Pokémon Go’s dwindling player base has trainers desperate for Raid changes

Pokémon Go players are feeling the impact of the declining player base, especially in raids. In their view, raids were added at a time when it was at its peak but are no longer sustainable due to how difficult they’ve become relative to the number of players willing to do them. The best way to fix it in their view, according to a discussion on May 19, is by changing two things—making them scalable and disabling the countdown.

The only way to make raids easier is by having more players join them, which has become harder to do. Scaling them to make them easier depending on how many players are in them has been suggested as a solution.

A raid with one or two, for example, could be set to half difficulty.

By the same token, a raid with three to four players could have a boss with three-quarters of its strength. It should be easier to catch compared to a full raid with five or more too.

Raids also have a countdown timer, forcing players to defeat the raid boss within a specified amount of time. It’s part of what makes them so difficult, and a big reason why having more players in a raid makes things easier. Removing that countdown timer altogether has also been suggested as a viable way to make them easier. It would allow players to take all the time they need to defeat them, even if it means spamming potions and revives.

Related: Niantic breaks silence on Pokémon Go’s Remote Raid controversy

Another player said the timer could count upwards instead of downwards, allowing players to solo them if needed, but at the expense of better rewards, which scale depending on how long it took to defeat the raid boss. Feedback on this suggestion was highly positive since it killed two birds with one stone.

It seems like the landscape of Pokémon Go has been forever changed due to fewer players, especially after thousands quit over the Remote Raid Pass changes. Those still playing seem to enjoy it, but they want Niantic to change things accordingly.

And, per the players, these Raid changes are a good starting place.