Private vs. Public Raids?

A curious thing happened after the successful Ex-Raid on Wednesday. In my raid group, a controversy (if it can be called that) unfolded in the group regarding the usage of the grouping feature in raids, whether to go into the public group or a private group. This was something that I thought was a non-issue, but it turns out to snowball into a different issue altogether. While that issue may not be relevant for my case in playing Go, the merits of public vs. private raids can still be discussed.

An explanation of how the grouping works is in order. When choosing to participate in a raid, a player can choose to go into the public group or create a new private group. Players that choose the public group get lumped with other players that do so. Otherwise, players can create a private group that is identifiable by a "picture password" composed of three Pokémon. Those who are informed of the password can elect to join that group. Whatever happens, the raid progresses in the same way for any group, only of course the participants differ.

Now, I should make the admission that for the Ex-Raid that happened on Wednesday, I joined a private group. The way I perceived it, those who allied with Team Mystic decided that a private group would benefit them, and so a private group was created. I simply followed suit and joined in, and that was it; I didn't think that a debate would later take place. It was my conception that the same would be true for the rest of the Ex-Raid participants, who would be segregated into their own groups, but still having a good chance at making the Ex-Raid successful.

Of course, this still ties to that different issue. My view is that that particular issue was over-inflated and shouldn't have even been mentioned at all. It's also kind of a shady issue, which is why I decline to explain further. What I can say is that when the Ex-Raid happened, I was not aware of the issue, and even if I was, it didn't affect how I played. In that sense, it really was and should have been kept a non-issue.

As for the public or private group issue, I don't see much difference in either method, though it does present a good way to make raids more particularly manageable and successful when more than 20 participants are involved (the suggested for level 5 raids), as in the Ex-Raid I participated in on Wednesday. Considering everything, I then offer the following statement regarding the issue: "It's your raid - do it however you like."

One year ago: The Times They Are a-Switchin'