Idk call me old fashion but i miss the days when you had you had to grind each pokemon too lvl them up... im not a big fan of exp share... just kinda ruins the game for me makes it way too easy and doesnt make me feel as connected with my pokemon anymore... like ive had pokemon evolve without even using them once.... how do you guys feel about exp share? Try and convince me that its better for the game... the only thing i can think its there for is soo you can get better pokemon quicker too play online with.
You never had to grind. In past games, fighting trainers was enough to keep your levels where they should be.
In Gen VI, I used it. I never found myself more than a level or two above the Gym Leaders, and by the Elite Four, I was still several levels under the Champion's highest level. Maybe it's just because I don't fight every trainer and never fight against wild Pokemon.
However, I still wasn't a fan. I personally try to keep my lowest level member at the front of my team - if there's a tie, it's whichever needs more experience to level up - and only really switch out if it's a particularly bad matchup.
In X, I played through with Snorlax, Greninja, and Talonflame. Greninja and Talonflame belong to the Medium Slow experience curve, and Snorlax to the Slow experience curve. Because of that, from the point I got Snorlax (which is really early in XY), it was always trailing a level or so behind my other Pokemon, so I fought more or less every battle in the game with it and only ever got to use my other Pokemon if there was a Fighting type or if Snorlax fainted.
But, of course, the game's level curve is designed under the assumption that you use the Experience Share. If you turn it off, the experience you earn from trainers isn't enough to prevent you from becoming more and more underleveled, and you have to grind to keep up. And that's boring. So turning it off isn't particularly great either.
Plus, if you have a lower-leveled Pokemon, and you have the Experience Share turned off, you're forced into switch training, which is tedious. And, even if it's on, because your whole team gets experience too, it'll probably take quite a long time to catch up.
SM changed the experience formula to be more like BW, but I haven't had enough experience with SM to decide if it actually makes me like this style of Experience Share more.