I had a very similar experience. Fun write up. I use to solo exclusively with a similar end game. Im now in 3 discord groups, a large main chat, a sub chat for a little more localized raids, and a small tight group of 5 hardcore lvl 40’s. Each new group has shown me a completely new perspective, and the smallest hardcore group has really made the game take off for me. We grind together, plan low man raids, do single car raid trains. Being part of the small group has brought my resources to a level I thought was reserved for the elite youtubers and gamers. Keep up the grind man, and keep an eye out for league tournaments
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Observations About Joining a Raid Community (Long)
I am Level 36 and have largely been a solo player in a suburban area... Mostly grinding out dust and XP, soloing T3s and occasionally lucking out and finding a group doing a T4/T5. I have learned what counters to use from experience, solo raiding, and consulting resources like Gamepress and Pokebattler.
I recently got connected with a local Discord and have been doing T5s regularly. It has been great! It has also been very interesting meeting a group of players with what turns out to be a very different perspective on the game. None of these observations are earth-shattering, but I wanted to share them and get other folks' thoughts or experiences...
1) Charge TMs.
Prior to joining the group my biggest bottleneck in forming better teams was Charge TMs... They were the rarest resource to me relative to need, and each one was precious. After ~3 days of being in the group, my Charge TM problem is completely gone and I have a surplus. I'm sure folks are aware, but T4s/T5s are THE way to get Charge TMs... Soloing T3s and relying on luck simply doesn't cut it.
2) The folks in the group generally know their stuff, but I have been surprised to find that I am for the most part better familiarized with counters, weaknesses and overall nuance than most of them (even though many are Level 40). For example, several Level 35+ players in the group tell me they have never attempted to solo a T3 because they did not believe that they could, or that they tried and failed. A Level 35 player being incapable of soloing Machamp seems crazy to me - and I'm sure they have the mons and dust to do it - but this appears to be the norm.
3) (Related to #2 above) Folks don't seem to be into the "grinding" as much as shiny and high IV hunting. As a solo player, the primary goal for raiding tends to be the rewards (outside of hoping for a good Machamp). But I find with this group that the focus is on catching the raid boss and/or hoping it's shiny or a good IV specimen. When waiting for a group to get together for a raid for example, I am catching and spinning everything in range to maximize my time and resources while many of them are standing around.
My "endgame" in PoGo is to have the strongest most meta-relevant team I can assemble... XP and stardust (and even the mons) themselves are simply a means to that end. I find it interesting that this group generally has a much different focus... Team building seems to be an afterthought, while "trophy specimens" seem to be the main driver.
Lastly, to be fair I don't want to disparage the group. They are good people, and friendly, and certainly some among them know the counters inside and out. And the ones that don't are smart enough to pick them up with any kind of applied focus.
I thought all of this was pretty interesting and wanted to share. Perhaps some others have had this similar experience of living inside both the Soloing world and organized raiding.
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Answers
A serious solo player is ussually become a good trainer when theiy became a member of a group especially at battle aspect of the game
They have more experience in solo raid so they have a better knowledge in weakness- resistance- basestats sometimes without knowing or using calculator, simulator etc.
They often more brave to do T5 raid with few trainers and keen to experimenting non mainstream counters. Many more interested in the battle aspect of raiding than catch as many as legendaries in a day
Example, back in the day when many still do Machamp raid and split 3 or 4 man including the level 40 (considered elite player at that time, and they deserve it for the grinding that they've done is insane), at level 38 at that time i just said "I am soloing this"
They ask how many Lugia that i bring, i said none. Ask again what is my team, how many Dragonite that i use. I showed them my team then: Alakazam, Espeon, Gengar, Exeggutor, Slowbro, Dragonite. They think i am crazy LOL
Thats about my experience. It's absolut incomprehensible that some Lvl 40 guys who play 3h+ a day for 2 years still dont know about effectivness...I was often a bit frustrated but than I started to look at it in a different way: more damage balls and more rewards.
Once we were 7 at a Raid. There was one smaller second account rest was Lvl 40. I got the +3 damage balls.
100/6.5 = 15.4% and with my tiny 38k catched pokemon (compared to the others) and the fact that I dont buy Incubators I would have gotten only 1 damage ball if the other players knew their shit.
Solo raids are cool to do. But as u said u wont get enough charged TMs. And after one time per moveset it's not that special anymore.
I am level 40, and joined a raid community within the first month of raids being out. I'd been a solo player prior to that.
A lot of my focus is on building up a good team but, not all. I maxed out a 98% shiny lugia rather than a perfect one, because I like the color scheme better, and really doubt one point of defense is going to make any practical difference in lugia's performance, for example. I also have collections of pikachu with hats and shinies.
One reason to focus on IVs, or shiny-ness, is that after the raid boss has been out for a month and you've caught thirty of them, searching for a unicorn is a motivation to keep raiding, and I like to raid for its social aspects and its a bit like playing the lottery.
Now, once the raid boss is gone, I will consider whether to power it up or max it out based on its utility in raids or gyms, and will invest in the best IV one that I managed to catch. Let's face it, maxing a mon out is a large investment and only adds ten percent, or so, to its performance. So, why not try to squeeze out a few more percent by investing in a high IV one?
I've soloed most tier 3 raids (no claydoll, no shuckle). I also enjoy short manning higher tier raids.
One frustration I have with most raid groups is that in randomly assembled groups, there are more trainers than are needed, and people get lazy, accept the recommended team, and make the raid prohibitive for me to go in with a high DPS, but not as defensive, squad. So, I'll be plunking along with my Aggron, along with the rest of them, if I'm feeling short on revives.
I always like telling everyone what to use when raiding. I remember Rayquaza. That is when I actually made an effort to go out and raid. I didn’t have many good counters, so I maxed out a couple Walriens and would take it down with 3 other trainers that had teams of Jynx and Dragonites. Knowing a legendary could be taken down with 4 trainers was surprising to me, and now know that some are possible with 3, or even two. That’s really how it should be for smaller rural towns. Now it’s fun to seek out legendarys with 4 people seeing how many you can take down. You use a lot more revives, but knowing you don’t have to wait for people or start times is fun in itself. Plus when you really have 1-2 days a week to raid because of the raid times (please extend to 9pm!) this is the way you have to raid.
