The #1 Pokémon Has Been Ruined..

[@NaveSutlef]

The thing I don't get about elite raids is.. what's "elite" about them nowadays? No special spawns, no extra passes, limited availability and for what, just to fight a stronger Pokémon? Which screws over small communities?

[@klaus-mikael_son]

Yeah it is just shadow raids but worse

[@GahostyDaCat6859]

@@NaveSutlef I agree. And nowadays it's super hard just to find other pokemon go players or communities.

[@GahostyDaCat6859]

@@NaveSutlef I hate shadow raids too. They seem pointless. You can't invite friends, and unless you have an army of other pokemon goers next to you.

[@GahostyDaCat6859]

@@klaus-mikael_son I really don't understand why on earth pokemon created shadow raids or elite raids. It really makes no sense. It blocks people from rural communities from playing. Pokemon go gets no benefits from this because players have to go in person, rather than having the option of remote raid passes which is literally pokemon go's biggest asset. And nowadays there are so many violent crimes it seems better to do remote raids. On top of all that elite raids only seem to be available in parks or outdoor locations, so if you live somewhere where the weather changes rapidly it could cause many players to not be able to participate.

[@klaus-mikael_son]

@@GahostyDaCat6859 I think pokemon go wants people to go out and play. Like they benifits from location data of players smh. Still these in person only raids just sound pointless

[@InvokerUntold]

Not a single raid, in 270 MILES. "Free" meteorite my...... Locked behind elite raid achievement, so no, Niantic can bite me. I now associate rayquaza with dissapointment and disgust.

[@klaus-mikael_son]

I feel you man. Same situation here

[@OPingHei]

Womp womp, mine was only 300 miles and walkable

[@JustinObi54]

​What is wrong with you, you shouldn't act like that man , no need to womp womp @@OPingHei

[@maygirl1595]

Literally

[@Shivian124]

Yes after the rollercoaster to get mega ray for my kid, he's actually pretty deflated and disillusioned with pokemon go. Like the enthusiasm is largely gone and it's mostly because of the handling of events.

[@voidastralbirth]

All my community leaders have practically given up on this game. I had to step up and organize 2 separate elite raid gatherings. We ended up doing only 3 elite raids due to how far apart all of our local EX gyms are, even though we have at least 25 gyms in total in the area. Niantic needs to scrap elite raids. They aren’t fun, and they aren’t convenient for anyone.

[@Courraff]

instead of Scrapping Elite Raids, they should've made a progression of making a regular gym into Elite Gym

[@Flying_Tori]

I agree with you on a whole nother level. Elite raids shouldn’t exist, especially with the tiny playerbase this game has now. Sure I wouldn’t say it’s “small”, but oh boy have they lost at least 50% of their playerbase since like 2021? I want to assume that. Game is still going, but at the cost of it’s players. Sucks to see it tbh. Good luck guiding your community though man! I know you can do it! 🫶

[@Idalianightfire]

Agreed

[@TBW2]

Was out the full day and same experience. Did only 3 due to large distance between raids Was not ideal

[@imtubetv6980]

@@Courraff only gyms in dark green area are elite raids, so if you want more elite gyms add them in parks(or other areas with dark green area)

[@apestuff88]

I took my lunch break at a park where there was a Mega Rayquaza raid active. There was also a softball tournament going on. Hundreds of kids, not only playing but just running around the park, + all their parents. The level of defeat when I tell you that for 30 minutes I entered that raid over and over and over and not a single other person ever joined me. Wtf.

[@smeagol9119]

Such a sad story

[@st.petessavior6055]

The same thing happened to me yesterday. A softball game and everything. Saw someone far away do a party hat bulbasaur raid but they never came to the Mega Ray raid.

[@Thefredzilla]

I waited at a park, in the South Texas heat for 40 minutes and no one showed up. I wasn’t even surprised at all

[@foxfireglo8290]

Says a lot about the state of the game now. I wouldn’t be sad if the game dies.

[@Silent1fd]

Yeah, I met a couple of guys with my raid team and they said the same thing, If we hadn't shown up they wouldn't have been able to get any.

[@chicle_productions]

They need SERIOUS maintenance! One- The hours are scattered around. 12-1 and then 5-6? Just make it a 3-6 hour day event. Two- If they don’t want to not include any remote raiding for this feature, give us more bonuses: increased damage with friends, more XP, etc. Three- I don’t know what happened with the 24 hour egg system, but that was very helpful so trainers in a community could plan ahead where to meet up. Four- More raids in gyms. It doesn’t make sense to go from one side of town to another when you could walk around and have more access to raids than driving your car to one side of town and then the other. It defeats the purpose of going out and walk

[@lifelangueleo]

It’s the strongest attacker in the game. I think it needs to keep its exclusivity. But yes elite raid gyms need to be revamped.

[@xansmoker8834]

I was excited to get the XL candy to max my Hundo but a strong storm hit my city and the roads couldn’t be driven on until 6. Nobody thinks about what happens with elite raids in bad weather areas. It’s hurricane season in florida just let us remote

[@Fredoindallas]

​@lifelangueleo nah, primal groudon/kyogre and origin palkia/dialga did not have limits like this

[@michalsedlarik8889]

Normal mega raids would be fine. Raid day would make Ray easy, but elite raids made Ray almost impossible for most players. Even tho we did like 5 of them in almost 40 people, but it is safe to say we have very hardcore comunity.

[@klaus-mikael_son]

@@lifelangueleo Exclusivity doesn't mean shitty maintainence. Even if they wanted to conduct elite raids they could've done so much better than what they did.

[@DiscipleOfSaya]

This event felt really gross, and sometimes downright dangerous. It was not uncommon to see vehicles blocking traffic flow and causing lots of congestion. It felt very nerve-wrecking racing the clock, and underwhelming when you did accomplish the end goal of getting rayray... I hope mega raids get tuned to address these problems...

[@PSYCHOV3N0M]

It makes no sense that Mega Rayquaza was available in regular raids and now it was tied to Elite Raids. Such a massive step backwards. 😂😂😂

[@Flying_Tori]

As someone who partook when the normal raids were up and then heard from my friend that they can’t get one because it’s now only local broke me. Dude I can’t even beat one of them locally because nobody else plays in this area that often. I don’t even think throwing them in elite raids gives a financial boost either. I feel for you bro. Hopefully they hear our cries and change it up next year, but who’s to say they will ever listen 🥲

[@far22186]

Boohoo. You have to go out a play a game where you're meant to go out as opposed to sitting on your couch doing remote raids

[@totkfan]

@@far22186florida.. arizona nobody wants to go outside in florida so sthu

[@superdajoka]

​@@far22186Imagine defending Niantic

[@Pokemon0194-gi9rd]

@@far22186 most people who did this at in a car anyways, not any better then sitting on a couch

[@annmoomau881]

some people also can't spend the day from noon to 7pm chasing monsters. I was lucky enough to do one raid at noon and another at 1, there were no others in the visible area where I was playing.

[@kylie7780]

I work super early mornings. I managed to get 2 side-by-side after work by driving 30 minutes away. My raiding buddy asked if I wanted to wait 2 hours for the next raid, another 15 minutes out, and I just told him I was going home and taking a nap.

[@TheLVLocals]

I wasn’t even able to do a single raid 😢🙄

[@ChompVan]

Same😢😢😢😢

[@mytcel2560]

Me neither i was in lile 25 groups and none started the raid

[@PurpleBear763]

I didn't even see a Mega Rayquaza Raid

[@alyssab8487]

I know it sucked

[@DinoDem]

Yeah same

[@baileywagar8278]

They would have made way more money if they made rayquaza a regular raid day. Doesn't even make good business sense

[@anne-marieward250]

I was very lucky and managed to find two close together at the same time but didn’t spend anything in the event.

[@lasseellingsen510]

@@anne-marieward250same

[@lasseellingsen510]

Yes I thought the same thing before and now after the raids

[@TheGermanator]

I don't get Niantics logic if they want players to play in person why don't they give them more incentive by giving 5 free raid passes & shiny boosted odds. Not even Niantic knows what there doing.

[@jackslab762]

Yeah they would have made money getting poke coins but no they were like “No we gotta put this exclusive Pokémon that everyone loves into the worst raid feature in the entire game

[@theBranteiro]

Terrible idea for the event. Absolutely terrible way to treat the player base.

[@poeterritory]

But the vision...

[@xansmoker8834]

Niantic is filled with stupid bums

[@slime_studio4041]

imagine how boring the game would be in the go battle league if everyone had this

[@travisbrowning9015]

I didn't get to catch mine

[@projectdrunkguy4112]

Imagine expecting the community to get together and play. 🙄🙄

[@allcatsmeow]

normally i would hate something like this, but i managed to organize a group to take down the raids. I ended up getting a shundo. I still hate the elite raids feature-- but i still got a win out of it. For anyone wondering I wasn't in a car but I did have to bike (or run) like crazy to get to raids.

[@allcatsmeow]

We only did five raids, and it was so much work organizing smth like that.

[@skinneyartifact2484]

Worst part for AZ players is that its 110 degrees out and its only in person at specific locations... makes it so hard to stay out and get enough raids in.

[@WaveyDavey28]

I'm in Vegas and I feel your pain.

[@Watagatapitbullberry]

AZ player here. Heat was too much everyone was in cars. Even in the car, I raided 6 times and three ran from me. They were spread too far apart. Will never do elite raids again.

[@aileenmarzanna]

We have the same problem in winter when it's only light for 5 hours and there's high winds, sleet, rain and snow with temperatures around freezing and wet numb hands after three minutes of play. I usually just ride public transportation from November through March and play from a bus or tram, if it's not like "screw it" the second I look out of my living room window. During winter you've got good weather for outside play, during summer we do. That's what you get with a global game in real time I suppose.

[@joaquettaconnors7925]

I couldn't do ANY Rayquaza raids . No one showed up .

[@Jqcksremmurd]

I think the reason they're so scarce is to incentivize a ton of people going to 1 specific spot rather than spread across a bunch of different raids. I think if executed correctly, this couldve been okay, like if shiny odds were REALLY REALLY good, around 1/5, they lasted for a week+, and if they balanced it well for people not in mega populated cities. Where i live, all legendary raids are just impossible, unless its a community day in a dense area. So mega rayquaza is just out of the question.

[@joshuachan5700]

This is actually such a good suggestion ngl, would fix the entire problem of people hating elite raids, or even better, niantic could just change it to a normal raid day and profit off the ticket buyers

[@klaus-mikael_son]

And instead of one raid per gym they could've given one raid per hour.

[@theohobo]

I live in a very small town, only a handful of continuous players. We were lucky to have two Mega Rayquaza raids yesterday, and we had 4 players show up to the first one. One of them didn’t even join, and drove off while we were waiting for them to join the lobby. Obviously we were thoroughly crushed, we didn’t even get it down to half health. So no luck on the first raid, and I didn’t even bother going to the one at 5. Moral of the story is, Pokemon Go in a small town is toooouuuugh man 😫

[@LilSlimeee]

Niantic really said SCREW YOU GUYS! cmon man😭😭😭

[@Houndlock643]

And then when we complained, they decided to be petty and essentially took away our ability to properly prepare for this event.😭🤣🤣😭😭😭😭😭

[@Moldova-Ball]

Ok I’m sorry to say this to everyone. But missing raids is your fault unless you’re _really_ far from a park. There was enough information given to know: A. Raids were 12:00 1:00 5:00 6:00 B. They were 45 minutes C. There were groups of 30+ with campfire. Sometimes 200+ D. Elite raids are in parks

[@plain_andy]

12 raids, 0 shinnies. Elite raids suck.

[@donkeyop]

Did 26 raids, 0 shinies. Very much agreed

[@angelaa1611]

I did 4 raids, all with 12-20 people at them. I saw 1 shiny all day (not me). No one got meteorites either.

[@_rios_24]

12 raids also no shiny, best I got was a 93. No meteorite either. Raids were glitching the whole time. It was suppose to be a good experience and ended up being terrible.

[@drvikram12]

I did 22 raids not a single shiny but A Meteorite dropped from the raid for me so , i’ll take this as a win

[@mikelasarge5562]

I did 10ish raid in total. I got 2 shinies and one of the guys I was with got a shundo

[@Evilintegral51]

So my biggest complaint. Was catch rates. See, I was lucky of the ten I battled I caught seven But others in my group were not so lucky lucky. Even with all excellent throws golden razz boosted it still wouldn't stay in the ball.

[@ShadowRose4442]

I literally was only able to do one with only a total of 7 people in the raid (including me) and had 2% health left but the raid timer ran out and then the raid ended 😭

[@Spaizman]

This is so depressing, I'm sorry that happened to you

[@CrackerSmith]

Happened to me with 6. So sad.

[@Cha0S_Hybr1D]

We did I think 3 of them with 5 people (1x lvl 50, 1x lvl 46, 1x lvl 43, 1x lvl 40 and o 1x lvl 31) but we managed to win with like 25 seconds left

[@davato4793]

Always remember to party up for the party power it makes a huge diffrence

[@Unnamedchannel5321]

SAME

[@WildKSPhoenix]

I’m a small, rural town player. Luckily we have 2 EX gyms in town. Unfortunately they are both on the farthest ends of town. Our Pokémon go walkers don’t come out to these gyms (and don’t want to ride with people they don’t know very well yet in one case). We had 4 players for each of the 2 raids we had and beat them both with about 35 seconds remaining. With the scarcity of these gyms, it would have been nice to have the have raids during each time slot. It would have given us 8 raid total to potentially battle at the set times. Instead we had one at 12 and one at 6. Which interrupted other things we had going on (one guy left his family at a local lake to come help - not that he could be in the water anyway due to a health thing). If we knew we’d be able to get together and do 2 raids at 12, and 2 more at 1 (or the 5 & 6 times) then go on with our day without having to plan around another time. It would have been nice cause we would have gotten more raids in and been able to enjoy other things.

[@wickrakes]

I did 17 raids yesterday, driving to each gym. No shinies, and nothing even in the 90%’s. It’s a shame honestly

[@rendy5092]

Thats just bad luck tbf

[@SirMopy]

dude… stop complaining. you have been able to do 17 raids. a lot of us could only make one due to bugs in the game. be happy, that you got mega energy..

[@wickrakes]

@@SirMopy lol ur missing my whole point. It’s a stupid feature in the game.

[@RichardHarvey-dq7eo]

Did 18, no shiny nothing above 84%.

[@kimberly4275]

I did 3 and got a shiny with bad IVs

[@kevinfurner9399]

Yep our raid group spent the whole time in our cars as each raid was so far apart, there was no way we could of done them all on foot

[@lDopekilla]

Managed to get 10 raids done, no shiny, mid ivs, terrible design...just terrible

[@JulianMaclennan]

I honestly had such a great time during the event, I went to a park where walking i was able to to six raids in 1 hour. but I also think it was ridiculous how the park i did it in had like 20 raids but central park only had like 3 the intire day so very inconsistant

[@bladedicedragon]

Yeah, and the research still required you to do elite raids even the bonus one that you got on the online web store for the follow goal

[@insolubleCorrosion]

I made it to 2 raids. I had to take a bus for 30 minutes, raid one at 12 (it ran away...) walk another 30 minutes, wait for the 1:00 spawn (the only 1:00 raid in my entire city-- luckily I caught it), and then I had to go to work. Getting 1 rayquaza cost me 2 1/2 hours that I could have used to do literally anything else

[@NotPurrrfectButStillTrying]

Bro mystics old hair is legit some of the most mafia boss stuff I’ve seen and I love it 😂

[@Terrorshooter46]

This event was terrible, and people like me with not as good Pokémon can’t even do the raids and I had to just sit there with like 3 raids next to me with no one else there :( Raids should be based off of your level unless you do a raid with others, then it is the average of all the layers levels SIMPLE FIXING METHOD

[@Mason-cq3jy]

What is even the actual point of elite raids. There is nothing good about them. Niantic removed every good aspect of them

[@KadenJoshua-w1n]

Niantic put mega requaza in elite raids only because there is going to be global go fest in about 1½ week making trainers spent their collected premium raid passes

[@quadfector]

the massive amount of backlash the community has said made me feel really happy i had a raiding group.. it can't get much worse than this, right? I got no shinies but did 5 raids, so i felt the day went well :)

[@denverjohnson5640]

I'm a noob to the Pokémon Go game and community, so this was my first elite raid and community raid. I had a ton of fun meeting the nearly 100 trainers that came to Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Definitely got my steps in!(20,000😅) Managed to catch 9 Rayquazas. Only 2 were 3 stars, no hundos, no shinys, but i had a ball meeting so many experiend trainers. That being said, I really hope Niantic takes to heart the concern of the long time supporters of their app. Meaningless cash grabs never bode well for those who implement them, and I hope this community sticks around for a long time.

[@bigwooh4367]

I hope Niantic did not cause a lot of car crashes on the elite raid day….just trying to do 3 raids in one hour, I had to drive like a maniac. At least I did better than those without a car who can only do 1 raid

[@ethanlawless5730]

I was not able to make it to any of the raids but I had 3 right next to each other in a small park near me just no players.

[@xXxXxXxAllianaxXxXxX]

As a rural player yeah it’s hard. There is only 5 gyms that are elite kinds and during the event, 2 of them started at 12, 2 started @5 and one @6. My normal raiding group couldn’t do the 12 so most of us participated for the 5 and 6. So that left us with only three chances to do the raid. So yeah it wasn’t that fun if an event for us 😓

[@Slimestarplayz]

The worst thing is for thise like me 2hl are either pokemon go youtubers or just normal f2p players cant even do them because we aint powerful enough its good to see you doin them tho

[@SwampChick]

Love the vibe in the intro!

[@BobbyJCFHvLichtenstein]

The raid itself was so unfairly rare. There are like 15~ gyms in my rural area, and none of them had Rayquaza

[@no_u_420]

How many of those 15 gyms were EX raid gyms? Most people in these comments carrying on about the lack of raids were in a area with 4 EX gyms max

[@shiijei6271]

Same we had 4 gyms in town that were close to each other, and some located elsewhere but walking distance, none of them were elite raid gyms >~

[@thebyrd433]

I live in a mid-size-city in SoCal, and we did between 15 and 20 raids. We were in cars and drove around, but I don't think we drove more than 10 minutes between gyms. It was usually about 5 ~ 8 minutes. I know one thing that made it easier for us is that we had a couple guys in our group who strategised and mapped out the best routes so that we could maximise the number of gyms we could raid. The eggs not spawning until HOURS after they were supposed to almost screwed us! All that being said, I have to agree with other folks: Elite Raids are a DRAG. I did manage to get quite a few done, but that doesn't mean it was a fun and exhilarating way to spend my Saturday. What a slog! Racing around like headless chickens, some of us not having time to heal up between raids, half the time we had one or two people who couldn't get a signal and had to skip a raid or two, etc., etc. I would not be sad if we never had Elite Raids again.

[@CrackerSmith]

Spent my entire day in the car yesterday driving from raid to raid. Never talked to a single person. Feel bad about the gas and pollution caused. I guess this is the experience Niantic is looking to foster???

[@boltvalo]

that might just be a you issue, it’s not their fault you are too overweight to get your steps up and walk from raid to raid in a group

[@no_u_420]

Sounds like a you issue, you could’ve EASILY walked during the event. Go cry to PETA about it

[@angelaa1611]

Idk about that. I run 5-10 miles a day. With the timing and locations of the raids in my area (very rural, ex-gyms very far apart), walking or running wasn't an option. I did 1 raid at 1pm, which I drove straight from work for. Then another 2 at 5pm. The first was 5 mi from home, the 2nd was abt 8 miles from home. Then the one at 6pm was in the next town over, about 12 miles from home and 6miles away from the 2nd 5pm raid. Not everyone lives in a city or has access to tons of Ex-gyms. For many rural players, driving was the only option...even for those of us (me) who run marathons 6 times a year. I assume you're just being a little smart-ass hater who just enjoys talking sh!t. But I'm gonna stand up for the OP from this BS.

[@GenderedMess]

@@no_u_420 No actually? Depending on where they live the specific gyms are possibly MILES from one another, depending on how far you won't make it in time for the next one after defeating the first. I live in a rural area and it only has 3 gyms around the entire place and none of them had the eggs for rayquaza. Meaning I would need to drive 30 minutes or longer to the closest town just to check if there is even a single rayquaza egg.

[@CrackerSmith]

To add more. In my case it was 100 F outside, and group was jumping from raid to raid in suburbia. Some raids were 5-7 miles apart and took about 10 mins to get to with increased traffic during the day. For raid days we stay local within a park with multiple gyms, or 1/2 to 1 mile radius of gyms around the neighborhood.

[@trackmen2368]

I actually had a fun time, planning the route before going, gathering people to play with, walking across the whole city, taking tains and bus to join differents raid. And I am a casual player.

[@mkemper33]

I’ve given up on elite raids, community is really just fed up and nothing really excites me for this game, didn’t even purchase a go fest ticket this year for the useless marshadow

[@chaosdragun1608]

I came back for the shiny legends and mythicals that are shiny locked in the main games hoping it was better than when i left. Pokemon knows what they are doing by selling pokemon back to the community and on top of it driving all over with gas prices as they are....the game needs a redesign badly. Once I get the shinies I need im out as the actual experience is basement level.

[@robster1321]

I'll be honest I met a good few people doing elite raids and it was quite fun finding new players in my area that I've not seen before! However 88,000 CP is a joke when you have smaller communitys who probably couldn't get this.

[@HollowTree5]

I got 3 rayqazas, but no shiny and I missed meteor by 1 minute 😭

[@dustinmcewen2504]

I'm sorry that happened, I forgot to claim my meteorite too and now I can't mega my Rayquaza 😢

[@firestorm40015]

In a major city, not a single person in a single raid, almost like pokemon go is unplayable most of the year in arizona

[@basedjj93]

I actually enjoyed the elite raids 🤷🏽‍♂️ it’s great actually interacting with ppl in the pogo community. But I definitely understand why ppl would be frustrated in a rural town.

[@victorbaltus1635]

I live rural and most gyms were this guy so plenty of choice imo

[@EmmalovesLV]

We had a local meetup with around 45 players, within the first wave we managed to reach 5 raids while walking. I managed to play 4 raids and caught 4, one of which is shiny. This system really sucks especially as you can’t invite rural friends.

[@shimozu92]

I live in a huge major city, have a car, and saw 0 elite raids spawn.

[@Stupifyy133]

ok on my area day it was windy so it was weather boosted but it was basically inpossible to play in, i went to maybe 2 or 3 gatherings and i only successfully raided one as all the others had no body due to the harsh weather.

[@monkeyman4480]

It was so annoying no one joins me and my friend.

[@ghosty4]

For me, the thing is, these raids are at the SAME gyms every single time they have them. So, I literally went to the same gyms I went to for Enamourous, caught Rayquaza with TWENTY other players, and went on with my day.

[@sindrejay336]

yoooo i was quick

[@Waeler]

Same

[@FordCarBrains]

Real

[@mightnotmagic]

I really hope they completely scrape elite raids after this terrible ass event. Couldn't even get 1 raid in because not enough people to raid with. Like they got rid of the only feature that made the elite raids have any value over normal raids (pokemon spawns around the raid after raid is finished) and now you just left with a normal raid that you HAVE to be local for, which for small towns with small go communities (like mine) basically means only you and people you know irl that you can convince to play with you. Is only at set times for 1 fucking day (if you work evening 12pm-8pm or something, good luck with even trying to raid) raids are scarce (I had 4 total within walking distance, I don't own a car) and there's not even a guaranteed shiny. Like the least they could do is have a guaranteed pity shiny after like 5 non-shiny raids or something

[@mightnotmagic]

It honestly feels like they make new content exclusively for the large cities that all the go yoitubers play at (that aren't even walkable I might add) and completely ignore the fact that 99% of people don't live in those cities. And have far far less options for both the amount of available gyms and pokestops, AND how many players are active in a community. Like I know of like 12 total people who play go still in my entire town, and half of them I don't think play all that consistently.

[@mrinfo9824]

I travelled 1 hour 30 mins to London primarily for this event and I’m not even sure I could say it was worth it. While I was lucky enough to do 10 raids with a big group, 5 fled, only 1 was 3 stars and no shinies. But more importantly, as someone who doesn’t like to spend money on the game, I burnt through basically all my premium raid passes, with half of them being for nothing. Additionally, to only get 6-8 balls after taking down a 6 star raid is ridiculous. Pretty common PoGo L

[@raidpokemongo]

Thailand entire country got mega rayquaza.every gym was rayquaza

[@ChipmonkGaming]

I happened to be in KC for a trip with some friends and another friend in the group plays GO so when I heard there would be Mega Ray (which I missed before) I was super excited since we were already planning to bar hop that day in downtown KC, a big city with lots of gyms. We were downtown pretty much all day long and we never saw a single mega ray raid anywhere within sight. There were tons of other random irrelevant raids that happened near where we were but it was crazy we never even saw a mega ray. And that was in the downtown area of a big city…

[@SternensLapis]

As a rural player, I didn’t even SEE any mega rayquaza. And I’m not a fan of elite raids. I’m one of three semi-active players in my area. I’d have to travel over an hour to even get to a city where there MIGHT be enough people to complete a raid. But the incredibly limited 30 minute raid times make it nearly impossible to get a group together in time in a different city/community. A truly awful feature. If people in Santa Monica are struggling, how are they ever expecting people in small cities, let alone rural players, to ever do these. If I were to do one I’d be forced to travel by car to get there, and that while I live in one of the most walkable countries on this planet…

[@mrErikeeper]

Wait you could actually get shiny Rayquaza from these my group did 7 mega Rayquazas (in small city with around 9k) people. We had 7-9 raiders per raid which mean over 50 tries but none got shiny Rayquaza that's crazy.

[@faselwesen]

we walked around for 2 hours straight, literally no time to stop to do 6 raids from 12 to 2pm, and yes, we were lucky that we even had that many but it was 10km walking in the burning sun just to reach the gyms. this was such a fucked up event. i am so sad that i wasnt active when rayquaza came for the first time

[@faselwesen]

and please imagine someone, who's not good at hitting excellents throws, trying to catch the pokemon with less than 10 balls [because our group was so small that it took long to defeat it] while rushing through the heat.. i think i never had this low level of fun playing pokemon go before, for something that was supposed to be exciting.

[@KadenJoshua-w1n]

It could have just been a normal raid day like groudon and kyogre. I bet after one year or so just before global 2025 there will be a necrozma elite raid day. I would say to better try and get shiny or 100iv necrozma at this go fest season if lucky

[@nathaniellim9936]

bro it just hurts to watch bro i battled 32 raid and couldnt even encounter a shiny or hundo

[@ashtonmarshall]

2 nearby raids no one in lobby at all

[@jaedanoellestarz672]

💯 should’ve been a raid day! I was in Seattle for this event and it’s sad to see even the most dense play areas had so little raid opportunities!!

[@KadenJoshua-w1n]

Except for me getting a 100iv requaza on my first raid my rest of the raid passes were just a joke I didn't get a single shiny me and my friends almost spent 30 raid passes in total and no shinys for anyone 😢

[@jaikhurana9079]

I got 7 Rayquazas with only a bike and 3 friends. Flex

[@madameglory9589]

I live in Queens NY so I always go to Central Park, had planned out the route but was only able to get 3 raids, and forgot to consider the walking distance. I would have been great if it were every hour, the 15 minute break that way you have time to walk to the other gyms. Also when I got home I didn't realize about the research had to eat quickly and go back out since I had 35 minutes left to complete which were easy😂

[@xSticky209]

From what i've seen, the raids were primarily in parks. I had no problems getting raids in SF in the Presidio area and golden gate park

[@Pivks]

Had a Hundo Rayqz Run from me😐..I’ll never be the same…..

[@ITried-ld8ly]

I didn't even get enough mega energy for Rayquaza! There wasn't enough raids or enough people! Why Niantic!

[@purplebeamcz]

Those raid are trash I have a 310 Ray mega energy and I wasnt able to do any raids.😢

[@TheBobDare]

I really, really miss EX raids. It really brought my old community together. Someone in the group , played with even figured out the EX raid algorithm, and we got so many EX raids. It was amazing.

[@RicoNoneya-f6o]

Multiple things can fix these. Either make more pop up rather than just a couple. Make them remote pass accessible or just get rid of elite raids all together.

[@LukeHanus-fj8ip]

Me either I love where like no one plays Pokemon go. So no one was raiding

[@fillekrans274]

I got like 5 raids over the whole day and walked over 20k steps. No good ones or hundos. But that meteorite made it worth it (almost)

[@franklincook4920]

The thing i like about the ex raids over elite raids is that I didn’t have to worry about trying to meet up with enough people take down the Pokémon. Since about 20 people got the invite at a selected time as to the other one you would hope to get enough people in a chat group to respond to meet up at a particular location and a certain time

[@RickyCary]

Able to hit about 14 raids. Had a community of 200 who showed up. But nothing but driving from one stop to the next. Niantic needs to scrap elite raids.

[@licanius]

I am soo frustrated bcs i am on vacation in small village where nobody play pokemon ho and closest city is 20 km far and i was sooo hyped bcs mega rayquaza is my most favourite pokemon

[@MosesLoo-dp4is]

The only rayquaza raid i found wasnin some graveyard💀

[@raindanse8466]

We were at the end of the Santa Monica pier but had to run a mile away to catch the raid. Then ran another 1/2 a mile, then the last raid a few blocks away. I got two mega Requazas with one being shiny. We live in Orange County caught two raids here then bolted to Santa Monica. It was crazy.

[@infinityfaith3756]

i live in a small town, but there are actually a decent amount of pogo players here. we had 20 people sign up for the raid day on campfire (also first time i really used campfire to chat). but in my whole city, only 3 raids spawned for the entire day. one at 6pm at a baseball field, and then TWO IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOUNTAINS at 5 and 6. i noticed it was the exact same gyms that spawned an egg on the Enamorus elite raid day. i was only able to get to one raid, after we missed the one at the baseball field we ran up into the camping grounds in the mountains on the outskirts of our town. i wish the raids were less rare to spawn.

[@PopQuizPH]

in the country I was in, for some reason the Elite Raid gyms chosen were so weird and not in the more popular locations so i had a hard time doing it.

[@eddievalentine8749]

Here in Tampa we had a huge turnout in Al Lopez Park about 90 or so people and we raided 6 for the first half and 6 or 7 for the second half. I was surprised on how many elite gyms were within a short distance of each other. Many got lucky with multiple shiny and some unlucky with none. The only thing I would have changed about the event was to increase shiny chances for elite raids. And we all got hit with a thunderstorm but everyone safely took shelter in the park restrooms but we all had a good time. @mystic7 I hope to see you in New York. I’d like a to take a selfie with you. Everyone in Tampa loves your videos. Keep them coming.

[@bobafittness1346]

Seeing Santa Monica getting so little rayquaza raids makes feel a little better about it spawning once where I live. A town with 20 something gyms and poke stops like crazy. Had to drive about an hour between places to hit it twice (which many of the other local players refused to do).

[@ari_gmzf]

The Campfire app has big issues. I thought there wasn’t any in my city but you need to zoom in to be able to see all the raids. When you zoom out some are going to stay but when you move the map it updates and most disappear.

[@CrappyCupcake]

Heres a story- i found a galarian bird today, it fled! In the same day, i found a wild dragonite, it fled! Bruh

[@conemsrs444]

It's crazy and the roads get completely blocked by people swarming the raids.

[@tdhhellian7509]

I didn't even bother going out because despite having 15 local players at least, battling for the gyms, none of them will ever be out there together. Local raids SUCK in my area. Nobody wants to actually join up or play together for them.

[@MichaelJohnston-zl5ic]

Hey Mystic7. My boy and I have been playing and watching your content since 2019. I have to agree with you completely on the elite raids. Sadness all around. In rural Nova Scotia, Canada we were in a town with 20 gyms total. This wouldn't have been too bad, however not a single one was mega rayquasa. The closest to us was 45 min of driving away.

[@DarkOneCFH]

I tried 3 different raids, but had no local players…

[@TotalMK]

You are 100% Correct APAC Player here btw. I wan t EX Raids Back (I know it sucks for travellers like yourself but if you were not travelling it was great and you could invite a friend also!)

[@mosurikutenpi]

its returning again for august 4th in 2024 this time it can be remote raided YIPPEE

[@sef1326]

I have 8 gyms near me and the only one to get a raid was one nobody could go to as it was blocked off by gates in an agricultural center. Ended up driving to 4 raids at the end and didn't get a shiny. That's 4 rayquaza events for me with no shiny.

[@ggaurikagupta9703]

Only 3 people play Pokemon go in my area

[@PZ7NSSN]

Had a 40 person group show up at the noon time slot to knock out some of these raids. Fortunately, there was another one three minutes away, but the next two were five minutes further each, so by the time we got to the fourth raid, only nine of us were left. After completing the fourth raid, it was almost 12:40 and the only two 1:00 raids to spawn in the area were half an hour’s walk away so the group entirely vanished. After that, I decided not to redo the 45 minute round trip for the evening session and accepted the four I did during the 12:00 time slot to be the only ones I would get done. At least the last one was shiny, but if this had been a standard raid day, I would have done at least 20 raids (which, doing them remotely would have cost me $40. Cough cough, Niantic)

[@Themacchuck]

I too did not get a chance to do a raid. I’m in a decent community but, I already have a 98% shiny mega so what was my motivation? What was my fellow trainer’s motivation when they already have one too?

[@mytoastwasstolenbyarat]

elite raids are already pretty hard to find. im pretty sure a lot of ppl expected a raid day for rayquaza or smth but the event ended up being pretty thrash for people who couldnt go out much

[@mytoastwasstolenbyarat]

and the fact u cant even remote raid it makes it worse

[@Du-Djutz]

In my town there were 4 Mega Rayquaza Elite Raids at noon (1 of which is only reachable by foot, 20 minute walk...). And all of them where pretty far from each other anyway, we barely did not make the 3rd one even though our team were by car. Then there were only 2 at 13h00, only 3 at 17h00 and 8 at 18h00. Nicely balanced... Not. The first improvement I could think of, place the same time elite raids close to each other and each cluster should contain at least 4 elite raids. That would help with getting people out of the car. The second improvement is allow communities assign the Elite Gyms or move the Elite state from a less accessible gym to a better accessible gym.

[@gillett5565]

Was in cinncinatti at the zoo yesterday for raid day and we got absolutely no rayquaza across 8 gyms for the 12/1 raids! I understand not every gym would have one but the amount of eggs spawning yesterday was horrendously low