Pokemon Go is getting rid of some of the raid battles, changing raid reward system

Just as Mega Evolutions made their way into Pokemon Go, the developers have brought in some major changes to raid battles.

Niantic is removing two-star and four-star raids leaving only one, three and five-star raids for players. (Forbes)

Niantic has rolled out Mega Evolutions to Pokemon Go which brings in five-star raids with mega evolved pokemon. But besides that, Niantic has also made a significant change in its normal raid battles that will affect all players no matter what their level.

The developer is removing two-star and four-star raids leaving only one, three and five-star raids for players. Pokemon Go product lead Matt Slemon said that the two and four-star raids are bring removed since they aren't as popular as the other ones.

The value proposition of keeping only two and four-star raids was also not that apparent, for example, players would know if they can clear a three-star raid with one or two co-players, but it isn't clear how many people would be needed to clear a four-star one or even what the point was to fight a four-star raid over a five-star one.

Two and four-star raids will no longer appear in the game and the rewards you would normally get from three are going to be incorporated into the one and three-star raids.

Calling this the ‘best of both worlds', Niantic said that this should make Raids more fun and rewarding.

Niantic is also removing the ‘team contribution' bonus for raids. The studio felt that the system was unfairly penalising players on the minority teams. 

The ‘team contribution' bonus is being replaced by a new speed clear bonus where the faster you can win the raid the more rewards and Premier Balls are you going to get once it's done. The change rewards all players uniformly and also ties into the new cooperative elements the Mega Evolved pokemon bring to the game.

The new Mega Raids feature Mega Evolved pokemon and are as difficult as the five-star raids. Winning one of these mega raids will give players the pokemon's corresponding Mega Energy. You need Mega Energy to mega evolve the pokemon.

Mind you, only a few pokemon can be mega evolved and the upgrade is not a permanent one.