Pokemon in Player battles

[Mr.Doomtrain]

I am concerned about the PvP in this game.
Here is a situation I wouldn't want - When 2 players meet - battle.... They battle until all of the pokemon has fainted. This is fine in theory, but there is one problem: Type Match-ups.
Will players be able to switch out their pokemon freely?
The point I am trying to make.... Example:
I battle and we put out our first pokemon in line- I have started with a fire-type and the opponent (who we will be calling mr.Guy) has started with a grass type pokemon. It would be a good match-up for me, but suddenly mr.guy switches to a water-type pokemon to counter my fire type, I reply by switching to a electric-type---- While mr.guy tries to go on my weakness again and switches to ground type--so on and so on until we get where we started with barely of any battle done.... That is a situation I dont want to be in.
Will players be able to switch out their pokemon freely in pvp battles?

If not great.... But it really all ends up on the first pokemon's type. We keep countering each other until the obvious mathematical result - the one who was lucky on the first turn wins the entire thing.

My suggestion to keep preventing this kind of result in PvP, is that it would be.... Like the Battle Tent in 3rd gen. When the battle is announced, the both players pick out 3 pokemon that they will decide to use in the battle. And they battle! No switching, you can only switch when your pokemon have fainted! 3 pokemon defeated and a winner can be declared!

There is probably something I missed in the forums or the site regarding this question. (Tried the search bar, didn't find much) But I am really concerned about the fairness of the battle system. Yes, I know my idea is probably pretty lame, and it is probably too late to implement it, but I find it relatively plausible.

Bottom line: I do not want PvP battles to become switch-fests. What should we do to prevent this?

I feel stupid asking this question.

[Gammal]

I am concerned about the PvP in this game.
Here is a situation I wouldn't want - When 2 players meet - battle.... They battle until all of the pokemon has fainted. This is fine in theory, but there is one problem: Type Match-ups.
Will players be able to switch out their pokemon freely?
The point I am trying to make.... Example:
I battle and we put out our first pokemon in line- I have started with a fire-type and the opponent (who we will be calling mr.Guy) has started with a grass type pokemon. It would be a good match-up for me, but suddenly mr.guy switches to a water-type pokemon to counter my fire type, I reply by switching to a electric-type---- While mr.guy tries to go on my weakness again and switches to ground type--so on and so on until we get where we started with barely of any battle done.... That is a situation I dont want to be in.
Will players be able to switch out their pokemon freely in pvp battles?

If not great.... But it really all ends up on the first pokemon's type. We keep countering each other until the obvious mathematical result - the one who was lucky on the first turn wins the entire thing.

No, this is simply not true.
A Pokemon battle is so much more then "knowing the starting Pokemon´s type"
I can battle you on Smogon if you´d like, my first Pokemon is Aerodactyl, this does not ensure your victory, and I can prove it.

My suggestion to keep preventing this kind of result in PvP, is that it would be.... Like the Battle Tent in 3rd gen. When the battle is announced, the both players pick out 3 pokemon that they will decide to use in the battle. And they battle! No switching, you can only switch when your pokemon have fainted! 3 pokemon defeated and a winner can be declared!

There is probably something I missed in the forums or the site regarding this question. (Tried the search bar, didn't find much) But I am really concerned about the fairness of the battle system. Yes, I know my idea is probably pretty lame, and it is probably too late to implement it, but I find it relatively plausible.

Bottom line: I do not want PvP battles to become switch-fests. What should we do to prevent this?

I feel stupid asking this question.

Hello there, my name is Gammal and I´m (and 2others) are working on balance in PU.
I can understand your fears, but you also have to understand something.
If we completely remove the ability to switch pokemon during battle, will we also be removing great strategic depth.
More on that later, now I understad how you are thinking with the switching, but lets look at what you are suggesting a bit more in-depth.

This is a possible scenario with your suggested change.

I send out a Butterfree
You send out a Hundoom
Butterfree is 1shotted since its slower, and weak to fire.
I send out Infernape
Hundoom is 1shotted since its weak to fighting and slower.
You send out Flygon
Infernape is 1shotted because its slower and weak to Ground.

Im starting to notice a pattern here.

Not only would this type of game-play weaken the overall strategic relevance of your "picks", but it would also turn the PU meta game into something very boring.
So how would I build a team with this type of game-play?
1. I would only use really fast pokemon
2. All pokemon would have only attacking moves (thunder, eq etc)
This would also render Choice items such as choice scarf totally useless, cause you don´t really want to be stuck on a move and then not be able to switch out.

Furthermore; Pokemon like Umbreon, which is a support Pokemon (like many of the eevolutions are) would be rendered completely useless, and we would see its usage ratio quickly fall to 0%.
There are very few Pokemon that would fit the criteria, and the endgame would be very repetitive and boring.

And while I can agree that low-lvl pvp might get a bit tedious with all the switching, the battle will end sooner or later, and this problem will gradually fade away, since switching becomes more and more painful as Pokemon´s move-pool and attack stats grow.


//Gammal - Master of Balance


 

[Mr.Doomtrain]

Even though I think you didn't quite understand my Idea to the fullest, but that's ok. I guess that was only a fear in my own false logic.
Big thanks for this answer, I appreciate it.

[Gammal]

Glad I could help.
If you got any other questions, don´t hesitate to ask, the worst thing that can happen is that the thread is locked
And if you wanna have some direct feedback on your ideas, join us on IRC, you can either download a IRC client (I prefer mIRC)
or you can click on the "chat" tab on the top of the website.

// Gammal

[Sephiroth]

how about every time a player switches, the other player has the option to switch or stay simultaneously without a penalty regardless of their decision.

That way both trainers pick each match-up totally blind every time.

[Gammal]

how about every time a player switches, the other player has the option to switch or stay simultaneously without a penalty regardless of their decision.

That way both trainers pick each match-up totally blind every time.

No, the whole point is that you switch in a certain Pokemon to take an attack, if your opponent knows what kind of attack it is, his switch can be predictable, and you CAN switch at the same time as him, you just have to chose to do so.
Thats what I call "switching blind"

This is not going to change