Did 4 raids, and used AR+ mode to catch after them, with mixed results. Will describe each below.
1) Kyogre, CP 2307. I turned on AR+ mode for this raid, and tapped the grass. The Kyogre appeared, very close to me, with very little aggravation (or whatever that little ! bubble is called). I took a step back, and it went to zero. I took tiny steps forward, it didn't rise, and then the "Expert trainer" (or whatever) message came up. The Kyogre was really close, and had a large catch circle. He continued to do the left-center-right moves, but I could just turn my phone and body to compensate. Took me a few throws to get used to how close he was (with the accompanying step back, step closer thing after each escape), but I caught him on ball 5 or 6 of 11, with a golden razz. Very pleased with result.
2) Buffed Tyranitar, CP 2570. Tried AR+ mode, but no matter where I started, or how much I backed up, the aggravation meter started high and maxed out very quickly. After several attempts to get it under control, but no balls thrown, I gave up and turned AR+ mode off. The Ttar just stood there, not attacking, not jumping, just waiting for me to catch it. First ball was a great hit (golden razz), and caught it. Success, but buggy and felt like a cheat.
3) Kyogre, CP ~2260. Turned AR+ mode on, and had the same issues as for the Ttar above. Turned it off, and while the Kyogre didn't do its usual right-center-left movement, or attack (breach), it did have a tiny up and down wave occasionally. Despite sitting still, every ball I threw fell well short. I tried throwing harder and harder, to no avail. 10 balls, 10 clean misses. Thought I should have thrown better, but see below.
4) Next day, buffed Scyther, CP ~1676 (1760 max). Caught another buffed one yesterday, 1745, so not too worried about this one, mainly wanted the candy. Put on AR+ mode, same problem as with Ttar, aggravation level high and maxed very quickly. Thought that I couldn't catch it that way. Turned AR+ mode off, and settled into the car to catch it. Scyther stayed put in the middle, no shifting or slashing attacks. Problem is, no matter how gently I threw, the ball went way long, like if Scyther were 20 feet away, the ball went 140 feet. Couldn't throw low or gently, no matter what I tried. Switched back to AR+ mode, tried a few throws at an angering Scyther from long distance, all fell well short. Ended trying regular mode again, could only throw ridiculous distances, and Scyther didn't get caught.
So, there are some bugs in AR+ mode, things Niantic needs to sort out (possibly with Apple involved). But it's not always easy, and one could just as easily lose a catch for sure as get one for sure.
Anyone else have these problems? AR+ seems to work all right for catching regular mon, I've practiced that a few times, and kind of got the hang of catching a Pidgey or Sentret, but raid bosses are not working consistently. Next time I finish a raid and get a lackluster bonus mon, I'll play around with it, and if the AR+ mode is always aggravated, and regular mode is falling short or long, I'll exit and re-enter the gym, and then try rebooting the game to see if either of these is a fix. But for now, if I get a good mon after a raid, I'll try to catch it the old fashioned way.
I've sent a bug report in to Niantic. Hope they sort this out. The "Expert trainer" catching bonus could come in handy, worth the investment of a little time for a raid boss.
Any advice on how to make this work better?
