Competitive vs. Casual

[AkameTheBulbasaur]

In real life, I have many friends who play Pokemon. Some of them like to play it to get through the game and level up their Pokemon, occasionally battling each other for fun, but not taking it too seriously. Some of them are really into competitive Pokemon battling, know all about EVs/IVs, which moves and items work best on which Pokemon and how to build the best competitive teams.

My question is, which type of player are you? Do you really love competitive battling? Do you stay away from it entirely? Are you in the middle?

As for me, I'm not super knowledgable about it, but I do try to incorporate things I've learned from my more competitively inclined friends into my casual run-throughs to make them easier. I've EV trained one team on Pearl, which is my current team on that game, but I wouldn't call it anywhere close to a competitive team.

 

[pkmin3033]

I used to be really competitive when Gen IV kicked off, but now I'm more of a casual player. I really didn't care for Gen V or for what it did to the metagame, so I just kinda drifted away from the whole thing. I haven't had the motivation to get back into it with Gen VI, even though it's now substantially easier to breed and train Pokemon that would be good enough to compete; I just don't have the time or the patience that I used to.

I don't even know what falls into what tier anymore, and I really don't care. I'm a filthy casual and I'm proud of it. xD

 

[itsSacred]

I guess I would consider myself a Casual player, I literally have no idea what EV/IV means or anything like that.

I would like to know more about competitive play, it seems like it takes a lot of strategy. Right now I only follow competitive CSGO and COD.

 

[Laguna]

Well I tend to hang out on our Showdown server but I don't really do hardcore competitive battling so I guess you can say I'm in the middle. I probably could go into IV/EV breeding all my pokémon so I can destroy everything but I choose not to because I'm not willing to waste hours of my time just making sure my pokémon is absolutely perfect. I don't really feel like it's as fun as just making this all up as I go along which is pretty much how I play pokémon.

 

[Hikamaru]

I'm more casual than competitive, despite knowing what EVs, IVs and natures are. It's mainly because I don't want to waste time constantly breeding for the perfect Pokemon plus I always enjoy the story way more than the battling.

 

[Crystal Berry]

I'm a casual competitive battler. I enjoy battling competitively but I'm not too serious about it and I don't even ladder often. I just know how to play which helps me win easily against really bad players who don't know how EVs, IVs, STAB and stuff like that works. I remember when I was a little kid and I thought Blast Burn Charizard was the coolest thing ever. Good times..

 

[AkameTheBulbasaur]

I still think it's pretty cool how Pokemon games are simple enough to appeal to casual players, but also complex enough for more serious competitive players to get a lot out of it!

And they're also appealing to a wide range of people who fall somewhere in between that as well.

As I said before, I EV trained my last team, but I'm not sure if I want to do it again. It was an awful lot of work. It's a lot easier on something like Showdown because you can just but the numbers in and your done, but you still have to know what the numbers mean.

Another thing I often do, since I made a hack where I changed Pokemon stats and move sets etc. completely, is I mix up what the types/stats/moves etc. are that I made up and the types/stats/moves etc that the Pokemon actually have in the real games (which made it somewhat difficult for me to program things like Gym Leaders with actual strategies). That's probably preventing me from getting real competitive is because I would essentially have to memorize two different sets of strategies for two different games.

Although I think I could handle it if I put A LOT of time into it, but I currently don't have that time. :(

 

[DraconianWing]

I'm in the dead center between both. I was introduced to competitive in BW, but didn't really improve until X and Y. It was quite a lot of fun because it changed the way I see Pokemon battling; the depth of tactic goes way beyond available moves and typing. I was even active on Showdown for a month or two.

I haven't played competitively after ORAS came out, because for some reason I've been too lazy to read up on tier changes and the new metagame in general. However, the habit of EV training and finding optimal natures has rubbed of even on my in-game teams, and I no longer use sets will all attacking moves. So right now I'm more on the casual side than competitive.

 

[Aquacorde]

I know some of the metagame and tend to do a little bit of EV training in game and set up decent movesets, but I don't go for the competitive stuff. Despite hanging out at the battle server all the time haha. I can put decent setups on my WoPC teams and I can randabatt but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Drayton]

As much as breeding for making perfect IV/EV or getting good egg moves. I'm more of a casual player who just wants to spend time training and having fun, I'm not much competitiveness on normal game expect on Showdown which I am competitive

 

[DraconianWing]

As much as breeding for making perfect IV/EV or getting good egg moves. I'm more of a casual player who just wants to spend time training and having fun, I'm not much competitiveness on normal game expect on Showdown which I am competitive

Pretty much the same here right now; it's a bit hard to get motivation for IV/egg move breeding then EV training nowadays when Showdown has them available at your disposal. Additionally, you get to decide what rulesets to play by, as well as access to every single known Pokemon. The chat system is also an added bonus that isn't present in the official games.

 

[Alfieri]

I'm both. Most of my friends are very casual or they at least care about natures and movesets but couldn't care less about EVs and IVs.

I always have a main game where I play through the story and enjoy the game with a made up team. After beating the game, I begin to play competitively and transfer some old teams and start battling online or in whatever battle factory type thing the game offers. Then I have the second version of the game which I use to just reset the game to play through the story and use Pokemon I never used or love using over and over.

 

[Meadow]

I picked up competitive Pokémon a couple years ago since I had a friend who played it competitively, but I ended up dropping it because I simply can't commit enough time into the learning curve, and practicing it starting feeling like a chore.

Soooo as of right now, I'm a casual player. :D

 

[AkameTheBulbasaur]

I'm in the dead center between both. I was introduced to competitive in BW, but didn't really improve until X and Y. It was quite a lot of fun because it changed the way I see Pokemon battling; the depth of tactic goes way beyond available moves and typing. I was even active on Showdown for a month or two.

What would you say are the best and worst (or hardest/easiest) parts of competitive battling for someone who is newly getting into it? What's the biggest hurdle for somebody who is a competitive Pokemon battler in the long term?

 

[DraconianWing]

What would you say are the best and worst (or hardest/easiest) parts of competitive battling for someone who is newly getting into it? What's the biggest hurdle for somebody who is a competitive Pokemon battler in the long term?

The first and one of the most important advice I can give to a complete beginner is to learn to utilize status moves. Most of the more casual players I know like to have movesets involving four attacking moves (or something ridiculous like Surf Rhydon). A lot of the time, the difference between a win or a loss comes down to whether a Pokemon has paralysis, sleep, poison etc. Battle against another competitive player and it won't take long to realize how big of an impact status conditions have. The same applies to stat boosts and/or reductions.

Another useful tip would be to try and predict what move your opponent is going to make next. I've found that competitive Pokemon battling is one huge mind game, and you can get outsmarted even in situations where you think everything is going your way. Because everyone likes to battle with their own unique style, you'll have to be very adaptable when it comes to this. In my experience, the biggest hurdle in competitive battling is coping with the metagame as it changes (ie. BW to XY, XY to ORAS); when transitioning between generations, you will notice that some Pokemon will become more/less useful with their respective roles as new moves are introduced, stat changes are made, and new types are introduced.

There is a lot more stuff to type, but I'll stop rambling and let you discover everything else on your own; learning as you go is part of the art that is competitive Pokemon battling. Don't lose confidence if your first few matches don't turn out in your favor. If you lose a battle, simply find another opponent and do your best. It will feel very rewarding once you get the hang of it and begin moving up the ladder.

 

[AkameTheBulbasaur]

The first and one of the most important advice I can give to a complete beginner is to learn to utilize status moves. Most of the more casual players I know like to have movesets involving four attacking moves (or something ridiculous like Surf Rhydon). A lot of the time, the difference between a win or a loss comes down to whether a Pokemon has paralysis, sleep, poison etc. Battle against another competitive player and it won't take long to realize how big of an impact status conditions have. The same applies to stat boosts and/or reductions.

Another useful tip would be to try and predict what move your opponent is going to make next. I've found that competitive Pokemon battling is one huge mind game, and you can get outsmarted even in situations where you think everything is going your way. Because everyone likes to battle with their own unique style, you'll have to be very adaptable when it comes to this. In my experience, the biggest hurdle in competitive battling is coping with the metagame as it changes (ie. BW to XY, XY to ORAS); when transitioning between generations, you will notice that some Pokemon will become more/less useful with their respective roles as new moves are introduced, stat changes are made, and new types are introduced.

There is a lot more stuff to type, but I'll stop rambling and let you discover everything else on your own; learning as you go is part of the art that is competitive Pokemon battling. Don't lose confidence if your first few matches don't turn out in your favor. If you lose a battle, simply find another opponent and do your best. It will feel very rewarding once you get the hang of it and begin moving up the ladder.

That sounds like solid advice. Thanks for that! I don't know if I'll ever get too into competitive battling (due to things like school) but that sounds like a good place to start!

 

[Drayton]

Casual player does keep the offensive and less strategical, compare to Expert battler they throw status problems as well defense and offense together and very more strategical than Casual Players.

 

[Sopheria]

I'm a competitive battler to the very end ^^ Competitive battling is so much fun, but even more fun is training and breeding for good competitive Pokes, and the whole team building process in general. That's how I like to spend most of my time when I'm playing Pokemon games, and it's so rewarding when all your hard work pays off and you rack up points in Battle Spot or in the Maison :)

 

[KetsuekiR]

I play both equally xD The amount of hours I spend playing casually is pretty much equal to the amount of hours i spend on Showdown :P Competetive battling is really, really fun and I love the Showdown servers since players there are usually better than ones on BattleSpot (where I wipe out entire teams of six legendaries with a competitively built Mega Gardevoir) and it's a great challenge than involves smart playing xD On the other hand, casual play is calmer and relaxed and it's a great way to kick back :P

 

[Mega NOBODY]

I like both. I liked competitive battling much more in generation 3 and 4. I hated the pokemon created in gen 5 especially the 3 genies (Landorus, Thundurus, Tornadus). In generation 3 and 4 there were a lot of defensive pokemon as well as offensive pokemon, but in gen 5, things got out of hand as the nuber of offensive threats rose exponentially while defensive stall based pokemon decreased, also the gen 5 competitive was all about weather warfare. Rain with Swift Swim, Hydration, dry skin. Sun with solar power, chlorophyll. Sand offense with sand force and sand rush. It just got messed up way to fast if you ask me. And don't even get me started on Gothitelle's satanic shadow tag ability.


In gen 6 things got even more worse, Gengar one of my favourite pokemon got a mega but then that mega got so damn powerful that it had to be officially banned, I mean what was gamefreak thinking with the cancerous shadow tag ability. I don't wanna use my MegaGar against legendaries, I wanna play OU. Same goes for MegaKhan, MegaMawile, MegaLucario, MegaSalamence etc. This gen way too many things got banned to Uber.


As a competitive player I like more defensive and stall based teams but I also like offense but from gen 5 onwards defensive stall based teams don't work so I kinda play very little competitively.


As a casual player I wish gamefreak gave us more options then just battling rivals and fighting an evil team. I wish we could do a lot more like buying a house, owning a pokemon farm or choosing a profession like Pokémon doctor, breeder, gym leader or open up our own day care centre or pokemon centre. Gen 5 did give us the option to start a shop in the joint avenue and I wish there were more such options. I wish there was a sim/pokemon fusion game( my 2 favourite franchise) cause that would be awesome.