Thanks to Pokemon Go player Luca, who hit the level cap with the help of a bot, we now know exactly what happens.Pokemon Go started to roll out a couple weeks ago, and players have speculated about what happens when you hit the maximum level of 40. Some thought that you’d get the rare Master Ball, which has been found in the game’s code.
Upon hitting level 40, Luca received 40 Ultraballs, 40 Max Potions, 40 Max Revives, 40 Razz Berries, four Incense, four Incubators, and four Lure Modules. Luca, who goes by _Problemz on Reddit, shared his accomplishment on the Pokemon Go subreddit.He also got four Lucky Eggs, an item that doubles XP received for a half-hour. Having hit the level cap, Luca has no use for them, but it hints that the cap could be raised eventually.
To get an idea of how difficult that is, check out a list of each action and how much XP each earns you at the bottom of this article, courtesy of The Silph Road.However, it doesn’t seem likely that many players will be able to make it to level 40 legitimately. The reason Luca used a bot is because if he did it on his own, he’d need to gain more than 50,000 XP a day for an entire year straight.
One way to gain XP is to add new Pokemon to your Pokedex, something that could be made much easier when trading is added to the game. Niantic said that the immediate plan for Pokemon Go is to allow players to exchange Pokemon.
Luca may not have accomplished his goal legitimately, but there is one player who achieved another impressive goal without the help of a bot: catching every Pokemon available in North America. Nick Johnson spent “a couple hundred dollars” on his journey, and he’s even partnered with a rewards company to travel the world in search of the remaining Pokemon.
Check out our Pokemon Go news roundup for more stories from around the world.
Earning XP (courtesy of The Silph Road):
XP Action
10 Curveball Bonus
10 Nice! Throw Bonus
50 Great! Throw Bonus
50 PokeStop Interaction
100 Successful Pokemon Capture
100 Excellent! Throw Bonus
100 Catch Your Hundredth Pokemon of a Species
200 Hatch an Egg (2 KM)
500 Hatch an Egg (5 KM)
1000 Hatch an Egg (10 KM)
500 Add new Pokemon to Pokedex
500 Evolve a Pokemon
0-50 Train at a Gym (Less for Using an Overpowered Pokemon)
100 Defeat Enemy Pokemon at a Gym (Per Pokemon)
50 Beating Every Pokemon at a Gym