Monday, November 24, 2014

Smogon made a promise, can they keep it?

The uber suspect tests for Mega Gengar and Shadow Tag pretty much brought out the worst of everyone involved, to such a degree that to quote chaos, "I think it's the consensus of the Smogon Ubers community that the Uber suspect tests were a bad idea, and we will not be doing them anymore."

This was said last Tuesday.

Three days later... well, you know what happened, I don't think I need to spell it out.

Either way, that was enough for the flame wars to begin anew. Seems like those suspect tests did more than fracture the community, they also planted the idea in the heads of some people that suspect testing in ubers was inevitable and normal, so when something sufficiently overpowered or uncompetitive (or both, though not even Mega Rayquaza is guilty of the latter) comes by a suspect test is the natural thing to do.

So, that promise that there won't be any more uber suspect tests. Will it hold? For how long?

12 comments:

  1. And it's interesting that they were releasing the Smog recently too and they briefly talked about Mega Rayquaza based on the older knowledge they had at the time of writing. Goddess Briyella seemed to make a prediction which has already proven at least partly accurate. To quote her, this is what she said in the Smog for those who haven't seen it.

    "The truly scary possibility presented here is that Mega Rayquaza may be able to hold an item other than a stone as other Mega Evolutions require. If that turns out to be case, this thing will break Ubers and likely find itself sentenced to wherever Moody was banned to. Ready to find out?"

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    1. Yep. This is the worst possible timing to use the word "never" that one could possibly imagine.

      Anyway, that prediction may have come from the fact that the code found in the demo hinted at a method of mega evolution that WASN'T a held item. Dragon Ascent being nowhere to be found in its level-up movepool was just the icing on the cake.

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  2. Hey, they have to hide all evidence that Arceus is no longer the strongest of all Pokemon...Though Primal Groudon will usurp Xerneas's old spot to compete with him...
    The Meteorite could have been the Jade Orb. But now, unless you want to use specially oriented Rayquaza...Well, get to soft resetting for good IVs...

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  3. I was involved in these last two suspect tests, and boy was it rough sledding. The discussion threads for the two tests were the worst I've ever participated in (though for rather different reasons, interestingly enough). On the plus side, this test highlighted some glaring issues with tiering policy that will hopefully be remedied in the near future. So much went wrong at the same time, out of the leaders' control or otherwise, that most of us just want to put this all behind us and rediscover what Ubers is really about. There's more important stuff for the average player to worry about than bureaucracy and politics after all, such as how to most easily destroy all challengers most effectively with our lovely new ORAS toys!

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    1. Oh yeah, I should mention that just because there will be no suspect tests in the foreseeable future by no means implies that nothing will be banned from Ubers. Bans would just get happen at the discretion of the tier leader without going through the motions of a suspect test.

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    2. At which point there'll be even more bitching because it's only one person calling the shots. Seems more counterproductive than anything.

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  4. Better stat total than Gen 1 Mewtwo, also only has two weaknesses. Granted, unlike Gen 1 Mewtwo, those weaknesses don't suck. Slightly worse speed. All of that traded for much more attacking prowess, to the point where special Rayquaza is the only reason you'd NOT run the Mega. Doing that makes one ask why, though...

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    1. Oops. Three. Forgot Ice because Delta Stream makes that not a quad...

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  5. Ah, they couldn't have used the Jade Orb, then make it compatible with having another Mega in the team if they wanted sheer OPness and differences with both standard Megas and the Primals...

    I seriously wonder who had this idea. I mean, it is fun, but we are getting at the same time a vastly improved Rayquaza with the sole drawback of taking the Mega slot, and a Kyogre with 150 Attack but untouched Defense and Speed, and not even, say, a secondary Electric type or Hurricane.

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    1. Actually, I like that they barely buffed Kyogre and gave Groudon all the goodies, because the latter needed it a LOT more. Kyogre already was the third most used Pokémon in ubers, it didn't need jack. The only bone I have to pick is with Rayquaza, really. Increasing its BST by 100 AND not requiring a held item was a bad call. Either make it another Primal by using the Jade Orb, or give it minimal (or even nonexistent) stat boosts. Even Delta Stream alone is pretty sweet, and it'd be an interesting dilemma to see if the upgrade is worth the mega slot. In reality, no mega is viable in ubers, just because it means you can't use Rayquaza's.

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    2. Both Primals have awkward stat spreads, but yeah, Groudon got a huge revamp that gives it a brand new playstyle while still having its old toys just in case you want sun for the whole team, or a choice set, while Kyogre still remains the same hard hitting hammer as ever. Primal Kyogre wouldn't beat ScarfOgre's sheer power with ease, so they could have added some bonuses to give it variety. It is the third most used, but it is a bit boring. I guess Aqua Tail out of 150 Atk may scare some potential switch ins, or an unSTABed Earthquake may work on a confident Primal Groudon, but I do not put much faith on that.

      Rayquaza has a stat spread the Mega Mewtwos would kill for, which is fine for a mega, is functionally a pure Dragon with Flying resists and STAB, and virtually no drawback.

      Seriously, one can build a team with Rayquaza and a different Mega, use the mega, and function well because standard Rayquaza is still a good Pokemon, or just upgrade to Mega Rayquaza if the battle does not require the secondary mega. With NO drawback.

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    3. Standard Rayquaza is good, yes, but it's trash compared to Mega Rayquaza. This thing is as superdominant as RBY Mewtwo was, and that's saying something.

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