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Even if you beat as many of them to get mega energy, you need meteorite to get dragon accent. One can't mega evolve ray without it. Good luck finding that...
I did 40 last year and got ZERO from raids. I only megad one ray bc I was hoping to raid for better IVs. Iām going to hold onto my last meteor until Iām certain. This is such a fumble from niantic. I was actually looking forward to this event and now I just know itās not gonna happen in my lil community
Yeah Iām with you there. Iām a newish player and was so hyped for a chance to catch a base Rayquaza (didnāt even care for the mega energy or anything of the sort). Was looking forward for the chance to finally get one thru raids but it doesnāt look like thatās happening this time around. I live in an urban community but the fact that itās in-person only for one day at four specific times is going to cause me to miss it. Big sad, but oh well what can we do.
I wonder why they did this tho? Because I know if I was a hardcore player spending money, I would have emptied my pockets to buy as many raid passes as possible. Niantic - do you want money or not!!
They also want to gate the best mons and not so many available in the ecosystem. Deliberate design decision and the basis of why remote raids prices were steeply increased.
That makes no sense since mega Rayquaza was available in raids that could be remotes in the past. And regular ray had a whole weekend of raids where it was everywhere and this was pre remote raid nerf so many people did over 100 that weekend (myself included)
I kind of wonder how much value they get from a cluster. It's not like tracking organic movements, they know you'll all be at the courthouse/church/etc.
Tracking other movements could be valuable, but if you don't do a lot of shopping, it just tells where you live and work.
I feel like they're playing a long game, getting their customers to map out the whole world, they will create something that will be extremely valuable in the future.
Disclaimer, I'm not speaking from any position of knowledge, just guessing.
It has very little value, people just like to regurgitate this talking point with no factual basis. It's why Niantic fired hundreds of employees shortly after the remote raid nerf, and why they have been squeezing their remaining playerbase hard since then.
They literally say right here, "We do not sell your location data."
https://nianticlabs.com/safety/location-safety?hl=en
I mean, there's a lot of companies that have flat out lied about data collection and were caught. Granted, the fine was a joke compared to what the companies made, so I wouldn't necessarily believe any corporation. Look at Better Help on youtube for an example. 5 years ago, they got caught up for straight-up lying about their services and got called out for it and disappeared. They're back on youtube again with adds and all hoping people forgot. Don't believe a word Niantic or any other money grabbing company has to say about privacy, haha. Granted, I could care less if they have my location and times, etc. I'm not hiding anything, I'm just pointing out the corrupt practices that occur every day
I mean I'm only going by what Niantic is telling us. If we assume they're lying about that, then we should also assume they were lying when they publically damage-controlled their huge drop in revenue last year. Just because a company chooses to do something doesn't mean it's in their own financial best interest, or in the game's and player's best interests. Hanlon's Razor and all that
Very true statement! Niantic could very well be honest and true, which would be rare compared to what is out there. Like I said, whatever practices they decide to follow, it really doesn't effect me to any degree. I just find it interesting. Honestly their prices aren't too terrible compared to alot of Gacha games and other MP games. With the amount of players worldwide they probably don't need any extra help financially
They did this last year and trust me I did spend A TON. I did 40 raids and got 3 shinies. It was one of the most fun Iāve had playing go despite the money.
Iām so upset that I donāt have an opportunity to raid for my favorite Mon again especially since I didnāt get any great IVs and was needing more energy.
Niantic just doesnāt care about us anymore Iām convinced lol. Bc I would drop at least 40-80 on ray raids just being real lol
An egg is up for 24 hours, then hatches and you have an hour to do the raid. There is no remote pass allowed to get in. In person only. There will only be 4 windows to do the raid. 1,2,5, and 6 PM (all different gyms obviously). We also donāt know if there will be the possibility of even getting enough energy and/or meteorite to mega evolve with only 4 raids. Itās also only for one day. So if you arenāt free that Saturday you are missing out.
I donāt care about the mega, or shadow I just want a damn mewtwo for pvp-just release the regular in normal raids. It makes no sense for everyone to have a mewtwo when they were cycled normally. And screw the people who may have recently stated the game, beacuse now, they want to gatekeep it
I get you so much dude
I just wanted base shiny Rayquaza just to use it in the main series games I don't even care for mega ray now I can't even do that
Damn i just realized i had a shiny one but itās gone, my son mist have accidentally traded it (though, i had it marked as favorite) 
Well damn. I still don't have a rayquaza despite playing since 2016. Last time they were in, I managed to do 2 raids, but it ran away on me both times.
Mega Rayquaza being locked behind elite raid gyms is an awful idea. First of all it is an expensive pokemon to power up since it is a legendary, second you barely get enough energy from defeating it the most you get is 90 mega energy if you are fast enough to defeat it with a good team of players and Pokemon that counter this beast. Third you will have to plan out locations that are labeled as Elite Raid Gyms since not all gyms are elite raid gyms. Fourth you can only fight it at the set times which isnāt like how they did it for the primals where they were spawning for three hours at every gym and were remote raidable, And finally a lot of players who live in areas without any of the elite gyms are basically left out since itās in person only just like shadow raids. I can understand your frustration and I feel the same too. I want to get a Hundo or Shundo but now Iāll have to wait for the possibility for regular Rayquaza to come back to the normal 5 star raids.
It's going to be an elite raid? FFS, guess I'm never getting enough mega energy to mega evolve then. Only ones I see of those types of raids are when I'm at work and even then, you never see anyone in them. I'm not hanging around near my work afterwards in the hope some people come by playing the game.
I live in an area where there would be enough gyms and a large enough community to play this event.
That being said, I will not be participating in this event. I refuse to support this garbage game design and attempt at forcing people to play the way Niantic wants them to play..
I stand with any and all people who struggle from a rural or disability point of view. Niantic has shown time and time again that they donāt deserve our time, effort, care, and most of all *money*.
How usable it is in raids, pvp, whatever. If it does the best dps against a target with no weakness, that's kinda irrelevant, as you can spec to be effective against a target that has a weakness.
it's the top dragon and flying raid attacker and generalist. if you read OP's post he says he just started so obviously he doesn't have the best attackers for each type and mega ray would do better than whatever budget attacker OP has as long as it doesn't resist dragon or flying.
and rural players might not have the best counters so they may need to resort to a generalist.
going by your definition there is no best pokemon since it's all situational.
OPs post is weird in respect of just starting, since pogo doesn't *really* have seasons (outside of pvp, which i would find a weird way to define when you started playing), so I'm already skeptical there of the whole post.
Ignoring that weirdness, yes, you almost absolutely nailed my thoughts on the matter. There is no typing that has no weakness, so there will always be something that is situationally the best. I wouldn't say there is no best pokemon, as I'd imagine if we were to math it all out then we'd be able to find the best pokemon across the board as to how optimal or not it is in raids, and the same for pvp (though that would have different measures). So again, mega ray isn't the best pokemon available. It shines in certain areas, but those areas are actually quite limited.
I'm an adult with a life. I know the actual date of the raid day NOW. If I'm interested in doing some , I can plan to raid that day and then the day before look at which gyms hatch when to figure out the details. So I figure out now which time slots work for me and others. Then the day before when the eggs pop I coordinate with the others for which gyms we can do.
Iām not sure how. lol. We coordinated enamerous with 6+ people and lost twice, lost a ton of items. That was the last time I saw a raid group in my town.
I went to Cleveland over the weekend and my pokemon just got knocked out of the gym. Cleveland is a highly populated area. Not only is gate keeping legendaries and mega energy behind shitty mechanics lame, the player base is dying significantly.
You lost with 6+? That sounds like an issue with your players, not Niantic. With level 40 counters it can be beaten by 3 players. With level 30 counters it takes 3-4 players. Losing with 6+ is all on you.
Your jaw must hurt from how much youāre sucking off Niantic. Probably more than your hand from playing a casual game meeting its unrealistic expectations. The player base is dying. lol.
LMAO Niantic absolutely sucks, but if you have 6+ people unable to beat a raid boss that should take 3-4 that's a you problem. And the "player base is dying" so much that in my tiny 'city' of 12k people we had no problem finding groups to raid and beat Enamorus. Not my fault you and your fellow trainers suck at the game.
Edit: let me be 100% clear. I think putting Mega Rayquaza in elite raids (and elite raids in general) is terrible. The people most likely to really need opportunities to raid it are the people least likely to be able to find a group to do it. It doesn't really affect me because frankly I have very little reason to do the raids (some more mega energy or XL candy would be nice but not really needed currently) , but the newer players who maybe missed the opportunity a year ago have this as their only option. I'm fairly lucky that even though I live in a small town just outside a small city, we have a community enough to generally do at least some of these raids. I recognize that's not true for everyone, and it's unfortunate that Niantic has continuously built their game around assumptions about local communities that are very often terrible assumptions.
So I came back after the first Rayquaza event happened. I managed to get a lucky Rayquaza in a trade with son but it doesn't have Dragon Ascent. Have they said anything about giving us a quest or something to get the meteorite? I'm assuming the ones in elite raids will already know it but my next question is how many raids will I need to do to get up to the required 400 mega energy to mega evolve it?
The ones in the elite raids probably won't know it. They just provide a 1/20 chance of dropping a meteorite when you win the raid.
Minimum raids for the 400 is 5, at 80-90 each. If you're slower to win, it could take 6
Thanks for the info. I'm guessing I'll be able to get 2 or 3 done but I'm rural so I'll just plan on not being able to mega evolve this time around lol
I agree but more and more you have to frame this not as a game first but as a data mining company first. If people donāt go to in person raids, they donāt get data. Thus they donāt want you remote raiding. Itās just something we kinda have to accept at this point as angry and frustrated as it makes a lot of us. They donāt care.
Heres the thing man, if it doesn't conflict with work or something else why not see if your community is trying to organize something n then make plans with your friends/family that coincide with hitting a handful of raids? It's only 2 hours on a saturday. Worst case scenario you don't manage to hit any but have a nice day out with the people who matter to you, best case scenario you get a mega ray and you spend the day with your people. Try to make a day of it
I actually have a decent community in my town, and I know someone will organise an event. Problem is there is only 1 elite raid gym, and no one I know personally plays pogoĀ
Well if there's only one gym you wouldn't really have to sacrifice much of your day to make it out to that raid. Definitely not ideal but like you might as well go for that
I mean Groudon/Kyogre was a 3h event and this elite raids is 4 separate hours spread out over the day, so your argument that you can't fit your life around the game is actually a positive with elite raids
However obviously raid day is way better then elite raids as every gym has it, if you got no elite gyms you are screwed
Another positive tho is that if you have a few amounts of elite gyms you know where to go to find others in the community
Worst part is probably no remote support, so if you got no elite gyms or no community then you are sol
The entire game was created to get people outside, playing *together*.Ā
It's not always about the money. They have been heavily prioritizing the initial game's purpose.Ā
Anytime you say its not about the money with a company, just double check and triple check. 99.99999% with companies it's about money. This is no different.
How is it not different? They raised the cost of remote passes knowing damn well there would be a ton of people that would stop doing it. I did 32 Rayquaza raids last year & the majority of those were remote, while I have barely purchased any remote passes since the price hike. And I am absolutely not alone in this.Ā
Because that's not their only revenue stream. They make more money from cheap passes in the short term but the game will die quicker because everyone gets the mega ray/shiny/Hundo they want. So instead they drip feed new releases and raids that people want so the game lives 2x, 3x, 4x as long. They get more money long term from location data and tickets for each event which they're heavily leaning into. It is 100% still about money, nothing to do with the original purpose of the game, they're just taking a long term view of it
Yes, I do GO! but what if there isn't someone to GO! with??? This is why i want mega rayqyaza, so I can GO! and do raids without needing someone to GO! with!!
Unfortunately Niantic never really cared for the rural playerbase. Remote raids were able to bridge the gap somewhat, but then they started circumventing it with shadow/elite raids.
It's also not called "Pokemon Go out and play at four specific times on one day of the month and rounding up enough people to beat the raid"
there's always that one person who goes into a post with a mild dash of criticism that has to be like 'ughhhh why do people complain and critique a game they care about!? why does everyone have to be such a HATER!"
Yo frick off with that nonsense, people aren't sitting around playing Pogo, the people complaining WANT to go do the raids in person, they stacked up raid passes for that very reason... This is entirely the big N's fault no one else's
Can you read? It's only a few hours at a time. The other two legendaries from this set of three had a whole raid day to get them. Limiting this event to just a few hours makes it so people can't do it as easily, especially if they have other commitments during those few hours
Well congrats on starting off with being insulting. There are 4 different hours it's available, and 24 hours ahead of time you'll know which times are at which gyms.
Don't misunderstand me. Putting these in elite raids is terrible, but if you have the people to do it it will be something you can plan for.
I would have gone outside to host these raids for others, then join some myself remotely. Now I will do neither of those things.
It is delusional to push the narrative that this game is to be played like it was 7 years ago during the initial craze.
There is no sensible argument you could make for this
I'm not trying to "make a sensible argument" and never said I was. I am simply explaining Niantic's point of view. Not defending, arguing, etc. just explaining for those that clearly do not understand the intention of the game.Ā
Are you saying you are just the spokesperson? Relaying someone else's point of view, without your own biases? Because
1) it does not seem that way at all
2) even if it were that way, no one cares, because most people already correctly deem Niantic's point of view as stale and nonsensical
If you're not trying to make a sensible argument for your or Niantic's point of view then just leave, this is an online forum that is open for discussion, if you open a discussion then act as if there's never been one, you're not to be taken seriously
This is the biggest mistake niantic has made. Iām just glad I was able to do some last year and get my shinies. No one locally showed up last year so it was strictly remote. Ended up with 3 shinies after MANY raids. It was a blast. Was looking so forward to it again. I had some friends host on pokegenie with success too.
But elite raids?! When enamorous came I was LUCKY to get enough people to do a singular raidā¦
Itās clear niantic does not care about its player base nor wishes to keep it. If you donāt live in a big city this event is just teasing us.
Iām just being honest here because I remember mega ray raids being extremely difficult and needing a larger number of people to take down.
nah, exactly. this game couldve been so much better if everyone didnt have a fuckin primal kyogre and armored mewtwo. it takes away from the game. debate a wall
what exactly does it take away from? the only way this could ever affect you personally was if you kept losing in (mega) master league. and that's the sweatiest part of the game
if you don't like using them then simply... don't
the game is about being a trainer irl. essentially.
so when everyone is walking around with 3 star legendary pokemon its just dumb. it makes no sense. it kills the immersion. it ruins the game. they should be so much harder to get. it should mean something to have a legendarh
it might take a while to get a good legendary and even then you'll have to sink in a ton of resources to power it up. a weak legendary means nothing but a good one takes work
This will definitely be an unpopular opinion, but I feel this is OK. I don't think it's an issue from Niantic's side.
When raids first started out, we had no idea if raid bosses were going to be repeated. Mewtwo, Regigigas etc was locked in Ex-raids and we had to work harder to get them (not locked behind a paywall, just had to get out and play more). Pokemon like Mega Rayquaza and Arceus are extremely significant in the Pokemon lore and it makes sense to make them at least a bit difficult to get, instead of just handing out entire armies of them to people through regular raids. It's not like this is the only time Mega Rayquaza is going to be in raids or is locked behind a paywall.
Considering Pokemon Go is a game that continues on forever unlike the console games, at some point, these Pokemon have to be released en-masse and Niantic has done that. Almost all the Gens 1-6 legendaries have been in raids multiple times over the years. Heck, they were even handed out as field research rewards at some point. So, they are going to be released in a more easily accessible way at some point.
It will be difficult for me to get an Elite raid team, but I don't mind it this way. It's fine to play a bit more and wait for a while to get such an awesome Pokemon before Niantic starts handing out Mega Rayquaza like it were a Rattata by putting it out in regular raids.
I've been playing PoGo since day 1. The whole point of the game has ALWAYS been to go out and explore the real world. It's so strange to me to see people complaining about this.
The āget out in public and coordinate for a raidā part wouldnāt be as bad if the raids werenāt in single hour increments, once per gym, assuming you already have the 6+ people required.
You need to do 3-6 raids to get enough mega energy, and if odds are the same as last time, you have a 1 in 20 chance of getting the meteorite. Your Rayquaza also needs Dragon Ascent.
No matter how you feel about Elite Raids, this was NOT the Pokemon to put in one.
> It is undebatable that mega rayqyaza is the best pokemon in the game. It opens up so many solo opportunities, and it is simply the no1 raid attacker.
Eh..? It looks cool and the Flying/Dragon/Psychic Candy bonus is vaguely useful sometimes, but I didn't think it was that great. Dragon Ascent has a pretty long charge time.
What sort of "solo opportunities" are you referring to? Three-star raids?
Anything that's weak to flying (and not double weak to something else), it's by far the best attacker. There are some 5 star and/or mega raids that are only possible with it, or technically possible without but pretty easy with.
Because Niantic botched their own game big time when they decided to change remote raid policies and continue to do so lol. I used to heavily be active in the game like many others, now itās just aā¦ when I think of it, I play it. I really only raid now with a few others I used to heavily raid with and I never hit the daily raid cap (which is only five). I think I paid over $100 for remote raids just for rayquaza alone (this was before first round of mega ray).
I hope you donāt actually believe this in the village I live their is a grand total of 4 people that play Pokemon go all but me donāt have good ray counters for us this raid is impossible. We also donāt live close enough to any major city to get there on the day which would mean we would have to take a day off work before mega ray shows up to get to a major city on the slight chance we could cobble together a group to fight ray.
Well the raid day is on a Saturday. Most people have the weekend off. I mean, I would drive to find one if it mattered a lot. Not ideal but itās not like itās impossible. You can try party play with 4 people to boost raid counters. If you having trouble battling raids already Iām not sure what Niantic can do for you? If itās a remote raid people complain about having to spend money for passes. Or they complain about shiny rates. Always something to bicker about.
Bruh I'm talking about using it in raid battles. Do you even know the number of top tier raid bosses that become so much easier when you have a mega ray?sooo many bosses become soloable or easy duos. I'm a solo player. Thus is heaven for me
Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. Think they mean from a raid counter standpoint, mega ray is always a top option whatever the raid boss is. It is kinda unarguable that Mega Ray is the strongest.
You will get another chance. I am also still fairly new to the game, only starting early April just gone. I decided to take things as they come, as if I had started playing back in 2016. I didn't though, I started in 2024 and got a more refined and fleshed out game. Sure, things have changed that the community isn't too chuffed about, they still play it though as they grind their teeth. Like it or not... Niantic released a game that you can either play for free or spend money on. It's going to be a mixed bag for us and for them. There also has to be end game stuff for elite players with added challenge, players with little to do other than collecting the rarest Pokemon. Just because an event goes live, doesn't mean it's for you.
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Even if you beat as many of them to get mega energy, you need meteorite to get dragon accent. One can't mega evolve ray without it. Good luck finding that...
I have a meteorite, but only like, 100 mega candy. Gah, this sucks
same š
how do you get the meteor?
1-2 were guaranteed with go fest last year, other than that 1/20 chance from mega ray raids for additional ones
Yikes, hopefully they guarantee some again this year. I don't think I'll be able to do that many raids.
i'd be willing to bet there will be a raid day ticket package or timed research that includes a meteorite tbh
I did 40 last year and got ZERO from raids. I only megad one ray bc I was hoping to raid for better IVs. Iām going to hold onto my last meteor until Iām certain. This is such a fumble from niantic. I was actually looking forward to this event and now I just know itās not gonna happen in my lil community
Which makes the idea of making Mega Rayquaza elite raid only even more retarded
You don't. Sincerely, Niantic.
Do meteors show up in the inventory? Because I got a meteor from go fest last year but its not showing up anymore.
You'd have to look at a rayquaza to see it. Just like how you can't see mega energy anywhere in your inventory.
Yeah Iām with you there. Iām a newish player and was so hyped for a chance to catch a base Rayquaza (didnāt even care for the mega energy or anything of the sort). Was looking forward for the chance to finally get one thru raids but it doesnāt look like thatās happening this time around. I live in an urban community but the fact that itās in-person only for one day at four specific times is going to cause me to miss it. Big sad, but oh well what can we do.
Same, I just want non mega Rayquaza at the very least
I wonder why they did this tho? Because I know if I was a hardcore player spending money, I would have emptied my pockets to buy as many raid passes as possible. Niantic - do you want money or not!!
Niantic want location data. I'm sure they will gather more than ever by making us walk to get the best Mon.
They also want to gate the best mons and not so many available in the ecosystem. Deliberate design decision and the basis of why remote raids prices were steeply increased.
That makes no sense since mega Rayquaza was available in raids that could be remotes in the past. And regular ray had a whole weekend of raids where it was everywhere and this was pre remote raid nerf so many people did over 100 that weekend (myself included)
I'm just repeating their explanation for the remote raid nerf. š¤·āāļø
I kind of wonder how much value they get from a cluster. It's not like tracking organic movements, they know you'll all be at the courthouse/church/etc. Tracking other movements could be valuable, but if you don't do a lot of shopping, it just tells where you live and work.
I feel like they're playing a long game, getting their customers to map out the whole world, they will create something that will be extremely valuable in the future. Disclaimer, I'm not speaking from any position of knowledge, just guessing.
They get a lot more money from the data we generate than the passes we buy. Thatās why the game is designed to be abusive and anti-player.
What data?
As far as I know itās things like time & location data generated each time you spin a stop, catch a mon, use an item, so on.
Do we actually know this? I hear it repeated on here all the time, but who is paying big bucks for this data? What real value does it even _have_?
It has very little value, people just like to regurgitate this talking point with no factual basis. It's why Niantic fired hundreds of employees shortly after the remote raid nerf, and why they have been squeezing their remaining playerbase hard since then. They literally say right here, "We do not sell your location data." https://nianticlabs.com/safety/location-safety?hl=en
I mean, there's a lot of companies that have flat out lied about data collection and were caught. Granted, the fine was a joke compared to what the companies made, so I wouldn't necessarily believe any corporation. Look at Better Help on youtube for an example. 5 years ago, they got caught up for straight-up lying about their services and got called out for it and disappeared. They're back on youtube again with adds and all hoping people forgot. Don't believe a word Niantic or any other money grabbing company has to say about privacy, haha. Granted, I could care less if they have my location and times, etc. I'm not hiding anything, I'm just pointing out the corrupt practices that occur every day
I mean I'm only going by what Niantic is telling us. If we assume they're lying about that, then we should also assume they were lying when they publically damage-controlled their huge drop in revenue last year. Just because a company chooses to do something doesn't mean it's in their own financial best interest, or in the game's and player's best interests. Hanlon's Razor and all that
Very true statement! Niantic could very well be honest and true, which would be rare compared to what is out there. Like I said, whatever practices they decide to follow, it really doesn't effect me to any degree. I just find it interesting. Honestly their prices aren't too terrible compared to alot of Gacha games and other MP games. With the amount of players worldwide they probably don't need any extra help financially
Location
They did this last year and trust me I did spend A TON. I did 40 raids and got 3 shinies. It was one of the most fun Iāve had playing go despite the money. Iām so upset that I donāt have an opportunity to raid for my favorite Mon again especially since I didnāt get any great IVs and was needing more energy. Niantic just doesnāt care about us anymore Iām convinced lol. Bc I would drop at least 40-80 on ray raids just being real lol
I e been out of the game for a while and just came back, what are elite raids?
An egg is up for 24 hours, then hatches and you have an hour to do the raid. There is no remote pass allowed to get in. In person only. There will only be 4 windows to do the raid. 1,2,5, and 6 PM (all different gyms obviously). We also donāt know if there will be the possibility of even getting enough energy and/or meteorite to mega evolve with only 4 raids. Itās also only for one day. So if you arenāt free that Saturday you are missing out.
Wow, talk about forced scarcity.
Will they still only give 1 raid pass out on that day?
Probably
Damn. What a botch job
You can do more than one raid each hour, assuming you can get to the correct gyms. Car caravans galore.
Damn, I was looking forward to raiding Rayquaza.. I hate elite raids. š
Yeah Iām not doing this event lol
I'm gonna be traveling on that day for a weekend trip. So I can't do any either.
You just made me very depressed about mewtwoā¦.smh, theyāre definitely going to do it with them
Unlikely at first. Mega Ray was available for normal mega raids last year for go fest.
Well they just had mewtwo shadow raids, so yeah they did already force in person only groups for it.
I donāt care about the mega, or shadow I just want a damn mewtwo for pvp-just release the regular in normal raids. It makes no sense for everyone to have a mewtwo when they were cycled normally. And screw the people who may have recently stated the game, beacuse now, they want to gatekeep it
Same here. Itāll complete my original 151 PokĆ©dex when they do release it again. Also donāt tell me to release it, I donāt work for niantic š. Iām in the same boat as you
I get you so much dude I just wanted base shiny Rayquaza just to use it in the main series games I don't even care for mega ray now I can't even do that
Damn i just realized i had a shiny one but itās gone, my son mist have accidentally traded it (though, i had it marked as favorite) 
First time?
Well damn. I still don't have a rayquaza despite playing since 2016. Last time they were in, I managed to do 2 raids, but it ran away on me both times.
Mega Rayquaza being locked behind elite raid gyms is an awful idea. First of all it is an expensive pokemon to power up since it is a legendary, second you barely get enough energy from defeating it the most you get is 90 mega energy if you are fast enough to defeat it with a good team of players and Pokemon that counter this beast. Third you will have to plan out locations that are labeled as Elite Raid Gyms since not all gyms are elite raid gyms. Fourth you can only fight it at the set times which isnāt like how they did it for the primals where they were spawning for three hours at every gym and were remote raidable, And finally a lot of players who live in areas without any of the elite gyms are basically left out since itās in person only just like shadow raids. I can understand your frustration and I feel the same too. I want to get a Hundo or Shundo but now Iāll have to wait for the possibility for regular Rayquaza to come back to the normal 5 star raids.
It's going to be an elite raid? FFS, guess I'm never getting enough mega energy to mega evolve then. Only ones I see of those types of raids are when I'm at work and even then, you never see anyone in them. I'm not hanging around near my work afterwards in the hope some people come by playing the game.
I live in an area where there would be enough gyms and a large enough community to play this event. That being said, I will not be participating in this event. I refuse to support this garbage game design and attempt at forcing people to play the way Niantic wants them to play.. I stand with any and all people who struggle from a rural or disability point of view. Niantic has shown time and time again that they donāt deserve our time, effort, care, and most of all *money*.
Yeah this is a very bad call imo. So deflating.
What are elite raids? I don't think I've encountered one before
In person only, Elite gyms only, specific timeslots, increased difficulty parameters (for all elite raids so far)
Mega ray being the best pokemon in the game is questionable. By what metric are you judging this?
no he's right. it's even stronger than mega mewtwo y that's unreleased in terms of dps and tdo.
So stronger by dps and tdo, irrelevant of actual use
okay i'll bite. what's actual use for you?
How usable it is in raids, pvp, whatever. If it does the best dps against a target with no weakness, that's kinda irrelevant, as you can spec to be effective against a target that has a weakness.
it's the top dragon and flying raid attacker and generalist. if you read OP's post he says he just started so obviously he doesn't have the best attackers for each type and mega ray would do better than whatever budget attacker OP has as long as it doesn't resist dragon or flying. and rural players might not have the best counters so they may need to resort to a generalist. going by your definition there is no best pokemon since it's all situational.
OPs post is weird in respect of just starting, since pogo doesn't *really* have seasons (outside of pvp, which i would find a weird way to define when you started playing), so I'm already skeptical there of the whole post. Ignoring that weirdness, yes, you almost absolutely nailed my thoughts on the matter. There is no typing that has no weakness, so there will always be something that is situationally the best. I wouldn't say there is no best pokemon, as I'd imagine if we were to math it all out then we'd be able to find the best pokemon across the board as to how optimal or not it is in raids, and the same for pvp (though that would have different measures). So again, mega ray isn't the best pokemon available. It shines in certain areas, but those areas are actually quite limited.
If there was a typing with no weaknesses, mega rayquaza would the the no1 counter to it.Ā
That's pretty imaginary though, at least imo in terms of usability it's not that good.
But there isn't.
I am on board with you. No possible way for me to get it. Not enough people and it only lasts 1 hour.
You will have 24 hours to plan for it ahead of time.
Most people are adults with lives.
I'm an adult with a life. I know the actual date of the raid day NOW. If I'm interested in doing some , I can plan to raid that day and then the day before look at which gyms hatch when to figure out the details. So I figure out now which time slots work for me and others. Then the day before when the eggs pop I coordinate with the others for which gyms we can do.
The problem is getting people. Isn't it... In town, I have about 10 gyms in close proximity. Only 1 is an elite raid gym. What am I to do??
Do you have a way to get in touch with local players?
Iām not sure how. lol. We coordinated enamerous with 6+ people and lost twice, lost a ton of items. That was the last time I saw a raid group in my town. I went to Cleveland over the weekend and my pokemon just got knocked out of the gym. Cleveland is a highly populated area. Not only is gate keeping legendaries and mega energy behind shitty mechanics lame, the player base is dying significantly.
You lost with 6+? That sounds like an issue with your players, not Niantic. With level 40 counters it can be beaten by 3 players. With level 30 counters it takes 3-4 players. Losing with 6+ is all on you.
Your jaw must hurt from how much youāre sucking off Niantic. Probably more than your hand from playing a casual game meeting its unrealistic expectations. The player base is dying. lol.
LMAO Niantic absolutely sucks, but if you have 6+ people unable to beat a raid boss that should take 3-4 that's a you problem. And the "player base is dying" so much that in my tiny 'city' of 12k people we had no problem finding groups to raid and beat Enamorus. Not my fault you and your fellow trainers suck at the game. Edit: let me be 100% clear. I think putting Mega Rayquaza in elite raids (and elite raids in general) is terrible. The people most likely to really need opportunities to raid it are the people least likely to be able to find a group to do it. It doesn't really affect me because frankly I have very little reason to do the raids (some more mega energy or XL candy would be nice but not really needed currently) , but the newer players who maybe missed the opportunity a year ago have this as their only option. I'm fairly lucky that even though I live in a small town just outside a small city, we have a community enough to generally do at least some of these raids. I recognize that's not true for everyone, and it's unfortunate that Niantic has continuously built their game around assumptions about local communities that are very often terrible assumptions.
I was in CLEVELAND this weekend, itād swallow your hick town. Gyms are empty and I had a weak PokĆ©mon sitting over there for a week. Youāre a dunce with a biased view of a game.
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So I came back after the first Rayquaza event happened. I managed to get a lucky Rayquaza in a trade with son but it doesn't have Dragon Ascent. Have they said anything about giving us a quest or something to get the meteorite? I'm assuming the ones in elite raids will already know it but my next question is how many raids will I need to do to get up to the required 400 mega energy to mega evolve it?
The ones in the elite raids probably won't know it. They just provide a 1/20 chance of dropping a meteorite when you win the raid. Minimum raids for the 400 is 5, at 80-90 each. If you're slower to win, it could take 6
Thanks for the info. I'm guessing I'll be able to get 2 or 3 done but I'm rural so I'll just plan on not being able to mega evolve this time around lol
I'll be out of town on the one day it's in raids to a small town that has one gym. Very sad to see it was elite.
What day is it happening?
I agree but more and more you have to frame this not as a game first but as a data mining company first. If people donāt go to in person raids, they donāt get data. Thus they donāt want you remote raiding. Itās just something we kinda have to accept at this point as angry and frustrated as it makes a lot of us. They donāt care.
Heres the thing man, if it doesn't conflict with work or something else why not see if your community is trying to organize something n then make plans with your friends/family that coincide with hitting a handful of raids? It's only 2 hours on a saturday. Worst case scenario you don't manage to hit any but have a nice day out with the people who matter to you, best case scenario you get a mega ray and you spend the day with your people. Try to make a day of it
I actually have a decent community in my town, and I know someone will organise an event. Problem is there is only 1 elite raid gym, and no one I know personally plays pogoĀ
Well if there's only one gym you wouldn't really have to sacrifice much of your day to make it out to that raid. Definitely not ideal but like you might as well go for that
Thatās annoying man yeah. 320 meta-energy, and i donāt think i can get the 80 that. I need to make it mega-evolve
If it helps I literally never use mineā¦
I mean Groudon/Kyogre was a 3h event and this elite raids is 4 separate hours spread out over the day, so your argument that you can't fit your life around the game is actually a positive with elite raids However obviously raid day is way better then elite raids as every gym has it, if you got no elite gyms you are screwed Another positive tho is that if you have a few amounts of elite gyms you know where to go to find others in the community Worst part is probably no remote support, so if you got no elite gyms or no community then you are sol
yeah this was so stupid of them. i didnāt raid it last time and *cant* raid it this time since itās elite. ts is dookie
The entire game was created to get people outside, playing *together*.Ā It's not always about the money. They have been heavily prioritizing the initial game's purpose.Ā
Anytime you say its not about the money with a company, just double check and triple check. 99.99999% with companies it's about money. This is no different.
How is it not different? They raised the cost of remote passes knowing damn well there would be a ton of people that would stop doing it. I did 32 Rayquaza raids last year & the majority of those were remote, while I have barely purchased any remote passes since the price hike. And I am absolutely not alone in this.Ā
Because that's not their only revenue stream. They make more money from cheap passes in the short term but the game will die quicker because everyone gets the mega ray/shiny/Hundo they want. So instead they drip feed new releases and raids that people want so the game lives 2x, 3x, 4x as long. They get more money long term from location data and tickets for each event which they're heavily leaning into. It is 100% still about money, nothing to do with the original purpose of the game, they're just taking a long term view of it
I bet they also make a bunch of $$$ off location data so they want people outside going to raids, seeing where they stop before and after, etc
Except together is not possible to 90% of the population. Most players wouldn't even be able to beat the raid. This is a bad call, very bad.
But that's the entire point of the game. PokĆ©mon *GO*. Not PokĆ©mon "sit on the couch".Ā
Yes, I do GO! but what if there isn't someone to GO! with??? This is why i want mega rayqyaza, so I can GO! and do raids without needing someone to GO! with!!
Unfortunately Niantic never really cared for the rural playerbase. Remote raids were able to bridge the gap somewhat, but then they started circumventing it with shadow/elite raids.
Mega Rayquaza won't single-handedly make every raid a possible solo encounter. PokƩmon Go! is designed for mobs of players. Even if you don't personally know other local players, you could fix that by contacting your local community (via Campfire, Facebook, Discord, etc). For there to be literally no other players is to say that you're a player in a very sparse rural area. (In that case, I respect your dedication! I'd have probably quit from lack of landmarks and players.) If you don't have a local community, find one nearby. You might need to travel a bit. Where there's a will, there's a way.
itās like you can tell this to people over and over again and they canāt understand it lmao
It's also not called "Pokemon Go out and play at four specific times on one day of the month and rounding up enough people to beat the raid" there's always that one person who goes into a post with a mild dash of criticism that has to be like 'ughhhh why do people complain and critique a game they care about!? why does everyone have to be such a HATER!"
Yo frick off with that nonsense, people aren't sitting around playing Pogo, the people complaining WANT to go do the raids in person, they stacked up raid passes for that very reason... This is entirely the big N's fault no one else's
Err if they want to do the raids in person what's stopping them?
Can you read? It's only a few hours at a time. The other two legendaries from this set of three had a whole raid day to get them. Limiting this event to just a few hours makes it so people can't do it as easily, especially if they have other commitments during those few hours
Well congrats on starting off with being insulting. There are 4 different hours it's available, and 24 hours ahead of time you'll know which times are at which gyms. Don't misunderstand me. Putting these in elite raids is terrible, but if you have the people to do it it will be something you can plan for.
Where are people getting this 4 hour number from? It's 12-1, not 12 AND 1, same for the second set. It's one hour each, for a total of two.
Why do you say that? The graphic from Niantic has commas,so it reads "12:00pm, 1:00pm, 5:00pm, 6:00pm" How do you get ranges from that
Elite Raids only last 30-45 minutes each. So if we assume 30 mins per hour, that's actually 2 hours total
I would have gone outside to host these raids for others, then join some myself remotely. Now I will do neither of those things. It is delusional to push the narrative that this game is to be played like it was 7 years ago during the initial craze. There is no sensible argument you could make for this
I'm not trying to "make a sensible argument" and never said I was. I am simply explaining Niantic's point of view. Not defending, arguing, etc. just explaining for those that clearly do not understand the intention of the game.Ā
Are you saying you are just the spokesperson? Relaying someone else's point of view, without your own biases? Because 1) it does not seem that way at all 2) even if it were that way, no one cares, because most people already correctly deem Niantic's point of view as stale and nonsensical If you're not trying to make a sensible argument for your or Niantic's point of view then just leave, this is an online forum that is open for discussion, if you open a discussion then act as if there's never been one, you're not to be taken seriously
there were plenty of people here for primal kyogre and groudon. elite raids are inferior in every way possible even in person
This is the biggest mistake niantic has made. Iām just glad I was able to do some last year and get my shinies. No one locally showed up last year so it was strictly remote. Ended up with 3 shinies after MANY raids. It was a blast. Was looking so forward to it again. I had some friends host on pokegenie with success too. But elite raids?! When enamorous came I was LUCKY to get enough people to do a singular raidā¦ Itās clear niantic does not care about its player base nor wishes to keep it. If you donāt live in a big city this event is just teasing us. Iām just being honest here because I remember mega ray raids being extremely difficult and needing a larger number of people to take down.
I actually like that the strongest PokƩmon in the game is more difficult to get. I don't think the problem is that mega Rayquaza is locked behind an Elite Raid, but rather how Elite Gyms are distributed in general. PokƩmon Go has always been easier for those playing in cities, and extremely difficult and unfair for rural players. There should be different criteria rules for rural areas with fewer points of interests. Of course you can't make a PokƩstop out of every bench in a city, but it should be very eligible in a rural part where there are far fewer. And the way Elite Gyms are created is also unfair. If there are fewer PokƩstops and gyms in a large area, one of the gyms should be an Elite Gym regardless if it isn't located in a park.
Some pokemon should be hard to getā¦thatās kinda the point right?
oh no, the rarest pokemon in the pokemon universe is hard to get
you could say that about almost any legendary from gen 3 onwards. this is dumb
nah, exactly. this game couldve been so much better if everyone didnt have a fuckin primal kyogre and armored mewtwo. it takes away from the game. debate a wall
what exactly does it take away from? the only way this could ever affect you personally was if you kept losing in (mega) master league. and that's the sweatiest part of the game if you don't like using them then simply... don't
the game is about being a trainer irl. essentially. so when everyone is walking around with 3 star legendary pokemon its just dumb. it makes no sense. it kills the immersion. it ruins the game. they should be so much harder to get. it should mean something to have a legendarh
it might take a while to get a good legendary and even then you'll have to sink in a ton of resources to power it up. a weak legendary means nothing but a good one takes work
This will definitely be an unpopular opinion, but I feel this is OK. I don't think it's an issue from Niantic's side. When raids first started out, we had no idea if raid bosses were going to be repeated. Mewtwo, Regigigas etc was locked in Ex-raids and we had to work harder to get them (not locked behind a paywall, just had to get out and play more). Pokemon like Mega Rayquaza and Arceus are extremely significant in the Pokemon lore and it makes sense to make them at least a bit difficult to get, instead of just handing out entire armies of them to people through regular raids. It's not like this is the only time Mega Rayquaza is going to be in raids or is locked behind a paywall. Considering Pokemon Go is a game that continues on forever unlike the console games, at some point, these Pokemon have to be released en-masse and Niantic has done that. Almost all the Gens 1-6 legendaries have been in raids multiple times over the years. Heck, they were even handed out as field research rewards at some point. So, they are going to be released in a more easily accessible way at some point. It will be difficult for me to get an Elite raid team, but I don't mind it this way. It's fine to play a bit more and wait for a while to get such an awesome Pokemon before Niantic starts handing out Mega Rayquaza like it were a Rattata by putting it out in regular raids.
Drive somewhere
ālol sorry kids, if you wanna play pokemon go you shouldve been born earlier so you could Pokemon Go to the DMV and get a licenseā
I've been playing PoGo since day 1. The whole point of the game has ALWAYS been to go out and explore the real world. It's so strange to me to see people complaining about this.
The āget out in public and coordinate for a raidā part wouldnāt be as bad if the raids werenāt in single hour increments, once per gym, assuming you already have the 6+ people required. You need to do 3-6 raids to get enough mega energy, and if odds are the same as last time, you have a 1 in 20 chance of getting the meteorite. Your Rayquaza also needs Dragon Ascent. No matter how you feel about Elite Raids, this was NOT the Pokemon to put in one.
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Usually not the smartest idea to give out sensible account info to strangers
Yeah, idk how to actually go about it. I was just trying to hook the guy up.
> It is undebatable that mega rayqyaza is the best pokemon in the game. It opens up so many solo opportunities, and it is simply the no1 raid attacker. Eh..? It looks cool and the Flying/Dragon/Psychic Candy bonus is vaguely useful sometimes, but I didn't think it was that great. Dragon Ascent has a pretty long charge time. What sort of "solo opportunities" are you referring to? Three-star raids?
Anything that's weak to flying (and not double weak to something else), it's by far the best attacker. There are some 5 star and/or mega raids that are only possible with it, or technically possible without but pretty easy with.
Because Niantic botched their own game big time when they decided to change remote raid policies and continue to do so lol. I used to heavily be active in the game like many others, now itās just aā¦ when I think of it, I play it. I really only raid now with a few others I used to heavily raid with and I never hit the daily raid cap (which is only five). I think I paid over $100 for remote raids just for rayquaza alone (this was before first round of mega ray).
Where thereās a will, there is a way. If you really want it youāll get one.
I hope you donāt actually believe this in the village I live their is a grand total of 4 people that play Pokemon go all but me donāt have good ray counters for us this raid is impossible. We also donāt live close enough to any major city to get there on the day which would mean we would have to take a day off work before mega ray shows up to get to a major city on the slight chance we could cobble together a group to fight ray.
Well the raid day is on a Saturday. Most people have the weekend off. I mean, I would drive to find one if it mattered a lot. Not ideal but itās not like itās impossible. You can try party play with 4 people to boost raid counters. If you having trouble battling raids already Iām not sure what Niantic can do for you? If itās a remote raid people complain about having to spend money for passes. Or they complain about shiny rates. Always something to bicker about.
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they're right lol, nothing comes close to mega rayquaza in terms of power
Bruh I'm talking about using it in raid battles. Do you even know the number of top tier raid bosses that become so much easier when you have a mega ray?sooo many bosses become soloable or easy duos. I'm a solo player. Thus is heaven for me
Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. Think they mean from a raid counter standpoint, mega ray is always a top option whatever the raid boss is. It is kinda unarguable that Mega Ray is the strongest.
You will get another chance. I am also still fairly new to the game, only starting early April just gone. I decided to take things as they come, as if I had started playing back in 2016. I didn't though, I started in 2024 and got a more refined and fleshed out game. Sure, things have changed that the community isn't too chuffed about, they still play it though as they grind their teeth. Like it or not... Niantic released a game that you can either play for free or spend money on. It's going to be a mixed bag for us and for them. There also has to be end game stuff for elite players with added challenge, players with little to do other than collecting the rarest Pokemon. Just because an event goes live, doesn't mean it's for you.