Problem with raiding
When raiding legendaries or Ttar here in Singapore, there's always this problem.
There's either too many people or not enough people. There's no middle ground. Nobody wants to split up into teams or into smaller groups. In fact, few people care about how many balls they get.
They just think that if RNG gives them the Pokemon, they will get it regardless of how many balls they get. If RNG says no, they won't get it even with 14 balls.
So, these are the problems caused by this attitude that many players take:
1: Large raid groups. They try to form groups of 20 if possible. Everyone gets less individual damage balls as a result.
2: Refusal to split into groups by team. Everyone gets less team damage balls as a result.
3: Raiding at rival teams' gyms. They lose out on team damage bonus as a result. The controlling team also loses out on team damage balls.
Because of this, I can't seem to get enough balls at raids. I only got 7 balls at my 100% Entei encounter, because of large lobby (>15 players) and most players in the lobby were Mystic (despite the gym being Valor)
Answers
Yesterday I burned a premium pass trying to jump in a Suicune raid 5 min after hatch. Saw a couple great players standing at gym as I drove up...but barely missed their lobby. Got caught in one with a level 28 and a super clueless ivysaur using level 16. Nobody else showed up the next 30 minutes I waited and was talking to those good players. That first group never chatted about it, they had just enough to beat it and didn't want to commit to wait for people that might get stuck in Friday 5 Pm traffic. That park is hosting an EX raid today, so some of those players were there playing already--otherwise people have to really be convinced to drive to a raid
This is very familiar to me. I always try to split up if we are with a large group. But people just say 'It doesn't really matter, it's just luck'. Then I try to tell them that more balls equals a better chance of catching the mon, but people say 'that math stuff is far to difficult for me'. Then I try to explain that more balls also means more rare candies and tm's, but people say 'let's just go in all together'. I don't think there is much you can do, people are just convinced to be stupid. Oh, and by the way, these are not just little kids or noobs. I'm talking about adult players level 39 or 40...
Well at level 39 and 40 if they invested into the right counters and at least reached breakpoint if not went further to maxing them out then it really doesn’t matter if they break up or go in for them because they will still end up with more balls for damage contribution and more rewards.
I’m not even halfway to 40 and even for me it doesn’t matter cause I don’t ever get less than 10 or 11 balls. Mostly 12-13 but sometimes I’ll get all 14. That’s with or without breaking into teams.
Hear hear Dragoniteslayer. Same here in Taiwan. I remind people to split into groups, and they all just stare at me with their deadpanned faces, thinking I'm some kind of idiot or busybody. "Don't bother us with such hassle," they say, while picking Exeggutor and Articuno to take on Entei.
Worst of all, they don't even wait for others. If you arrive late and miss the one and only big group of 20, you're on your own for the next 35 minutes. Player interest way down already and we still ain't helping each other out. So yeah, 7-8 ball situations about as common as pidgeys and murkrows.
BTW, numerous brawls during Mewtwo EX raids last week. Smh.
The gist of it is that ppl felt cheated splitting into different groups. Like I mentioned, everyone piled into a group of 20, which meant less damage and balls for everyone. Wanting max damage and more balls, some ppl discussed "group" tactics amongst themselves (from the same team I guess) and not with the rest. When others actually started backing out, they reneged on their proposition and went ahead with the raid themselves. Those who were sidelined then didn't have enough members from their respective teams to battle Mewtwo, hence the altercations.
IMO, in the case of Ex raids, for those that can't muster enough group mates, an exception should be allowed for an "inclusive" 20 people raid group.
I wasn't there so couldn't record it. Was on the news though. I got it through Line, an app that's similar to Whatsapp.
Here are reasons people want to raid in one big group:
(not that I agree with any of these)
-raid over quickly
-raid guaranteed to beat the boss
-use less mons per trainer to win--> less potions revives
-trainers don't have to have the ability to pick supreme counter
-trainers don't have to power any mons
-trainers' mons don't have to have optimal movesets
-trainers insecure about winning with a smaller group because they have always fought in the big group.
-trainers believing the "recommended group size".
I'm in the mode of raid with a group as small as possible to beat the raid boss. Especially since the re-enter damage loss bug has been fixed. Fortunately the trainers I raid with feel the same.
Hint:
Let's say you split into two small groups. Both start at the same time using private groups. Stay in communication. If one group is going to fail, then both groups jump out, heal up and then restart as one big group.
or:
Hint2: If you have a big group but not quite big enough to split into two groups. I have not yet tried but start with one small group, once the raid boss is close to fainting, one or two trainers quit the battle. The remaining trainers, win, etc. The trainers who quit, then start another battle with other trainers and beat the boss.
Sometimes I tried to be nice and jump out to help those who got left behind. And oftentimes regretted about the decision, because I had ended up with people playing with Lugia (or Blissey) and had to lose the raid a couple times before teaching them to NOT use Lugia when 5 man Raikou/Entei/Suicune...
Def do not do it for people who you don’t know.
We are just not good at ad hoc coordination by talking to strangers. Just let SGPokeMap tell us where to go, then take bus, MRT (hope no breakdown) or drive (if atas). Sure got enough people reach the gym just before Entei hatch. If you want small group, try slightly (but not too) ulu HDB blocks, but if you a few minutes late, sorry, you raid yourself.
Oftentimes it's more difficult than you think. Here we have retirees, grandmas and grandpas, and angelic five year olds joining the raids. Quite a few of them, especially the retirees, have multiple phones and accounts. They really could care less about socializing or playing with ppl. Worst, I speak Chinese, many of them speak Mandarin (Taiwanese local dialect), no way we're on the same page...
Try and form a group with the 20-something year olds that turn up to these raids. They're most likely the ones that are knowledgable and serious about the game since they're the ones that will have played the original games.
Not saying that people outside that age group can't be, but they're most likely in my opinion.
You don't need a big group of players, I'm only in a group of 4 and we were all at least level 32 at the start of the group. We can do Tyranitars with time to spare now that we have 3-4 Machamps each, and Enteis were doable with 4, maybe a second try needed if hit by the dodge glitch. We couldn't do Suicune and Raikou with 4 unfortunately.
let's be honest: a lot of people are just stupid.
- which Pokémon should I take?
- What's effectiv again? Raidboss already here for 3 weeks
- Do we still have a chance? We bet the last Raikou with 200sec left and one player was leaving.
- Yesterday I did my first 2 star solo. I'm good, I'm the best - serious Level 40 player
How many times did you have to say no Blisseys we are too few people? Of course nobody ever listened
Half a year later they have finally learnt no Blissey - let's take Steelix.
This is not coming from noobs or little children but from people you see at almost every raid. How do you expect them to understand catch rate chances?!
