"Positive February 3 EX Raid experience"

#PokemonGO: There were definitely problems with the EX raids yesterday and I definitely think the invitation system is broken but I would like to describe a positive experience as well as thank those who posted about their problems so we could take steps to minimize issues.We organized as soon as the invites went out on Discord, FaceBook, and local messenger groups to tell anyone with a pass to arrive for the 11:30 raid at 11:20 with the first lobby start time of 11:40. A group of level 40 trainers with passes provided cookies and hot chocolate (temperature at raid start was 12 F) as well as backup batteries and charger cords (which were used by a few ill prepared trainers). A total of 63 invitees arrived at 11:20, as well as supporters. There were five trainers less than level 30 and six trainers between level 30 and 35. Unlike recent ex raids in my town, it was skewed toward higher levels, including a number of level 40s who had not had previous invites, as well as active raiders. The previous two ex raids at this gym seemed to have been skewed toward lower levels and those with bronze or silver badges who were not in the active raid groups. Also, those raids each had 20 to 30 participants. Can’t help wondering if this ex raid was a “make up” raid?Given the issues everyone was posting about here, we did sequential lobbies waiting until one finished, including capture, before launching the next, just in case. We ran an Instinct lobby of 8 first followed by two simultaneous lobbies (Valor public - 16 trainers, Mystic private - 16 trainers). When those finished, two simultaneous lobbies followed (Valor public - 11, Mystic private - 12). Lower level trainers were placed in first Mystic and Valor groups with a few level 40s to provide muscle with majority of level 40s in the final sweeper group. This explains why the first simultaneous groups were larger. All groups finished with lots of time to spare. We had planned upon doing more lobbies and not doing simultaneous lobbies originally but given the issues described here, we wanted maximum time to recover.I’m happy to say we had no problems. No errors, no glitches, no need to jump out.In the end, we had a very high catch rate of 60/63. One trainer, my wife, caught a perfect Mewtwo.The only negative of the day was a trainer with an ex pass who arrived 5 minutes before the raid period ended while we were cleaning up the area (collecting hot chocolate cups and cookie wrappers). Can’t figure that one out.I feel terrible for all who experienced issues yesterday but want to thank you for your posts as they changed our plans and allowed things to occur smoothly. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2E0iGbQ