What was the hardest part of the metagame for you to understand?

[Matthew]

I would honestly have to say EV's.

When I was still all new too competitive play I didn't fully understand what a good ev spread besides 252/252/6 was. After a long time of getting owned by "bulky" sets I learned that you can spread them out. It was a long difficult path though.

The point of the topic is asking what was the hardest part of the competitive scene for you? It could be from any where from typing to not being able to predict, and everything in between.

This topic isn't to be like "I never had trouble with anything, ever" that is a lie and we know it. We all were noobs at one point, like to see where most of the trouble really starts.

 

[I am Gengar]

Honestly, I still rarely use EVs in a form other than 252/252 unless i get them from a Smogon analysis or something similar, but then again I rarely use walls. The main reason for this however is probably that i don't feel like wasting time running calcs, as I barely have any time to play as it is.

 

[Tingaling]

I would honestly have to say EV's.

When I was still all new too competitive play I didn't fully understand what a good ev spread besides 252/252/6 was. After a long time of getting owned by "bulky" sets I learned that you can spread them out. It was a long difficult path though.

The point of the topic is asking what was the hardest part of the competitive scene for you? It could be from any where from typing to not being able to predict, and everything in between.

Agreed, and I still have trouble with "inefficient EV spreads" EV's are one of the most important parts, so it's necessary

 

[Xrinix]

I didnt understadn Iv´s at the beginning, the evspreads weren´t that hard

 

[Articanus]

which pokemon did what.

I seriously expected Heatran to be something like Nasty Plot/ Fire Blast/ Steel STAB/ Explosion when I first saw the damn thing. ._."

 

[ace15]

Understanding how IVs are passed was quite confusing, though that's more game-mechanics rather then metagame. Besides that, I found the whole EVs/IVs stuff quite easy to understand after the iniatal leap from newbie to EVs/IVs/Nature mechanics.

 

[lilyhollow]

In Advance I just had a super simpleminded approach to teambuilding that really sucked, every physical/special wall was just "a different skarm/bliss" to me. I think I developed this mindset after just being outpredicted and walled all day by top players, really.

 

[Wakalord]

I guess I'm wierd, because Team Syngery was very hard for me to learn.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Hardest thing for me was the damage formula, since I don't use Metalkid's, though I would say that the day I memorized it marked a sad day in my life. Now I take out my cell phone randomly as soon as I have a thought and start running calcs on EV Spreads, like the Charizard in the warstory I just posted */end shameless plug.*

 

[ParanoidDrone]

The hardest obstacle I've encountered so far is keeping up with metagame changes. It just takes me a while to start preparing for new threats.

 

[-Nitro-]

I guess I'm wierd, because Team Syngery was very hard for me to learn.

This. I had issues getting a good team that worked together and didn't get raped by very common threats.

And EV's, too. I generally have to look up magic speed numbers or defense numbers.

 

[Gliscor]

Metagame changes were a large issue for me, but I'd say effective team building was my hardest area. I still run into obstacles in team building even today.

 

[FiveKRunner]

That the pinch berries (Salac, Petaya, etc.) should only be used for a specific sweeper who is capable of cleaning up.

When I first started NB back in July 2005, about half of the Pokemon on my teams relied on these berries for the first few months that I played. I specificly remember using Petaya Sceptile and Liechi Aerodactyl on a team. While there wasn't as much to worry about in the way of priority moves at the time which made them somewhat viable, I just wanted to sweep the opponent early.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

which pokemon did what.

I seriously expected Heatran to be something like Nasty Plot/ Fire Blast/ Steel STAB/ Explosion when I first saw the damn thing. ._."

This and remembering base stats for key Pokemon (though I could always look it up, it eats up time =[).

 

[Kitamerby]

Team Synergy is the hardest for me. EVs are easy compared to knowing exactly how to bring together a perfect team, from my experience, anyways. >>

 

[newbioform]

Remembering base stats and all the gimmick moves that any particular pokemon have in their movepools. :(

For me team synergy is easy to understand but really hard to apply and execute.

 

[ChronoSquare]

which pokemon does what.

I seriously expected Heatran to be something like Nasty Plot/ Fire Blast/ Steel STAB/ Explosion when I first saw the damn thing. ._."

^This.

+ Having a difficult time understanding team synergy in making a good team,

= inevitable fail. I'm not one who learns just by reading it I need experience with it so I can't just go and read all the analysises on Smogon to all the common OU threats and be able to know what this guy could be running and such! DX

Prediction is 3rd, it's hard to do but I understand it. :S

 

[McLovinn]

team building is absolute shite for me.

 

[linton]

Team Building and Prediction were really tough for me. Hell they still are

 

[McLovinn]

agreed

 

[RavageX9]

well, the question assumes that I understand the Metagame now. And i'm not sure I can say that's true. i'm still struggling to understand how a team of 6 pkm play off one another to create a team dynamic. Also, i'm still very much so in the sweeper-mindset and tend to view walls as taking up space on my team. so yeah, i've still got a ways to go

 

[acinod]

Taunt
I just didn't know what was so important.
It makes them attack but then that means you take damage. And thats bad.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Taunt
I just didn't know what was so important.
It makes them attack but then that means you take damage. And thats bad.

qft. It took me much longer because none of the people that live near me use any type of set-up move at all (SR, DD, etc) so taunt was completely useless.

 

[X-Act]

The hardest part of the metagame for me is how the hell am I supposed to build a team that covers _everything_.

 

[Aldaron]

I was a pretty average player until I saw MoP bitching at some people about a very significant point.

A few years back I would do stuff like "always have a phaser, always have a counter for X Y Z A B C L M N O P, always have a status move, always have blah blah blah" which obviously imposed unnecessary limitations on my team building.

Once I removed the mentality of trying to stop the opponent and started utilizing the strategy of setting up my own strategy while metagaming to stop any methods the opponent might use to stop my own, I got a lot better.

I don't try to counter shit anymore, I just beat that shit up.

Cause I ball like no one's business.