has ev training taken the fun out of pokemon

[Richard Lynch]

EVs, IVs, and natures are what sets in-game and competitive play apart. While you're just playing the game for fun, natures, IVs and EVs mean nothing - the AI is too stupid for you to even need to consider any.

However, in the competitive world (ie, WiFi and soon-to-come official WiFi tournaments), those three things are nearly vital. I mean, all three things I listed determine if a Pokemon will dish out as much Attack/Special Attack as it can, or will determine if it can absorb as much [Special] Attack as it can. Would you rather have a Garchomp that can Attack with mediocre power, or a Garchomp that can attack with full power? Likewise, would you rather have a Blissey that can only take special attacks with somewhat ease, while crumbling to a single physical attack, or a jacked up Blissey that nearly every trainer HATES to see?

It's all up to personal preference if you want to train like this... but being a competitive battler myself, I can say with confidence that I can tell almost instantly if a team is EV trained.

But it in no way takes the fun out of it - no one's forcing anyone to "properly train" their Pokes. If you're playing in-game, it's not necessary at all to even bother with EVs, IVs or natures. But against the competitive bigwigs, it makes a world of difference.

 

[Seol]

The trouble is, it's busywork. The results of EV training, yes, it means you can tweak the Pokes to be optimal in battle. The process of EV training, however - it's not exactly the most fun. If, say, there was a hypothetical Master Creche which was only available after 100-ing the Battle Tower that applied the EV spread you wanted for 10,000 Pokedollars, would that take the fun out of competitive teambuilding? Or would it simply free up more time to try unconventional builds and put the emphasis on team design rather than having weekends of nothing but grinding it up?

I'm not criticising the concept of EVs or EV-trained Pokes, just the implementation of EV training.

 

[Richard Lynch]

The trouble is, it's busywork. The results of EV training, yes, it means you can tweak the Pokes to be optimal in battle. The process of EV training, however - it's not exactly the most fun. If, say, there was a hypothetical Master Creche which was only available after 100-ing the Battle Tower that applied the EV spread you wanted for 10,000 Pokedollars, would that take the fun out of competitive teambuilding? Or would it simply free up more time to try unconventional builds and put the emphasis on team design rather than having weekends of nothing but grinding it up?

I'm not criticising the concept of EVs or EV-trained Pokes, just the implementation of EV training.

You're making it seem like EV training takes days to complete... not true! With WiFi trades nowadays, it's not too difficult to get your hands on Pokerus. That, combined with the Macho Brace can give you 4 EVs when you should get 1. I mean, I'm able to EV train a Poke (I mean completely) in less than an hour. And that was back in the days of Emerald.

Now IV-breeding... that's where it gets strenuous, and I don't advise it too much, unless you're highly devout. Because it gets VERY frustrating after a while.

But even taking more time, the benefits of re-breeding can pay off quite a bit - with moves, even. Sometimes rebreeding is necessary to get the moveset you want. There's an unlimited amount of ways to go about properly training a Pokemon; it's how you do it that is up to personal preference.

 

[Towlie]

IV breeding isn't that hard as long as you do it systematically. On my Emerald cartridge I got an Impish (thanks to Everstone) Rhyhorn with 31 HP, 30 Defense and Attack and around 24 Speed and Sp.Defense as the result of 1 hour of breeding.

It's not too hard, just most of my parents have bad IVs lol. So I kinda have to rely on luck for good IVs. I Finally starting to get some decent parents with the pokerader though. Got a Camerupt with 31 Atk, 31 speed, and 28 SDef with a 10 chain. I need some good IVed Dittos though.

 

[willypiggy]

If I decided today that I wanted an Admanat Ttar and dont care about the IVs then I could probabley finish it in about 5 hours, all you do is breed a ditto with an everstone with the nature you want with the other pokemon and theres a 50% chance it will pass on the nature. Also, if you have pkrus and one of the new items that gives +4 evs then you get a minimum of 10EVs in that stat per battle, and a maximum of 14, thats amazing, you can give you pokemon vitamins so that it equals 100EVs, so you only need to kill 15 pokemon to max evs in a stat if you use Vitamins as well, thats nothing!

 

[Seol]

Oh, EV training isn't the worst offender in terms of busywork by any means.

But I defy anyone to tell me it's fun - it's mindless grinding, which punishes any attempt to strive for variety. Worthwhile, sure, if you're serious about your Pokes. Satisfying - possibly. But fun? No way.

Would anyone here not prefer it if you could unlock items or rooms where you can instantly set (or even just reallocate already earned) EVs, breed without having to walk 10,000 steps, and buy the Earthquake TM instead of having to do Battle Tower matches 1-21 three times back to back? All that has to be earned and unlocked somehow late into the postgame, obviously.

edit: willypiggy, I think 5 hours is probably a touch on the high side - but let's run with that. If I want to build a competitive team, once I have all the resources I need to reduce the effort involved, I then need to spend 30 hours breeding the entire squad - that's a full working week's worth of effort, and more gameplay time than many games get total, just to get a team worth playing competitively. That's 30 hours of pure grind. I'm all for the concept of power having to be earned but it's a bit OTT.

 

[Pkmn Trainer Alex]

Yea, EV-training isn't exactly the most enjoyable act, but with rewards in mind, I kinda lose sense of such joy. XD When I EV-train, I end up mindlessly fighting the same monsters, every now-and-then adding 1 to my Counter App, double-checking the PP costs, and all this while I'm watching anime on my computer.

And I'm used to such mindless grinding anyhow. Anyone who has played an MMORPG, or even just a regular RPG, should be able to shut out their minds while they rack up the experience.

Anyway, with Wi-Fi capabilities, we now have people EV-training Pokémon for others as a service. So I can't say it is all that bad, nor does it really take that long if you don't really pay (that much) attention to what you're doing. XD

 

[willypiggy]

I'm currentley soft reseting for a timid Azelf with 25+ IVs in SpAtk and Spd, once I have one then I wil lrecord how long it takes me to EV train it.

 

[Chibaymega12]

no way, as i breeded again and again to get the right male ralts to make into a gallade, it began to suck the fun outta every thing, though i'm happy my pokemon all have the possibility to become strong to my likelyness, it's just stressing

 

[Deathmage129]

Ev Training hasn't taken the fun out of Pokemon for me. It gives you a sort of sense of accomplishment and pride when you battle with it, or when you level it up and you see that nice +30 in a stat. IV Breeding on the other hand; is very boring and not fun at all.

 

[sinnohdexdone]

lol actually i get my ev trained from trades =]

 

[Magius]

Ev training not that hard its self, I would have to say about 80%of the time spent getting a perfect pokemon comes from trying to get one with the right nature and Ivs together

 

[pirate_auti]

i dont understand ev or iv at all and when i tryto understand it it makes me brain hurt

 

[beauty. proletariat]

EV training is one of the easiest things to do; what with all the vitamins and the exp shares and Macho brace and Anklets, it takes about 15 - 20 mins (xD - I EV-trained a gallade... the rest... i cant be bothered xD)
10 Vitamins, 152 more EVs to go, halve it first, 76, halve it again (pokerus) 38, halve it again (macho Brace) 19. Only 19 battles for it! (i halved 152 first because i use a +2 EV pokemon for everything ;)

 

[Random]

Yeah i agree with NekroBoi, vitamins is the first step towards EV training, so it saves about 12 extra battles with help of pokerus and macho brace. If you ever mess up on EV training, you can always resort to berries. Plus it raises their friendliness. Got to love 'em.:P

Pomeg Berry = -10 HP EVs
Kelpsy Berry = -10 Attack EVs
Qualot Berry = -10 Defense
Hondew Berry = -10 Special Attack
Grepa Berry = -10 Special Defense
Tamato Berry = -10 Speed

 

[ChrisG14]

I don't think it has. How boring would everything be if they're was no EVs or IV training? Electrive's Earthquake would always to X amount of damage with X nature, even with Motor Drive, he'll have Y amount of Speed. Salamance's Draco Metor would always to the same amount of damage to Dragonite and all Dragon Dances would be the same.

Even with natures, it's all too predictable and it takes the fun of strategy out of the game. But I guess that's for the really competivie players. If you don't want to EV train, no ones forcing you. Just don't be suprised when your team of Pikachu's and Legendaries get swept by Herracross.

 

[Shiraishi]

Um, EV training is the one thing that allows players to kill ubers..so no it is not stupid.