crenel
Youngster
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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August 2012 Battle Update
As I am stepping down as an Administrator as soon as we have the Journalist team finished up, I wanted to give you guys a parting present and also make up for several months of being behind on battle updates. This weekend I've invested a lot of time into what is simply put the biggest battle update we've ever had, and so I hope that you guys thoroughly enjoy yourselves.
This update includes 34 updated Pokemon, 501 updated attacks, 11 new attacks, several base stat corrections, and a new Pokemon available through normal play. The following is a quick rundown of what's new and what you can expect.
1. EVERY SINGLE MOVE IN THE DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED
This means that the next time the server restarts, there's going to be a lot of new stuff to play around with. The Battle Engine has not been updated and this is not our big battle engine update. What this means is that I've updated every move to represent its real version as best as possible within our current limitations. Here are some specific examples of the types of updates that I've done:
- Thrash/Outrage/Petal Dance: These now have 95 base power and 95% accuracy
- Hyper Beam/Giga Impact: The power of these two moves has been reduced to 100
- Memento: This now kills the user and reduces the opponent's attack by 100
- Belly Drum: This now raises the user's attack by 30
- Hi Jump Kick: This now has 130 base power
- All attacks with variable damages have had their damages averaged (example: Magnitude now deals 71 base damage rather than 1)
2. ALL STAT CHANGES HAVE BEEN NORMALIZED
This means that you will no longer see things like Metapods using Harden to gain 130 Defense or Rattatas using Tail Whip to lower your Defense by 40. Each stage is now worth 10 points. In other words, Tail Whip now lowers the target's Defense by 10 points... every single time. There is no more randomness or variance to the buff/debuff system. Some examples:
- Growl reduces the target's attack by 10
- Screech reduces the target's defense by 20
- Amnesia raises your special defense by 20
- Agility raises your speed by 20
- Tail Glow raises your special attack by 30
3. The following Pokemon have had their movesets updated:
- Diglett
- Dugtrio
- Meowth
- Persian
- Psyduck
- Golduck
- Mankey
- Primeape
- Growlithe
- Arcanine
- Geodude
- Graveler
- Golem
- Magnemite
- Magneton
- Grimer
- Muk
- Onix
- Drowzee
- Hypno
- Hitmonlee
- Hitmonchan
- Kangaskhan
- Horsea
- Seadra
- Magikarp
- Gyarados
- Steelix
- Heracross
- Remoraid
- Octillery
- Kingdra
- Tyrogue
- Hitmontop
4. Tyrogue now evolves into Hitmontop once it reaches level 20. Additionally, all of the above Pokemon have had any base stat errors corrected.
5. Some Pokemon that were not updated directly are still experiencing improvements through the skill updates. For example, Future Sight has been buffed to 100 base power (up from 80) which should help both Xatu and Alakazam to remain competitive. Also note that Heavy Slam was updated (80 base power, 100% accuracy, Steel type, no secondary effects), which gives Snorlax an additional attack.
6. New players should have a much easier time joining and adjusting to the game.
- Tackle has been buffed (35 base attack and 95% accuracy --> 50 base attack and 100% accuracy)
- Several important local Pokemon have been buffed (such as Mankey, which will help against Brock; and Geodude, which will help against Falkner)
- Several common/rare Pokemon have been updated, which should assist new players in joining the competitive scene
- The normalization of stat buffs/debuffs should make it much easier for new players to level up against Rattatas and Metapods
How is this useful to you?
Many, many more Pokemon should be usable in the game. Even Delibird has a functional attack now! We're hoping that this helps spice up competitive battles a bit while simultaneously making the game a bit more welcoming for new players. Several important early game Pokemon have been updated, including Mankey (which should help Kanto players) and Geodude (which should help Johto players), and several powerful, more common Pokemon have been updated (such as Arcanine and Kingdra).
How do we plan to expand on this?
Over the coming weeks we'll be making minor adjustments and tweaks to further correct some of the moves and balance them within PWO's current environment. If time permits we may update several more Pokemon to help further flesh out the early game, including both wild Pokemon and Pokemon owned by Gym Leaders.
Does this mean that the battle engine is fixed?
No. The battle engine is not fixed. This update did correct a lot of errors, but many of the moves still do not work exactly as they do in the hand held games. Instead, many of the moves have been modified to work at all, which is something that hasn't happened thus far in PWO. Many status moves (such as Perish Song and Stealth Rock) do absolutely nothing right now, not even damage; however, this is a known issue that should be repaired when the big battle update finally comes through.
So what can I do as a player?
Play! Play the everliving crap out of the game and report any move that you believe is a bit too strong or that is doing something weird (like if Leer is boosting an opponent's defense instead of lowering it, we want to know). If you believe that a move is broken, please check the Broken Moves article on the wiki first (NOTE: this needs to be updated, so wait approximately 7-10 days before reporting errors); if it's on the wiki list, then we know about it. If you notice any of the listed Pokemon learning moves at incorrect levels or simply learning the wrong moves, please let us know.
-------------
Thanks for supporting us through the both the good and the bad over the years; we hope that you're satisfied enough with these updates to continue to support us for many more years to come!
Edit:
How could I have forgotten! A big special thanks to Bluerise, Jinji, Dovee, Domanisalt, Tenfold, CheckeredZebra and Rbecca for either helping with the updates, helping to error check my work, or simply keeping me sane while I did my thing. Edit2: also beer.
As I am stepping down as an Administrator as soon as we have the Journalist team finished up, I wanted to give you guys a parting present and also make up for several months of being behind on battle updates. This weekend I've invested a lot of time into what is simply put the biggest battle update we've ever had, and so I hope that you guys thoroughly enjoy yourselves.
This update includes 34 updated Pokemon, 501 updated attacks, 11 new attacks, several base stat corrections, and a new Pokemon available through normal play. The following is a quick rundown of what's new and what you can expect.
1. EVERY SINGLE MOVE IN THE DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED
This means that the next time the server restarts, there's going to be a lot of new stuff to play around with. The Battle Engine has not been updated and this is not our big battle engine update. What this means is that I've updated every move to represent its real version as best as possible within our current limitations. Here are some specific examples of the types of updates that I've done:
- Thrash/Outrage/Petal Dance: These now have 95 base power and 95% accuracy
- Hyper Beam/Giga Impact: The power of these two moves has been reduced to 100
- Memento: This now kills the user and reduces the opponent's attack by 100
- Belly Drum: This now raises the user's attack by 30
- Hi Jump Kick: This now has 130 base power
- All attacks with variable damages have had their damages averaged (example: Magnitude now deals 71 base damage rather than 1)
2. ALL STAT CHANGES HAVE BEEN NORMALIZED
This means that you will no longer see things like Metapods using Harden to gain 130 Defense or Rattatas using Tail Whip to lower your Defense by 40. Each stage is now worth 10 points. In other words, Tail Whip now lowers the target's Defense by 10 points... every single time. There is no more randomness or variance to the buff/debuff system. Some examples:
- Growl reduces the target's attack by 10
- Screech reduces the target's defense by 20
- Amnesia raises your special defense by 20
- Agility raises your speed by 20
- Tail Glow raises your special attack by 30
3. The following Pokemon have had their movesets updated:
- Diglett
- Dugtrio
- Meowth
- Persian
- Psyduck
- Golduck
- Mankey
- Primeape
- Growlithe
- Arcanine
- Geodude
- Graveler
- Golem
- Magnemite
- Magneton
- Grimer
- Muk
- Onix
- Drowzee
- Hypno
- Hitmonlee
- Hitmonchan
- Kangaskhan
- Horsea
- Seadra
- Magikarp
- Gyarados
- Steelix
- Heracross
- Remoraid
- Octillery
- Kingdra
- Tyrogue
- Hitmontop
4. Tyrogue now evolves into Hitmontop once it reaches level 20. Additionally, all of the above Pokemon have had any base stat errors corrected.
5. Some Pokemon that were not updated directly are still experiencing improvements through the skill updates. For example, Future Sight has been buffed to 100 base power (up from 80) which should help both Xatu and Alakazam to remain competitive. Also note that Heavy Slam was updated (80 base power, 100% accuracy, Steel type, no secondary effects), which gives Snorlax an additional attack.
6. New players should have a much easier time joining and adjusting to the game.
- Tackle has been buffed (35 base attack and 95% accuracy --> 50 base attack and 100% accuracy)
- Several important local Pokemon have been buffed (such as Mankey, which will help against Brock; and Geodude, which will help against Falkner)
- Several common/rare Pokemon have been updated, which should assist new players in joining the competitive scene
- The normalization of stat buffs/debuffs should make it much easier for new players to level up against Rattatas and Metapods
How is this useful to you?
Many, many more Pokemon should be usable in the game. Even Delibird has a functional attack now! We're hoping that this helps spice up competitive battles a bit while simultaneously making the game a bit more welcoming for new players. Several important early game Pokemon have been updated, including Mankey (which should help Kanto players) and Geodude (which should help Johto players), and several powerful, more common Pokemon have been updated (such as Arcanine and Kingdra).
How do we plan to expand on this?
Over the coming weeks we'll be making minor adjustments and tweaks to further correct some of the moves and balance them within PWO's current environment. If time permits we may update several more Pokemon to help further flesh out the early game, including both wild Pokemon and Pokemon owned by Gym Leaders.
Does this mean that the battle engine is fixed?
No. The battle engine is not fixed. This update did correct a lot of errors, but many of the moves still do not work exactly as they do in the hand held games. Instead, many of the moves have been modified to work at all, which is something that hasn't happened thus far in PWO. Many status moves (such as Perish Song and Stealth Rock) do absolutely nothing right now, not even damage; however, this is a known issue that should be repaired when the big battle update finally comes through.
So what can I do as a player?
Play! Play the everliving crap out of the game and report any move that you believe is a bit too strong or that is doing something weird (like if Leer is boosting an opponent's defense instead of lowering it, we want to know). If you believe that a move is broken, please check the Broken Moves article on the wiki first (NOTE: this needs to be updated, so wait approximately 7-10 days before reporting errors); if it's on the wiki list, then we know about it. If you notice any of the listed Pokemon learning moves at incorrect levels or simply learning the wrong moves, please let us know.
-------------
Thanks for supporting us through the both the good and the bad over the years; we hope that you're satisfied enough with these updates to continue to support us for many more years to come!
Edit:
How could I have forgotten! A big special thanks to Bluerise, Jinji, Dovee, Domanisalt, Tenfold, CheckeredZebra and Rbecca for either helping with the updates, helping to error check my work, or simply keeping me sane while I did my thing. Edit2: also beer.
nice
