Raids, coins, dust, new gyms - what do you think now?

I was a player who got 100 coins every 21 hours for months on end.
But I NEVER want to go back to the old gym system.
The stagnant towers were killing the game. Unless new players can play the game is going to die.
I'm 100% loving the new system. I get less than half the coin and I'm OK with that.
I love being able to take over a gym with a quick battle. I don't have the time to spend 1 hour standing around to take down the old lvl 10 gyms.
(all around was full of spoofers with multiple accounts putting 10 blisseys in every gym, fun for no one)
If I want dust, I grind. Dust is easy to get, catch mons.
I'm a free player 400k away from lvl 38. 1.5M dust, a bunch of my mons have over 1000 candy.

I look for gyms with mons that are at their coin max, then I take those down. I feel gym turnover is great for the game.
Making it inviting for new players is the only way the game will stay alive.

I am level 35, leveled up a couple days before the new gym system rolled out.

I miss prestiging and that there was a clear reason to level up defenders above level 30. These changes eliminated two whole dimensions for developing my collection of mons.

I like raids, TMs more diversity in gyms and rare candy. The raids are making me develop different types more broadly than before. TMs and rare candy make it possible to fix really rare mon that aren't quite what I wanted. (not strong enough, not a good move set). That was way too hard before.

I get more coins than before, but not always 50 a day. Gym turn-over is still really high where I play, and it seems like potions have gotten rare. So, I have to choose whether to spend them on raids, or getting coins.

Between raids and the new gyms, it feels like the challenges are still pretty limited.

Mostly agree - only thing I really don't like is the perverse incentives - which I believe are stimulating more alt-accounting, or at least putting in crappy defenders to attract someone to take down the gym (after 8 hours hopefully...).
Like you, I'm more than halfway to level 36; on the dominant team so was in 10 gyms every day, collecting 7 or 8 times per week - really didn't like the stagnation and CP inflation/shaving that system encouraged either. Also tbh, it never made much sense that for many players (myself included) we would usually do NO daily work for our coins/dust - even daily streaks required me to get outside since nearest stop is 7 minute walk, and the nearest walkable gym another 5' beyond that.
Raids - I like so far, although T2 too easy and T3 are tough (only tried Flareon so far, big mistake) - will see if my team is up to Machamp tomorrow, I'm hoping for a July 4th underdog victory!
Overall:
1) coins/dust: more fair now, wish there was a "forfeit gym" option to get payout without having to alt account or hope for someone to attack gym (even if that means can't get back into that gym for 24 hours). Either that or provide a dust incentive for taking down gyms....
2) Less incentive to walk, since hatches not so important anymore ... I think I'm battling more, or looking/waiting for raids, to the detriment of walking.
3) I like the new emphasis on type counters in damage counting for more than STAB, to reward trainers willing to learn this part of the game.
4) don't think it's fair that the 3K CP mons degrade so quickly - this update did not stimulate diversity in the sense that many of us had hoped for!

I'm over half way through level 33. Agree with you about changes. Since I'd only recently learnt about prestiging before update so had only been collecting on 8-10 gyms for about a week, I haven't noticed the dust decrease because I've always "caught them all". Since the raids started tho I'm surprised to learn so many players use scanners/trackers. Disappointed really.

I just dinged 33. I never collected more than 40 coins a day. Usually between 0 and 20. Since the update, I manage to collect 50 a day.

I don't have armies of tier 1 pokemons, so raids are a welcome addition to have a chance catching one.

As for dust, I don't notice a difference. I barely got 500 from gyms a day so ...

I'm still using my best defenders to hold a gym for 8 hours.

Raids made me power up more Pokemon and meet other trainers.

I'm happy lowbies can get their lvl 20 rare Pokémon. They are so happy. I grant them that.

The only downside of the update is thd toxic hardcore community on forums and the illogical gym scenery.

''No one likes change, that's a basic human fact.'' - No it isn't, don't create 'fake facts', there's no need. It's far too easy these days for these sort of fake facts to spread about and become 'truths'.

Some people don't like change, some people thrive on the dynamics and variety of it. Often people, as collective groups (societies) are resistant, or even fearful of change, others have to adapt to change frequently and so fear it less.

As for PoGo, I love the new gyms and raids, but hate the way coins are awarded. The system before was bad and flawed, but so is this new system.

They should just remove earning coins from gyms and have other in-game ways.

Before I used to collect on 100 coins most days, for several months (Mystic, in central London, played since release), now I'm getting my 50 per day, I think, it's harder to know now.

I've complained enough about the gym changes, but the bulk of the people who like it are people who were blocked out before, but aren't now...This meant usually lower level people or people who didn't want to prestige (work) for their rewards...Also, being on a dominant team now when someone always clears gyms FOR you is easy street mode.

I think longer term, a lot of areas will stagnate even more and people will resort to alt-account to knock themselves out...I see some gyms sit for 6+ days now. I don't attack my local gyms since it rewards my rivals...(I'm happy to see them rot in the gym and get no coins and they have to go to other gyms now).

Minority team players have it a lot worst now since you won't even get 10 coins (take down 6 mons, get kicked out in < 1 hour and you have to constantly fight 6 mons over and over again since all the spots are open). Also, this current gym system simply rewards the last gym taker (12am normally) so if you play during normal hours, you get zip since turnover is too high.

Even LESS skill is needed now in the game which is good for casuals, but hardcore people will play less I think and casuals don't spend much, if any money IMO.

As someone who mostly got 8-10 gyms a day prior, it also wasn't a wake up, click collect, repeat daily...Pretty much, something would get torn down daily and you have to represtige daily...

The main problems with this gym rework is many things about Pokemon "GO" is also gone. No need to walk buddies (rare candies are easier to get than walking 5km), no need to find far and secluded gyms (no one will knock you out), no need to hatch eggs (I'm sure we all feel raid bosses will rotate eventually) so incubator sales are nerfed. With TM drop rates also nerfed, I haven't spent Pokecoins on raid passes neither...

Also, people hype about diversity, but IMO, there is LESS diversity now since people put the same 6 mons normally...but without prestiging, you just pretty much lose the use of 75% of your team...Woe is my Tangela feeling, not having a battle for a week since this new update rolled out...Most folks won't want to power up, max ideal prestigers with the limited dust...

Also, having to depend on others to get your coins is very poor game design.

Yes, some people like the changes when all they saw were stagnant towers, but honestly, I've mentioned it before, but I'd rather they go to an NPC gym system and maybe use rankings within the gym where you see the top players (DPSes, least damage taken players, etc...) in a gym...everyone gets involved, gets to be ranked, challenged, tested, etc...

Right now, gyms are just a measure of who likes to waste their time the most...for little rewards...when 1 team simply has too many players or multi-accounters (some guy in my area has 5 accounts)...

Also, gyms won't be level 10 if you attack them constantly BEFORE they get built up (unless you are battling bots/spoofers), but most of the time we aren't...

Yes, hating the new gym system...

I think I'm inbetween a lot of the players here - the new system is flawed in many ways, but I am having fun with it in others.

Level 32 player (almost 33) - usually collected 40-70 coins per day under the old system. I now get about half that.

Pros:

1) The raids have given me new challenges and different Pokemon to power up. Golem, Gengar and a few of my favorite prestigers are now going to be part of my new attacking team. TMs allow me to fix movesets as well (my C/HS Machamp went to C/DP).

2) Removing prestiging is great - it was a time sink and annoying to select the Pokemon each time. New gym system takes much less time to take down a 6 Poke gym.

3) Mentioned this before, but I love the addition of the gym badges - being able to see everywhere you have been is amazing and adds a new collectibility feature to the gym

4) The coin cap gives spoofers less incentive to spoof.

Cons:

1) The coin cap is disappointing for legit players, though understandable from Niantic's perspective.

2) The gym system doesn't reward attacking and has made previously good defenders useless, Chansey and Snorlax in particular. Pokemon sit in gyms for days on end because no one has incentive to attack them (I will get my gold Gym Defender medal today).

3) As a result of the defenders being useless, egg hatching is less exciting. 10K eggs I used to look forward to, now they just take more time than others (though still useful for dust)

4) The game glitches and crashes even more than before. Needs to be fixed

Overall I am enjoying the update - revitalized the game in the short term. Question is whether it can maintain it (and fix the glitches and gym stagnation).

I haven't played much lately but I think the new system provides a good base for further improvement. Sure the rewards seem low compared with the rewards of the old system but the system now is what we have and we better make the best out of it because I doubt that the old system is coming back again. And personaly I enjoy attaking gyms again since all those blissey and snorlax filed gymes were a total bummer and anoying.

What really bugs me is the attitude of some players to not attack a gym hold by another team because they don't want to "reward" their rivals. It is that attitude that gives you stagnant gyms again. But I can also see the point of those people, rivalism. But what would be the advantage of having more coins? Being able to buy more premium raid passes to do more than one raid a day? The daily coin-cap of 50 gives you one premium pas every two days (at best). So there is no real advantage here. Being able to hatch more eggs? Same as above, one incubator every three days. I don't see a real advantage here too. By catching alone you make more stardust in those three days than you would get from all three eggs of on incubator. And chances for a great defender or attacker from hatching are quite low. Additionally, as has been pointed out by different people repeatedly over the last 10 days, powering up is less significant now. The "breakpoints vs. Raid bosses" topic on Redit (see question above in the list) illustrates that for the majority of the cases leveling up past Lvl. 31 is of no use since you can better spend the stardust on rising another Raid-Counter.

IMHO the new system is less about rivalism and more about teamwork. Take the raid battles for example, in teaming up with players of all three teams you unavoidable "reward" your so called “rivals” with the chance to catch a Lvl. 20 Mon with 80%+ IVs. If more and more players drop the “I-don’t-want-to-reward-my-rivals” attitude gyms won’t get stagnant again. At least in the current meta that attitude will get you nowhere.

As a player with my immediate area dominated by rival teams, I find I spend a lot of my time earning everyone other than me their daily coins.
I go and take 4 or 5 gyms, only to lose them within a couple of hours.

So I have sent 24-30 mons back to their owners, with coins - of course some of those belong to the same players, but I have easily earned 10+ players their daily 50 coins....but they take the gym back before I have had time to earn my daily limit.

Basically, my hard work pays off for others.

Don't get me wrong...the battling is fun and I don't mind that I earn others their coins - but it would be nice if I had a way to ensure I can earn my own for myself. It would be good if I got rewarded for my effort.

How about 1 coin for every hour a defender has been in the gym (maybe max 5 coins each defender)....something.

There is good and bad in the system, but my only real gripe is that others, my rivals, are rewarded for my efforts more than I am.

As a player who suddenly found himself able to take and hold 5+ gyms for the first time ever, I'm HATING this change. I've gone out of my way in the last 10 days or so to take down gyms that are in areas which used to be high-traffic, high-turnover regions simply to try to get ANY coins coming back - and no luck. People just aren't taking down gyms with any regularity now. Hell, my Wife put on a CP 11 Eevee on a gym by accident (due to system lag and a sensitive touch screen, her most recent catch was put on the gym) and it was on the gym for 3 days. A CP 11 Eevee was defending a gym for 3 days!!!

I hate - HATE - that I have to depend on other players to get my coins. I completely accepted the old way, where I was pretty much guaranteed getting 10 coins a day if I wanted them (by taking down a small gym), or I could take a risk and try to get more than 10 coins a day. It was on me.

Now? I held a gym for 9 days. I got 0 coins because it was the second long-term pokemon to come back in that day. I held 5 gyms for 4 days (which is the most I've ever been able to hold due to the intense control that one team has on the area I live in, and potentially due to shavers on my own team in the place I work. Seriously, I would take back a gym in the place where I work, put a damn good Mon on there, and within a few hours that Mon is gone AND the gym is full up with the "Usual Suspects". No proof of shaving... but come on.) and ended up with 50 coins as 4 of the 5 came back within an hour of one another.

I've already stopped powering up my Snorlax and Blissey's, and have started putting Mons like Steelix and Skarmony on as Defenders because they're far weaker than the usual suspects but they make it look like I'm trying to hold the gym. I don't bother putting any Mon's on gyms with CP's higher than 2000 in the hope that the weaker gym will entice other teams to take the gyms so I can get some damned coins. And nothing.

At this point I have no desire to take down any gyms since the only rewards for me are... what? More XP? Getting an extra item or three for that gym when I spin on the icon? A meaningless Gym Attacker badge? What? What's my motivation for attacking gyms now, for taking Gyms? Am I supposed to attack gyms out of the goodness of my heart, so that other players can get their coins, and hope that they "pay it forward" sometime?