"Raid system is an unworkable mess without raid scanners"

#PokemonGO: TLDR niantic's raid system is unplayable without the use of raid scanners, which are technically cheats (no judgment). So, please give us an official raid scanner.This is a tale of two games. I live in the suburbs of nyc and work in nyc and both need raid scanners. Having played extensively in both environments, i know that this system is broken no matter where you play (i can't begin to imagine what life is like for the rural trainers out there).I'll start with long island. Raiding (tier 4 and 5) on Long Island is made possible by dedicated discord groups. These groups rely substantially on raid scanners to coordinate groups. For the past few weekends, our main site has gone down, most likely because of niantic. The result: the discord channels have been a mess and the number of active raiders has dropped off significantly. Raid groups used to form and hit several raids in a row, always knowing where the next raid(s) will be. People would join and the groups would morph throughout the day. Now, we're lucky to get 5 and not likely to know where the next raid is. This is because gyms are spread out enough that you can normally only see one or two in game, unlike the city where you never see less than 10. So, even assuming you can gather enough to take a legendary, where do you go after you beat it? Do you drive aimlessly until you happen to spot another? No. That is ridiculous. If you're lucky, someone on discord spots one near them. But if they don't?Contrast this to the city where i normally play before or after work and during lunch on light days. On the island, i see and know all of the folks i raid with. I've never noticed a spoofer. In the city, at any given point tier 5 waiting rooms have 5 to 10 trainers. Yet, you're lucky to meet one in person. True, people tend to be less trusting and keep to themselves, but i think i would notice hundreds of trainers milling about and raiding. I would wager that the vast majority are taking advantage of the city 's relative anonymity and spoofing. When i do meet folks they often learn of the raid from a scanner, which i don't use in the city since i only raid on the way to our from the subway or during lunch when i can't venture much farther than the avatar can see. So, i can't speak to the health of the discord community in lower Manhattan, but i know without raid scanners spoofers can't function. And without spoofers, many raiders in lower Manhattan (myself included) would have to change the way they operate. I might have to join a discord group for the area, but given my scheduling, it would be tough to organize. And finding enough raiders without an effective scanner would be a mess...Which brings me to my point: for raids to work as they currently exist, working raid scanners are non-negotiable, even if they violate TOS. Niantic must either fix the system (by making all raids soloable somehow) or give us the tools we need to work within it. Failing to do one or the other is just costing them money. via /r/pokemongo http://ift.tt/2xqsVae