A Pokemon GO player successfully advanced from level 43 to 44 without catching any Pokemon, winning any raids, or visiting any PokeStops

A Pokemon GO player, displaying remarkable self-restraint, successfully advanced from level 43 to 44 without engaging in any of the usual activities typically associated with leveling up. Their notable lack of activity statistics quickly garnered attention on social media, further expanding the extensive collection of examples that showcase the dedication of the Pokemon GO fandom.

For over four years following its release in 2016, Niantic's popular mobile game had a level cap set at 40. However, in a November 2020 update, the developer finally increased the level cap in Pokemon GO to 50. This update followed the trend of exponentially increasing experience point (XP) requirements for leveling up, with level 50 now demanding 30 million experience points. To put it into perspective, this is equivalent to leveling up from 1 to 40 six times.

Despite the significant difficulty curve, the greatest hurdle in surpassing level 40 lies in the Pokemon GO challenge requirements. Reddit user JuanG12 can certainly confirm this, as they struggled to complete the level 42 challenges for such a long time that they actually accumulated enough XP to reach level 44. The task of evolving Eevee into each of its unique evolutions proved to be the main reason for their progress slowing down significantly, with the player revealing that this challenge took them several months to complete. However, they found the subsequent set of quests to be much less demanding, ultimately clearing them in just three days and utilizing their accumulated XP to reach level 43.

As the level 44 challenge requirements can be fulfilled by winning only 90 matches in the Pokemon GO Battle League, the player made the decision to focus solely on that after reaching level 43. Two days of intense battling ensued, and afterward, they were greeted with another level-up screen that congratulated them for not visiting any PokeStops, catching zero Pokemon, and not winning any raids. The unconventional activity report caught the attention of numerous other players, who subsequently voted to bring it to the front page of the r/PokemonGO subreddit.

Expanding on their Pokemon GO accomplishment, JuanG12 revealed that they intentionally lost matches in the Great Battle League after winning two in order to prevent receiving any Pokemon encounter rewards that would interfere with their zero-catches badge of honor. They also had to exercise self-control to refrain from spinning any PokeStops during their dedicated battling efforts while on level 43. All in all, the player found this endeavor to be a refreshing change of pace from the Eevee evolution challenge, although they admitted that they were tempted to give in to the urge of spinning PokeStops during this period.

Pokemon GO is available now on mobile devices.