View Single Post
Old Jun 28th, 2012, 5:47:04 PM   #21
Deck Knight
Jigen Makkoto
is a Forum Moderatoris a Contributor to Smogon Media
 
Deck Knight's Avatar
 
Moderator
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,832
Massachusetts
Default

Don't take this personally, this is just an opinion from someone who has had to go over and edit copy before:

You use way too much fluff in your analysis. People may not like bloodless analyses full of nothing but calcs and "Use X for Y" but there is absolutely no reason any move on a set should get more than two sentences.

To take just one example from checks and counters:

<p>How does one beat the most versatile Pokemon in OU, if not the game? Well, in the case of Necturna, the answer is apparently "Steel-types". <-- Way too long. You can start with "Steel types are Necturna's primary counters because they resist Necturna's STABs and its strongest coverage move, Stone Edge.

But we'll get to that later. <-- This is entirely superfluous and self-admits rambling.

In order for Necturna to be able to defeat Steel-types, to a great extent she has to rely on Fire-type attacks, which are greatly weakened by the presence of rain, so if you happen to have both Politoed and a Steel-type on your team, Necturna is going to have her work cut out for it. <-- A little wordy, it can be reduced slightly thus:

Necturna's Sketch slot is usually used for a Fire attack to address these Steel-types, but her problems addressing them are compounded in rain because both Necturna and Steel-types benefit from the reduction of Fire damage.



Remember that Necturna is at her most dangerous when you do not know her set – once you have identified that, as well as her Sketch move, then stomping the poor little miko into rather creepy goo becomes a much easier feat.</p> <-- here it drags on a bit but the flavor is permissible. I'd personally remove "Remember that." It leaves you with this final product:


Steel types are Necturna's primary counters because they resist Necturna's STABs and its strongest natural coverage move, Stone Edge. Necturna's Sketch slot is usually used for a Fire attack to address these Steel-types, but her problems addressing them are compounded in rain because both Necturna and Steel-types benefit from the reduction of Fire damage. Necturna is at her most dangerous when you do not know her set – once you have identified that, as well as her Sketch move, then stomping the poor little miko into rather creepy goo becomes a much easier feat.


The new product is three much shorter sentences instead of five (two of which are run-ons), and much more concise.


<p>As far as most sets are concerned, their reliance on Fire-type attacks, particularly those that can use Sacred Fire, makes them particularly vulnerable to Heatran. In fact, even a Shell Smash-boosted Life Orb Hidden Power Fighting cannot OHKO offensive Heatran, and defensive variants are not even 2HKOed without Stealth Rock support. In return, Heatran offers a fairly solid OHKO on most variants with Fire Blast or a 2HKO with Lava Plume, though this may change depending on whether the Necturna in question is under the rain, or has Quiver Dance or Calm Mind boosts. Specially defensive Heatran will typically struggle more with the special sets, contrary to what you would expect, and offensive Heatran must watch out for Shell Smash-boosted Stone Edge as well as Close Combat from the lure sets, as well as the rare Hidden Power Ground.</p>

This paragraph on the other hand is fine because it explains how the set works and there is little fluff to it. Like anything it can be tweaked to be more concise, but it covers the ground it needs to without going overboard.
__________________
[17:53] <&Deck_Knight> If I Cite and Prune CiteandPrune's post, what does that make me?
[17:54] <Birkal> a citeandprune cite and prunner
[17:54] <%DHR> O_o lol
[17:54] <+Mos_Quitoxe> Cite and Prune doesn't do enough of either
[17:55] <+Mos_Quitoxe> can we make him change it or force him to pay damages
[17:55] <&Deck_Knight> It would be a lot easier for him to Cite and Prune if we made him a mod.
[17:56] <&Deck_Knight> I delegate this task to Birkal.
[17:57] <Birkal> >:|
Deck Knight is online now