BBP Balance and Play Experience Watchlist
This is a living, non-exhaustive list, of the balance and play experience issues found in very viable BBP game pieces.
A piece is a candidate for balance scrutiny if, by being very viable, it makes a large group of nominally-playable Pokemon, moves, items, or strategies non-viable for play.
A piece is a candidate for play experience scrutiny if, by being very viable, it makes BBP demand more time and labor than is reasonable, or makes BBP matches more difficult for referees.
We'll add pieces to this list if we feel they are harming the balance or play experience of serious PvP. For the time being, that means League Circuit, The Legend Gauntlet, and Super Contests.
Watchlist Updates
Between big balance patches, we'll use this thread to keep players in the loop as to what we're watching. We'll post in this thread periodically, updating the watchlist and addressing the mood of the thread.
If there's a balance hotfix brewing (as opposed to a rules-related hotfix, or a mere correction), players will be able to see the writing on the wall in this thread.
Can I suggest adding—?
Yes, this is a complaint thread.
Post here about pieces you think are harming to either the balance or the play experience of serious PvP, and articulate why it's harmful. Explain what harm the piece is doing. If the piece has healthy features, include those and try to explain why those features are outweighed. You may also post in response, to try to run defense for your favorite pieces. You might offer additional positive features the piece has, or explain why a certain concern is negligible.
Try to steer dialogue towards identifying what a piece's problems actually are. Also, try to identify the healthy aspects of problematic pieces, that are worth maintaining if the piece is acted upon. And above all, try to recognize whether or not the part you love about a piece is worth keeping.
I want to emphasize: I know many of you are aspiring developers, but this is not a thread for showcasing "clever" solutions. Discuss potential changes, but do not halt conversation with your all-in-one, comprehensive self-authored solution.
Bugged or inaccurate pieces (missing descriptions, etc) go in the Bug and Feedback thread.
This is a living, non-exhaustive list, of the balance and play experience issues found in very viable BBP game pieces.
This list is PvP-focused. Inclusion in the watchlist does not promise action.
A piece is a candidate for balance scrutiny if, by being very viable, it makes a large group of nominally-playable Pokemon, moves, items, or strategies non-viable for play.
Example: A Pokemon with Unnerve dominates the meta, making Berry strategies largely unfeasible.
If Pokemon with Unnerve are only a portion of the metagame, this scrutiny doesn't apply.
A piece is a candidate for play experience scrutiny if, by being very viable, it makes BBP demand more time and labor than is reasonable, or makes BBP matches more difficult for referees.
Example: A prior version of Frisk was frequently forgotten by referees and players, who would forget to offer a chance to declare item names.
If that Frisk is not common in the metagame, or if refs eventually remember to offer Frisk, this scrutiny doesn't apply.
| Balance and Play Experience Watchlist |
|---|
The following pieces have been found to be possibly harmful to serious PvP: |
| Watched | Pleasing Features | Concerning Features |
|---|---|---|
 Mew | 1. Offers a fantasy of versatility and game mastery. 2. Now only ever brings a sane, answerable number of moves to a battle. | 1. If dominant, 115 is the (rather high) meta Speed to beat, rather than 80-92. 2. Selection mechanic incentivizes discarding the most interesting moves Mew learns, in favor of workhorse moves. 3. 15 moves per level may prove still oppressive, or may prove non-viable. Unknown without field experience. |
 Torment | 1. This move now has clear moments of power and of weakness. 2. The delay in partial effect means that opponents can order mostly normally until Torment is used; but must be cautious with combos when Torment is present. | 1. The effect being partially immediate, and partially delayed, may cause confusion. 2. The move may prove rather weak even when used; when it should exert pressure to switch and switch soon. |
 Absorbing Abilities | 1. The capacity to self-trigger means they're not completely inert in BBP. | 1. They currently trigger from non-attacks, which is attractive to players in the same smelly way that becoming damage-immune is. This complicates any work done to non-attacks of the relevant types. 2. The timing at which they trigger is poor (that is, they there's no good way to make them trigger "When the user would have been hit"), leading to non-intuitive interactions. 3. Tying them to the Recovery ecosystem was necessary but left them mostly unexciting as a result. |
 Choice Scarf | 1. Offers long-lasting speed control to non-archetypal teams. 2. Broadening subs is an interesting tool to offer. | 1. The item has memory issues and has resulted in many blowouts, due to its strict sub illegality. |
 Z-Moves | 1. Allows investment of Tech into a single user. | 1. Spending lots of Tech early makes it simpler to drive a match to a controlled finish. We would prefer if matches did not often devolve into races to spend Tech first. 2. If this proves to be viable, but not dominant, we will remove this entry. |
 Lucky Egg | 1. Helps players get excited for low-statted Pokemon. 2. Lends common relevance to Penalty-Proof in particular. 3. Excels in offensive and defensive roles. | 1. For every low-statted or even medium-statted Pokemon, this item is often regarded as their best-in-slot. 2. Disproportionately rewards Pokemon for having all of their stats in HP. 3. Even for Pokemon with heaps of stats, they still sometimes slot this item for a free +3 to their lowest rank. 4. Excels in offensive and defensive roles at once. 5. Further diminishes the relevance of ranks, when smaller Pokemon can get a massive injection of ranks from one item. |
 Ditto Powders | 1. Now offer flexibility of use to Mew and Necturna, while favoring Ditto. 2. No longer scale exclusively with the stats of the Pokemon being transformed into. They should now play nicely with custom arenas, PvE, and so on. | 1. The degree to which they favor Ditto over other holders may be too small. 2. Malleable Powder may cause rules confusion down the line. |
 Manual Switching | 1. It's difficult to call this a "feature". Changing the matchup is a fundamental feature of the game. 2. We want players to skillfully manage their reserve and jockey with each other for field presence. Cost-free switching enables that to some degree. | 1. Because it happens in its own special phase, and spends nothing; the only potential cost of manually switching is having to order first in your prefered matchup. 2. Instead, counterswitching and counter-Tera incur a heavy cost: Having to order first. |
 Archaludon | 1. It's nice to have a public enemy whose win condition isn't "players literally give up reading its moves and quit BBP." | 2. It accrues stat stages with little cost. Defense stages just from being hit, and Sp.Atk stages just from using its strongest attacks. |
We'll add pieces to this list if we feel they are harming the balance or play experience of serious PvP. For the time being, that means League Circuit, The Legend Gauntlet, and Super Contests.
Watchlist Updates
Between big balance patches, we'll use this thread to keep players in the loop as to what we're watching. We'll post in this thread periodically, updating the watchlist and addressing the mood of the thread.
If there's a balance hotfix brewing (as opposed to a rules-related hotfix, or a mere correction), players will be able to see the writing on the wall in this thread.
Can I suggest adding—?
Yes, this is a complaint thread.
Post here about pieces you think are harming to either the balance or the play experience of serious PvP, and articulate why it's harmful. Explain what harm the piece is doing. If the piece has healthy features, include those and try to explain why those features are outweighed. You may also post in response, to try to run defense for your favorite pieces. You might offer additional positive features the piece has, or explain why a certain concern is negligible.
Try to steer dialogue towards identifying what a piece's problems actually are. Also, try to identify the healthy aspects of problematic pieces, that are worth maintaining if the piece is acted upon. And above all, try to recognize whether or not the part you love about a piece is worth keeping.
I want to emphasize: I know many of you are aspiring developers, but this is not a thread for showcasing "clever" solutions. Discuss potential changes, but do not halt conversation with your all-in-one, comprehensive self-authored solution.
Bugged or inaccurate pieces (missing descriptions, etc) go in the Bug and Feedback thread.
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Choice Band and 
Choice Specs.
Leftovers: This is probably the real current best generic defensive item in the game. It rewards passivity and interacts weirdly with trigger logic for users at full HP. However, it is a known defensive icon from the source games. It also lends purpose to healing interaction (especially Psychic Noise) so long as it remains strong; making users of these moves attractive.
Weakness Policy: This item has traction despite its typically-weak design: The opponent gets to decide if they would prefer to take and deal more damage by hitting the holder's weakness. Other items with this functionality have floundered, but both "modes" of Weakness Policy—where the opponent refrains from hitting super-effectively, or where the opponent grants the holder large boosts—have proven to be extremely strong. Because of the agency this item gives to opponents, we're cautiously optimistic about its place in the metagame overall.
