It seems there was a very significant change to the game today. The latest update shows different move set characteristics for (a) gyms & raids, and (b) trainer battles.
Example: My Mew Two with Pyscho Cut + Shadow Ball shows:
Gyms & Raids: Psycho Cut 5; Shadow Ball (2 bar) 100
Trainer Battles: Psycho Cut 3; Shadow Ball (1 bar) 100
Does anyone have an explanation about (1) the change in general; and (2) why it might have been made?
It's been there for a week now.
Don't pay too much attention to the trainer battles section, it is quite meaningless. Some 'standardization' was applied between the elemental punches and the mewtwo elemental moves (FT, IB and TB) but they were only for PVP.
If you're exclusively a raid/gym battler, nothing has changed.
But that's exactly why the trainer battles section is currently meaningless. None of Giratina's moves were changed at all in the most recent update. But the visual of the bars in the trainer battles section is confusing a lot of people into thinking that moves were changed from 2 to 1 or 3 to 2 bars. There should be no bars in PvP. Or, if the bars do mean something, Niantic should let us know what it is.
They rounded the energy required to calculate how many of the attacks could be fired with 100 energy. Moves between 100 and 55 energy have one bar (including Shadow Ball at 55 and Solar Beam at 80), moves from 50 to 35 energy have two bars, and nothing takes less than 35 energy, so there are no three bar moves.
The damage figures accurately reflect the damage the attack does, but the game doesn't specify the time that it takes to do that damage. As an example, the fast moves Confusion and Dragon Breath each do 4 DPT, and each gain 3 EPT. Dragon Breath does it by doing 4 damage each turn and gaining 3 energy each turn, while Confusion does it by taking 4 turns to do 16 damage and generates 12 energy. So the info they give us doesn't convey the whole picture.
