I had this idea where there should be 2 types of gyms.
1: Raid gym (same as current gyms)
2: Tower gym (same as old gyms before rework, plus a photo disc)
Existing Pokestops or Ingress portals that are not Pokestops or gyms currently can be converted to tower gyms. No raid gyms will be touched. Raids cannot take place at tower gyms.
Players can earn 25 coins each from both systems, total of 50 coins a day. Raid gyms give 1/2 a coin for 10 minutes of defending, tower gyms give 5 coins per 21 hours for holding a gym, maximum 25 coins (5 gyms).
Prestiging at tower gyms works the same way as in the old system.
Gym badges for tower gyms work mostly the same way as raid gyms.
1: 100 points for slotting a Pokemon into the gym
2: (Defender CP / 200) points for taking down other team's Pokemon
3: (Prestige gained / 50) points for training against own team's Pokemon
Players can earn 50 coins from both systems, total of 100 coins a day. But, costs of items in the store will be doubled. The number of coins all players currently have, as well as the number of coins being sold in the store for real money will also be doubled.
What is the point of this? It is functionally the same as just making both gym systems provide a maximum of 25 coins per day, but doubling the amount of work required to get those coins.
I actually think their legal team stops several of their gameplay possibilities. The EX raids that were at smaller gyms and midday on a Saturday got some pushback (few requests for gym removal). Could also be a contributing reason for the towers leaving the first time. Niantic makes money on private (and church) property. New gyms mainly have passersby battling.
I am surprised how past people forget. The old tower gym system sucked. It had to be revived multiple times, when players gave up building gyms up or taking them down, because there was no point in doing so. And the variety of defenders placed in the gyms was constantly shrinking; if they restarted CP-based towers at this point they would be Tyranitar only. So, with the proposed plan we would have two types of gyms, both equally sucky, but in different ways.
If Niantic modifies the gym system, which I very much hope they are working on, they will hopefully do it in a way that flexibly adapts to the local situation, invites variety, and offers chances for all levels of players, from beginner to hard core. For this it will probably be necessary that all features of a gym - coin payout, hardness to build up or take down, defenders - constantly adapt to how often the gym is attacked, who is doing the attacking, what else is in the gym, what happens to neighboring gyms, how many players are active in the area, .... In example, tearing down a weak gym gives 1 coin, a strong gym 5 coins - for a maximum of 5 gym payouts each day. Also, any gym that has not been attacked for a long time becomes weak, but gets high payout.
In order to make Niantic happy, add some useful tools to the shop by which players can modify the gyms, e.g by locking them in like Lures.
And for good measure, make real use of the phone capabilities: Ghosts are strong at night, Water is strong during rain (each phone has an integrated weather app!), Plants are weak in Winter (or in summer, depending on the region), Poison is strong at fast food joints. Blissey gets weaker with each Fighter placed in a neighboring gym.
I could go on. The point is, the system needs to be highly variable. No primitive, one type fits all solution will work.
