Raids - so good (not)

100% agree they should let players into the waiting room before having to spend the pass to enter the battle.

That is the number one thing i think they need to change about raids. Show how many people are in que and how much time is left PRIOR to using the raid pass. Ttar pops up, your first instinct is to fight that thing because that is what everyone wants. But around me, doubt even five people show up.

Agree, it is a ripoff that you can't see the lobby before entering and you end up losing the battle and your 100 coins raid pass

:D I feel the same. And raid battles are horrible. But try discord app for chatting and call people for help. Use raid pass only if they join .

Don't even like the fact, that a raid boss is 5 or 6 times stronger than your best pokemon could become in this game. That is absolutely unfair. When you get to the catching screen it suddenly loses his high CPand doesn't become that hight than before by feeding a berry like mons in normal gyms. That seems strange to me. Today I tried to fight a Flareon alone. No chance at all. The best were 3 Dragonites 3400-3500, 1 Tyranitar 3590, 1 Vaporeon 3000 and 1 Rhydon 3100. Only 10% of the health of the Flareon was left. Got the timeout.

Yeah I've wasted a handful of raid passes myself. Funny how we hope for spoofers in that situation.

• Nobody against a Lapras? Ok, let's see that Machamp.
• Too much time selecting other pokemon than default
• Starting battle... GYM ERROR
  (...)
  Pass not returned

ffffffffffffffffffff...........

My experience thus far is similar to the OP's and, yes, it's very frustrating. However, I don't agree with your suggestions and complants.
The important thing to remember is that the new gym system and in particular the Raids are ment to get people to engage in social interaction. That is REAL social interaction. So if noone is around then no wonder the lobby is empty. I was also hoping for a spoofer or two when I took an a lvl 4 Lapras. But that was my mistake. Spoofing is illegal and shouldn't be taken into account or else you'll end up with a game design that depends on illegal practices. What you should do is go out and talk to people. If you come to a huge raid boss an nobody is around don't battle him. If you see people there (probably staring at their phones) ask them if they are here for the raid boss.
You are not criticising the game's design but the idea of the game. The game was never meant for players to interact only in the virtual domain but to encourage real-life interaction.