Pokémon GO's Raid Battles Are Changing - Here Are The Updates Arriving This Summer

@RupeeClock I agree with you. These are all completely useless unless they infer bonuses to you after getting the medals. Congrats weirdo, you kept bringing tall pokemon into raids so here's a defense boost. Good job swiper, you keep your pokemon alive longer so have a HP boost. Instead they'll just be medals that do literally nothing. I'd bet money that's how they start.

All padding and no substance, then. Like the stickers, sort of an interesting nod with no real point.

@Tyranexx Yeah, it just seems like fluff. I don't mind it, but this doesn't seem like it's gonna change anything meaningful.

I want them to rework the mega system instead. That system is so bad. It's the second worst system in the game, after the unplayable and utterly unfun, unsalvageable mess that is PvP. The fact that you need to work so hard to get the mega energy, AND it's Pokemon specific, only to Mega once and spend a ton of it and revert a few hours later? So lame.

2 possible fixes I can think of, without totally redesigning the system:

Make mega energy universal. Make any mega raid give you energy toward mega evolution in general. That way you always have a source, regardless of what raids or research tasks are on-going.

Or

Make it so you only need to unlock the mega once. Re-label the energy as "mega stone shards" and once you collect enough for a Pokemon, you get the stone and can mega evolve it whenever you want.

@RupeeClock It's so uncommon because the effort investment vs rewards are hilariously, unbelievably, insultingly bad.

Right now mega evolution requires energy which can only be earned in mega evo raids or very rarely from research tasks. You get enough to mega, and can mega, once and you get a few hours to enjoy it, then it's gone. And if that mega evo is no longer in raids, well then you're just done with it until it comes back.

Then add in the fact that we have to use raid passes in the first place to get mega evos and it's even worse. Raid passes are a quite limited resource as I'm sure everyone who plays knows. It's just not worth it.

Megas only give slight boosts over normal Pokemon, and slight boosts to rewards. It's just so lame. And this is me saying this as someone who often states that Pokemon Go is the best it's ever been and plays daily. Shiny hunting, legendary raids, the buddy system, trades and gifts, gym wars, Pokedex completion, I enjoy all those aspects of the game are fun. Even Team Rocket is at least tolerable. (though I'd have implemented them in a totally different fashion - as an AI based 4th team that takes over any gym that remains one color for more than 36 hours)

But the mega system is awful and PvP isn't worth even talking about.

@Heavyarms55 I actually enjoy the PvP and find that there is a bit of strategy and planning to it, but otherwise totally agree about the mega evolution system implementation. The few Pokemon that I can actually mega evolve, I never do, because I always feel like I should be saving the resources for something better. Likewise, I don't waste raid passes on Mega Raids because I don't consider the rewards worth it over even a three-star raid.

I like the idea of just putting a cooldown on the time between mega evolutions once you earn a mon's "-ite" (like one mega evolution per day that lasts two or three hours) instead of having to grind for pittance while wasting resources to get there.

When you aren't trolling SnS critics for no apparent reason, you have some valid and well elaborated criticisms to share on your own.

Old school Pokemon GO was great until they restricted, watered down, and destroyed so much of the wild action. It was fun holding down some turf back in the day but now anyone can take over any gym. You just smack your screen like a monkey and you do as well as anyone actually paying attention since nothing really matters like it used to.
Driving around getting all your pokeballs from pokestops was fun for cruising too just to name one of many lockdowns (SAFETY FIRST AAND ALWAYS)

@Heavyarms55 You don't seem to be aware that you can get infinite of a certain mega energy simply by having a Pokemon that has mega evolved before as your buddy and walking with it. This is how you're meant to do subsequent mega evolutions.
Mega Raids are only necessary for a first time mega evolution.

@HannahRPG You seem to think that's an improvement. It's not. It means if you want to mega evolve something, it needs to be your buddy. Meaning you can't use the buddy system for candy for evolutions or adventure based evo requirements.

It should just be a one time cost and then you unlock the mega stone and can mega evolve whenever you need it from then on. Like it worked in the real games. Or it should be based on a universal mega energy, instead of Pokemon specific.

There is no way you'll ever convince me the mega system in PoGo as it is right now, is even remotely decent, let alone good.

@Heavyarms55 It really is though, it's a MASSIVE improvement over what you seemed to think it was.
Mega Evo costs are decreased by over 3/4 after it's first Mega evolved, and the walking requirements to get enough to mega evolve again are really not that hard to achieve. And I don't know why you don't think you get candy from it as well as Mega energy, because you do. And fyi the buddy system is probably the worst way to grind candy.
I use Mega evolution in raid battles all the time without any issue. If I run out, I put the Pokemon as my buddy for about a day or so and hey presto, I have enough to Mega it a couple more times already.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but it's an objective fact that the current system is FAR better than what you seemed to think it was.

@HannahRPG "objective fact" Alright pal you go ahead and think that. Not gonna argue over it.

@Heavyarms55 I will, thank you.
I'm pretty sure anyone would agree that getting infinite mega energy from the buddy system is better than only being able to get it from completing Mega raids.
But hey, you do you~

@Heavyarms55 True, it doesn't hurt anything. Though I think I'll take the stickers over that system. XD

I agree Mega Evolution needs a little more accessibility and like your ideas. Very few people around here are interested in the raids since they burn through passes and only unlock temporary rewards. Heck, I have a piece of special research that requires me to win a Mega Raid that I still haven't finished. I've only participated in one (Mega Blastoise) via a remote invite, but there weren't enough players. There's never any interest when a M raid is running and I'm available.

@Tyranexx I'd recommend using the application "PokeRaid" if you're having issues getting enough people to raid with.
It lets you remotely invite and be invited to raids by people from all over the world who are also looking for raid partners.
I use it quite often and it works well most of the time.

Hopefully this’ll get those people who join raids then do nothing actually contributing.

@HannahRPG Hmm, don't think I've heard of that one. Thanks for mentioning it, I'll consider it! There's actually a small but pretty reliable Pokemon Go community where I am. The problem is some people only come out to raid for a new Pokemon, shiny chances, or PVP purposes. For example, there's some interest in Regigigas right now since it can be shiny.

@HannahRPG

I had no idea that the costs for Mega Energy were drastically reduced after the first time a mon mega evolves; I figured that it would stay that way for good. I certain don't recall the game explaining it that well.

Now that I know this, I may go ahead and mega evolve something like Beedrill and test it out to see how feasible it works for me. I can certainly live with spending an entire day with one of them as my buddy to earn up the energy for next time, especially on things that are next to useless without it.

@burninmylight Yeah it's DEFINITELY not explained well by the game itself, and I think they only changed it shortly after the initial release of Megas because of fan backlash about how difficult it was to do at the time.
But yeah it's really not that bad now, a Pokemon with an initial cost of 200 Mega Energy will only cost 40 Mega Energy on subsequent uses, plus the buddy system makes it super easy to get more.
Other than maybe Mega raids taking a bit too long to complete and that they probably should be rewarding you with more Mega Energy, I think the system is perfectly fine now.

@HannahRPG

So I tested with Pidgeot, and yeah, it appears that you have to pay the initial high cost with each individual mon, but after they've mega evolved once, that cost is reduced by 1/5th. I also noticed that I was earning extra candy every time I caught something of the same type as Pidgeot; it probably is Mega Candy, but I haven't confirmed that yet. But if that's the case, then yeah, once you get past the initially high fence, it ain't so bad.

I'd probably still prefer a tweaked system that allows you to Mega Evolve a Pokemon for free once a day, just for much less time, but now that I have a much better understanding of how it currently works, I'm content with it now. This will absolutely increase the range of three star raids I can solo now.

Thanks again for the tips!