properly in the game, but it undoubtedly also included the code to enable this special event.

These special events have previously proven to be effective at getting players back into the game, so Niantic will probably be scheduling these kinds of events regularly to try and give players a reward worth working for.

It’s worth noting that there’s code in the game’s APK as of version 0.45.0 that will add at least 100 new Pokémon from the generation 2 list, but there’s no clear date of when they’ll be enabled in-game. While this will undoubtedly renew interest in the game, these smaller events serve as a way to keep players interested for the time being.

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In other news, the game developers have also made some tweaks to the combat power (CP) of your Pokémon today. You will probably notice some Pokémon have considerably higher CP and some considerably lower than before. This is normal, and the developers say they’ve done it to make the game more balanced for gym battlers by doing away with overpowered Pokémon:

We have made adjustments to the CP (Combat Power) of various Pokémon. Some Pokémon, such as Alakazam, Rhydon, and Gengar will have their CP increased. Others will have their CP lowered. These changes will allow a more balanced and competitive battling and training experience in Gyms. We will continue to adjust the CP going forward to improve the game balance when necessary.

If you’re not already playing Pokémon GO, you can download it for free from the App Store. Making an account to play is free and easy.

Will you be participating in the Pokémon GO Thanksgiving event? Share in the comments!