Pokemon Go has recently released a new update for the Gym System and with the new Raids in place, many players have returned to play the game.
There are a lot more gyms, and you can now spin the gyms for drops. You get a Raid pass every day (you can only have one) and buy premium raid passes for 100 coins to join in the raids.
In the US, Europe, Japan and Singapore, I've seen players gather in masses for rare raid like Tyrranitar and Snorlax.
The raids seemed to require coordination and teamwork. The rare raids have big pokemons which require many trainers to take down. In Boston, players coordinate and have groups on Discord to form local teams to take down raids and take over gyms.
The new gym system favors coordination. As the gyms are still very unstable. A group of 4 - 6 people from a team can take down a gym in minutes, and when they coordinate to put in their pokemons together, all 6 pokemons can go in at once, making it easy to defend.
In Boston, I joined the local team in Allston / Brighton / Brookline and in 2 hours, we can take over all the Gyms locally.
I would say the new gym system is a big improvement, but the way the coins are rewarded is still far from desirable.
You cannot change your teams once you pick it, and being in a team locally with poor coordination, you can NEVER earn any coins. I'm back in Singapore, and when I talk to several adult Team Valor players, they don't seem to understand coordination and attack on their own. Sadly, with the slightly broken system, when these people from the same team attack at their own pace, they may come to a point where they get to put their pokemons in, and when an opposing team is attacking, no one else can put theirs in, and the result is that, the only pokemon in the gym gets taken out really quickly.
The problem of spoofing is still around in Singapore, and many people simply want to fight in the gym and "win" rather than form groups and play the game as it should -- socially.
In Europe, I've met people and went to bars after a raid. In Boston, I've joined Gym raiding groups to take over gyms, and we take breaks and have meals together. The game does have potential, but the bugs are still present. Hope it more of the bugs get fixed in the next few days.
-- Robin Low
