OK, so i have hit the point where i understand the rural struggle. I thought that a Facebook group would help.... NO WAY. So this is what happened, First week of raiding a Charizard shows up, about 11 people show up. the next day a TTar shows up, and so do 20 people. Yesterday, within 100ft of each other are 2 level 4 eggs. 20min hatch difference, First one is Ttar. I post IMMEDIATELY, and no one showed up the entire hour. It hit me right there, this game will not be fun if everyone isn't playing it. Now i partly blame Niantic because the anniversary was a disappointment and i think people just didn't even want to open the app because of it. But anyone else come across this problem? Like seriously not a single person at a Ttar raid where you have seen others before?
I've encountered only one L4 raid where there were enough other players to make a difference. For the rest, I've either been totally alone or had only 2 others, which still wasn't enough. It kills me to see a Tyranitar raid and no one to help me.
Niantic really needs to address this. They could expand the raid notice perimeter or (preferably) scale the time limit based on level and number of players. Like maybe on L4:
4+ gets 3 minutes
2-3 gets 5 minutes
Solo gets 7 minutes
I get that the motivation behind raids is supposed to be group/cooperative play. But that's not the reality in rural/suburban settings. It's so frustrating to see an ongoing Tyranitar raid and no one to help me take it down. Those of us out here need SOMETHING to encourage our participation and give us hope of winning.
I haven't even seen a Ttar so no idea if it would attract people around me.
I only have 2 gyms within a 15min drive from my house and drive by them in the evening hoping to see something good. In the first week I did see a Charizard in Blastoise but lately it's been either no raid or Magikarp (caught 2 of those this week)
Yeah, I'm still missing a Tyranitar because of this...saw one in the morning, but not enough people around (and that's assuming they know how to play optimally)...
I'm ok though if they don't change the timer since it'll be hard to balance...
I suppose my goal is to get maxed Machamps and overpower them, but since we'd still need at least 3 people to do it since my wife isn't hardcore enough to be like that vid of 2 Level 40s doing it duo...it seems to be a waste of dust currently...
Like I've stated many times, I've accepted that I won't get a raid one and I'll just wait till I hatch a good enough IV Larvitar to evolve/power up...I AM sitting on 300+ Larvitar candies now since it's my buddy and I've hatched 4, not to mention they spawn here (just caught 1 this morning with Pinap).
When you have 20 people showing up for a raid, that speaks to an enthusiasm for the game in your area. I live in a city and I've learned that unless you take in to account the time of day, day of the week, and are dealing a gym that people don't have to go outside to get to during working hours, you're probably not going to have anyone else participating in a raid. Yes, there are tier 4 raids going on all around me all day long, but I've learned that you could sit in the lobby of most of them for an hour and not have another player join in.
I think similar principles can apply to your situation. You seem to have a dedicated pool (at least at this time) of players in your area. You just have to figure out when that pool of people is most likely to be available and willing to show up for a raid. Maybe it's on the weekend during the day, maybe it's during the week after 5 PM, who knows?
The only advantage I could tell you you have in a rural environment, is that, assuming GPS spoofers aren't a big part of the business in your area, you could drive by a gym that is having a higher tier raid and readily assess if anyone else is participating, and potentially avoid wasting your time.
Experience this as well. Never seen a single other person in a raid. I haven't seen too many lvl 4 raids in my area (11 gyms) but have been to two Tyranitars and a Lapras and of course, wasted a raid pass when no one else turned up.
Before the gym change my area, due to being rural, had been destroyed by spoofers (all 11 gyms blue - my team - all held by spoofer/shavers). I couldn't get in any gyms, other teams gave up.
So i thought at least the spoofers might show up, but the new gym system means even the spoofers have abandoned rural areas. So a double edged sword for us i guess.
