Niantic has officially confirmed that the EX Raid Invite system is about to change! In a recent Tweet, official Niantic Support has shared the following:
Trainers, thank you for your feedback on EX Raid Battles. We're working to improve the invitation system based on what we heard from you.
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) October 24, 2017
At this point, it’s not completely clear what it means to “improve the invitation system“, but we speculate that the new system will include more Trainers.
The current system was often dubbed as “not transparent enough” and “too random”, as hardcore and casual raiders alike faced the cruel reality of not receiving an invite.
This change does not require a client-side game update, all of the assets required for EX Raids are in the game for a while now. We expect that the next wave of EX Raid invites will come soon, targeting a wider audience than before.
We recommend that you visit start raiding extensively. We have confirmed only one requirement (so far) for receiving an EX Raid event: you must have previously participated in at least one successful raid at the Gym where the EX Raid is taking place.
EXtraordinary frustration
It’s not really surprising to see Niantic announce improvements of the invite system, especially given the recent rise in negativity about the feature.
Several Pokémon GO communities, especially those on reddit and Twitter, have expressed a large amount of criticism for the EX Raid system and it’s divisive impact on the community.
As one redditor (FlameGrilledTauros) kindly reminded everyone:
Was “This invitation system doesn’t make any sense” what they heard?
Without a clear set of requirements, lack of communication and seemingly random distribution algorithm, the EX Raid invitation system has proven to be destructive for a number of local communities — especially the smaller ones.
We, for one, welcome this change. Hopefully the next change will be a complete removal of EX Raid invites all together.
