What's changed?

[Algiers]

I've been away for a year or two, not sure how long exactly (I think the client version was still 1.8.x at that point). I was just wondering if anyone could give me a little recap of all the important changes that have happened to this game since then. I see there are now apparently EVs and abilities, but anything else major in terms of changes?

In addition, what's the best place to grind levels nowadays? Last time I was around, I think it was a recently revamped Mount Silver, where I found myself logging in...

 

[Jinji]

We also now support Held Items; and the battle logic has been improved making a lot of previously broken moves work, though further updates are still planned.
The Bag has also been reorganised, with a few of the pockets changing in order to make better use of the space.
There is now also the ability to permanently ignore players who annoy you repeatedly, using the /block command. However, this command is currently glitched and causes PMs to stop working after use. This bug will be fixed in a future client release. You can also manually edit "block.txt" in your PWO folder and add names yourself, though I would not recommend this.
Just some of the changes I can recall off the top of my head

 

[MeteoricMonkey9]

Welcome back! Well most important chages were those that you pointed out, they added friendship too.

Most moves are working now, and there are TMs. There are also some move tutors around. And there are many changes in evolutionary methods (check the wiki out, but for instance golbat evolves via friendship now). I think eevee is able to evolve to flareon/vaporeon/jolteon/espeon/umbreon now but I could be wrong. Gender-linked evos like ralts evo or snorunt's are now possible.

Shiny pokes captured on the wild are 20+ iv now, and there has been several changes to spawns elsewhere (don't go looking for no snorlax in route 12 no more for instance).

They added held items, and also some pokes drop items now (like magnemite and murkrow).

Other than that... /help channel is the new /all channel, and you can link your pokes directly in the chat by holding shift and left clicking on the poke. IV and EV information of your pokes is easily available now too, right from mouseover you can get that!

Place with highest lvl pokes I think is the inner level of Cerulean Cave. I don't know if dragon's den new quest was available two years ago tbh but bagon is catchable in the cave. I don't know if I missed anything major, please ask away if you find something odd! hahaha

EDIT: Jinji beat me for a few minutes but leaving it here just in case any of us missed stuff, which would be me in any case so I dunno... O

 

[Algiers]

Excellent! Seems like there's been nice and meaningful change, which is great - shows PWO is not declining still. I'll be eager to play with the new features once I have more free time, I just checked in for a quick peek this time.

 

[Animagus]

I definitely remember this username. Good to see you, Algiers.
Along with the updates mentioned above, you'll also find that the updated playerdex was released early last year. It has several additions including the return of the Pokemon Mart, better pokemon management, account logs and a more convenient method to transfer pokemon/tokens between players i.e. the Global Link.
Feel free to read the announcements regarding the client updates and if possible, the individual staff logs if you'd like to know about the updates in detail.
We also hosted several events and contest during the time you were away. But we plan to host even more of them in the future so you need not worry.
We'd be glad to see you return. Until then, good luck!

 

[Electrofreak]

Welcome back. :L You should log on and also explore the battle tower on island 7. You can access the ferry in cherrygrove, pallet, vermilion etc, to get there.