"Interesting bug with the Legendary raid hour"

#PokemonGO: Executive summary:The legendary lunch raid will overwrite/terminate an existing raid that has run past its end timeLonger version:As is relatively well known, a raid has several phases including the normal egg phase and the raid phase. In addition to that there is the pre-egg phase (generally called invisible egg) when a raid is already spawned but still have no egg shown. This happens with EX raids but possible with other raids too, or not. In addition there is some sort of cool down phase after a raid is gone from the gym but still actually exists although you can no longer reach it if you are not already in it. One can for example enter a raid and create a lobby with just some seconds left. Other people can’t join the lobby when the raid is gone from the gym. You then initiate the raid battle two minutes later when there is no longer a raid shown on the gym and after beating the Pokemon you can catch it for quite some time (10-15 minutes is what I have seen). If you are ever thrown out from the raid at any point, one can rejoin it as long as it is still on the gym, but not after.I assume this fact that the raid exists after it actually disappears from a gym might be related to the cool down but also perhaps to the fact that raid eggs do not spawn in the last 15 minutes of an hour. That way one is always sure that when the hour comes, all ongoing raids (that are not eggs or pre-eggs) are done.I then saw the time line in the thread about the legendary raid hour: https://ift.tt/2XSCiJn mentioned that when a raid ended, the legendary raid egg actually spawned within 30 seconds. This do not fit with the above idea of raids continuing after it disappears from the gym. Or perhaps once it does it is actually stored away in a way not connected to the gym? So I thought up a small test.After the legendary raid hour started I found a raid already ongoing (a level 1 Medtitite). I entered the lobby when it was 30 seconds left of the raid. The idea was that the lobby, plus almost 3 minutes of raiding would put me past the 30 seconds or so when a legendary raid egg would appear. I wanted to see if one could push it onwards or simply see when it appeared and compare to were in my own raid that happened.Result:As soon as lobby time ended (the 120 seconds had counted down), the screen turned black, the spinning wheel appeared and continued to spin for ever (well until I closed the app a minute later. Upon reentering the game, there was a legendary egg on the gym and based on time left (assuming 10 minutes when it appeared), it had appeared about 45 seconds after the previous raid ended and in the process deleted or terminated my own raid.So I though, what if I had actually started the raid battle? I found a new raid, this time a Shinx and repeated the process. This time, however, I entered the lobby with 2.40 left to be sure the battle actually started before the raid ended on the gym. Raid battle should have started about 30-40 seconds left on the raid (there is some time between screens where one loose time. After about one and a half minute and two and a half minute into the raid (when a legendary egg should have appeared I made damage with my attacks (although it can be local to the client) and took damage (could be local to the client as well of course). With 20 seconds left I fired of the charge move and Shinx fainted.Result:The only thing happening was that it stopped attacking me. Raid time continued to count down to 0. There was no faint animation of Shinx, nor a countdown of its CP. After reach 0 time left of the raid the game just sat there and I had to restart it again. Sure enough, a legendary egg had appeared, and it had appeared about 45 seconds after my raid ended at the gym again.I had no time to find another raid to see what would happen if I actually finished the raid before it ends on the gym but tried to catch it later. Perhaps that is for someone else to test. Just start it early enough to complete before it ends. Sit a few minutes on the catching screen so that the legendary egg should have appeared, the catch it and test. All this is easier if there is a second person looking at the gym to see when/if an egg appears.Conclusion:Normally, I would say the raid actually do continue at the gym even if those not in the raid can see it. This probably blocks new raids during that time. The new Legendary lunch raids will not honor this cool down period and basically terminate or simply overwrite the existing raid. Or at the very least not tell any client about it until certain checkpoints (battle start and battle end).Happy hunting and hopefully this writeup was of interest to someone. Now I will see if I can get my two raid passes back from Niantic. via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/2XWga0s