"Impressions of 5 raids done today"

#PokemonGO: I did a few raids today in Tokyo, just a few thoughtsRaid 1: Level 2 raid, CP 11311 ElectabuzzImgurLevel 2 raid at a Mc Donald pokestop. Hopped off the train at Ebisu station. The raid only had 9 minutes left, and while there was clearly players around, I was left alone to fight it, since the others had probably cleared it much earlier. Not a good idea to be late for a raid.But it was only Electabuzz, and a single Rhydon was enough to beat him with time to spare. Reverted to a 84% level 20 1228CP Thunder Shock/Thunderbolt one. By the way, the level 20 versions don't seem to always have the same attacks as the boss version. Was very easy to catch with one Premiere Ball. You have the choice of what berries you use, but for balls you are limited to the premiere ones.Got:4 revives2 Golden Razz3 rare candiesRaid 2: Level 3 raid difficulty 2, CP 21155 Overheat FlareonImgur ImgurWent off at the next station, Shibuya. Took down the Mystic and Instinct gym at the Hachiko statue (most famous smeeting place in Tokyo just near Shibuya's crossing, the world's busiest crossing http://ift.tt/2nH1FeW ) and surprisingly my pokemon stayed 2 hours in these new Valor gyms. ImgurIgnored 2 newly hatched level 2 raids (Magmar at a Softbank stop Imgur Imgur and Bayleef) and set my sight on an unhtached level 3 raid, which still had 45 minutes before starting. Slowly made my way to the Mc Donald while grinding, and there was a surprising number of players in the shop, which was clearly sized for a smaller affluence. Mc Donald must be satisfied to be a sponsor. Once the egg hatched, the raid lobby was immediately filled with 20 players. 5 level 40 players including myself and mostly level 37-39 ones for the others.ImgurThe application crashed when the raid started. By the time I went back, I had to join a group of 5 players. But we're talking about Flareon. Only one Vaporeon was enough (damage seemed split over people ?). I feel I could have killed it solo.Reverted to a 91% level 20 1635CP Fire Spin / Flamethrower one. Caught in 1 curved excellent throw.Got:some revives3 Golden Razz2 rare candies1 quick move TM , used to convert a Steel Wing / Dragon Claw Dragonite into a Dragon Tail / Dragon Claw one Imgur ImgurRaid 3: Level 4 raid difficulty 3, 28485 CP Overheat CharizardImgur Imgur ImgurStill in Shibuya, went back near the station, noticed a soon to happen raid (Mc Donald) with a 1h15 pre-notice on an Instinct gym. Since there is substantioal premeire ball bonus if you are in the gym, I planned to take the Instinct gym just before the raid start. I attacked when there was 35 minutes left, but Instinct players dropped berries. Carried on and some other players joined. But as instinct was losing 4-5 defenders, they somehow managed to add more (I thought you couldn't ?). The next combat window after what should have been the last fight kept on giving me new pokemons to face. Other players backed off, I pursued the attack and once they were damaged enough, the other guys joined too.At some point it was 6 pokemons at once vs Instinct pokemons. Destroyed the gym with 5 minutes left before the raid, dropped a 3160 Blissey and an another guy put a Tyranitar (other players must have been Mystic). Fed berries to the Blissey. The other trainers weren't able to flip the gym wih only 5 minutes on the timer, and the raid started on an ownaed Valor gym, as planned. Imgur Imgur. As players get more used to raid mechanics, there will be more and more pre-raid ownership wars.The raid itself was unremarkable Imgur. There was 20 players (6 level 40), Charizard went down in 30 seconds (180s timer). Reverted to a 80% level 20 1489 CP Fire Spin / Overheat one. I didn't regret getting bonus premiere balls Imgur in addition to the raid ones, because he took 8 balls to catch. By the way, I havent yet watched the videos from all over the world, but in Japan the raids ambiance was a bunch of people standing in the same place without speaking at all.15 revives15 Golden Razz3 rare candiesNo TM :(There was always at least 2 raids happening in Shibuya and that's only sponsored stops. Don't know if Niantic raised the probability for the prerelease, but it doesnt seem that raids will be rare.Raid 4: Level 4 raid difficulty 3, 26921 CP Solar Beam VenusaurImgurNext station, Harajuku, on the crowded "fashion street" http://ift.tt/2tDeiut . Again a Mc donald gym Imgur . A dozen of trainers standing in front of Mc Donald. Unremarkable again (the Solar Beams were instant kill though), Venusaur got rekt hard by the group of 13 people. Reverted to a disappointing 73% level 20 1413 CP Razor Leaf / Sludge Bombe Venusaur.6 revives6 Golden Razz6 rare candiesNo TM :(Raid 5: Level 4 raid difficulty 4, 25419 CP Hyperbeam SnorlaxImgur ImgurTokyo suburbia as I was dropping at my station. Mc Donald again. The 4 previous raids had let me disappointed by how easy they were (but we had many players).But this one felt epic. Snorlax is probably the most difficult level 4 raid after Blissey. We were 5-6 trainers only (me level 40, 2 level 38, 3 level 37) and the raid had a 17 persons recommendation. Things didn't went well. I used 2 Counter Close Combat Machamps, 1DT/Hu Dragonite, 2 DB/DC Dragonites and 1 DT/DC Dragonite but that wasn't enough to take Snorlax down. Timout timeout and timeout. But a lot of these failures are also the fault of the application's horrid performance in gyms. I had a lot of deathloop scenario, and sometimes a killed attacker was taking 10 seconds to be replaced by the next in line.TimeoutThe first attempt failed while Snorlax had only 5% Health left. Also, one of the guy was using Blissey/Snorlax to attack, horrible choice. At some point there was 7 players. The 180 second fights against Snorlax felt epic, and an Hyper Beam from a 25xx Xnorlax is no joke (usually used 4-5 per fight. After 7 or 8 failed attempts I was really doubting we could win. At 6 min left before the end of the raid, an anoher player joined, and it turned out to tip the scale enough to beat Snorlax, with 4 seconds left on the round timer. Everybody's Machamps, while frail, were clearly doing the larger part of the damage until they were all killed, and then the Dragonites were following at a slower pace. Was satisfied to get a +3 Premiere ball award for the damage infllicted. Don't known if it's based on a ranking or if it's based on damage thresholds. ImgurThe Snorlax became a 80% level 20 1862 CP ZH/HB Snorlax10 Revives4 Golden Razz6 rare candies1 quick move TMI was hesitating about maxing a 3rd Machamp (since I have 2 level 39 Counter/Close Combat ones), but the Snorlax raid makes me think that using the TM on my 100% Bullet Punch / Dynamic Punch Machamp (to get Counter) and axing him to level 39 wouldn't be a waste for future Snorlax/Blissey raids. 2 level 39 Machamps weren't enough, and the Dragonite's DPS were inferior.Non trivial raids are fun, and I am impatient to see legendary raids. But the application bugs and slowdowns put an artificial difficulty that shouldn't be there.Raids are nie, but in contrast, the gym overhaul is so horrible regarding team dominance (dominant team becoming even stronger) that I alsmot consider stopping doing gyms altogether. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2sKKgVL