This is an idea I have been cooking for almost three years now. It's known Game Freak F sucks at balancing this game series. Our clauses should be enough proof of that.
And banning has always been extremely controversial. Some say it's too harsh, some say it's completely deserved and didn't even need a vote, and everything in between.
I am mostly anti banning, especially on recent times where we sometimes go a little overboard, but as a seasoned BSS player, even I admit it's the lesser of the two evils.
But, the thins is, WE HAVE A SIMULATOR. What about instead of banning the most ridiculous stuff and having to suffer in silence everything unfair that we can't restrict for a reason or another (Paralysis, Critical hits, certain moves or pokemon being excessively spammable and rewarding like Scald or Landorus, you know what I mean), what about if we instead we PATCH THEM ourselves?
I present you ladies and gentlemen, PROJECT M
You will say this sounds like the Other Metagame of The Month that upgrades some stats, and in part it is like that. But my intent is to go far beyond. As a little taste, those are the pre-filtered changes I intend to bring on play if the mods agree to implement this side metagame:
General mechanic changes:
Every time you switch, the pokemon that goes out looses one PP. The PP is always deducted of the move with the most total PP remaining. If the pokemon has no PP left, it suffers 10% damage instead. This way, combined with the changes below on some abilities, no matter what you do, the game will EVENTUALLY end.
Flying types: are now immune to terrains both ways. That means, in addition to being able to suffer priority attacks or status in the middle of Psychic or Misty Terrain, they will be able to use them against everybody regardless.
Critical hits now have a built-in Mold Breaker effect, but the multiplier is lowered to x1,3.
Paralysis, flinches and confusion damage can NEVER trigger twice in a row.
Paralysis, Torment and Leech Seed now wear off after 10 turns.
Sleep only lasts 1-2 turns. A woken up pokemon cannot be put to sleep the immediately next turn.
If a pokemon falls under the effects of Taunt and attacks the taunter that same turn, the move will be guaranteed to hit AND crit.
Any successfully connected attack resets the user's accuracy drops and target's evasion boosts.
The effects of trapping abilities only last two turns after you switch in the trapper or until the target takes damage from a direct attack, whatever happens first. Thus, careful use of Protect, Substitute or a charge move can allow you to escape them. All trapping abilities protect the user from being trapped in any way. Using a trapping move while trapped will also break the trapping.
Struggle now uses the highest of either Atk or Satk, and has base power of 75. The recoil damage now scales similar to toxic to prevent Funbro-style locks.
The damage boost of all Terrains is now 30% instead of 50%. All other effects maintained.
Fire and Ice both grant immunity to freezes and burns.
All water moves EXCEPT Scald and Steam Eruption, cure burns on the user.
All fire moves cure freezes on the user.
Rain prevents burns.
Scald and Steam Eruption now loose power in rain and gain power in sun (after all, they ALREADY behave like fire moves when it comes to freeze mechanics).
Z-moves have base power stantardized to be the base move's power +100, never exceeding 250.
Exclusive Z-moves instead give +120 base power and an added special effect.
Move-specific buffs:
Flying Press: Base power increased to 100. Now deals purely Fighting type normally, and purely Flying type damage if target is resistant or immune to Fighting.
Sparked Electrosurfer: Now applies Electric Terrain.
Let's Struggle Forever: Now applies Misty Terrain.
Oceanic Operetta: Now deals Fairy type damage to targets resistant to Water. Cures status on team.
Sinister Arrow Raid: Now deals Grass type damage to targets resistant or immune to Ghost. Fully ignores Protect.
Malicious Moonslaught: Now deals Fire type damage to targets resistant to Dark. Guaranteed to flinch the target.
Skull Bash: Base power increased to 140. Damage taken while charging reduced by 33%. Pierces through Protect.
Freeze Shock and Freeze Burn: Charge turn skipped in hail. Damage taken while charging reduced by 33%.
Transform: Base PP boosted to 25 and priority +1.
All moves with 95% accuraccy: Accuraccy boosted to 100 (none of them have enough power or good enough effects to justify that 1/20 "yes, you're F".
Will-o-Wisp and Thunder Wave: Perfect accuraccy if used by a fire/ghost and an electric type pokémon respectively.
Perfect-accuraccy moves: Now hit in any semi invulnerable state similar to the effects of No Guard
Bubblebeam and Low Sweep: Base power reduced to 60, and speed drop chance increased to 100%.
Rock Tomb and Icy Wind: Accuraccy increased to 100%
Teleport: Now works as a switch-out move and evades Pursuit, allowing DryPassing to return to the metagame.
Mind Reader: Now targets the user, thus it works even if the opponent switches out and can be baton passed.
Lock On: Lasts unit the target switches out.
All base power drops from XY (Blizzard, Thunderbolt) reverted
All other moves with a charge turn: Power increased to 120 and 100 base accuracy. Sky Attack now grants Fly-style immunity and gets 180 base power to compensate those miserable 8 PP that mean you're boned against Protect users.
All status moves that drop enemy stats: Increased effect by one stage and base 100 accuracy (yes, even Screech, Metal Sound and company).
All Wrap clones get 100 accuraccy, except Magma Storm.
SelfDestruct gets power boosted to 250 and once again halves defenses. Explosion reworked: rock and steel types loose half their health, ghost types and Sturdy users immune. Everything else OHKOed. Both moves will fail if you have less than 25% HP
Hyper Beam clones have their base power boosted to 180 and won't recharge if you get the kill, but they get accuraccy dropped to 80 and will now recharge even if it fails to connect for any reason.
Dark Void now has 80% accuraccy on singles ONLY.
Night Daze: If the user is under the effects of Illusion, it now mimics the animation of the strongest move of the imposted pokemon (so now it can be used to try to deceive the opponent).
Move-specific nerfs:
King's Shield: No longer affects moves that would have dealt no damage. Stance Chance wont' swap into defense mode if used twice without switching out.
Hidden Power: base power adjusted to 65 to prevent Technician boost.
Recycle: Unaffected by Leppa Berry. Cannot recycle Leppa Berry. The move will fail if used repeteadly.
Glare: accuraccy dropped by 20.
Yawn: The move will fail if used repeteadly.
U-turn and Volt Switch: switching effect fails if target is x4 resistant to the move.
OHKO moves: get a base accuracy of 100 but get a charge turn AND a recharge turn instead. This means as long as you got something immune to them or someone with Protect or Substitute, you can easily counter them while still deterring super-passive playstyles. The recharge turn means even if you don't manage to avoid them, the opponent is probably not surviving either.
Entry Hazards: Base PP halved (maybe in the future, discuss Stealth Rock's PP getting quartered). This way they are a little less spammable yet still do their job.
Haze: Base PP halved (same deal).
Encore, Torment and Taunt: fail if used on a pokemon that just broke off their effects. PP and duration of Encore and Taunt boosted to 5 turns and 24 PP.
Ingrain: recovery increased to 25% of HP each turn. It no longer prevents Roar and Whirlwind from taking out the pokemon of the field.
Baton Pass: faints the user. The big problem of this move was the lack of opportunity cost, and there is really no other way to nerf it without reworking it entirely.
Scald, Lava Plume, Sludge Bomb and Discharge: status chance reduced by 10.
Ability-specific buffs:
Gale Wings: HP theresold removed. Now it instead disables the user's item including Z-crystals (debatable).
Sniper: The user's critical hits now have a x2,5 damage multiplier.
Unburden: now works as long as you have no item equipped.
Run Away, Wimp Out and Emergency Exit: now grant immunity to trapping. Run Away additionally grants the revised Quick Claw effect (see below).
Sturdy: the user won't get damaged by the OHKO moves, SelfDestruct or Explosion, but the moves will successfully execute, thus triggering the recharge turn or the self-KO.
Clones of Swarm: now increase damage by x2 if below 25% HP and by x1,5 if between 25 and 50% HP
Slow Start: Reworked entirely. Now at the start of the game gives a -50% Atk, SAtk and Spd at the start and gives a progressive +10% to those stats by every turn the pokemon is on the field, without resetting. Caps at +120%.
Truant: Now also increases damage by 150% and gives the Z-move-exclusive effect of partially negating Protect.
Normality: Now turns all moves used or taken into typeless moves. STAB bonus is still factored as normal.
Ability-specific nerfs:
Speed boost now triggers a permanent separate x2 speed modifier, similar to Swift Swim and Unburden's boosts.
Natural Cure and Regenerator: to prevent indefinite stalling, they won't trigger unless the user successfully used an attack and damaged the target DIRECTLY, that means hitting substitutes or immune targets won't count. Struggle does not count either.
Clones of Flame Body including Cursed Body: Won't trigger if the user is KOed by the attack.
Magic Bounce: no longer blocks pseudo-hazing moves and entry hazards.
Parental Bond: Second hit now deals 35% of the damage from the first, but it no longer triggers any kind of secondary effects, including recoil damage or self-user stat penalties (otherwise it would be essentially a worse version of Sheer Force). Fixed damage moves only hit once.
Moody: No longer affects Accuraccy and Evasion. It now gives a +3 boost and a -3 drop every turn to prevent stat stacking.
Moxie: Now also boosts SAtk
Item-specific buffs:
Shed Shell and Safety Googles : now prevent secondary effects from enemy attacks from proccing.
Metal and Quick Powder: now work on any pokemon under the Transformed status.
Choice Items: Allows the user to select a different move if the locked move is disabled or runs out of PP. Also applies to Encore and Imprison.
Pinch berries: now grant +3 stat bonus. Starf Berry boost the stat to maximum.
Quick Claw now has 100% chance of activation but only works as long as you have full HP.
Custap Berry boost stays until user leaves the field.
Leftovers, Shell Bell and Black Sludge: fail to work if the user has no PP left.
Focus Sash is no longer consumed after activation.
Focus Band now triggers based on a 5-stage-meter, that charges by every move used or received by the holder, and resets by switching. For specific mechanics, think of the Fire Emblem Heroes rendition of Miracle. (now both Focus are worthy of play, Sash benefits frail pokemon with some way to recover HP passively, and Band is useful to allow tanks survive that one single move capable of damaging them)
Pokemon-specific buffs:
Ditto: HP, Defense and Special defense boosted to 72. (maybe I am too biased towards this little blob, but even with the reworked items and those stats he should be still balanced by his limited PP and the new switching mechanic limiting the number of times he will be able to transform)
Unown: Speed stat boosted to 72, ability swapped to Wonder Guard (still completely useless but for the lolz...).
Gallade: Post-mega ability swapped to Sniper.
Shedinja: Ability swapped to Sturdy (with the crits now having Mold Breaker built-in, and hazards still being a thing plus Shedinja loosing the usefulness of Baton Pass, it's too bad).
Pokemon-specific nerfs:
Salamence: Post-mega ability swapped to Bulletproof (that thing on his stomach looks like a Kevlar Vest, so...)
Gengar: Pre-mega ability restored to Levitate. Post-Mega ability swapped to Cursed Body
Lucario: Post-mega ability swapped to Aura Force (fighting type clone of Overgrow and Torrent)
Landorus-I: Ability swapped to Technician. +20 Satk -20 Atk.
Landorus-T: (I accept ideas)
Type changes (On discussion):
Poison is now effective against Water and Bug.
Ice is now resistant to Water and Ground.
Psychic is now immune to Fairy and effective against it.
(no brainers, poison is really bad offensively even after the fairy types, and ice is the worst defensive type. Psychic has improved with the terrain but it still suffers from being bad at both offense AND defense by himself. With those changes now Poison has a reason to be used other than "kill the Tapus", wich is also benefited by Tapu Fini now getting a x4 weakness, while Psychic gets the role of Anti-Fairy type it deserved)
New items (discussion):
Flygonium-Z: Turns Earthquake into a Z-move.
Hawluchium-Z: Turns Flying Press into a Z-move.
Dragonium-Z: Turns Outrage and Fly into Z-moves.
New moves (discussion):
Fickle Strike: Physical equivalent of Hidden Power, including readjusted 65 base power. Available to everybody capable of using TMs. Learned by Unown. (let's be honest, i feel REALLY uneasy about adding this one)
Desert Mirage (Z-Flygon): Creates a sandstorm.
Diving Hurracana (Z-Hawlucha): Keeps the effects of Flying Press. Gives a permanent x2 speed boost (for the match).
Flight of the First Dragon (Z-Dragonite): (Dragon move) If target is immune or resistant to Dragon, deals Flying-type damage. +50% damage if user is the last pokemon remaining.
