People who want to write about Pokemon but aren't sure what, here's something I posted earlier in a private forum that might be of use. Please contact a Smog Staff member if you want to write. The more, the merrier!
First, a lot of the articles are about theoretical examples, pre-made movesets, and similar analysis of things we already know. Featured Pokémon and Type Analysis, for example are both largely just the Pokémon Analyses we have on site, sometimes more detailed, sometimes less detailed (yes, I said it). The team support and environment fields are a step in the right direction, but often it doesn't get much better than:
- This Pokémon is great with Forretress, because Forretress lays down and erases entry hazards
- This Pokémon is great with [Pursuit pkmn] because it's afraid of Latias/Rotom/Gengar etc.
- This Pokémon is great with [Pokémon that is afraid of Latias/Rotom/Gengar etc.] because it can remove them easily
This is nice, but still theoretical. I would like to have articles based on actual battles. Not just battling randoms (though this is part of ladder/tournament play as well), but battles between two good players. This opens a whole new door to articles.
First, we can start putting in War Stories. Not just ones posted for their great flavor or funny gimmicks, but where one or both players explain their decisions, and perhaps other seasoned players comment on their thoughts and decisions and give their own.
Example, we take the ST6 battle between Earthworm and panamaxis, or Earthworm and hanke, and we ask them to rationalize behind their moves. This can be difficult since it's been a while, so a better idea might be to use this in conjunction with the #stark cup, which usually has at least three good players involved. The good player doesn't have to be a good writer to do this: they can just give their thoughts to whoever is in charge of the article, and then he/she will just make it readable. It could be some sort of interview.
Even an article about prediction, or an article about long term thinking, simply doesn't give as much insight about battling as an article that's about...a battle. There will be no examples: they would be real situations people encounter.
Another useful article would be a follow-up to the leads article. Not just why they're good, but how you play them against other common leads. We now know Swampert, Azelf and Metagross are great leads because they can get Stealth Rock up and force things to switch, but what should you do when you run into another good lead? Should you always exchange laying down Stealth Rock? Should you consider going for the surprise attack? Just a "depends on your team" isn't enough here, I would much rather see a very elaborate list of "what if's". It gives people insight on best/worst case scenarios and all that jazz.
Despite all this, it's obvious you can't teach people how to play well through test. They have to actually play the game and practice. But if articles are going to be written, we might as well go as deep as possible.
Apologies in advance but I'm not going to write above articles, because I'm no prime D/P battler. I can help writing, think about lay-out and stuff, and I can hound people about getting them done, but I can't pretend I know what's best to do in almost every situation.