Bull of Heaven
Guest
Approved by Birkal
Welcome to another of the awkward moments where CAP decides how to adjust to the times. Mega evolution is an important and entirely new mechanic, and not something that the current CAP process is prepared to handle. There are two main questions to be dealt with in this thread:
1) Will we allow CAP creations to mega evolve?
2) If so, how will mega evolution be implemented in the process?
Naturally, we'll be starting with the first of these questions, as our answer will determine whether the second needs to be addressed at all. To get the discussion started, I'll give some initial thoughts on our options and try to bring up points in favour of each.
Why disallow megas?
Mega evolution has the potential to be very disruptive to the process, while adding little value in return. Every CAP Pokemon is carefully designed to fill a specific niche, and if the base form has already been engineered to do that, it's difficult to imagine the mega form being good for the process. Since the stronger mega form is likely to overshadow the base form, it is likely that either the concept will not be properly addressed in actual battles, or the mega form will be designed to fulfill the concept and the base form will have no good reason to exist. Mega evolution might make it too easy for a Pokemon to fill roles or beat threats that are not helpful to its concept, and since CAP creations are already designed to be strong in the OU metagame, a mega CAP would likely be difficult to balance. Further, how would we decide whether a particular Pokemon gets a mega form? Would the TL choose? As it is unlikely that the addition of a second form will help us to fulfill most concepts any better than a well-designed single-form Pokemon would, it is difficult to identify any criteria by which a responsible TL would choose to give a mega form to one of our Pokemon. At the same time, an open vote on the matter would be a fanboy magnet, opening the floodgates for non-competitive input on what would absolutely be a competitive decision. On a related note, and especially considering the reputation CAP already has for making overpowered Pokemon, tempting ourselves with mega evolution could result in some creations that are bad for optics, even if we manage to limit the fanboy influence that's involved. Finally, there's some tension between mega CAPs and in-game precedence, as no current-gen Pokemon has a mega, and creating a mega would require us to create a new item.
Why allow megas?
Despite the numerous problems with allowing mega evolution, there are still strong arguments to be made in its favour. First, banning mega evolution is not without potential optics problems of its own. Mega evolution is perhaps the most exciting new mechanic in the Gen VI games, and certainly one of the most hyped. If we choose to ban mega evolution from our process, we are making a clear and rigid statement that we will ignore one of the biggest changes to competitive Pokemon in years, and not even begin to explore it. CAP is two generations old now, and we should be wary of projecting an overly conservative image, or appearing to be stuck in the past. More importantly, the problems that I identified earlier describe ways that mega evolution could interfere with our attempts to explore other parts of the metagame, but ignore that fact that mega evolution is itself an important component of the game, and something that CAP might want to study. Is it reasonable to say that this project's goal is to learn about the metagame if we refuse to tackle such an important part of it? I'm always uncomfortable with the PRC restricting CAP's options more than is necessary, and eliminating a major mechanic from the process without ever trying to include it might be going too far. As for the lesser issues of precedence, nowhere is it written in stone that a current-gen Pokemon must not have a mega, and creating an item shouldn't be an issue when the item is effectively an extension of the Pokemon, and has no other function.
What else can we do?
This paragraph is going to more clearly introduce my own opinions, as the difficulty I've had answering the question of allowing mega evolution has led me to consider the possibility of a middle ground. Given a straight choice between allowing and disallowing megas, I would likely choose to disallow them, but I'm not convinced enough that it's the right answer to be comfortable making such a harsh decision. This problem led me to brainstorm alternatives to the two most obvious options, and the best that I've come up with on my own is that mega evolution only be allowed if the concept explicitly requires it. This would allow us to study the mechanic itself without the risk of it disrupting an unrelated concept. For example, some kind of "mega evo that fills a different niche" concept would be doable (depending on the quality of the submission), but we wouldn't have to worry about whether a "Sketch Artist" concept would feature the added challenge of balancing a mega. This would likely open the door to submissions like "pure utility Pokemon that has an awesome mega," but those are already inappropriate submissions by our current standards, and the TL would presumably not slate them. This option also eliminates the problem of how we decide whether to give a mega to each Pokemon, as that would be settled in the concept polls every time.
I've now tried to provide arguments for three distinct options (though my personal favourite at this point is the third), and now it's up to the rest of you to engage those arguments and/or bring up ones I've missed. Hopefully we can reach a conclusion that satisfies as many of us as possible. Once more, for clarity, our options are the following:
1) Disallow mega evolution
2) Allow mega evolution
3) Find some kind of middle ground (e.g. "only if the concept requires it")
Welcome to another of the awkward moments where CAP decides how to adjust to the times. Mega evolution is an important and entirely new mechanic, and not something that the current CAP process is prepared to handle. There are two main questions to be dealt with in this thread:
1) Will we allow CAP creations to mega evolve?
2) If so, how will mega evolution be implemented in the process?
Naturally, we'll be starting with the first of these questions, as our answer will determine whether the second needs to be addressed at all. To get the discussion started, I'll give some initial thoughts on our options and try to bring up points in favour of each.
Why disallow megas?
Mega evolution has the potential to be very disruptive to the process, while adding little value in return. Every CAP Pokemon is carefully designed to fill a specific niche, and if the base form has already been engineered to do that, it's difficult to imagine the mega form being good for the process. Since the stronger mega form is likely to overshadow the base form, it is likely that either the concept will not be properly addressed in actual battles, or the mega form will be designed to fulfill the concept and the base form will have no good reason to exist. Mega evolution might make it too easy for a Pokemon to fill roles or beat threats that are not helpful to its concept, and since CAP creations are already designed to be strong in the OU metagame, a mega CAP would likely be difficult to balance. Further, how would we decide whether a particular Pokemon gets a mega form? Would the TL choose? As it is unlikely that the addition of a second form will help us to fulfill most concepts any better than a well-designed single-form Pokemon would, it is difficult to identify any criteria by which a responsible TL would choose to give a mega form to one of our Pokemon. At the same time, an open vote on the matter would be a fanboy magnet, opening the floodgates for non-competitive input on what would absolutely be a competitive decision. On a related note, and especially considering the reputation CAP already has for making overpowered Pokemon, tempting ourselves with mega evolution could result in some creations that are bad for optics, even if we manage to limit the fanboy influence that's involved. Finally, there's some tension between mega CAPs and in-game precedence, as no current-gen Pokemon has a mega, and creating a mega would require us to create a new item.
Why allow megas?
Despite the numerous problems with allowing mega evolution, there are still strong arguments to be made in its favour. First, banning mega evolution is not without potential optics problems of its own. Mega evolution is perhaps the most exciting new mechanic in the Gen VI games, and certainly one of the most hyped. If we choose to ban mega evolution from our process, we are making a clear and rigid statement that we will ignore one of the biggest changes to competitive Pokemon in years, and not even begin to explore it. CAP is two generations old now, and we should be wary of projecting an overly conservative image, or appearing to be stuck in the past. More importantly, the problems that I identified earlier describe ways that mega evolution could interfere with our attempts to explore other parts of the metagame, but ignore that fact that mega evolution is itself an important component of the game, and something that CAP might want to study. Is it reasonable to say that this project's goal is to learn about the metagame if we refuse to tackle such an important part of it? I'm always uncomfortable with the PRC restricting CAP's options more than is necessary, and eliminating a major mechanic from the process without ever trying to include it might be going too far. As for the lesser issues of precedence, nowhere is it written in stone that a current-gen Pokemon must not have a mega, and creating an item shouldn't be an issue when the item is effectively an extension of the Pokemon, and has no other function.
What else can we do?
This paragraph is going to more clearly introduce my own opinions, as the difficulty I've had answering the question of allowing mega evolution has led me to consider the possibility of a middle ground. Given a straight choice between allowing and disallowing megas, I would likely choose to disallow them, but I'm not convinced enough that it's the right answer to be comfortable making such a harsh decision. This problem led me to brainstorm alternatives to the two most obvious options, and the best that I've come up with on my own is that mega evolution only be allowed if the concept explicitly requires it. This would allow us to study the mechanic itself without the risk of it disrupting an unrelated concept. For example, some kind of "mega evo that fills a different niche" concept would be doable (depending on the quality of the submission), but we wouldn't have to worry about whether a "Sketch Artist" concept would feature the added challenge of balancing a mega. This would likely open the door to submissions like "pure utility Pokemon that has an awesome mega," but those are already inappropriate submissions by our current standards, and the TL would presumably not slate them. This option also eliminates the problem of how we decide whether to give a mega to each Pokemon, as that would be settled in the concept polls every time.
I've now tried to provide arguments for three distinct options (though my personal favourite at this point is the third), and now it's up to the rest of you to engage those arguments and/or bring up ones I've missed. Hopefully we can reach a conclusion that satisfies as many of us as possible. Once more, for clarity, our options are the following:
1) Disallow mega evolution
2) Allow mega evolution
3) Find some kind of middle ground (e.g. "only if the concept requires it")