Here Comes an Ex-Raid

Very early this morning, I received a pleasant surprise. When I opened Pokémon Go on my phone, I was greeted with an invitation for an Ex-Raid downtown. On one hand, I was quite surprised, given my relative success with raids in the game. Yet on the other hand, this comes as no surprise, given the effort that has been put into coordinating raid activity in my local area. And of course, some of the effort can be considered to be mine.

There is quite a bit of speculation as much as there is certainty regarding the nature of Ex-Raids. Based on map data, only certain Gyms seem to qualify for an Ex-Raid; they are spaced from each other based on a certain distance, and they may have to be sponsored or otherwise located somewhere that qualifies as a "park". They also have to attract a lot of raid activity, whether low- or high-tier. As well, at least for some time ahead, Ex-Raids are guaranteed to happen, most likely at the same place. It seems all of these have been exploited in the coordination that led to the Ex-Raid being realized.

Recall that an Ex-Raid had already occurred a week ago, for which I took advantage of the occurrence to finally meet the rest of my raid group mates in person for the first time. This next Ex-Raid will in fact take place at the same exact Gym where that previous one took place. Since then, there was a lot of coordinated effort to see if another one can be realized. It was suggested that if a massive raid effort can be coordinated at a different place, the next Ex-Raid might take place there instead, but this ultimately fizzled as neither interest nor raid activity was shown at that place. Meanwhile, my group also kept track of just who has been active at raids in the very same Gym as the Ex-Raid, and as it turns out, raid activity was indeed high at the Gym. This was what drove me to go out last Saturday and raid at that exact Gym, hoping to contribute to the effort. The rest is history.

If anything, this shows that for raids, a coordinated effort is not only appreciable but also quite necessary for higher-level raids, and especially for an Ex-Raid such as this one. For that, we definitely succeeded in our efforts, taking advantage of the situation. Now we have to reap the rewards and take part.

By the way, the Ex-Raid is scheduled for Wednesday next week. There's still time to prepare for that occasion and make sure we're fully ready - I and the other 30+ people who have received the same invitation. I can't wait to see what happens then.

One year ago: Cosplay: AsiA Cosplay Competition, Day 2