In an APK teardown on the Silph Road Pokémon GO subreddit, user and moderator dronpes has published a wealth of new findings in version 0.91.1 of the popular AR game. While Niantic's official changelog is just a simple three-pointer on in-game news, search, and bug fixes, the teardown goes into a lot more depth and reveals a lot of what Niantic has planned for Pokémon GO, the most substantial of which could be the new Quest functionality.
Technically, the game already supports two of these quests: both the daily spin and catch bonuses are classified as 'quests' in the game, but the update hints at something much more significant. Quests will have two types:
- STORY_QUEST
- CHALLENGE_QUEST
and quest objectives will expand from the two that already exist (QUEST_FIRST_CATCH_OF_THE_DAY and QUEST_FIRST_POKESTOP_OF_THE_DAY) to a grand total of ten:
- QUEST_CATCH_POKEMON
- QUEST_SPIN_POKESTOP
- QUEST_HATCH_EGG
- QUEST_WALK_BUDDY
- QUEST_FEED_POKEMON
- QUEST_WIN_GYM_BATTLE
- QUEST_COMPLETE_RAID_BATTLE
- QUEST_LEVELUP_BADGE
It also seems that multiple quest objectives can be combined into a single quest, as hinted by the QUEST_MULTI_PART string found in the APK.
The Pokemon Go Hub also uncovered a list of (unverified) possible quest rewards, which include:
- EXPERIENCE
- ITEM
- STARDUST
- CANDY
- AVATAR_CLOTHING
- QUEST
- POKEMON_ENCOUNTER
The last item in that list is particularly interesting, as it appears to indicate a new way of encountering Pokémon — perhaps even mythical Pokémon like Mew and Deoxys. The current EX Raid system, which has been in place for the past several months and is the only way to obtain Mewtwo, has been met with substantial player criticism, especially since the rules on how to be eligible for an EX Raid are extremely vague. A clearer method, such as through a multi-part quest, could be a good step towards addressing players' concerns.
On top of the references to quests in the game code, dronpes also found that the in-game Pokédex had been updated to support "forms" for the Pokémon Castform and Deoxys, the only two in Generation 3 that have forms, further adding to speculation that mystical Pokémon may be coming sooner rather than later.
Of course, it's always worth reiterating that these references in the code give no indication of when, or even if, these changes might roll out to Pokémon GO. It is clear that Niantic is actively working on in-game quests, but players will likely have to wait a while longer until they actually roll out to the game.
Source: /r/TheSilphRoad