What's wrong with "normal" training?

[Joe-kun]

Everywhere I go, I see people insist that EV Training is the BEST kind and anyone who doesn't shouldn't bother playing because they'll always lose. As someone who has never done this type of training, I want to know - Am I just missing stuff from a competitive standpoint? I've been with Pokemon since Red and Blue, and I've never had a problem.

So are people who don't do this kind of training "lesser" players to those who do? I don't know how to do this type of training, and I don't want to learn (I use vitamins for stat raising,) so I'm curious on opinions here. Is my way of training going to get me anywhere in the future?

I'd ask this in HG/SS but it seemed pointless as I don't have either yet.

 

[Griffinbane]

Well, to put it simply, by EV training, you can specifically place 127 stat points in the designated spots you want them. All normal training does is randomly spread out the 127 points everywhere, reducing the effectiveness of them.

Consider this, when raising a Blissey the "normal" way, you'd probably throw stats into its rather useless speed and attack stats. Competitively, it pretty much makes your Blissey much more easily handled than EV trained ones.

Or this: when raising a Scizor the "normal" way, you'll probably toss stats into special attack, which is completely useless for Scizor because Scizor's special attack is fairly low and well, he doesn't have a good special moveset. Toss it into a competitive battle and you'll see that your Scizor doesn't pack quite a punch as it would if it were EV trained, rendering it nowhere near as dangerous as its EV'd counterpart.

There's nothing wrong with training it the normal way, except if you decide to battle competitively with it, you probably won't stand much of a chance. Normal is more for in-game, although EV training for in-game play can be useful as well.

Edit: delete, delete. Better example. 5 restaurants, and you have 10 million bucks to reinforce the restaurants. 3 of them are floundering and it's likely they won't survive, 2 of them anyways. Which do you decide to reinforce?

 

[Ninja Caterpie]

EV training is to maximise good EVs, so you can get a potential 64(?) extra on one stat.

There's no point EV training once EVs are maxed, so it's back to normal grinding after that.

 

[Joe-kun]

Pokemon wasn't designed to be a GRINDING game - ... Well, okay, you're pretty much right, but at least not THAT bad. I really think people think way too much into it - But then again, no tournaments are around here so I have no reason to even worry about it.

 

[Anti-Hero]

EV/IV training are ways of pumping your pokemon to make it the strongest that it can be.

Certain Pokemon need certain EVs to preform their best.

Smogon(click)

That gives a bunch of good examples of why you need to IV/EV train.

Some pokemon are used to attack quickly, so you want their stats to be put in speed, no def. Get it? Yeah, you probably got a better explanation from the before people.

Also note, the upon defeating certain Pokemon, you get certain EVs.


Serebii(click)

That will show you what pokemon give what EVs and how many of each.

Also, Nintendo purposely added these, for their more competitive gamers. Their are also tons of tournaments here, you just need to check here
Battle Stadium

 

[Griffinbane]

RPGs are by definition grinders. Pokemon got off lightly compared to many other RPGs I've encountered. >.>

Anyhoo, PC does have tourneys but they don't come about often. Sign-ups for the Tag-team tourney and the PC Wifi tourney looks to be the soonest to come. So yeah, unless you don't care much for tourneys and leagues here, you should probably look into EV training. xD

 

[Ninja Caterpie]

Pokemon wasn't designed to be a GRINDING game - ... Well, okay, you're pretty much right, but at least not THAT bad. I really think people think way too much into it - But then again, no tournaments are around here so I have no reason to even worry about it.

EV training isn't part of the grinding.

EV training is "optimisation of Pokemon".

Grinding is grinding. How do you get to level 100 without grinding?

I mean, you don't expect to do QUESTS, do you?

 

[Joe-kun]

EV training isn't part of the grinding.

EV training is "optimisation of Pokemon".

Grinding is grinding. How do you get to level 100 without grinding?

I mean, you don't expect to do QUESTS, do you?

Eh. Okay, you win. Don't know what to say at this point.

 

[xxashxx]

I usually train the normal way but I trade for EV trained Pokemon. I have trien EV'ing a Lapras in HP and SP ATK myself and it did not turn out all too well so I prefer trading for them VS trying to EV train myself as it is hard for me to do. I tried the Lapras in Fire Red and he got 407/407 HP and everything else did not turn out like I wanted. It probably had bad IV's anyway. I don't know how to tell what the EV's/IV's are on a Pokemon either. I just know when a stat is high but I don't know the IV's of the stats though.:)

 

[kohei]

Nothing is wrong with "normal" training, especially for finishing the scenario.

It's just that playing against someone with knowledge into the game will have EV training as a de facto prerequisite, and in the end, playing against someone with knowledge is so much more fun than with someone who lacks knowledge on the game system.

Of course, EV training is just EV training. Just because you EV train doesn't make you an auto-winner.

 

[Spikey-Eared Pichu]

Look at it in this perspective: You're a casual Pokemon gamer who doesn't use Wi-Fi to battle and really only battle in-game or with a few friends. Because of this, raising Pokemon in a normal manner is appropriate because you're not planning on participating in any Wi-Fi tourneys or anything in relation to that and you find the idea of spending hours finding Pokemon of a certain nature boring and pointless. Besides, what difference does it make if your Charizard's a Timid nature since it's Lv.100 and knows Blast Burn? You can beat any of your friends easy.

Now, this perspective: You're a serious Pokemon gamer who Wi-Fi battles frequently and trades for the best Pokemon often. You spend atleast two to three hours raising a single Pokemon only a few levels just so it gets the highest stats possible for its level. You plan on participating in every Wi-Fi tourney possible. In this perspective, EV training is prrefered because you'll be battling possibly more experienced Trainers who most likely have EV trained their own Pokemon. Normal training v/s EV training in this perspective differ dramatically. Sure, your Mewtwo's Lv.100 with a kick-butt offensive moveset, but compared to that Japenese kid's Mewtwo who you're battling over Wi-Fi, it pales since his is EV trained and has +60 or so in nearly all its statistics over your own.

As you can see, EV and Normal training are each suitable in their own right. Depending on the kind of gamer you are, one would be better over the other.

 

[iLaxbe!]

EV training isn't part of the grinding.

EV training is "optimisation of Pokemon".

Agree with that, there's nothing wrong about choosing the best foes for your Pokémon's development. It can even be fun... or challenging, at least.

Grinding is grinding. How do you get to level 100 without grinding?

I mean, you don't expect to do QUESTS, do you?

Well, you can do quests too. You can take a Pokémon to level 100 by trading it to a new game at a low level and battling every trainer on your quest. And with VS Seeker, you can repeat your quest by different ways. No grinding at all. (Depending on how many EXP. points your Pokémon needs)

 

[Shiny Rotom]

Well if you choose not to ev train yourself you could always ask me to ev train pokes for you. I am always willing to ev train for nothing. I will train any poke all i ask is you provide me with the poke.

 

[LethalTexture]

There's nothign "wrong" with normal training at all, if you want to train them normally then feel free to do so. people can play the game however they want to. however, if you decide to delve into the realms of competitive battling, then you may find yourself at a disadvantage.

For casual battling, normal training is fine, hence why I stress the word competitive.

 

[Pokémon Ranger ✩ Moriarty]

Yeah, I don't bother with EV training and I'm a little sick of how prevalent it's become all over the Pokémon fandom :/ It's why I don't go in for Competitive Battling in the Wi Fi Forum; I've battled several trainers with fully EV'd Pokémon and not stood a chance. (Think Cynthia, whose Pokémon all have perfect IVs.) The most I do is breed Pokémon with useful Natures and use Vitamins to boost stats if I feel they're too low. Nuts to spending hours battling countless Margikarp and Pidgeys; I'd rather have fun in my games. ):

 

[Fenrir Reki]

I guess some people are too lazy to train normally but it doesnt really matter unless you are one of those people who absolutely have to do everything legitly.

 

[cherrybby]

I guess some people are too lazy to train normally but it doesnt really matter unless you are one of those people who absolutely have to do everything legitly.

hmmm? what do you mean by that? xD EV training seems to be something that takes a lot of time and patience. definitely not something considered lazy. o.o;; unless you mean something else. xD

as for me, i don't do EV training. i don't do competitive battling - everything i do is in-game - so i don't really need to. there's absolutely nothing wrong with normal training, and anyone who tells you otherwise isn't right. unless you're into competitive battling, i wouldn't worry about it. there's no right or wrong way to train. do it your own way. (:
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[nui876]

I do both kinds of training

 

[Fenrir Reki]

hmmm? what do you mean by that? xD EV training seems to be something that takes a lot of time and patience. definitely not something considered lazy. o.o;; unless you mean something else. xD

as for me, i don't do EV training. i don't do competitive battling - everything i do is in-game - so i don't really need to. there's absolutely nothing wrong with normal training, and anyone who tells you otherwise isn't right. unless you're into competitive battling, i wouldn't worry about it. there's no right or wrong way to train. do it your own way. (:
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I mean some people dont want to waste their time EV training so they just use hacks to EV train all of their pokemon to save time.

 

[cherrybby]

I mean some people dont want to waste their time EV training so they just use hacks to EV train all of their pokemon to save time.

ohhh, i get what you mean. (: i wouldn't say that EV training is necessarily 'normal training', though. that's what got me a bit confused. xD but i get it now.
yeah, hacking is a bit lazy. i've done it before (generally just for the fun of it. after you've played a certain game so many times, you wanna try different things. xD) but yeah, it is.
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