"Essentially: BBP is an insane, unreasonable and toxic time commitment: You commit as much of your time as you want. Nothing is demanded unless you opt in to participate. By not being demanded, I mean, you don't get punished for checking out of the game for a while unless you're actively in a facility or refereeing someone's stuff.
One: Raw time commitment to start playing
We just talked about someone's first claim taking 3 weeks. That was the longest I've heard a new player wait. Typically new players are prioritized by others (We join their beginner battles, give them queue priority, ref them first, give tips etc).
One's progress is dependent on one's hustle.
I remember I started in Septermber 2023, Ayush started before me, and HeliosAflame started slightly after us (Fort Colorcastle started before us but he has Veteran Energy so I always assumed they weren't new). Anyway, together we made a lot of progress with the bartering system (If you ref my stuff I'll ref yours) and the streamlined facilities. Your experience is slightly different than mine because of the array of options that are out now, and the time of year you're joining. I brought this up to directly respond to you saying meaningful progress takes ~4 months to get started and a year to get competitive. Helios did it in ~3 ish months, Ayush in a similar time frame, and me specifically, I got my first level 4 in ~4 months (Sept to Jan) and thats with a 1-2 month break in between. That 1-2 month break is actually when Helios made crazy progress.
You say a year+ player has such an advantage like we're playing for money. We're really playing to play more. Eve and Epicdrill both have Mega Metagross. I could stress over how long it would take me to get to their level, or I could queue into battle with them and stress over how am I going to beat a formidable and rare pokemon.
Two: Raw time commitment to begin facility play
You're complaining about reffing. I see this as a complaint about reffing. Things take a long time when nobody is playing the game, or when a facility is a pain to ref (see Raids and some Events). You really don't know how long something will take in BBP. I don't have much to say about this, because the game can drag I agree, but it doesn't have to matter unless I have nothing else going on.
Three: Keeping up with this game is genuinely harmful to my mental health
I am not gonna surgarcoat it, this place is ridiculous.
Adding the Smogon Forum Notifications onto the treadmill of social media to check during any downtime is unchangable via the nature of this being a forum game; that's excusable, even if it does weight in on my decision to quit. But the rest is downright sadistic.
I don't have a phone or social media, and clicking refresh on smogon every once in a while is kinda nice. There have been times where I was obsessive about it, like I would make a bunch of posts/take reffings/something, go do something else, come back and expect an amount of new interactions. If I didn't get those, I was irritated and kinda panicked. It was weird, but I think that's my own problem, which led to a couple long breaks from the game.
This game is designed exactly like a free pay-to-win game, except with the dollar store removed. Every single dirty trick in the gatcha book to manipulate people is used.
I used to like gacha games. We've even talked about a Daily Login Bonus in BBP jokingly. This might be a pretty accurate comparison, but a fundamental difference is Single Player vs Multiplayer. I can't make progress alone in BBP at all, which is not the case, and is actually the business model of Gacha games.
The entire game is built upon a fear of missing out (FOMO) scheme.
The game is exceptionally gated off and grindy. You need to come back every month for the monthly event, otherwise you'll be missing out on EXP records to skip the grind! You need to always be on the facility queues to maximize the EXP you gain per month otherwise the grind takes literal decades! You need to play the League Circuit right now because the ruleset will rotate out and you won't have tried it [and to play in it you better have done all that EXP grinding beforehand]! Etc etc etc. It's all about how if you don't invest your time into the game right now you might regret it later, about all the rewards you're missing by not playing.
Every player is subject to the grind and time investment of this game, and EXP records (given in events and League Circuit and probably other specific things) are rare because they give a player the advantage of skipping that time investment. Some events are designed to be contestable by players of any progress level (see Little Leaders, or the Halloween/Christmas events). Some aren't, like Lance or the other competitive ones. If the game is "gated off" it is by the system of the game itself. As in, If I just started playing, I shouldn't go challenge N for Zekrom and have a reasonable chance to get it. I CAN, but I'll get smacked.
I think you gotta be okay with missing out. BBP might be a completionists' nightmare, and it sounds like you have a fledgling urge to be a BBP Completionist. But I dare say 100%ing the game was not considered in the game's design. Eve is kinda close tho.
The game also uses the same techniques as character gatchas as well of ransoming characters. "See this character/anime girl/pokémon you really like? Well, if you want it you gotta pull it/buy it/spend 6 months grinding it to lv4!". The love people have for specific pokémon is weaponized and turned into ammo to compell people into spending months grinding it to high levels, the wish fulfilment of roleplaying being a pokémon trainer "justifying" spending literal years into the game.
I love Lugia (see profile picture). I joined in September. If in september there was an "obtain Lugia" event, I'd be devastated. I'd look into seeing how I could get into that event with my new 3 pokemon. If that event was Harvest Usurpers Arrogance, I'd be relieved because that event is beginner friendly. If that event was Dragon Master Lance, I'd be pressed because there's no way I can play high-level hard mode when I just started. What can I do?
Vouchers How do they work?
They don'tI don't know because I've never used them, but they are there for a way to run back facilities if you've missed out somehow.
I wouldn't say people's love of Pokemon is
Weaponized, but it is worked into an incentive for the game's structure. Pinnacle Facilities only cost so much because they have Legendaries. If Legendaries where just handed out for free, why would I pay 25 JC to challenge a facility?
Actually, lets derail for a bit. Why would I pay 25 JC in the first place? Where did the JC come from? I reffed battles, and got an in-game currency called JC. If we're comparing BBP to a gacha game, lets call it my Daily Energy or something. You can't buy this stuff, you can only get it by refereeing, and you can't play without it. So the value of JC depends on how much I value playing the game. Some percentage of that value comes from my value of Pokemon as a whole. If I wanna play pokemon with the BBP spin, I need to have JC, which means I need to have reffed content. Reffing content increases your JC count, while validating someone else's JC count.
I don't know where this is going and I don't want to talk about JC anymore actually. I just wanted to respond to your response, because I feel like quitting this game a lot sometimes. I don't find it fun always, and the stress of posting is uninvited. I thought reffing would be the issue so I stopped reffing, but ordering against Mew, Dusknoir, or Keriel is not my idea of a good time. But there's a happy/healthy level of interaction to have with this game. Like you said, BBP is insane, but its insane on both sides of the spectrum. I dare you to find anything like it. If you do, let me know. Is there DOKKAN BATTLE By Post out there? That'd be incredible.
I participate in this game when I feel like it. I like the team I've built and it is nice to come back to my profile. It's like a garden in a way. I invite you to look at BBP in a different perspective, and I hope that different perspective affects your mental health positively.
Shedinja (★) x1, plus the three Stundents not chosen last Phase.
