I'll admit, I'm not thrilled by Raids in general, either. The game itself just...doesn't really prepare you for this kind of stuff, in-game. If they really want these Raids and online features to really take off, they need to give us better resources to get to level 100 easier. Chanceys or Blisseys in the 80s or 100s or something, just to drop a massive amount of experience. Places that drop Bottle Caps for Hyper Training more often. Maybe a whole mode where they actually TEACH you how all this meta-game stuff works, instead of assuming you'll watch a bunch of Youtube videos, so Gamefreak doesn't have to do the work. And, geez, the Hyper Training guy is hidden away in a random corner of Montenevera. He's COMPLETELY missable! Gamefreak really isn't making these things as accessible and visible and they should be.
Personally, I'd just as soon keep the meta-game in the meta-game, and not have it be a part of the "main" story. Personally, it kind of breaks my "immersion" when I have to consider stuff like Hyper Training and Ability Mints in order to even TRY to tackle these Raids. It kind of goes against the theme that most of the game has about these Pokemon being your "friends". And challenge is nice, but I feel like the reason why Pokemon is THE MOST SUCCESSFUL RPG on the planet is because it IS so easy. It's accessible. Anyone can play it and probably beat the story. These Raids...are a massive difficulty spike that the game itself doesn't really explain to you.
What would be really nice is if Gamefreak would give us easier 3-Star versions of these Raids for people who just want the Pokemon. And then keep the 5 or 7 Star Raids for the people who want the very best possible Tera-type and moveset. But...that would mean Gamefreak giving us OPTIONS and we can't have that...
Maybe they could remove the timer completely? Just giving you unlimited lives to chip away at the target Pokemon. It would suck ALL the challenge out of it, but as long as you stuck with it, eventually you WOULD chip away at the Pokemon's health and get it. The reward for "getting good" would be being able to do it quickly, or maybe better item drops.
I feel like Gamefreak really wants some of that e-sports money. I mean, they already have that "live service" money with Pokemon Home. But, they're constantly having competitions and Raids, so they clearly WANT the online stuff to be a bigger part of the game. But...to me, this is a single player RPG first and foremost. The multiplayer stuff is extra. I'd be fine if every game was basically like Legends Arceus and we could catch ALL the Pokemon in a single save file.
And honestly? I have a Decidueye in Home. I don't really NEED a random one that has good Tera-type that probably won't even be usable in Gen X. There won't even be a Pokedex entry for these guys. I can't even view the model. I feel no incentive to catch these guys. They'd just be trade fodder, or more likely Home-filler.
I'm really hoping that Iron Leaves and Walking Wake are available in the DLC. The Raids just..aren't fun to me. I don't really dislike the existence of Raids, but I just wish they were done better.
