[Idea] A throwback of the old gym CP system
I think that Niantic could keep the prestiging method in this way, by dividing the gym into 2 groups – "motivation group" and "prestige group".
Let's say that Valor was the defender, Mystic is the attacker.
When a gym is fully taken down:
The first 6 trainers (one can only be placed by the Mystic attacker who deals the most damage when taking down the gym) can leave their Pokémon in the motivation group.
The other 4 trainers leave their Pokémon in the prestige group, if the gym has enough prestige.
The motivation group is just the current gym system.
However, when the motivation group is fulfilled, you can start prestiging!
The prestige is gained by (D/A)250, XP is gained by (D/A)75.
The maximum prestige a gym can reach is 10000.
The most prestige you can earn per battle is 750, with the least being 83.333. Note: prestige uses 3 demicals and rounds normally, i.e. 87.7764 is 87.776, and 96.5786 is 96.579.
Unlike the old system, you earn 0 prestige for placing a Pokémon in.
Like the old system, if a Pokémon in the prestige group loses, the gym loses 1000 prestige, with a full clear giving you an additional 1000 prestige.
The prestige group is ordered by CP.
Gym level prestige:
Gym level 7: 2500 prestige (1 Pokémon in the prestige group)
Gym level 8: 5000 prestige (2 Pokémon in the prestige group)
Gym level 9: 7500 prestige (3 Pokémon in the prestige group)
Gym level 10: 10000 prestige (4 Pokémon in the prestige group)
If Valor wants to take the whole gym back:
Valor can choose which group to first battle with.
Motivation group first:
If Valor chooses to battle the motivation group first, Mystic can feed the Pokémon in the motivation group berries to keep their motivation.
When Valor takes down the whole motivation group, he/she has to move on to the prestige group. Meanwhile, Mystic can't train (increase prestige) because the motivation group isn't fulfilled.
When he/she downs the gym prestige to 0, he/she can place his/her Pokémon in, just like the situation mentioned at the start of this idea.
Prestige group first:
If Valor chooses to battle the prestige group first, Mystic can prestige. When enough prestige is reached, Mystic can put Pokémon in at any time.^[1]
When Valor downs the gym prestige to 0, he/she has to move on to the motivation group. As usual, Mystic can feed berries.
When he/she knocks out all the Pokémon in the motivation group, he/she can place his/her Pokémon in.
[1] The lowest CP Pokémon in the prestige group is knocked out at 7500 prestige, second at 5000, third at 2500, and the highest CP one is knocked out at 0.
Answers
The game needs to move forward. Coming back to a system that never worked, even partially, would be a huge mistake. Sorry, but I believe that the current system is better than the previous one for much that we may miss little things. All battle system that existed so far were full of flaws, got boring soon and don't appeal to participation. We need something else, dynamic and that doesn't get old story in a week or two.
This sounds solid, I don't know why they just didn't leave the old option of prestiging your gym up or at least maybe train in your own gym with an ability to knock a mon out and put one in or if not that drastic to at least get dust, the mons candy, xp whatever. Its silly that you can't do anything in your own teams gym except spin it and wait for another team to take it over before you can even hope to put a mon in. Programming wise, they could implement both so easily, just merge the old and the new.
