Resource BBP Bug and Feedback Thread - Generation 9 Edition!

LouisCyphre

heralds disaster.
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributor
Moderator
BBP Bug and Feedback Thread

This thread is meant to act as an aggregator and checklist for BBP Leadership, helping to track and squash bugs in the game's system that inhibit play.

When making a feedback post, please DO:
  • Tag the user in charge of that text item. A moderator for the DAT, a Facility's owner for a Facility rule, etc.
  • Describe the error.
  • Describe the location of the error. ("Rule 2.3 in the Handbook" or "In the text of Bluk Berry".)
Please DO NOT:
  • Tag a user for content that they do not manage.
  • Post addendums or replies to the reports of others. This thread is a to-do list, not a discussion venue.
  • Prescribe how to correct the error. ("Actually, because this strategy is underused, you should make this say three (3) instead of two (1).")
:ss/porygon-z:
Error Reports
Just about every line of information in BBP is hand-written. With this comes human error. If you find a typo, missing word, or inconsistency (such as "two (1)" in an effect or rule), post it in this thread.

:ss/unown-question::ss/unown-exclamation:
Questions and Feedback
If you have a question about the strategy usage of a certain game element, or the intentions behind a piece or rule working a certain way, the best place to ask would be the Casual Discussion Thread. If your question has been asked before, other users will be able to point you to the answer. If your question is new, the community can discuss it and seek an answer together.

If there is a balance concern, discuss the severity and scope of the issue in the Casual Discussion Thread first. Then, if no solution is found with existing game pieces, or if the only available answers are inferior to the threat in question (such as a move that demands multiple item responses, and the same item responses, every match), it is appropriate to have a single user post here for a response.

Often, the procedure will be for moderators to participate in the balance discussion in the Casual Discussion Thread (we're players too, after all), and then subsequently open a dedicated Feedback in the BBP Policy Center for more focused discussion if it is deemed necessary. It will only be necessary to post a feedback post for a balance issue in periods of mod inactivity, such as near the holidays when most users are more occupied in real life.

:ss/garchomp:
Ruling Requests
When a staked or competitive match hangs on a rules interpretation, players should ask the referee for interpretation in usual cases.

Referees seeking a rules manager's clarification, when pieces and/or rules contradict themselves or when the referee cannot find an interpretation that they are confident in, should post in this thread with a link to the situation and a brief description of the issue.

Rulings issued by moderators are final unless reversed by the head moderator. Even if the issue is later patched, and the patch differs from the ruling given in the moment, that ruling stands for the specific situation instance for which it was issued. This is to ensure matches can proceed at pace, even while that issue's long-term solution is deliberated elsewhere.

:ss/equilibra:
Serious Grievances
We take a great deal of pride in BBP's welcoming and accepting playerbase. That said, as an online game, we must still be vigilant for malicious actors, who may see this kindness as an invitation to prowl.

If you should have such an issue in BBP, involving any user's safety or comfort, please message the collective BBP moderation team on the Smogon Forum immediately and privately. If you're uncertain if what you are seeing is a safety issue, please err on the side of caution and reach out.

Knock on wood, we won't have to field one of these for many years to come.

Persons in Charge
To determine who to field your request or report to, refer to the current BBP Leadership roster.

Archived Predecessors to this Thread
Generation 8 Feedback Thread - Essentially the casual balance discussion thread, in practice.
Mechanical Rulings Thread - We used to just toss IRC or Discord rulings made off-hand here.
Implementation Thread - Patch notes for the Handbook and DAT were posted here.
Generation 8.3 Update - We used to do our big revisions, such as for game releases, in their own threads.
BBP Policy Centre* Rules - Antique cultural heritage. Visit once during your BBP career to pay respects.
 
Last edited:
List of handbook changes from Gen 8 BBP

Major Changes
  • Refs should be keeping track of backpacks so that battlers are aware of what items are still available to be used.
  • Replacements for phazed Pokemon are no longer randomly chosen. The affected trainer chooses the replacement.
  • The default number of Substitutions is no longer 3. The new number is the match level + 2, capped at 4. A battle between level 0 Pokemon will have 2 Substitutions. A battle between level 2, 3, or 4 Pokemon will have 4 Substitutions.
  • Consecutive EN penalty no longer exists. Using Earthquake twice in a row will cost 7 EN each time.
  • STAB EN reduction no longer exists. Earthquake will cost 7 EN regardless of whether it's used by Groudon or Gyarados.
  • Speed ties are no longer determined by EN cost or coinflip. In the event of a speed tie, the Pokemon that orders first will act first.
  • Combat stages no longer increase/decrease damage by 2 per stage. If combat stage differences would increase damage, damage is increased by 4 per stage. If they would decrease damage, damage is decreased by 3 per stage.

Minor Changes
  • Manually-used Weather and Terrain (using Sunny Day or Electric Terrain) last for 5 rounds instead of 4. Automatically-set Weather and Terrain like Drought are still 4 rounds.
  • Substitution chance clauses no longer allow for any inequality related to any quantity associated with a Pokemon. "IF Gyarados has more than 40 HP" is still legal, but "IF Dusknoir has enough EN to use non-STAB, non-consecutive Pain Split" is no longer legal.
  • Accuracy stage boosts/reductions no longer affect the number of hits for variable multi-hit moves. After passing its initial accuracy check, Rock Blast has a 1/6 chance of hitting 5 times regardless of the user's accuracy stage.

Let me or Gemini Taurus know if there are any other changes that you've discovered that you think would be helpful for the community to be reminded about.
 
Last edited:
There are 2 things that I noticed missing from the current rules after discussion on discord:
1. There is currently no rule stating that trapping (or partial trapping once #2 is resolved) persists through switch phases even if the mon inflicting the condition switches out (aside from it being implicitly stated in an example in 2.4).
2. There is currently no rule stating that partial trapping ends when the mon inflicting it switches out.
 

LouisCyphre

heralds disaster.
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributor
Moderator
Gathering brief feedback:

Pokemon who sync to a Level lower than their own will still have their higher-Level Signature Moves, but those moves can get lost in a field of other moves of the same Level.

What do you find to be the most readable way to mark or notate those moves?
 
For remembering higher-level signature moves I can think of two possible solutions.

First would be creating a "signature move" header above the Level 0 section in a pokemon's profile. The benefits of this being that it would be almost impossible to overlook when scaling down, however it is increasing profile size on mons with sig moves and I can understand why we would want to keep that trimmed.

Second would be putting a symbol next to a pokemon's signature moves (something like "Ceaseless Edge (*)) to signify that it is kept when levelling down. This compared to the other solution would keep profiles a tad slimmer, but definitely have an increased chance to be overlooked when scrolling through (and is just uglier in my opinion but that's personal preference).

I personally prefer the first solution of a unique "Signature Move" header before level 0 moves as it both seems like the cleanest solution and least likely to be overlooked, while increasing profile size fairly negligibly.
 
The simplest fix to Signature Moves' visibility would probably be bolding them in a Pokemon's movelist. Otherwise, a marker such as "(*)" placed at the end of the move's name should work.
--------------------------------------------------------

I've found two Data Audit errors to report (LouisCyphre):
  1. In the "Conditions" tab, the description of Paralysis includes the line "At the end of each round: Place a Paralysis Counter on the user."
  2. Expert Belt is absent from the Items tab; with no mention in the profile update thread (e.g. offer of a refund to players who had previously purchased the Item), I must conclude that this was a mistake.
 

Mowtom

I'm truly still meta, enjoy this acronym!
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributor
Moderator
I have stolen Eve's Cinderace to take a look at what some options for denoting singnature moves might look like.


Truth (Cinderace)
Level: 2 | EXP: 0 / 10

"The truth is,
It was all pretend."


Types: Fire
Abilities: Blaze / Libero
Nature: Serious

Stats:
HP: 90
Atk: 8
Def: 6
SpA: 5
SpD: 6
Spe: 119
Size Class: 3
Weight Class: 3

Moves:
Signature:
Court Change
Pyro Ball

Level 0:
Attract
Blaze Kick
Counter
Facade
Fire Fang
Fire Punch
Flamethrower
Focus Blast
Growl
Iron Head
Mud-Slap
Protect
Round
Sand Attack
Shadow Ball
Tackle
Zen Headbutt

Level 1:
Bulk Up
Coaching
Double Kick
Ember
Quick Attack
Snore
Sucker Punch
Sunny Day
Swift
Taunt
Will-O-Wisp
Work Up

Level 2:
Agility
Assurance
Court Change
Double-Edge
Feint
Fire Blast
Fire Spin
Flare Blitz
Focus Energy
Gunk Shot
Heat Wave
High Jump Kick
Low Kick
Mega Kick
Pyro Ball
Rest
Revenge
Reversal
Swords Dance
Take Down

Truth (Cinderace)
Level: 2 | EXP: 0 / 10

"The truth is,
It was all pretend."


Types: Fire
Abilities: Blaze / Libero
Nature: Serious

Stats:
HP: 90
Atk: 8
Def: 6
SpA: 5
SpD: 6
Spe: 119
Size Class: 3
Weight Class: 3

Moves:
Level 0:
Attract
Blaze Kick
Counter
Facade
Fire Fang
Fire Punch
Flamethrower
Focus Blast
Growl
Iron Head
Mud-Slap
Protect
Round
Sand Attack
Shadow Ball
Tackle
Zen Headbutt

Level 1:
Bulk Up
Coaching
Double Kick
Ember
Quick Attack
Snore
Sucker Punch
Sunny Day
Swift
Taunt
Will-O-Wisp
Work Up

Level 2:
Agility
Assurance
Court Change (*)
Double-Edge
Feint
Fire Blast
Fire Spin
Flare Blitz
Focus Energy
Gunk Shot
Heat Wave
High Jump Kick
Low Kick
Mega Kick
Pyro Ball (*)
Rest
Revenge
Reversal
Swords Dance
Take Down

Truth (Cinderace)
Level: 2 | EXP: 0 / 10

"The truth is,
It was all pretend."


Types: Fire
Abilities: Blaze / Libero
Nature: Serious

Stats:
HP: 90
Atk: 8
Def: 6
SpA: 5
SpD: 6
Spe: 119
Size Class: 3
Weight Class: 3

Moves:
Level 0:
Attract
Blaze Kick
Counter
Facade
Fire Fang
Fire Punch
Flamethrower
Focus Blast
Growl
Iron Head
Mud-Slap
Protect
Round
Sand Attack
Shadow Ball
Tackle
Zen Headbutt

Level 1:
Bulk Up
Coaching
Double Kick
Ember
Quick Attack
Snore
Sucker Punch
Sunny Day
Swift
Taunt
Will-O-Wisp
Work Up

Level 2:
Agility
Assurance
Court Change [SIGNATURE]
Double-Edge
Feint
Fire Blast
Fire Spin
Flare Blitz
Focus Energy
Gunk Shot
Heat Wave
High Jump Kick
Low Kick
Mega Kick
Pyro Ball [SIGNATURE]
Rest
Revenge
Reversal
Swords Dance
Take Down
 
I just had a thought about the signature move visibilty problem. One could only "lose track" of a signature move if one is playing in a match whose level is set below that which is necessary to learn the move in question. However, IIRC, pre-update discussions supported the idea of a player manually editing the movepools of Pokemon they send in to a such a match and removing moves and elements that could not be utilized at the battle's level. This means that signature moves could only appear in two contexts: a list of moves that are appropriate for the battle's level, which players would check as a matter of course, or alone in a separate tier of their user's level-based move listing. Therefore, this seems to be a nonissue.

--------------------------------
I've noticed another DAT error (LouisCyphre):
  1. Battle Bond is togglable but has no effect when toggled off and no deficit when toggled on.
 

TheEver

It's beauty and rage!
is a Pre-Contributor
Sorry to go off topic but I have a question for people: what are your thoughts on adding a queue to the Prize Claim Thread (and Profile Update threads, when they're in use)? We do a mostly good job of keeping up but I think a queue would help us stay fully organized and eliminate those edge cases where someone gets missed, and also have a quick reference for the state of the thread.
 

Dogfish44

You can call me Jiggly
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributor
> some other shit i'm probably forgetting. remind me in the gen 9 preview+feedback thread.

From the Combinations section - I can't currently see any notes on how to calculate the Accuracy of a combination ^^;
 

LouisCyphre

heralds disaster.
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributor
Moderator
sleep: now states the period of time it checks. i plan on revising status (mainly confusion and para), to disrupt a narrower set of actions, because i don't like where they landed; and sleep might go with too. we'll see.

battle bond: correct.

sig moves: marking the move as (sig) or (Signature) is likely what we'll go with, since it can be seen even after a profile is copy-pasted by a ref, even if weird smogon formatting nonsense happens.

a dedicated sig move list in profiles doesn't communicate the move's level (for contexts where it's relevant, such as arenas). trimming movepools manually per-match won't happen, as that forces every referee to also do double duty as an approver.

***

on our radar:

status: as above. i think that confusion, para, and the effects of freeze are a miss overall (although i think i like how freeze is inflicted now). my preference would be for one of confusion or paralysis to be more disruptive to attackers mons and less so to supports, and for the remaining status to be its inverse counterpart.

both statuses currently just have a chance to work on any mon, which is too swingly to allow except at greatly diminished chances. it should be possible to order a string that doesn't have a chance of self-hit or of full para, much the same way players currently order around imprison. if such orders are possible, the statuses themselves can be made stronger in their niche.

i think we'll end up designing paralysis' purpose first, and then designing confusion based on what para answers. as far as freeze goes, i'd like to see people use it more to gain advantage and get an idea of its strengths before touching it.
confusion:​
targeting it at attackers is something of a combo with how it deals more damage to frail mons. its identity of "short duration, high disruption chance" better suits stealing a crucial turn against frail mons, as well. however, against attackers, one self-hit eats a bigger amount of their time in play (because they take and deal more damage inherently), and one lost turn more strongly impacts damage races and diminishes skill in those settings. whether it targets attackers or supports, moves like confuse ray and mons like machamp would appreciate the more intentionally-designed purpose.​
paralysis:​
targeting this at supports better suits its indefinite duration; while the speed drop already gives this status game against attackers to some degree. as one of the most commonly-distributed status conditions in the game, making this status both threatening and manageable is especially important.​

sheer force: currently, boosted moves cut through *all* triggered abilities... including those that give power penalties to attacks taken by the user (which is not intended behavior). we'll watch closely to see if this is interesting defensive-ability counterplay or the return of conkeldurr.

sub rules: needed urgently, and also takes the most mod discussion. so these rules will be in limbo for a bit longer yet

cap movepools: working on a better tool for getting movepools overall.
 

LouisCyphre

heralds disaster.
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributor
Moderator
PHB Section 10.2: Combinations of two moves with "---" accuracy appear never to hit because both components are treated as having 0 accuracy.
sigh. new text:

Accuracy: Combinations have the highest Accuracy from among the component moves, against each target. For the purposes of determining combination accuracy, "---" is the absence of Accuracy. If none of the component moves have an accuracy value, no accuracy check is made at all for it. (Just as with moves with "---" Accuracy.)
 

LouisCyphre

heralds disaster.
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributor
Moderator
working as intended. the interaction is now a function of the moves inflicting it, such as Acid. (this is in case an arena or facility has another purpose for corrosion)

As for what I came here for:

Triggered actions are only subject to restricting effects that state that "the subject can't attempt X actions, including triggered actions". As I fill out the rules 8.x, I'll have to figure out more proper wording for this rule. (and if I don't get it in the section on action legality soon, please remind me.)

It's not intended for these effects of conditions like Flinch (except for those of Freeze, which will have this language) to prevent effects like Intimidate and Emergency Exit. This hotfix is effective in current matches, and if it's impacted the most recent round of your battle, consider redoing it.
 

cityscapes

Take care of yourself.
is a Tiering Contributoris a Community Contributor Alumnus
can the data thread tag in this forum have a different color? like maybe purple. right now it's very plain and makes it hard to sift through threads when i'm looking for facility data (which is pretty often, cause those threads are very important), i just think it should stand out a little more.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 1)

Top