[Coda]

Can you really blame them for de-emphasizing teams? They were horribly unbalanced because a small advantage at the beginning made new players gravitate towards the stronger teams. The only way to fix that (short of allowing people to flip-flop between teams at will) was to make teams matter less.

[Kaderin Triste]

RedRum: The gyms initially could be stacked with way more pokemon and you could use the same type, so teams would stack as many Blissey as possible in them.

I mean, I understand why they did it, but now that teams are pretty much meaningless, it's kind of like why bother with them at all?

[RedRum]

Originally Posted by Coda

Can you really blame them for de-emphasizing teams? They were horribly unbalanced because a small advantage at the beginning made new players gravitate towards the stronger teams. The only way to fix that (short of allowing people to flip-flop between teams at will) was to make teams matter less.

What small advantage?

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I thought teams was more to add dps to a raid, since I can't actually imagine beating some of these guys on my own.

I like that pokemon in gyms are now on timers, and it's first come, first serve. Low level people have a shot now, rather than just hoping to find an empty one.

I have a mission to evo or catch fire pokemon, which is very awkward when it's raining like crazy and I spend a lot of time on the coast. Though, there were some ponyta walking around today, in the rain, which I'd never seen before. I assume it might have had something to do with the research goals.

[Kaderin Triste]

Can you only do raids with members of your team? I assumed that you could do it with anyone? I've never done a raid with anyone, so I'm not sure on that. But when finishing a solo raid, it looks like you get bonus balls for having members of your team, but it also shows the other teams, so I figured anyone can raid together...

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I guess "party" would be a better term, or group. I see the little group codes in the corner, which I assume is for people wanting to fight a raid together.

[Kaderin Triste]

Which, kind of again, brings up the whole "teams are pretty much meaningless, so why not get rid of them?" question.
I mean, there's the whole possible argument of "to make it more fair so a certain people can't take all the gyms all the time and everyone has a chance to be on a gym" but in that case, just put a cap of like only 2 or 3 pokemon on gyms at any given time and call it good.

I mean, yeah, the previous team situation was very unbalanced and it could suck if you had joined Instinct instead of Mystic or Valor, but it actually encouraged people to work WITH their team. And, while they didn't last long, I saw, fairly regularly, higher level members working with new members to try to get them on gyms.
Now, unless you're a mega-newbie, you can pretty much handle gyms solo. No teamwork required.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I'm referring to raids at this point. I mean, how am I supposed to take down a raid boss when I can't even dent it before my team faints?

[Kaderin Triste]

But again, can't you do raid battles with members of other teams, or does it have to be one specific team at a time? Because it seems to me that as long as they all use/have the same raid code thingy, the actual team they're on doesn't seem like it should matter.
As I have no friends to raid with, same team or otherwise, I can't test this theory.
But if team is irrelevant to raids, then...

[Quiet Man Cometh]

That's my snag. I don't know how they work, mechanically, so I've never been able to try.

[Kaderin Triste]

According to my google search, you can do raids with players from any team, so other than meager team bonuses on gym pokestop discs and possibly extra balls to catch the raid pokemon, teams aren't really that important.

[Awen Moonshine]

It's more a matter of team pride now. When taking on higher level raids in some areas if there are a lot of people that turn up to raid they split into their chosen teams to take them on for the extra capture bonuses and to make it easier to split.

I have a lot of love for my chosen team though <3

[Coda]

Originally Posted by RedRum

What small advantage?

Mostly that red is a more popular color than blue or yellow.

[RedRum]

Wow, suddenly I feel lame because I haven't battled yet.
I believe my strongest pokemon right now is a Quilfish with a CP of 700-800.

EDIT:

Make that a Ryhorn at a CP of 800.

Ugh.
Just got home from a trip to the park and grocery store with my stepdad and niece. I caught at least ten Pokemon and lost a few (escaped the Pokeball and fled) and didn't achieve a single 'Great' or 'Excellent' throw.
Damn it, I got a random chance 'Excellent' throw not long ago but it just had to be BEFORE I'd gotten the 'get an excellent throw' assignment. It just needs one and I can't even manage a 'Great' throw!

[Awen Moonshine]

It's because you are thinking too hard about it... Just relax and carry on doing your thing and it'll happen ^_^ What level are you?

You say that about Valor, Coda but around here Mystic is more popular. And it seems that Instinct has been making a comeback of late too ^_^

It's nice having something new to work towards in the game now that my main account is getting closer to level 40... I just wish the game still had the social feeling it had back when it started...

[RedRum]

Originally Posted by Awen Moonshine

It's because you are thinking too hard about it... Just relax and carry on doing your thing and it'll happen ^_^ What level are you?

I just made level 18.

Originally Posted by Awen Moonshine

It's nice having something new to work towards in the game --

Agreed, the research has increased my motivation to play.