The Pokemon GO Leveling Update just highlighted a major problem with the game

Pokémon GO just released its new leveling update, which raised the level cap from 50 to 80 and gave players below the new threshold a boost. Part of that increase was a smoothing of the leveling process to ensure players find the ramps between levels a little easier to climb. And a byproduct of that leveling was that players who were below level 50 immediately saw their level jump up dramatically. For example, I was level 35 in Pokémon GO before the update and after the update i jumped up to level 43.

You'd think this would be a good thing across the board – a better leveling process and a boost for current players. And, truthfully, there are so many positives about it Pokémon GO leveling updatefrom the boosts to storage to the daily adventure egg, but this first launch of the update highlighted a major problem that the game has to this day.

In Pokemon GO, more items can mean more trouble

Each time a player levels up Pokémon GOthey earn a number of rewards, from cosmetics to Pokeballs, to berries to restorative items. It's a reward that, depending on your storage space, can be overwhelming or rejuvenating.

If you teeter on the edge of full item storage, the items are usually quickly deleted or less valuable ones are sacrificed in their place. If you're short on Master Balls or Max Revives, the level up rewards are a welcome boost to your inventory. Now imagine getting two levels at the same time. Now imagine three. Now imagine, in my case and that of many other players, getting 8 levels at once!

Why can't I spin Pokestops with full item storage?

Pokemon GO is temporarily unavailable in Bangkok

At first glance, getting all these things should be a huge boon, whether you're a hardcore or a casual Pokémon GO player. But the problem is that the game limits one of its most important features when your storage space is full. You cannot spin Pokestops with full item storage, and spinning Pokestops is important for several reasons:

You cannot earn special research without spinning Pokestops
You cannot earn your daily bonus without spinning Pokestops
You cannot earn gifts without spinning Pokestops
You cannot earn progress on tasks that require spinning Pokestops

Soon after the leveling update went live, social media, forums and subreddits were abuzz with it Pokémon GO players showing their storage issues. For me the storage overage was in the 200 range, but for other players it was in the thousands.

Promotional art with Pokemon in Pokemon Go

I can only imagine having to go through and remove hundreds of items in different categories, just to make room for the same types of items you get from Pokestops. That's the real problem: you usually don't delete items to make room for better items, you only delete items to open up space to get similar or smaller items (eg delete Master Balls to then get Pokeballs from Pokestops).

Now, this has been a problem for quite some time, but usually it's more of a nuisance than a roadblock. You spin a Pokestop and see that your item storage is full, delete some itemsand then spin again. But when you need to delete thousands of items, it is less easy to fix and is extremely frustrating.

If players could simply spin Pokestops even when their item storage is full, then this wouldn't be a problem. In fact, there is already a precedent for this type of feature in the game. If you toggle a setting, you can still open gifts even when your item storage is full to raise your bond with a friend and earn Stardust. Niantic even had at one point ability to spin Pokestops with full item storagebut apparently it was too buggy and they removed the feature.

In the grand scheme of player requests, this may be low on the totem pole, but I think it's an issue worth addressing in the future. The loop of catching Pokemon and spinning Pokestops is at its core Pokémon GOand this limitation combats it. Storage will always be something Pokemon players have to deal with, and the solution to using Pokecoins to buy more storage plays into Niantic's bottom linewhich makes sense for a free game.

The October Season Pass offers Pokecoins on its free and premium lanes, so you should be able to buy some storage upgrades this month.

Overall, the Pokemon GO leveling update is a good thing, although this one detail led to a lot of frustration among the more dedicated players. More levels to hunt, rewards to unlock and the new features are all welcome additions to a game that's still going strong nearly 10 years later. But please, Niantic, make it so Pokémon GO players can spin Pokestops with full item storage.

Pokémon GO is now available for iOS and Android.