The list of Pokemon was not decided by us. We decided to use that list to explicitly avoid any discussions such as this. These are what are banned and restricted at VGC, so this is what we use.
I've defeated a few Kyogres with my single-type team. It's not as hard as you say it is, especially with a well balanced team using Grass Knot for example. And everyone's allowed one.
PS: The gym leaders have been instructed to make things fair. You may find that the win conditions are set by the leader. Some may ask you to defeat three of their pokemon with your entire team. Others may ask you to play underwater instead. This is meant to be fun, and the #1 rule - "Don't be a dick" takes care of everything.
Last Prime, as an E4 member, I only got to battle about 10 times. Out of those 10, only 2 used something from that list (Mewtwo and Kyogre). Both of those times, that Pokemon was killed and neither of those times did they severely affect the result. However, OU/UU teams were a lot more threatening than either of those two. Multiple times I was curb stomped and MAYBE took out half their team.
Moral of the Story:
Ubers help, but don't make a team. Synergy, strategy and prediction make a win.
What non uber pokemon can easily stop a Scarf-Kyogre?
Once again, I'm not trying to be preachy, but if you tell me that you can take out a Kyogre easily, I want to know how you did it, and how you'd stop a Scarf-Kyogre without an uber pokemon.
Additionally, what do you propose to defeat Calm Mind Giratina? Or any set up Mewtwo set? What's going to take out Lugia with ease?
Edit - Guys I'm not talking about the gym battles. I'm not talking about the E4 battles. I'm sure those will be fun for everyone both competitive and non. I'm referring to the champion tourney at the end. What isn't fun is hoping that your uber counters the other player's uber.
You're presuming you even get that far. The champion's tournament is not the focus of this, and if you think passing the league with a single team will be that easy, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed!
That said, the leaders are going to be battling on the level of the challengers. If you're casual, don't be scared of all the discussions here - our goal is to make sure everyone has fun!
I really do hope your league is a challenge and I look forward to that
But like I said earlier, I was in the top 5 battlers on a forum that (at the time) had thousands of active battlers - Marriland.com. That's not as impressive as smogon.com, but being in the top 5 there is still pretty decent...
It's with this experience that I'm trying to alert you to the dangers of these massively powerful pokemon. They are banned on smogon.com (a website that literally understands competitive battling better than Nintendo) for good reasons!
If you haven't already, I implore you to read the articles in the smogon.com strategy dex on these pokemon. They will explain in detail why they are so powerful.
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/kyogre (here is an example of proper kyogre's. also look at the counters section on the bottom in particular. when it refers to latias/latios it's talking about them with soul dew attatched)
Anyways - I hope I'm not offending anyone. I just see this rule, and the inner hardcore pokemon nerd has to speak.
Hey guys, I'm also a pokemon fan active in the competitive community. I too will be joining the league, and I'm expecting it to be a lot of fun. From previous posts, I understand that the majority of the challenge of the league will be identifying and finding these leaders. However, you have created a tournament system for the people who pass this test. This will be, in the people's minds, the funnest and most important part of what you have set up. Because of this, I also have obvious concerns about the pokemon you have unbanned.
It seems that there is a very large misunderstanding in how unbalanced the game of pokemon really is. As I'm sure you know, the website www.smogon.com has gone into extreme detail and houses the most skilled players of this game. All of the pokemon you have listed in the restricted section are powerhouses to an extreme. With these pokemon, it is not how you use them, it is simply if you use them. The most notable here is Kyogre. This pokemon, along with Dialga, Palkia, and Mewtwo (specifically) will sweep teams.
I'm afraid that if you allow people to use even one of these pokemon, the final section of this event will turn into an easy and unfair victory for whoever runs the best of these pokemon. I have to agree with nitnit on this one and encourage you to look into more.
nitnit, please realize that this is for 100% fun. The only real prize to be won is self accomplishment. Sure, you get some buttons and perhaps a hat but come on, my man.
The organizers of the PPL have decided to use the restrictions set in place of the VGC. I am sure Heleor understands how people could build an uber team and such. But doing things like that just don't seem to be the vibe that is set at PAX. Our motto is "Don't be a dick" and just about everyone goes out of their way to follow it.
People should know that it'd be cool to win but the real point here is that this is a community event and we're just trying to get people socializing and build something great.
Enjoy yourself and be prepared to meet some of the most awesome people you'll ever meet in your life!
Fair enough. Just trying to help out and make the champion tourney (which Heleor just PMed me telling me I'm not going to reach, lol) a true battle for the champion's crown
And I am excited even if these ubers are allowed! My posts should be viewed as suggestions backed by experience =D
This is exactly the problem. You're potentially taking the fun out of the game for most everyone. Assume I went out of my way to build a fun synergistic team just for this event (building a proper pokemon team from scratch takes many many hours). With my skill and innovative use, I get the end tournament, only to have my entire team swept by a choice scarf Kyogre on a team with two other pokemon.
I want you to realize that this is not some sort of delusion or strange coincidence. Considering the only pokemon in the game that is allowed here that can counter a choice scarf Kyogre is a specially designed Blissey running specific moves, it is not hard to see this happening.
I'm not a competitive player myself, but we have competitive players in the group. Trust us when we say we actually thought all this through. We had 3 months of arguing about the rules. :P
I'm not a competitive player myself, but we have competitive players in the group. Trust us when we say we actually thought all this through. We had 3 months of arguing about the rules. :P
Very true, and I am NOT trying to downplay your efforts, and I appreciate your effort and look forward to this event regardless of what the rules are
It's just that smogon.com has been refining the rules of generation 4 (diamond/pearl/HG/SS) competitive battling for almost 2 years straight now... literally the best pokemon battlers in the world. Like I said in my opening statement here, I probably cannot change your mind, but I hope I can at least give you the viewpoint of a competitive battler.
Anyways, I look forward to the league I don't care about prizes. And I don't really care about the champion crown. I care about having fun matches with cool guys/gals in real life
Top 5 at marriland? Cool. Top 50 (r4ko) in Seattle VGC'10 and eagerly awaiting VGC'11. Not as impressive, but to show I'm not pulling words out of thin air.
Kyogre:
Bronzong exploded turn 1, wasn't killed by water spout. Just ran some calcs, 89.1-105% to OHKO isn't amazing (I thought I had more HP after the attack though...) Missed out on SR but taking out the beast was MUCH more important.
Mewtwo:
Honestly can't remember, but it involved strategic Ice Beam predictions and took a couple turns. Wasn't nearly as big a problem as Blissey was. I believe Garchomp got the KO... or exploding Bronzong again...
I hear and understand what you are saying, about ubers being a problem. Chances are that if you understand EV/IV's, build a cookie cutter Smogon team and know what you are doing, you will have no problem finishing the league. The League isn't meant to be a "one winner to rule them all" sort of deal. I like to think of it more as a "let's see how much fun people can have". At Prime, I honestly think that FINDING each GL was a lot harder than beating them (enforcer duties > League duties apparently).
Mono/Theme teams are not the most competitive. We WANT to give out buttons, we WANT to have fun, we WANT to have as many champions as possible. We are adding the Champion tourney at the end so that the champions can see who is the "one winner to rule them all". Totally optional, totally for fun. We had ~4 last year and only ~10 people stuck around to fight GL/E4 they missed.
tl;dr League >>> Champion Tourney
Wrote this up before a flood of other people posted, let's see if I can respond to them here!
Worried about having fun throughout the League and then being destroyed in the Tourney? Easy answer, change teams in between. No one says you can't do that, IIRC no one is team checking in between GL's either so if you really felt like it, you could wait for all the profiles to be revealed and then anti-team each GL.
Smogon does have a great tier list and great rule set, I remember pushing for Sleep Clause to be added when we started Prime PPL, but it is not the only way of playing Pokemon, it is Smogon's way of playing Pokemon. PPL plays with it's own unique rule set, borrowing elements from other websites (VGC, Smogon, PBR) to make what we believe will be fun for casuals AND competitive players alike.
Wow, I don't think I've ever written something this long...
I think a wise idea would be if everyone who makes it to the Champions League can agree on house rules (ie.. no Uber Pokemon, etc) so we can find a happy medium. I'm pretty sure that this won't effect anyone who just wants to battle for fun in the League and E4 in a negative way.
Top 5 at marriland? Cool. Top 50 (r4ko) in Seattle VGC'10 and eagerly awaiting VGC'11. Not as impressive, but to show I'm not pulling words out of thin air.
Kyogre:
Bronzong exploded turn 1, wasn't killed by water spout. Just ran some calcs, 89.1-105% to OHKO isn't amazing (I thought I had more HP after the attack though...) Missed out on SR but taking out the beast was MUCH more important.
Mewtwo:
Honestly can't remember, but it involved strategic Ice Beam predictions and took a couple turns. Wasn't nearly as big a problem as Blissey was. I believe Garchomp got the KO... or exploding Bronzong again...
I know I'm condescending and all, but all I can say is:
lol
I know you guys arnt going to change rules and your explanations are reasonable. Just something we thought we should let you guys know about. We've both been ranked as the best or very high on smogon servers and we'll probably be running some ridiculous teams with a choiced kyogre, so watch out.
A little confused as to what in the quote is being lol'd at... VGC'10 r4ko and me thinking I know stuffs? My poor explanations as to how Kyogre and Mewtwo were beaten? The poor usage of Kyorgre and Mewtwo against me? *is confused*
If you'll both be running Choice 'Ogre then there really is no problem of "one uber wreaks the tourney" because you both will be using the same stuff and know how to use it, right?
A little confused as to what in the quote is being lol'd at... VGC'10 r4ko and me thinking I know stuffs? My poor explanations as to how Kyogre and Mewtwo were beaten? The poor usage of Kyorgre and Mewtwo against me? *is confused*
If you'll both be running Choice 'Ogre then there really is no problem of "one uber wreaks the tourney" because you both will be using the same stuff and know how to use it, right?
Mostly this. The fact is, if you're forced to sacrifice at least two pokemon to beat the thing, there is something wrong. Assuming the opponent is intelligent enough to switch in on something safe, the controller of the pokemon up against Kyogre would have to sacrifice that pokemon to switch in something to explode. Not exactly a counter..
I really have no problem being able to use Kyogre. Like I said, just things that should probably be brought up.
Top 5 at marriland? Cool. Top 50 (r4ko) in Seattle VGC'10 and eagerly awaiting VGC'11. Not as impressive, but to show I'm not pulling words out of thin air.
Kyogre:
Bronzong exploded turn 1, wasn't killed by water spout. Just ran some calcs, 89.1-105% to OHKO isn't amazing (I thought I had more HP after the attack though...) Missed out on SR but taking out the beast was MUCH more important.
Mewtwo:
Honestly can't remember, but it involved strategic Ice Beam predictions and took a couple turns. Wasn't nearly as big a problem as Blissey was. I believe Garchomp got the KO... or exploding Bronzong again...
I know I'm a condescending and all, but all I can say is:
lol
I know you guys arnt going to change rules and your explanations are reasonable. Just something we thought we should let you guys know about. We've both been ranked as the best or very high on smogon servers and we'll probably be running some ridiculous teams with a choiced kyogre, so watch out.
I don't understand what all the hooplah you guys caused last night trying to get kyogre banned and then turn around and say you're using him. I really thought this was put to rest yesterday?
If either of you make it to the tournament(and don't take offense to that) I'm sure if you asked your challenger if they were gonna use a kyogre or mewtwo then they'd tell you so and you could whip yours out. Otherwise, just use the team you'd use if those pokes were banned.
We can't say this enough...the point of the PPL isn't to get to the tournament. The point is to have fun. Please understand this.
Rdr on
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ProprietyPAX Pokemon League Leader!Registered Userregular
edited January 2011
I think this bears repeating, because it is a super important point that I don't want people to miss.
This is NOT a Pokemon Tournament.
If you want to be in a tournament, if your sole purpose in participating is being in a tournament, knocking people out, and winning phat loot prizes and becoming Champeen, you're doing it wrong. There are plenty of places where you can do that. This is not one of them.
Blackfox put it excellently: "We WANT to give out buttons, we WANT to have fun, we WANT to have as many champions as possible." The point of this is the EXPERIENCE. The fun of running around, finding gym leaders, challenging them, maybe making wild gesticulations or ridiculous speeches as you battle, collecting badges, talking with people, making friends. Not about crushing faceless opponents as you climb a tournament ladder.
Heck, if you're that concerned, don't participate in the tournament. Pretend it is canceled. It is not the point of this experience, never was, and I hope it never will be. If you are not going to have fun in it, don't play in it. Winning ultimate top champion is not the point: it is, in fact, completely worthless. If this very thought disturbs you, then again, I encourage you to rethink what PPL is all about.
Propriety on
That guy with the ridiculously long scarf at PAX. Say Hi!
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
This recent addressing of the "essence" of what this League is about is very reassuring to me. I've been trying out several teams I'm thinking of using on the Pokemon Online servers and I have to say its a very discouraging experience. I cant tell you how many times I've been matched up against someone with a team consisting of 2 to 6 ubers or the exact same Rain Dance team over and over again with the new Dream World Drizzle Politoad. I was starting to get me a bit down, but the words of the leaders and those in charge of this PPL have really helped reignite my spirit about this.
This recent addressing of the "essence" of what this League is about is very reassuring to me. I've been trying out several teams I'm thinking of using on the Pokemon Online servers and I have to say its a very discouraging experience. I cant tell you how many times I've been matched up against someone with a team consisting of 2 to 6 ubers or the exact same Rain Dance team over and over again with the new Dream World Drizzle Politoad. I was starting to get me a bit down, but the words of the leaders and those in charge of this PPL have really helped reignite my spirit about this.
This is pretty much my experience as well. I was getting a little worried that a brawl would open up on the forums and rip this thread apart by the heat of their passion (funness vs competitiveness), but I think we might be safe. I'll use 'protection' just in case, though.
Blackfox put it excellently: "We WANT to give out buttons, we WANT to have fun, we WANT to have as many champions as possible." The point of this is the EXPERIENCE. The fun of running around, finding gym leaders, challenging them, maybe making wild gesticulations or ridiculous speeches as you battle, collecting badges, talking with people, making friends. Not about crushing faceless opponents as you climb a tournament ladder.
Thank you! In fact, from my perspective, this is what PAX in general ia all about. Any one of us can go online and experience competativeness. From Pokemon battles to PVP in a ton of MMOs.
PAX - for me anyway - is a chance for us to have fun together by playing games together. I'll be seeking out the PPL players with a group of Pokes leveled up through sheer hapenstance and with the messiest stats you ever did see. I may loose the battle and I may win. But even if I walk away without a button, I'll have had a fun experince and met some good people and maybe even made some friends. I'd give up a button or a pin for that any day.
I'm glad this thread returned to a more light hearted fun discussion. PAX to me is also about trying new things and one thing I've never done is battle another person in Pokemon in person (other than my 6 year old). The more tournament minded posts were starting to make me think I was in way over my head!
My team will more like what Trion described - a fairly messy group - partially because I've only just bought SS a few weeks ago and partially because I've promised my son that I'll bring at least one of his Pokemon along for the trip.
Again - thanks for organizing this I really look forward to meeting folks!
ProprietyPAX Pokemon League Leader!Registered Userregular
edited January 2011
Yes! I'm glad to see so many excited potential challengers. I don't want to hear about stats or any of that mish-mash. There are plenty of other places for that. Instead I want to hear about ridiculous adventures with your pokemon team, about how you've traveled the world together; how you're an up-and-coming straggler from some tiny town with a chip on your shoulder and something to prove; how your Quagsire got its head stuck in a bucket for three days.
And if you beat me, I will give you cryptic messages about the ability to love and your relationship with your pokemon and how it's some kind of psychic ability. Or some other such nonsense.
Propriety on
That guy with the ridiculously long scarf at PAX. Say Hi!
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
I'm glad this thread returned to a more light hearted fun discussion. PAX to me is also about trying new things and one thing I've never done is battle another person in Pokemon in person (other than my 6 year old).
Ha! My seven year old still thinks Pokemon is "for boys". But I think she's starting to come around.
Ha! My seven year old still thinks Pokemon is "for boys". But I think she's starting to come around.
I could literally put together some kind of nightmarish power point presentation consisting of nothing but cute pokemon after cute pokemon to prove this child wrong.
Ha! My seven year old still thinks Pokemon is "for boys". But I think she's starting to come around.
I could literally put together some kind of nightmarish power point presentation consisting of nothing but cute pokemon after cute pokemon to prove this child wrong.
I'm under the impression that a roughly equal amount of girls play as boys. I think you should make a power point if only just for the lulz.
Ha! My seven year old still thinks Pokemon is "for boys". But I think she's starting to come around.
I could literally put together some kind of nightmarish power point presentation consisting of nothing but cute pokemon after cute pokemon to prove this child wrong.
I'm under the impression that a roughly equal amount of girls play as boys. I think you should make a power point if only just for the lulz.
At the risk of going off topic for a moment, let me tell you a story.
There's a day at my daughter's school (first grade) where the parents are invited into the class and the teacher and students show the parents what they do all day. One of the activities to foster reading and writing is that the class writes a story together.
First they go around the room and the kids give ideas for who the story is about. The teacher writes these ideas on the smartboard and they narrow it down until they know who will be the subject of the story. In the example they gave, the story was about two friends.
OK, now they decide what the friends will do together. Again, the students offer ideas, the teacher writes the ideas on the smartboard and they narrow it down. As you can guess, there's a large list of ideas. Like:
Play Outside
Play With Dolls
Go Shopping
Watch TV
Play Wii
Go To The Movies
Now they narrow the ideas down. To make it a story everyone is interested in, the teacher crosses off ideas that might not have broad appeal. She crosses off "Play With Dolls" because the boys wouldn't be interested in that very much. I'm thinking "Action Figures? Minatures?". But I'm a huge geek and I decide not to let it bother me.
Then she crosses off "Play Wii" because the girls wouldn't be interested in that very much. And my wife and I look at each other. Married Person ESP kicks in and we both know the other person is thinking "WHAT!?!?!"
At the time when my daughter came home from school, the one thing she wanted to do most was play Lego Harry Potter with dad. But that's on an XBOX 360 so I guess it doesn't count.
Ha! My seven year old still thinks Pokemon is "for boys". But I think she's starting to come around.
I could literally put together some kind of nightmarish power point presentation consisting of nothing but cute pokemon after cute pokemon to prove this child wrong.
I'm under the impression that a roughly equal amount of girls play as boys. I think you should make a power point if only just for the lulz.
At the risk of going off topic for a moment, let me tell you a story.
/cutforspace
At the time when my daughter came home from school, the one thing she wanted to do most was play Lego Harry Potter with dad. But that's on an XBOX 360 so I guess it doesn't count.
There was a time when all I wanted to was to play Lego Star Wars with my little brother. Real legos, the ones you can touch (I know, who does that?), and the game on the PS2.
Gender stereotypes... will they ever cease to be? Probably not. But to have it so blatantly in the classroom is a little more than a teensy bit distrubing, especially if it's young children. However, that's a whole conversation/rant for another time and another place!
This is going to be my first PAX of any flavor, and this is one of the "events" I am looking forward to the most. "Champion league" be damned! I want that awesome hat!!
Per popular demand, the Champion Tournament is now known as the Champion Showcase. Come, hang out, trade Pokewalkers, and extend PAX for just a bit longer! ;-)
Posts
I've defeated a few Kyogres with my single-type team. It's not as hard as you say it is, especially with a well balanced team using Grass Knot for example. And everyone's allowed one.
PS: The gym leaders have been instructed to make things fair. You may find that the win conditions are set by the leader. Some may ask you to defeat three of their pokemon with your entire team. Others may ask you to play underwater instead. This is meant to be fun, and the #1 rule - "Don't be a dick" takes care of everything.
Last Prime, as an E4 member, I only got to battle about 10 times. Out of those 10, only 2 used something from that list (Mewtwo and Kyogre). Both of those times, that Pokemon was killed and neither of those times did they severely affect the result. However, OU/UU teams were a lot more threatening than either of those two. Multiple times I was curb stomped and MAYBE took out half their team.
Moral of the Story:
Ubers help, but don't make a team. Synergy, strategy and prediction make a win.
/story time
Once again, I'm not trying to be preachy, but if you tell me that you can take out a Kyogre easily, I want to know how you did it, and how you'd stop a Scarf-Kyogre without an uber pokemon.
Additionally, what do you propose to defeat Calm Mind Giratina? Or any set up Mewtwo set? What's going to take out Lugia with ease?
Edit - Guys I'm not talking about the gym battles. I'm not talking about the E4 battles. I'm sure those will be fun for everyone both competitive and non. I'm referring to the champion tourney at the end. What isn't fun is hoping that your uber counters the other player's uber.
That said, the leaders are going to be battling on the level of the challengers. If you're casual, don't be scared of all the discussions here - our goal is to make sure everyone has fun!
But like I said earlier, I was in the top 5 battlers on a forum that (at the time) had thousands of active battlers - Marriland.com. That's not as impressive as smogon.com, but being in the top 5 there is still pretty decent...
It's with this experience that I'm trying to alert you to the dangers of these massively powerful pokemon. They are banned on smogon.com (a website that literally understands competitive battling better than Nintendo) for good reasons!
If you haven't already, I implore you to read the articles in the smogon.com strategy dex on these pokemon. They will explain in detail why they are so powerful.
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/kyogre (here is an example of proper kyogre's. also look at the counters section on the bottom in particular. when it refers to latias/latios it's talking about them with soul dew attatched)
Anyways - I hope I'm not offending anyone. I just see this rule, and the inner hardcore pokemon nerd has to speak.
It seems that there is a very large misunderstanding in how unbalanced the game of pokemon really is. As I'm sure you know, the website www.smogon.com has gone into extreme detail and houses the most skilled players of this game. All of the pokemon you have listed in the restricted section are powerhouses to an extreme. With these pokemon, it is not how you use them, it is simply if you use them. The most notable here is Kyogre. This pokemon, along with Dialga, Palkia, and Mewtwo (specifically) will sweep teams.
I'm afraid that if you allow people to use even one of these pokemon, the final section of this event will turn into an easy and unfair victory for whoever runs the best of these pokemon. I have to agree with nitnit on this one and encourage you to look into more.
The organizers of the PPL have decided to use the restrictions set in place of the VGC. I am sure Heleor understands how people could build an uber team and such. But doing things like that just don't seem to be the vibe that is set at PAX. Our motto is "Don't be a dick" and just about everyone goes out of their way to follow it.
People should know that it'd be cool to win but the real point here is that this is a community event and we're just trying to get people socializing and build something great.
Enjoy yourself and be prepared to meet some of the most awesome people you'll ever meet in your life!
And I am excited even if these ubers are allowed! My posts should be viewed as suggestions backed by experience =D
I want you to realize that this is not some sort of delusion or strange coincidence. Considering the only pokemon in the game that is allowed here that can counter a choice scarf Kyogre is a specially designed Blissey running specific moves, it is not hard to see this happening.
Very true, and I am NOT trying to downplay your efforts, and I appreciate your effort and look forward to this event regardless of what the rules are
It's just that smogon.com has been refining the rules of generation 4 (diamond/pearl/HG/SS) competitive battling for almost 2 years straight now... literally the best pokemon battlers in the world. Like I said in my opening statement here, I probably cannot change your mind, but I hope I can at least give you the viewpoint of a competitive battler.
Anyways, I look forward to the league
Sweet, glorious, fashionable hats.
*While supplies last. Y'know, before you get your hopes up.
Kyogre:
Bronzong exploded turn 1, wasn't killed by water spout. Just ran some calcs, 89.1-105% to OHKO isn't amazing (I thought I had more HP after the attack though...) Missed out on SR but taking out the beast was MUCH more important.
Mewtwo:
Honestly can't remember, but it involved strategic Ice Beam predictions and took a couple turns. Wasn't nearly as big a problem as Blissey was. I believe Garchomp got the KO... or exploding Bronzong again...
I hear and understand what you are saying, about ubers being a problem. Chances are that if you understand EV/IV's, build a cookie cutter Smogon team and know what you are doing, you will have no problem finishing the league. The League isn't meant to be a "one winner to rule them all" sort of deal. I like to think of it more as a "let's see how much fun people can have". At Prime, I honestly think that FINDING each GL was a lot harder than beating them (enforcer duties > League duties apparently).
Mono/Theme teams are not the most competitive. We WANT to give out buttons, we WANT to have fun, we WANT to have as many champions as possible. We are adding the Champion tourney at the end so that the champions can see who is the "one winner to rule them all". Totally optional, totally for fun. We had ~4 last year and only ~10 people stuck around to fight GL/E4 they missed.
tl;dr League >>> Champion Tourney
Wrote this up before a flood of other people posted, let's see if I can respond to them here!
Worried about having fun throughout the League and then being destroyed in the Tourney? Easy answer, change teams in between. No one says you can't do that, IIRC no one is team checking in between GL's either so if you really felt like it, you could wait for all the profiles to be revealed and then anti-team each GL.
Smogon does have a great tier list and great rule set, I remember pushing for Sleep Clause to be added when we started Prime PPL, but it is not the only way of playing Pokemon, it is Smogon's way of playing Pokemon. PPL plays with it's own unique rule set, borrowing elements from other websites (VGC, Smogon, PBR) to make what we believe will be fun for casuals AND competitive players alike.
Wow, I don't think I've ever written something this long...
Wait wait wait...
I thought this was a Pokemon league, not a TF2 league. :P
You didn't get the memo? We're battling our TF2 teams as if they're Pokemon.
lol
I know you guys arnt going to change rules and your explanations are reasonable. Just something we thought we should let you guys know about. We've both been ranked as the best or very high on smogon servers and we'll probably be running some ridiculous teams with a choiced kyogre, so watch out.
If you'll both be running Choice 'Ogre then there really is no problem of "one uber wreaks the tourney" because you both will be using the same stuff and know how to use it, right?
I really have no problem being able to use Kyogre. Like I said, just things that should probably be brought up.
I don't understand what all the hooplah you guys caused last night trying to get kyogre banned and then turn around and say you're using him. I really thought this was put to rest yesterday?
If either of you make it to the tournament(and don't take offense to that) I'm sure if you asked your challenger if they were gonna use a kyogre or mewtwo then they'd tell you so and you could whip yours out. Otherwise, just use the team you'd use if those pokes were banned.
We can't say this enough...the point of the PPL isn't to get to the tournament. The point is to have fun. Please understand this.
This is NOT a Pokemon Tournament.
If you want to be in a tournament, if your sole purpose in participating is being in a tournament, knocking people out, and winning phat loot prizes and becoming Champeen, you're doing it wrong. There are plenty of places where you can do that. This is not one of them.
Blackfox put it excellently: "We WANT to give out buttons, we WANT to have fun, we WANT to have as many champions as possible." The point of this is the EXPERIENCE. The fun of running around, finding gym leaders, challenging them, maybe making wild gesticulations or ridiculous speeches as you battle, collecting badges, talking with people, making friends. Not about crushing faceless opponents as you climb a tournament ladder.
Heck, if you're that concerned, don't participate in the tournament. Pretend it is canceled. It is not the point of this experience, never was, and I hope it never will be. If you are not going to have fun in it, don't play in it. Winning ultimate top champion is not the point: it is, in fact, completely worthless. If this very thought disturbs you, then again, I encourage you to rethink what PPL is all about.
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
Pokemon HG Friend Code - 4727 5395 3290
This is pretty much my experience as well. I was getting a little worried that a brawl would open up on the forums and rip this thread apart by the heat of their passion (funness vs competitiveness), but I think we might be safe. I'll use 'protection' just in case, though.
Thank you! In fact, from my perspective, this is what PAX in general ia all about. Any one of us can go online and experience competativeness. From Pokemon battles to PVP in a ton of MMOs.
PAX - for me anyway - is a chance for us to have fun together by playing games together. I'll be seeking out the PPL players with a group of Pokes leveled up through sheer hapenstance and with the messiest stats you ever did see. I may loose the battle and I may win. But even if I walk away without a button, I'll have had a fun experince and met some good people and maybe even made some friends. I'd give up a button or a pin for that any day.
My team will more like what Trion described - a fairly messy group - partially because I've only just bought SS a few weeks ago and partially because I've promised my son that I'll bring at least one of his Pokemon along for the trip.
Again - thanks for organizing this I really look forward to meeting folks!
And if you beat me, I will give you cryptic messages about the ability to love and your relationship with your pokemon and how it's some kind of psychic ability. Or some other such nonsense.
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
Ha! My seven year old still thinks Pokemon is "for boys". But I think she's starting to come around.
I could literally put together some kind of nightmarish power point presentation consisting of nothing but cute pokemon after cute pokemon to prove this child wrong.
Pokemon HG Friend Code - 4727 5395 3290
I'm under the impression that a roughly equal amount of girls play as boys. I think you should make a power point if only just for the lulz.
At the risk of going off topic for a moment, let me tell you a story.
There's a day at my daughter's school (first grade) where the parents are invited into the class and the teacher and students show the parents what they do all day. One of the activities to foster reading and writing is that the class writes a story together.
First they go around the room and the kids give ideas for who the story is about. The teacher writes these ideas on the smartboard and they narrow it down until they know who will be the subject of the story. In the example they gave, the story was about two friends.
OK, now they decide what the friends will do together. Again, the students offer ideas, the teacher writes the ideas on the smartboard and they narrow it down. As you can guess, there's a large list of ideas. Like:
Play Outside
Play With Dolls
Go Shopping
Watch TV
Play Wii
Go To The Movies
Now they narrow the ideas down. To make it a story everyone is interested in, the teacher crosses off ideas that might not have broad appeal. She crosses off "Play With Dolls" because the boys wouldn't be interested in that very much. I'm thinking "Action Figures? Minatures?". But I'm a huge geek and I decide not to let it bother me.
Then she crosses off "Play Wii" because the girls wouldn't be interested in that very much. And my wife and I look at each other. Married Person ESP kicks in and we both know the other person is thinking "WHAT!?!?!"
At the time when my daughter came home from school, the one thing she wanted to do most was play Lego Harry Potter with dad. But that's on an XBOX 360 so I guess it doesn't count.
Sheesh.
There was a time when all I wanted to was to play Lego Star Wars with my little brother. Real legos, the ones you can touch (I know, who does that?), and the game on the PS2.
Gender stereotypes... will they ever cease to be? Probably not. But to have it so blatantly in the classroom is a little more than a teensy bit distrubing, especially if it's young children. However, that's a whole conversation/rant for another time and another place!
Agreed. We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
SS: 0775 9129 1567 Black: 3267 4422 1986
They start talking about PPL around 15 minutes in. SO COOL.
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!