Recently, Niantic announced that Pokemon Go Players should be able to raid from home in the near future. This, along with the catch from home would make a pair of major changes to help us in who have to stay at home. I do have a few questions that deserve answers and some suggestions for play that would help facilitate this temporary change. (note: anything I say here about trips, raids, and the like are obviously prior to the current situation and hopefully will come back online soon.)
Question: How far away from home can we raid?
I remember reading that we might be able to raid at any Gym we have been to before. At least that is how I understand what Niantic said about virtual raids. I personally have Gym Badges from Rhode Island to Arkansas. Can I raid at them all? That would be neat. Granted, some of these are obviously just trips that I took and I do not know anyone who plays at a great number of out of my area gyms. However, I will argue that I have strong ties to the Albany, NY and Lehigh Valley, PA (Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton) areas. I have extended family and know others in Albany and my Fiancee is in the Lehigh Valley. I have a bunch of gym badges in those areas and frankly, I would like to play with them if I can. I can’t personally see them, so this would be a nice substitute. So will there be an upper limit?
All I know is that a tight circle of eligible Gyms would only be acceptable for those in urban areas. Example: I only know of 1 gym within 1 mile of my house. If that is made about 5 miles, I have 5 that I know of. There are likely more, but I don’t know of them. These are probably on the side roads and places where I do not frequent and have no reason to without knowing that Gyms are there. Now with no unnecessary driving ban, getting to these places are more difficult. An area I have played in past that has about a dozen gyms is 9-13 miles away. This is among two different towns and is a large area. Combined, those two areas would have enough, but I don’t know the players as well. To get where I normally play Wednesday Night Raid Hour is 15 miles by road. Combined with a couple other local places, I can easily access about another dozen gyms. Where I go on weekends (where I can at least get into gyms all within in walking distance) is about 19 miles by car. I counted about a dozen there. Those are the places where I know I will meet other players, some I have as in game friends, some I do not as of yet, but I recognize them. I am in contact with many of the people who play there, so coordination is great. Therefore, I will state that a 20 mile radius is the minimum if raids are going to be limited to a circle as the crow flies.
Another way I thought of to establish parameters of Raidable Gyms are to do it by color of gym. This could be what Niantic was hinting at when they meant “favorite places”. My concern is how will they define favorite.
If they define favorite as “gold gyms” only, that would severely limit the amount of gyms I would have access to. Right now, I have 4 gold gyms. Only 1 is a place where I raid on a regular basis. This is one of the ones that is 15 miles away that I mentioned before. 2 are within 3 miles of my house, but I have never done a raid at either of them and have no idea if others do. They are both relatively isolated from other gyms and would need to be driven in between to get to. There are no sidewalks… one is off of a numbered divided highway, the other off a main thru-road. The other is off a major thru-road (actually, the same number highway which by me is divided becomes a one lane each way thru-road), but at least it has sidewalks. This is in a downtown type area where two such major numbered thru-roads intersect which are normally pretty heavily for our area traveled. I have done a couple raids in the area, but they were random raids where a 5* Raid was, and at least some others were mobilized. However, this is not the norm. I do not belong to a chat group for that group, so I would not know how to contact them. So I would basically be hemmed into 1 gym for virtual raiding with others. That would not work.
Silver or better gyms would be more reasonable for me, but I have some doubts there as well. Right now, I would have 38 gyms available that are silver or better. Knock 2 off of that for the Sprint Stores which used to be gyms and are inactive. Among those 36, 3 are within 3 miles of my house (the one that is close, but across a divided highway going the wrong direction from my house is the third). 10 are within that 9-13 mile two town range I mentioned earlier. 1 is within 12 miles the opposite direction of the two towns. 1 is about 14 miles away where a friend plays, 3 are at/near the mall 15 miles away, 8 are at/near the park 20ish miles away, 2 are in the Lehigh Valley (I know I can do 1 with my Fiancee… not sure about the other), 6 are in Albany, and one each in Dyersburg, Tennessee (at a Rest Area off of I-155), and one is in St. Louis, Missouri (at a hotel). My point here is that I am spread out with the gyms to prove the point that if there was both a color and mileage restriction, I would be hemmed in depending on how far I would be able to go. I would be OK with a color restriction of silver (it would be neat to do a virtual raid from home in St. Louis or Dyersburg, probably a lower level one though since I cannot be assured of others playing). However, I am aware of the plight of the newer player or the even more rural player that I am who may or may not have silver gyms yet.
Bronze would at least prove that you have been there and probably either raided or at least kept the gym for a while. This would be more ideal for me, as it opens up another 80 (Mainly in the Lehigh Valley, Albany, Rhode Island, Manhattan, and other more local places). The hurdle is relatively low in that one raid or a few hours in a gym with feedings will make the gym bronze. Memories would be made and there would likely be stories there. In the same vein, having the badge with some sort of progress towards bronze would open up the majority of gyms for just about everyone (I have about 50 of my 208 gyms that can still be accessed that are spin one time to earn the badge only). That would be the most ideal, since even newer players should have some places where they have spun more than once and have placed a Pokemon or two in a gym.
Question: How will we know what is available to raid?
If the Nearby Raid page is used, we are limited to the number that this tab can hold. I have seen no more than 9 at a time, so would we be limited to the 9 closest to us? 9 of the highest star raids? 9 of the lowest star raids? If there are raid hours like there used to be, would we be limited somehow. What I would like to see is some sort of identifier on the gym badge screen. At least this would give everyone a chance to play where they want to and be able to coordinate with others to play. Hopefully there will be some sort of limited chat function in game, which I previously asked for, to facilitate this.
Finally, can we Ex-Raid style situation for gyms we haven’t been to yet, but a friend has? I know that there are plenty of gyms I have been to maybe once that some of my friends have vast experience with, and vice versa. I would like to be able to play with my Fiancee in a gym she has that I don’t since I haven’t played with her much. I don’t have a lot of gyms by her, and I know some gyms by me I have that she doesn’t have. Just using her as an example… but I have other friends from the park I play at that I have met that have the local to them gyms that I would like to play with. They might have an area that is popular (or at least populated) outside of the park to play at… and my friend I play Wednesday Night Raids with knows gyms I don’t in her hometown. Even if it was limited to once a week for Ultra Friends or better I would like to foster some cooperation and experience gyms that we don’t have, but maybe once this COVID-19 is gone we can go out and play and explore more. Even if we get a “shadow badge” (meaning that the stats are accrued, but we still have to physically visit the gym for it to count in our Gym Badges, but we are still aware of the gym and location so we can go visit once COVID-19 is no longer a threat… NOTHING to do with Team Rocket), that would be good. At least then we would have a memory of the place and then we can create memories in real life at the specific gym. This would be echoed even louder if we have a limit based on the color of the gym.
This and I would want spinning the Gym Disc to count for Pokestop Spin. This since we still don’t have a temporary Pokestop at home.
Moose's Pokemon Go Blog 