The Joys and Sorrows of Raid Marathons

I've been in a few Pokémon Go raid marathons now, mostly as part of official events (the Legendary Bird days a few months ago), but also sometimes out of those events. I'd say this is a fascinating thing, being able to participate in many raids over a certain segment of time. However, I'm also mixed in my feelings participating in this effort. On one hand, it is a lot of fun to partake in them and go through many raids. On the other hand, they entail quite a bit of not-so-pleasant things that hinder my participation in them.

The most important thing, and the factor that hinders the most, is preparation. As a reminder from my post on raids, any Trainer can raid once a day with a free Raid Pass (or twice by withholding the previous day's pass), after which Premium Raid Passes need to be used to raid further. Though the official events above are an exception and give out five free passes during the event, five (plus one) may not be quite enough for a raid marathon, and a Trainer has to spend for Premium Raid Passes regardless. The most intense marathons demand 20 or more of these, which could become rather costly in terms of PokéCoins, whether or not they're free or paid.

There is also the problem of pace. I'm not exactly the most speedy of Trainers capturing Pokémon after a raid, so this also affects how many I can partake in. Thus, spending for 20 or more passes would be quite unnecessary, nor would I be able to use them up within the short period of time for the raid marathons. Moreover, I wouldn't exactly be able to stand up to some of my other raid fellows, who have shown that they could raid 20 to 30 Gyms during the Legendary Bird days, about 7-10 an hour given the three-hour event. Meanwhile, in the last Legendary Bird day, I (and others) only raided about that many within the span of the entire event. This is by no means a personal problem, but it's still a problem nonetheless.

All that aside, raid marathons do seem to bring together a number of Trainers, and that's a great thing. Many of the ones who have returned to Pokémon Go did so during the ones on the special events, which brings me joy to no end, as I can have an adventure with them physically as well. And since raids can bring together many of the friends in my friend list, I can interact with many of them through raids without much effort: just join and raid. That bodes well for their friendship levels and mine. Raids are really perhaps the "in" thing in Pokémon Go, which could explain the participation of so many returning players. With intensification, whether through events or otherwise, surely many will join in.

With all the upsides and downsides of participating in raid marathons, it's hard not to not join in and be a part of them. The potential for fun them is high, as is the potential for possible problems. Whatever happens, I'll still participate in them as they are a major current part of the game. That should mean a lot more joys (and hopefully, a lot less sorrows) to discover with all the raids I battle in and all the Pokémon I catch from them.

One year ago: Late-Night Lure Party