Pokemon Go Makes Massive Changes to Raids

Some massive changes are coming to Pokemon Go raids.

On Tuesday evening, Pokemon Go published an extensive blog post detailing the future of raids and EX raids.

The raid system was introduced earlier this year as a new cooperative gameplay feature in which players battled a super-powered Raid Boss for premium items like Golden Razz Berries and TMs and a chance to catch the Raid Boss. Pokemon Go later added EX Raids as a test feature as a way to give select trainers a chance to catch Pokemon like Mewtwo.

The EX Raid system was particularly controversial, as it seemed to favor certain players and locations. Pokemon Go sought to address these complaints by explaining how players would be selected for EX Raids moving forward.

Several massive changes were also made to raid rewards, giving players guaranteed items for victories.

Keep scrolling down for a full list of changes to Pokemon Go’s raid system:

Raid Rewards

Pokemon Go is really boosting the quality of rewards for participating in Raids. Here’s the changes coming to all Raids soon:

• Trainers will now receive Golden Razz Berries for completing Raid Battles.
• The numbers of Potions and Revives awarded to Trainers for completing a Raid Battle will decrease slightly, but the quality of Potions will increase.
• The likelihood of receiving Fast and Charged Technical Machines for completing a Tier 3 or higher Raid Battle has increased.
• Trainers will now receive Stardust for participating in a Raid Battle, whether they win or lose.
• Magikarp will make a triumphant return to Tier 1 Raid Battles.

Guaranteed Golden Razz Berries for completing Raid Battles are a big boon for players struggling to catch Raid Bosses. Players should also be happy with getting more Super Potions and Hyper Potions instead of getting low level potions, too. Guaranteed Stardust is also huge, as it means that Raids are now a viable way of powering up Pokemon…especially when coupled with the Rare Candies players can get for beating a Raid Boss. 

EX Raids

Pokemon Go provided the following list of guidelines for future EX Raids:

• EX Raid Battles will take place most commonly at Gyms found in parks and sponsored locations.
• Trainers with a high-level Gym Badge are more likely to be invited to EX Raid Battles taking place at that Gym.
• Trainers who have completed a larger number of Raid Battles are more likely to be invited to EX Raid Battles.
• EX Raid Battle start times now take into account popular Raid Battle times at that Gym.
• Trainers invited to EX Raid Battles will receive an in-game notification if the EX Raid Battle is canceled.
• Trainers will receive Stardust and Premium Raid Passes when an EX Raid Battle is canceled.

The big news here is that Pokemon Go is doubling down on EX Raids taking place at sponsored locations. Players will be rewarded for frequenting those gyms, since EX Raid Passes will be handed out to players with high-level Gym Badges. On the plus side, Pokemon Go is at least taking into account when players seem to go to raids at those locations, so we shouldn’t have many EX Raids with poor attendance. 

Pokemon Go did note that they would consider expanding potential EX Raid locations in the future – but only at locations that were easily accessible to the public. 

The blog post also confirmed that EX Raids are finished with their “test” phase, so all EX Raids are official moving forward. 

Do you like these changes?