Hear me out on this. I think one of the big reasons people are so disgruntled about the EX Raid system is that Niantic has fostered the idea that everybody is entitled to every legendary pokemon (and multiple copies of them). If legendary raids were all EX Raids that happened more frequently, e.g. every day or two in a given area, but with a random legendary pokemon, then people wouldn't be so upset about having some legendaries, but not others. They could tie the invitations to T1-4 raid activity, so that people will still keep raiding in order to have a greater shot at more EX invitations. And these EX raids could have a catch rate that is a little higher than current legendaries, but lower than the almost-guaranteed Mewtwo catch rate, say, a base of 4%. As I envision it, if this were the only legendary raid system, almost every active trainer would have received one or more EX passes by now, and most would have received several, but very few people would have every legendary. Maybe I'd have a Zapdos, Entei, and Ho-Oh, and I'd be missing all the others, but everybody else would be missing a bunch too, and people would have greater appreciation for the legendaries they do have. Even having a Suicune would be a source of pride if not everyone had one. They could make Mewtwo especially rare by way of RNG, and there would still be a lot of people without a Mewtwo, but there would be less animosity about it, both towards other trainers, and towards Niantic. If a trainer couldn't make it to his EX Raid, he'd be bummed out, but at least he'd know he was likely to get another one soon, and it wouldn't be as tragic as missing an EX Raid is now..
As I see it, the problem is not so much the EX system (and the resulting fact that a lot of people don't yet have a Mewtwo), but the current regular legendary raid system that makes everyone believe they are entitled to one or more high-IV copies of every single legendary.
One interesting thing about the currently flawed system of Tier 5 raids is the fact that I'm beginning to run into people that don't have Lugia, or even Raikou for that matter.
Imagine years from now when we're on gen 4-5 legendaries and the older ones are limited edition aside from uncommon, location-specific events
A rather interesting thought, however I still view it as inferior to the thought experiment that EX raids should never have existed, every legend should be a regular T5, and every trainer should be limited to a single copy of each legend. In that scenario Mewtwo could be a "regular" T5, just one that is much less common than the "normal" legends. It would still not be ubiquitous, but effort and persistence would be more important factors in obtaining one than pure luck (more so than the EX system).
Also this would cut down on the frankly asinine advice many players fortunate enough to live in high population areas have to "just catch a bunch of (X legendary)" whenever more casual players ask what good counters to certain raid bosses would be.
"Why care about double water Gyarados when Kyogre is about to be released?" Cuz not everyone can get a bunch, or even one, since some of the legends are stupidly hard to catch.
If legends are limited to one in collection, players would have to transfer a legend before trying to catch another, with no guarantee that they would find a better, let alone that they might not catch it again. This would likely discourage players from repeating legendary raids.
Instead legends should be limited to one per attacking party so that players can still strive for a better catch, or power up duplicates with different movesets to use in different situations. i.e.: a Groudon with Earthquake and another with Solar Beam.
A mechanic similar to Hyper Training from the recent main games could easily be implemented for legends. If the latest one you catch is better than the one you own, you can choose to replace it (and earn a candy as a transfer), if it is worse, you can choose to instead to discard the recent catch to increase one of the IVs of your current legend. It would be a new mechanic, but not ridiculous.
Even keeping multiples just for different movesets is lightly OP, using your example (disregarding our thought experiments) currently a player with a dozen Groudons could feasibly have no use for any other ground type, or any grass types. Though I admit I consider that as a marginally a better argument than any other for multiples. And really, to create your scenario CTMs should just be more easily obtainable and give us a choice of which move we want.
Though truly, I consider the fact that there is currently not (and hopefully never will be) a scenario where having multiples of certain legendaries will be the one difference between successfully soloing a certain T3, or duoing a certain T4 good enough reasoning for my idea. T5s always require multiple people (perhaps Moltres not withstanding), and players who field multiple legends in a raid tend (at least from my experience) to not even select them for type advantage, and therefore lag behind in damage contribution.
And with my overall ideas, every player could feasibly work towards and eventually accomplish obtaining the best possible version of a powerful legend, instead of obtaining umpteen subpar versions and wondering whether to transfer the copies above six they earn, or wait for a trading mechanic that may never come.
I don't think you understand. EX Raids would be much more frequent, enough so that most people who raid every day (even just using their free passes) would have received several by now. They could scrap the idea that they need to be held in parks, though maybe still give a slight priority to sponsored locations, if they think they need to for business reasons.
The fact that you have over 250 legendaries is the real problem (not that you are doing anything wrong; it's just a problem with the game). The ease of obtaining multiples of every other legendary is what makes people so salty about not having a Mewtwo.
"EX Raids would be much more frequent" I see this statement as the biggest problem with your idea, and one that comes from you most likely living in a high population area. In my area, there have been at least a couple Mewtwo raids that didn't get enough invitees to actually complete, if EX raids where more constant, even fewer would have the required amount of players to even complete them.
Again, my idea that being able to KEEP umpteen legends is the problem, not T5s not being EXs. You don't really get to field multiple copies of legends in the main games (without cheats/exploits), no real reason you should be able to in this one.
I actually love your idea. As a player who pretty much plays alone casually in my free time I have yet to complete anything higher than a lvl 3 raid. I have been to multiple locations of tier 5 for every legendary except Kyorge and never had enough to play it. Had 3 a couple times, but wasn't enough. Having them set like that would guarantee people there to actually complete the raid with.
Except even in OP's scenario, you'd still likely never earn a legend. If the player base in your area is not high enough to allow you to ever successfully attempt a T5, then the likelihood that enough players would earn the same EX pass to complete a raid (if all legends were EX) is even lower. Enough people would still need to complete a raid at the given gym within the vaguely defined criteria, and there's no guarantee that enough players (of requisite effectiveness) will be interested in the low tier raids that show up at the specified gym(s) within each given invitation window, (not to mention, enough of the players that do receive invites being able/bothering to show up). And like you mention, you've never been able to even complete a T4, what if said gym only produces T4s in the EX window? Unlikely, but not impossible (just today, every one of the 3 gyms nearest my house only produced T4s all day).
This is a pretty interesting thread, kinda reflects things i've been saying.
Everyone in Go wants hundreds of legendaries for no effort, that's exactly the culture that Niantic have created with this game. that sort of thing is not for me, caused me to fall out of love with this game.
However i think it's the fact that the ex raid system is so random causes grief. They made Mewtwo rare but they chose the wrong way to make it rare. It doesn't reward grinding, it rewards pot luck.
Niantic are generally incompetent at everything they do, except making money. That they excel at.
What is an EX raid? I would have no idea since I have never been able to do one. How brilliant an idea to have a game that you can't play unless niantic randomly decides you can.
Terrible terrible idea.
It is already pretty challenging to get a decent legendary. I'm a pretty active player (level 36), I try to use my raid pass every day (sometimes life is just too busy and raids are over before I have free time but I guess i'm still 80-90% in daily pass use) and for an entire month I caught 12 of 18 Groudon and only 2 were >90% and none were >91%. That's a pretty big effort for a rather modest result. If they made it harder players would quit.
See, the mentality that having twelve Groudons, two with 91% IV's, is a "rather modest result" is my whole point. Of course you are going to feel entitled to a Mewtwo if you think that way, and it's not really your fault, it's the way the legendary raid system currently is.
If the system were as I suggested, maybe you'd have four or five legendaries total by now, and if one of them happened to be a 78% Groudon with a good moveset, you'd be excited about it, because a lot of people wouldn't even have one Groudon..
