Pokémon trading has finally come to Pokémon Go — but there's a huge catch, and players are frustrated (NTDOY)

Pokemon Go

Pokémon Go finally started rolling out the Pokémon trading feature on Thursday.
The bad news is that when the feature launched, you had to be level 40, the game's max level, to take advantage of the new features.
The good news is that Niantic, the game's developer, has a history of making new features available to small groups first, so as not to overload the servers. Indeed, later on Thursday, Niantic gradually started opening it up to players of level 30 and above.
Still, players are frustrated: Niantic first promised these features in 2016, and being so close and yet so far is taking its toll.

The good news is that, as promised, Pokémon Go rolled out a new set of social features on Thursday that finally bring the ability to trade Pokémon with your friends, among other perks.

The bad news is that, at least at launch, the feature was available only for players at the game's maximum level of 40.

For context, I've been playing every single day since the game came out in July 2016, and I'm level 32.

Attention! Friends, gifting, and trading are now live for those level 30 to 40 Trainers! Stay tuned as we will be gradually rolling out these features to other levels soon. pic.twitter.com/iHGsqrUMYM
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) June 21, 2018

On its customer support page, Pokémon Go's developer, Niantic, says that this is a temporary situation and that it will be slowly easing people into the feature, though it didn't give a timetable. Indeed, later on Thursday, Niantic started opening it up to more players — at press time, Pokémon trading was open to players of level 30 and above, and will probably continue to open up throughout the night.

Niantic has a history of this kind of thing. New features, like 20-player raid battles, have rolled out first to those at high levels before coming to the wider base. The ultimate goal is likely to avoid the kind of server instability that characterized the game in its first days.

Still, players are frustrated. The ability to trade Pokémon was first promised in the days after the game's release, so the hype was strong when Niantic announced this week that it would finally arrive. To have the feature and still not know when they can use it has made for some unhappy gamers.

This 💯 killed my hype. Thanks niantic.
— ✨ ShinyDessi ✨ (@ShinyDessi) June 21, 2018

Maybe you should have told people this ahead of time when you said “later this week”?

It’s simple PR. Be bloody transparent.
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) June 21, 2018

How is this exciting?85% of the player base can’t access it. The majority of the level 40 players are spoofers. Why would they pull this crap? They misinformed their audience and lied. way to go niantic you’ve ruined the one thing people have been waiting 2 years for.
— Amanda Abrams (@amanda_abrams) June 21, 2018

The good news is that this frustration will probably be short-lived. At this rate, it'll be less than a day before everyone has access.

In the meantime, check out our guide on how trading in Pokémon Go will work once you have access.

Niantic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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