i like Kiyos idea of introducing a tier x ranking system. It makes it so much easier to distinguish what mons that you should be prepared for vs mons that are only advantageous because the meta suits them.
From a more subjective standpoint, a new player starting NU (and possibly smogon as an entireity) will see rank 10 (if thats our new benchmark for C- / D rank) as much much much worse than C- itself. Instead of looking at it as only 2 grades from some of the best and scariest pokemon in this tier, the new user is looking at 10 whole tiers. Someone is more likely to use a mon ranked in C- than Tier 10 or 9 because the difference seems much more realistic and substantial. Quilladin is a prime example. Ranked in C-, someone might think that it is a viable option over the likes of garbodor and ferroseed, the premier spike setters in NU, when in reality its much less effective at that roll compared to those 2 pokemon for obvious reasons. However, if it was ranked in Tier 9 / 10, people would be much more likely to pass it over.
Another advantage to this new system is that you can provide a much more detailed description for each ranking. At the moment, we only have a description for ranks S, A, B, C, D and E. If you look at the stuff in B+ and B- or even C+ and C- there is a huge difference in the quality of pokemon. B+ Pokemon are knocking on the doors of A rank and B- on the doors of C Rank. This change in quality isnt heavily emphasised enough by the current system. If we decide to change to a tier x based system, we can have individual descriptions for each rank, providing much more clarity to distinguish whats good from whats not good. An example of this is that both Rotom-F and Vanilluxe are in the same rank, and are therefore defined by the same description of B Rank:
Reserved for Pokemon who cannot sweep through or wall significant portions of the metagame, but can properly fulfill a given offensive/defensive niche. Support Pokemon in this category have flaws that prevent them from doing their job or are setup bait for dangerous sweepers. Pokemon who are partially outperformed by a Pokemon in A or S Rank, but are otherwise very dangerous, may also fall into this category.
This description does apply to both Rotom-S and Vanilluxe but is very vague. It makes it seem like Vanilluxe (not bashing it, js) is on par with Rotom-S, which is by far the more viable pokemon in this meta at the moment, and the more likely people are to bring to a random game of NU. The description does no justice for it however, and this new way of tiering the pokemon may eliviate some of these issues regarding clarity around this VR.
I mean, as far as counter-arguements are concerned to this "new style" of ranking pokemon is that we may seem different from the likes of OU, UU etc, but is that really a problem when our VR sucks dick? It needs a change in order to make it more user friendly, and i think this is a fantastic oppurtuinity to improve our resources for new players. Its not like this idea is shit either and we are making a change for the sake of our rankings being shit. It looks like a genuine way to make our rankings a better place for all users, props to kiyo for coming up with the idea or having the balls to suggest it.
approved by me at least
