"An Unbelievable Story: How I Got To Fight Mewtwo as a 5-Level Trainer and my Thoughts on the current Ex-Raid System"

#PokemonGO: Hello fellow travelers! Hope you had a great time in the event! I sure did.This is going to be a long post and i hope i get the formatting right this time...Also, sorry for any mistakes in the post, English is not my first language.TL;DR : I fought Mewtwo with a level 5 account. Some thoughts on the system. Thanks PikachuOf course there is a video with all the proof you need about this once in a million encounter. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq5fV7k6e2E]Story TimeSo, almost a month ago i had the idea to create an account just for fun. The goal was not to catch any Pokemon, just get to level 5 by spinning pokestops and then starting only playing raids. I wanted to see just by playing a raid per day how much of a progress i could have in the game. To become the very worst if you like. A "high level" trainer without any Pokemon except from the starter in his collection.Couple days later i came by a post that had almost the same idea. A trainer, who played only raids as well, had made his way to the high 20s or low 30s and had even assembled a really solid lineup only though raid battling. I found it funny that another trainer had the same "crazy" idea as me but i wanted to take it a step forward. I wanted to have the worst stats a player could have and decided that i would run from every single one raid Pokemon after defeating it with the help of my friends of course.Well, that was the plan... After getting to level 5, i had some time to kill after work and with the lack of raids late in the afternoon i played a Machamp raid with my friends in order to not lose another daily pass. It was my first raid in this account. Of course, the moment i went in battle my poor Pikachu died instantly. I just waited without rejoining so the other trainers could finish the job. In the catch screen, i threw all the premierballs in funny ways just to get rid of them and make the raid boss flee. So far so good.Fast forward 3 days later i get informed that a wave of ex-raid invites hit the gym i had fought the Machamp. Bare in mind that i solo'd the same Machamp with my main account before playing with the 5-level one. So, i look into my account and i'm sad to see that no ex-raid pass is there... And then it dawned on me... I log into the 5-lvl account and a pop-up is displayed. It was just the new style notification from around that time. I wasn't sure how i felt. On one hand i wanted to get an exclusive raid invitation, on the other hand it seemed unfair that many of the people i knew hadn't received one by that time (more on this later). Anyway, i look in the bag and there it is in all its glory. An ex-raid invitation for a level 5 trainerNeedless to say i was surprised to say the least. Btw, the notification popped later on. I immediately informed my chat group to share these extraordinary news. I had just gotten an ex-pass after completing only 1 raid. Of course, i took the decision to not do anything with this account till the time of the exclusive raid came. After all, who would pass the opportunity to participate in an exclusive raid as the lowest level trainer possible? So, the account remained inactive until the time of the raid and i just logged into it the day of the raid to record the video i'm using today as a proof.Thankfully, the day of the raid was convenient (Sunday afternoon) as i'm off work in the weekends. It would be also a fun break from the double xp event action. We didn't take the gym in our favour as we arrived late so i was pretty nervous about the number of premierballs i was about to receive. You know the drill... Picachu faints, Pikachu rejoins till the battle is over. At the bonus challenge i'm greeted with the old "???". My hands are shaking by this point. You'll notice it if you watch the video as i'm trying to get the circle right 5 or 6 times. I fix the circle at the position i think it's good and i'm waiting for Mewtwo's attack animation. When Mewtwo attacks i curve the ball and hit excellent (it's not that hard, but i was really really nervous at that moment). 1.., 2..., and poof Mewtwo is caught...This raid alone combined with the double xp bonus got me to level 9 :)The state of the game regarding ex-raidsNow this ex-raid invitation made me think... The system seems really unfair. It seemed that way from the start but giving a new trainer an invitation after just one raid was the icing on the cake. You might know trainers with hundreds of raids done, you might be one of these trainers, and still no ex-raid invitation. So, instead of the game rewarding players that put countless hours or even money in the game it just randomly(or what it seems like a random process) selects trainers to compete in ex-raids.I'm not against a new player getting an invite, i just believe that every player should have an equal chance of getting one. Also, instead of Niantic picking a portion of people for an ex-raid, they should pick everyone that participated in a raid at the selected gym in a given amount of time. Everyone that successfully completes a raid in a gym that gets selected as an ex-raid location and doesn't receive said invitation feels kinda robbed and that is logical.Maybe the company should be more clear on the criteria used for the selection process. So, instead of players going from gym to gym and playing as much raids as they can for the off-chance of getting an invite, they know what to do (missions based on catches, throws etc) to get one. This will naturally make some players more active and give them a motive to continue playing the game instead of aimlessly participating in raids.To give credit where it's due, during the last couple weeks Niantic did take some steps in the right direction by giving some information in the gym and trainer selection process. Gyms in parks and churches now seem to be preferred as ex-raid locations and as for trainers the company suggests a high level gym badge in said gyms. That's a nice start. After all, we are out of the testing phase as of writing this post.Parting ThoughtsIt's obvious that Niantic has to improve the ex-raid selection process and make it fair for everyone. Mewtwo is the Pokemon that every trainer dreams to add in their collection and it should be clear what someone has to do to get it.I would love to hear your opinions on the matter. I know that it has been discussed on the Road before, but i think that this is great opportunity to hear some new thoughts on it. Not for me, for the 10cp Picachu... via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2jTKupx