A couple of ideas

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Idiotesque

Idiotesque

So I've never made a thread asking to write for the smog before, but I'd really like to get more involved in the Smogon community and this seems like the way to go! I have a few ideas I'd really like to write about and a lot more half-baked ones (which I'll develop then make new threads for if these ideas get rejected.) and I didn't want to make separate threads for each idea, but if I should do this then I hope a staff member can please inform me

1) Analysis of Showdown! and Smogon users.

This is something I've wanted to do for a while. It's an article consisting of interviews with new and old players, as well as statistics of how long our our smogon members have been active, (and other things like that). I also want to ask some of the senior users memories from Pokemon Online and servers older than that even, as it would probably shed some interesting light on what the smaller smogon community was like!

2) Spotlight article: Charizard

This exciting fan favourite has from gen I-V never been great (as far as I have seen, I have never played Gen III) in any tier, until the Gen V NU in which he has found himself a home. I want to research how Charizard has been used, how he was treated when Stealth Rock was introduced, and how he'll be used in the exciting new XY Gen VI.

NB: This could also be changed to a general article about starter 'mons being used competetively, ranging from the likes of Blaziken through to Torterra and more!

3) Weather in NU

Now that Snovers is legal in RU, the NeverUsed tier is the only gen V tier with no permanenet weather. Yet plenty of weather teams still arise, particularly those that make use of Swift Swim and Chlorophyll. I want to find out how to use this playstyle (I've constructed a few weather teams in advance) and how they stack up against using a weatherless version of the team.


I may not have many posts to my name but I've been involved in competetive Pokemon for 1 1/2 years, since the days of PO, and have been playing NU for a number of months, peaking at #7 some weeks back (albeit, I don't have actual proof of this). I hope my article ideas are good and if not, I'll just brainstorm some better ones and come back!

Thanks, all!
 
1) We have an interview with a renowned member each issue, and the histories they tell about past development usually covers this part. I believe we've had articles about this specific topic before, but I'm not certain about it so if you're adamant about it I can have a closer look (or you could check the smog index yourself). Either way, it's generally difficult to assign such an article to new users since people feel more comfortable speaking to someone they at least recognise on the forums, so you'd might want to start with other articles first before you'd want to tackle this kind of thing,

2) This article is actually justified now seeing as its new mega formes have turned the tables and secured its spot in higher tiers for years to come, so even though it didn't exactly peak in the first Gens competitively (to my knowledge), I suppose this is the right time to feature Char's history since it would end on a positive note.

3) Got mixed opinions on this, although moreso because I'm not too knowledgeable on that strategy in NU so it's difficult to tell if there are good sets that can be made that are also on-par with the rest of the meta. Granted, with the weather nerf, odds are that the LC versions of the weather starters will become available again (unless they get shipped to RU/UU), although that's more of a theorymonning at this point. If it's okay, I'd like you to discuss this with other NU people and see if it's a topic worth to cover at this point, and if the response is possitive, I could see myself allowing this access to the workshop.

So out of the three, I guess it's the Charizard that has most of my favor at the moment. Let's see what others have to say.
 
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Thanks! I'm really glad to have some feedback on my ideas. I'll just wait for the rest of the staff.

Also, yes there are a lot of viable NU weather users, you just won't see them around too much I suppose, but there'll be strategy pages on things like Ludicolo and Smashkoal for sure
 
Yeah generally make a different thread for each idea :3

In relation to the NU topic, I've been pretty involved in NU for ages. While I'm cool with a weather article in general (we haven't actually had one), I'd rather if it was handled by someone with more experience. I was pretty involved in the forum part of the community up until around... a few weeks ago, but given your recent join date it's hard to really tell whether you have enough experience to be able to tackle something like this. That, combined with the fact that weather in NU has had various threads dedicated to it in the NU forum while other NU articles on like priority etc haven't really had recent discussions on it, so it would feel like you're rehashing a lot of what the community has said. That and the fact that weather definitely enhances teams (and some mons just don't work without weather or basically need weather to be scary aka Ludicolo) so I'm not sure why you'd do a non weather team to compare. With that said though, an article based around the NU Pokemon who can basically weather any sort of weather (aka can perform multiple roles) would be interesting to an extent, or even making Pokemon that seem like they're fit for rain (aka Ludi) work amazing in sun, and so on. Before that I'd like to see the ideas you'd have about that, though, just to see the direction you'd take.

I also agree with Charizard spotlight, great idea. However, after you write it, I'd like if someone looked over the XY OU stuff and made sure it's fine - it's just that we're sort of Quality Checking things to make sure everything is at its highest quality possible. I'll look over the NU stuff (since it'll likely have quite a bit written about it) but otherwise I see nothing wrong with this. :)

Also, agreed with Bummer on the first one, sorry :(
 
Idiotesque, you still up for writing that Charizard article? There was another member who pitched for an article about it, but as a spotlight for the Doubles metagame. Depending on whether or not you want to write for this issue or not determines how restricted the other article becomes in terms of its history (although I assume that will hardly be a substantial part of it).
 
Uh yeah I would like to still write the article. I'm happy to wait for the next issue so I can 1) have more time to research and 2) see more of how XY OU developes. If you want me to do that next issue then feel free to get the other user to write up the doubles article.
 
We decide the dates during the issue (and only recently decided this issues' release date). Just check and see when the next issue releases (as in 32) and then feel free to bring it up again then c:
 
There's also the option to grant you access now but simply label your article for Issue 33, leaving you with ample time to work on the article within the walls of the workshop. As a matter of fact, Toast or Birkal, make it happen.

Here's some general guidelines:

1) Get your stuff done on time. If there's ever a situation that comes up, talk with The Smog Staff, and we'll make accommodations. The key here is communication; we need to hear from you if something is up that will prevent you from meeting the deadline. Try to get your stuff done in two weeks if possible, in order to give the GP/HTML/art team time to get everything done.
2) Don't leak any of our stuff until the release happens. This includes art and any other information. If you ever want feedback on your work or have questions, you can join us in #thesmog on IRC (if you don't have IRC, you can PM me or another staffer on the forums and I'll give you a link).
Thank you for your application! If you need any help, please don't hesitate to ask The Smog Staff.

When you post your thread in the Article Workshop, you need to set labels for it. You'll need to set the issue's number too. For the tags that say WIP, Grammar, etc, those are the stages your article are in. Since you'll ideally be working on it after posting, mark it as WIP. When you finish, move it to Grammar and get it checked twice by other people. Afterward is the HTML stage and someone will put it into HTML code. Your article will eventually get art done for it and it'll be complete!
Click to expand...

So yours would be labelled as [33-OF], as it'd be for Issue 33 in the Other Features category (or would it be Metagame? Eh, that can be edited afterwards).
 
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Thank you so much Bummer, Skylight and Birkal.

Bummer if I could have that link to IRC that would be great, I will probably be asking a fair few questions as this is my first article. Thanks.
 
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