Sadly, VGC has really gotten watered down. To get to high level events, it requires a lot of funds for travel, since I doubt anybody, kid or adult, is just going to walk around the country for events. And, even if you do actually get to those events, you have to contend with the fact that most people at these events are well-versed in programs that skip those tedious breeding and training mechanics, or are friends with others that are and can just get them whatever they'd like in full teams with no real challenge in less than an hour. Even the RUclipsr you mentioned early in this video has been shown to use these illegal Pokemon in official events. This has kind of been the big problem with competitive Pokemon in general. Outside of certain areas, like Japan, most players of VGC have been shown with these illegal Pokemon, which kind of makes it not really worth it. While Smogon is alright for some team suggestions, they have their own can of worms separate from VGC's problems, which mainly stem from their own philosophy that stifles creativity and actually frowns upon it. I wouldn't go as far as saying VGC players doing damage calculations is wrong. It would be wrong to say they're heartless, as I feel the Smogon players take that category. However, VGC is heavy about damage calculations. Even watching WolfeyVGC, he goes through during his matches he shows mentioning damage calcs. Any person you watch talking about if they should live through that or that their attack should KO; those are all damage calculations. Even those that most would say are the worst Pokemon RUclipsrs talk about those damage calculations, because they are the most important aspect of VGC. Can this attack OHKO? Can I survive two hits from this? Three with healing? It all has to be calculated.
The hacking problem has always been a bit of a contentious issue. It's indeed a big problem, and I'm not about to pretend it doesn't exist. I'm not gonna be the one to convict anyone over it, especially when generally speaking, all that hacking does is releave the tedious grind, rather then actually affect the outcome of matches. And for better or worse, the hack checks have been getting a lot more effective recently. From the looks of it, most big players don't go out of their way to hack nowadays due to the risk of getting eliminated. It's a bigger letdown to have wasted the money and time it took to go to a regional than it is to spend a few hours EV training. Oh yeah, I know calcs are important lol When I said they're not "heartless and doing calculations all day" I meant more in the sense that-- despite the fact that the game IS a very technical and complex turn based RPG, most players, no matter how good with numbers, are rlly fun people. I feel like there's a preconception that this kinda game might be too complex or nerdy for some, but while it does take effort, it never feels like I'm doing math homework. Most are not above playing goofy teams for the sake of playing goofy teams a lot of the time. The fact that "calcs vs vibes" is literally a running meme in the community says a lot. Travel costs for these events is a sad reality, but there's very little anyone can really do about it. That's not TPCI's fault as much as it is the world's fault. They can't do literally every location. These things take a budget, and in general, the ammount of budget they put into the competitive scene is already kinda astounding. And they even have mechanics for discouraging grinding out CP by going to many different regionals. Over my year and a half of playing, living in a remote location, I've been able to go two regionals and a Premiere Challenge, and despite not having as much CP as I could have, I had a blast!
Good video, what’s that gen7 ost in the back towards the end btw?
Hey, thanks dude!
It's the route 4 theme!
Sadly, VGC has really gotten watered down. To get to high level events, it requires a lot of funds for travel, since I doubt anybody, kid or adult, is just going to walk around the country for events. And, even if you do actually get to those events, you have to contend with the fact that most people at these events are well-versed in programs that skip those tedious breeding and training mechanics, or are friends with others that are and can just get them whatever they'd like in full teams with no real challenge in less than an hour. Even the RUclipsr you mentioned early in this video has been shown to use these illegal Pokemon in official events. This has kind of been the big problem with competitive Pokemon in general. Outside of certain areas, like Japan, most players of VGC have been shown with these illegal Pokemon, which kind of makes it not really worth it.
While Smogon is alright for some team suggestions, they have their own can of worms separate from VGC's problems, which mainly stem from their own philosophy that stifles creativity and actually frowns upon it.
I wouldn't go as far as saying VGC players doing damage calculations is wrong. It would be wrong to say they're heartless, as I feel the Smogon players take that category. However, VGC is heavy about damage calculations. Even watching WolfeyVGC, he goes through during his matches he shows mentioning damage calcs. Any person you watch talking about if they should live through that or that their attack should KO; those are all damage calculations. Even those that most would say are the worst Pokemon RUclipsrs talk about those damage calculations, because they are the most important aspect of VGC. Can this attack OHKO? Can I survive two hits from this? Three with healing? It all has to be calculated.
The hacking problem has always been a bit of a contentious issue. It's indeed a big problem, and I'm not about to pretend it doesn't exist. I'm not gonna be the one to convict anyone over it, especially when generally speaking, all that hacking does is releave the tedious grind, rather then actually affect the outcome of matches. And for better or worse, the hack checks have been getting a lot more effective recently. From the looks of it, most big players don't go out of their way to hack nowadays due to the risk of getting eliminated. It's a bigger letdown to have wasted the money and time it took to go to a regional than it is to spend a few hours EV training.
Oh yeah, I know calcs are important lol
When I said they're not "heartless and doing calculations all day" I meant more in the sense that-- despite the fact that the game IS a very technical and complex turn based RPG, most players, no matter how good with numbers, are rlly fun people. I feel like there's a preconception that this kinda game might be too complex or nerdy for some, but while it does take effort, it never feels like I'm doing math homework. Most are not above playing goofy teams for the sake of playing goofy teams a lot of the time. The fact that "calcs vs vibes" is literally a running meme in the community says a lot.
Travel costs for these events is a sad reality, but there's very little anyone can really do about it. That's not TPCI's fault as much as it is the world's fault. They can't do literally every location. These things take a budget, and in general, the ammount of budget they put into the competitive scene is already kinda astounding. And they even have mechanics for discouraging grinding out CP by going to many different regionals. Over my year and a half of playing, living in a remote location, I've been able to go two regionals and a Premiere Challenge, and despite not having as much CP as I could have, I had a blast!