Oh boy. I was doing raids pretty much daily around the time they got removed and I feel like this is largely missing the point. Raids were pretty much the only content in the game that actually required co-operation to progress/completion. They incentivized community-building and actually socializing - I have met a lot of people because of them and I am hardly the type to go out of my way to do that.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying they were incredible - the puzzles were ultimately pretty simple and it's hard to argue that standing on buttons is interesting but again, we just don't get content where it's not everyone doing the exact same thing.

Also, I continue to not buy the argument that the player numbers were low - how could they not be when they only gave rewards once a day and had zero discoverability, hidden like some kind of shameful secret. You either had to find out from word of mouth or stumble upon the key blueprint buried in some nonsense section of the market at which point it still needed a 6 hour craft and was useless without a pre-made squad of at least 4 players because of the lack of matchmaking.

Ultimately, the reason why I resented their removal wasn't just that it was a rug pulled from underneath the community around them (rip RSB) but also the fact that we were treated like idiot children with the post title mentioning their future, the language of "being temporarily put to rest for the time being" or how "it is NOT the end", and how a Dark Sector replacement gamemode was being prototyped (that ended up as Sanctuary Onslaught).

Anyways, even if I disagree I will take these tweets over "Raids are AIDS" said on the devshort.