"EX Raid Feedback After a Disappointing Day"

#PokemonGO: So I organize a small community of Pokemon Go players in a small city. Our biggest ever raid group was 56 people for the very first Zapdos. On the weekend we may get over 10 players at a raid, during the week we struggle to get enough for legendary raids. So not a huge group but still a decently sized group.Thus far we've been very lucky with EX raids having gotten 4. The first 3 we had 30+ players and everyone who raids daily got an invite validating our efforts. Two of them were at a gym which has no legal parking but we made it work. Then there was today. As far as we can tell 8 people got invites, all casuals, nearly all lower level. Only 6 showed up and no matter what we did they could not beat it. It was incredibly disappointing. It really made no sense either since it was at what is quite literally the most actively raided gym in town. Everyone I've spoken to in the community has done a raid there so they could have easily invited more players.After having participated in three EX raids and having assisted with a fourth I have a few thoughts.Mainly they need to stop with the mysterious criteria and make it dead simple and clear what we need to be doing to get an invite. I'm sick of spending money on passes with a vague hope that it'll get me an invite.They also need to stop trying to be clever with who they invite. Really they should just invite all the players who have raided recently. More players make it easier to ensure a win and helps safeguard groups from getting too small if a bunch of players can't make it. Also rewards players who actively do raids.Finally they need to find a better way to pick the gym. Having multiple raids at a gym on a college campus where all the parking is designated either faculty/staff or students is not really acceptable even if it hasn't been an issue thus far. I'm especially concerned going forward with the extreme cold, can't really expect people to walk to a gym in below freezing temperatures. (EDIT: To clarify, the lack of parking is the issue not having raids on a college campus. Keep in mind that any gyms with a lack of parking get less raid activity in my area, so having 2 of 4 EX raids at one of these gyms makes no sense.)I know this is a lot of the same, stuff that's already been said. I'm very upset about how today went and with how screwed up the system currently seems to be. Really wanted to say something, to add my voice to the issue, in the hopes someone from Niantic sees it and can hopefully understand how severely upsetting this is all becoming. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2zwfLse