"Pokemon Go" developer Niantic Labs is doing everything it can to retain the huge player base that flocked to the game in its launch. That means doing everything in its power to fix the inherently broken game mechanic in the "Pokemon" spin-off.
The latest "Pokemon Go" update introduced catch bonuses, in which a player's achievement badges counted toward the kind of Pokemon they could encounter in the wild. Simply put, the more Pokemon of a certain type that you catch and count toward your badge total, the more you'll see that type of Pokemon in the wild. It actually sounds counterintuitive if you're trying to get away from common Pokemon (such as Pidgeys, Spearows, and Rattata) but as you go up in achievement badge tiers and get bigger catch bonuses, the more you'll find rare Pokemon of that type.
If it sounds like it involves a lot of grinding in "Pokemon Go," then you're right. Much like earning candies and stardust, you're still going to need to do a lot of catching in the game. Each achievement badge in the game now has three levels: bronze, silver, and gold, with +1, +2, and +3 respective catch bonuses going toward rare Pokemon of that type. That's 10, 50, and 200 Pokemon of that type caught respectively.
The important thing to remember in trying to earn your catch bonuses in "Pokemon Go" is that a lot of Pokemon are dual-types, which means a Normal/Flying Pidgey, for example, counts toward both the Schoolkid normal badge and the Bird Keeper flying badge. That also works the other way, meaning dual-type Pokemon will get the bonus when you have one badge of that Pokemon's type, such as a Fire/Flying Charizard.
In the end, though, this doesn't really change or help the main criticism "Pokemon Go" players have with the game. It's still not the Pokemon battling mobile MMO fans wanted, as it's still a collecting game. Niantic just made catching rare Pokemon a little easier now.
