"Trainer Abilities"

[Haggles]

We all love building our Pokemon teams, strategizing with our favorite Pokemon and putting ourselves in this amazing world in an MMO setting. 
I love the concept of PokeMMO, and I have a suggestion that might add to the fun of immersing ourselves in this game. 

 

"Trainer Abilities" in short, is an idea that we can customize not only what we look like as characters, but also develop Trainer skills and profiles that add a new element to our gameplay.

 

I had two ideas how this could go:

Either an "open levelling" system, or a "class system".

 

An open levelling system would have a list of "Trainer Attributes" that gain experience and 'potency' for accomplishing specific tasks.

a rough example could look like .. 'win battles with DRAGON pokemon = heightened EV for Dragon pokemon you train'

 

A Class System (which I actually would like better) would have a list of "Trainer Types" to pick from that have specific proficiencies and abilities that are unlocked by gaining basic "Trainer Exp". 

An example could look like .. "CoolTrainer": faster rematch timers , pokemon EV bonus based on its rarity , (Cool Type Moves have more flair for the Pokemon Contests) , etc.

or "Juggler": switching pokemon can cause confusion in enemies , Pokemon switched into battle due to a "switching move" (volt switch etc.) deal damage when they enter the field . . .

 

This is just an idea that I feel would add a whole new element to the game and diversify the PokeMMO world in a way we can actually feel like we are not just training Pokemon, but we are actually placing ourselves into the game as diverse Trainers ourselves. 

 

* fun fact , the cartoon series the Indigo League, it is mentioned that Sabrina is only able to control strong Psychic types because she herself is Psychic. I've always found it unflattering that a "child" can simply control the diversity of Pokemon with the same ability as anyone else. A 10 year old is not catching a wild Ursaring and using it in battle just because he has badges the bear knows nothing about. 

... think about it xD

[Lacei]

12 hours ago, Haggles said:

We all love building our Pokemon teams, strategizing with our favorite Pokemon and putting ourselves in this amazing world in an MMO setting. 
I love the concept of PokeMMO, and I have a suggestion that might add to the fun of immersing ourselves in this game. 

 

"Trainer Abilities" in short, is an idea that we can customize not only what we look like as characters, but also develop Trainer skills and profiles that add a new element to our gameplay.

 

I had two ideas how this could go:

Either an "open levelling" system, or a "class system".

 

An open levelling system would have a list of "Trainer Attributes" that gain experience and 'potency' for accomplishing specific tasks.

a rough example could look like .. 'win battles with DRAGON pokemon = heightened EV for Dragon pokemon you train'

 

A Class System (which I actually would like better) would have a list of "Trainer Types" to pick from that have specific proficiencies and abilities that are unlocked by gaining basic "Trainer Exp". 

An example could look like .. "CoolTrainer": faster rematch timers , pokemon EV bonus based on its rarity , (Cool Type Moves have more flair for the Pokemon Contests) , etc.

or "Juggler": switching pokemon can cause confusion in enemies , Pokemon switched into battle due to a "switching move" (volt switch etc.) deal damage when they enter the field . . .

 

This is just an idea that I feel would add a whole new element to the game and diversify the PokeMMO world in a way we can actually feel like we are not just training Pokemon, but we are actually placing ourselves into the game as diverse Trainers ourselves. 

 

* fun fact , the cartoon series the Indigo League, it is mentioned that Sabrina is only able to control strong Psychic types because she herself is Psychic. I've always found it unflattering that a "child" can simply control the diversity of Pokemon with the same ability as anyone else. A 10 year old is not catching a wild Ursaring and using it in battle just because he has badges the bear knows nothing about. 

... think about it xD

While this is an amazing idea and would be very interesting to see implemented, keep in mind that there is fairly large competitive scene in this game and having these abilities would introduce an entirely new mechanic to how that works and likely introduce certain issues in that area, making it extremely hard to balance correctly.

 

As for implementing this for the story - I could potentially see it working however PokeMMO is of course built off of, Pokemon. A fairly simple yet amazingly fun and vast experience. Introducing unique mechanics like this does sound like a good idea but remember that a lot of people don't have a lot of experience with Pokemon in general before they start playing here and this could potentially be pretty confusing to new players., also if it were to be implemented it's only natural to assume that it would also be implemented for NPC's. As battling Gym Leaders / E4 with these abilities without them having access to them would be a pretty unfair advantage for a game that brands its-self to be more difficult than the original games and provide more of a challenge. I do like the idea though, I'm just not sure if it's right for this game as it currently stands. There are a lot of things the developers have on their to-do list and I'm sure eventually when the game is ready we will see new unique mechanics similar to this. 

 

The thing that I love about the game is the simplicity, it hasn't been too heavily modified from that of the original games and that taste of nostalgia is still there for people who played when they were younger, introducing mechanics like this leads down a road that takes away from the original concept of the game, in my opinion.

 

Cool concept though (:

[Haggles]

On 2/17/2021 at 1:21 PM, pokelace said:

While this is an amazing idea and would be very interesting to see implemented, keep in mind that there is fairly large competitive scene in this game and having these abilities would introduce an entirely new mechanic to how that works and likely introduce certain issues in that area, making it extremely hard to balance correctly.

 

As for implementing this for the story - I could potentially see it working however PokeMMO is of course built off of, Pokemon. A fairly simple yet amazingly fun and vast experience. Introducing unique mechanics like this does sound like a good idea but remember that a lot of people don't have a lot of experience with Pokemon in general before they start playing here and this could potentially be pretty confusing to new players., also if it were to be implemented it's only natural to assume that it would also be implemented for NPC's. As battling Gym Leaders / E4 with these abilities without them having access to them would be a pretty unfair advantage for a game that brands its-self to be more difficult than the original games and provide more of a challenge. I do like the idea though, I'm just not sure if it's right for this game as it currently stands. There are a lot of things the developers have on their to-do list and I'm sure eventually when the game is ready we will see new unique mechanics similar to this. 

 

The thing that I love about the game is the simplicity, it hasn't been too heavily modified from that of the original games and that taste of nostalgia is still there for people who played when they were younger, introducing mechanics like this leads down a road that takes away from the original concept of the game, in my opinion.

 

Cool concept though (:

I appreciate the response. You think there would be an issue with balancing, but with EVs the game is pay to win in its current state. 

 

Scripting this feature is actually a simple task, especially when "trainer types" already exist in scripting. Bugcatchers are bug pokemon proficient in the sense that they typically use only pkmn with a BUG type. Therefore, programming the NPCs is already made simpler based on their pre-existing data.

As long as the "perks" don't become too complicated, there wouldn't be too much of an issue with balance. 

 

As far as player friendliness, I think selecting a "Trainer Type" would be fairly simple to anybody invested enough in pokemon to play pokemmo in the first place, especially if hovering choices gave an accurate summary to how the choice affects their game. 

Anyone that hovers "Bug Catcher" will read: "Bug Catchers gain boosted EXP for BUG type pkmn, BUG type pkmn raised by Bug Catchers will gain boosted stats when levelling up."

 

I do not see the complications you're describing.

[Lacei]

14 minutes ago, Haggles said:

I appreciate the response. You think there would be an issue with balancing, but with EVs the game is pay to win in its current state. 

 

Scripting this feature is actually a simple task, especially when "trainer types" already exist in scripting. Bugcatchers are bug pokemon proficient in the sense that they typically use only pkmn with a BUG type. Therefore, programming the NPCs is already made simpler based on their pre-existing data.

As long as the "perks" don't become too complicated, there wouldn't be too much of an issue with balance. 

 

As far as player friendliness, I think selecting a "Trainer Type" would be fairly simple to anybody invested enough in pokemon to play pokemmo in the first place, especially if hovering choices gave an accurate summary to how the choice affects their game. 

Anyone that hovers "Bug Catcher" will read: "Bug Catchers gain boosted EXP for BUG type pkmn, 

 

I do not see the complications you're describing.

Let me elaborate a little.

 

Currently the game - apart from a few balancing tweaks and ignoring the parts that the developers coded completely themselves such as the U.I, some of the competitive aspects, the GTL, cosmetics etc and a lot more on the backend, is still pretty much default. There is a reason for that, implementing changes that change the actual base game mechanics or introduce new ones is harder than it seems, the base games are currently provided by the user in the form of ROM's (.nds .gba) and these are officially covered under Copyright Law by Nintendo. This is the reason why PokeMMO is bent on not sharing/providing ROM's to the community as it would introduce legal issues. 

 

They are only modifying the game, they are not making a new one out of it, that would be a misuse of copyright. If they were to introduce your concept it could be perceived that they are using copyrighted material (directly) and introducing it into their own game. But I'm not a legal expert, so un-sure on that but that is one of the things they have to consider.

 

I can assure you from a development perspective it is not a "simple script" as yes these things are referenced in the game but they were never coded to be used by the actual player, there are currently no strings attached or nothing in the code relating to "Bug Catcher" that could be easily modified to fit your idea, except to identify an NPC as no such thing existed in the original games, meaning they would be coding it from scratch. And if they did - they would then have to test it - likely on every major NPC battle in the game, making tweaks and ensuring there are no game-breaking bugs or side-effects from their additions which takes long-enough and is a hard task on its own.

 

 

On 2/17/2021 at 6:21 PM, pokelace said:

or "Juggler": switching pokemon can cause confusion in enemies , Pokemon switched into battle due to a "switching move" (volt switch etc.) deal damage when they enter the field . . .

This is one of the things I am referring to when I talk about balancing issues. This is a completely NEW feature/idea. Most of the people who are interested in playing this game do have knowledge from the previous games or they are coming from a similar Pokemon MMO, competitive players for example would be easily scared away from things like this as it changes the meta completely, slight changes can have a domino effect when it comes to the competitive side which has been around for years and years and that is taken fairly seriously in this community and staff and tier council constantly battling already to balance it. 

 

A lot of people who are new to the game will not know were to look for answers or FAQ and will end up asking these questions to support or staff. I can already picture the influx of questions asking why their pokemon got randomly confused and the hundreds of people saying "This doesn't happen in the original games." Which isn't a bad thing but I'm just trying to point out how big of an update this would actually be.

 

32 minutes ago, Haggles said:

 BUG type pkmn raised by Bug Catchers will gain boosted stats when levelling up."

This is another one - this would not only change the competitive side but also the entire statistical aspect of the game - Smogon builds would no longer be applicable due to stats being boosted, the universal way of measuring a Pokémon's strength and viability is out the window and replaced with a much more niche and unique one which I just don't see being viable at all. PokeMMO's framework is simple and that's why it's a good game, the Pokemon franchise is universally recognised already and millions of people love it, changing things like this impacts that in bigger ways than I think you are grasping.

 

I also fail to see how EV's being in the game is in any way Pay to Win as you can literally do it without spending any money (IRL or Pokeyen) by yourself, for free.

 

But that's just my opinion, like I said the idea is great, I'm just not sure it fits.

[Neuzzz]

Tldr, tho I did skimmed thru these.

Pokemon's abilities work by being in battle field, or 1 time like intimidate every time u switch in, or 1 time and lasts for many turns like weathers. In the end, they still die out. Your suggestion is about something permanent in the whole battle, and no counter, like switch in to cause confusion. I guarantee you won't like that during gym run when leaders have those ridiculous abilities. This is pokemon game, not an RPG game where u have your skill tree and summon beasts.