What I see of this whole "Community Refereeing" shebang is a mere attempt to -completely- bypass the current incentives for referees to not pass DQ, mainly, the "Substitute referees claim full UC unless the original referee called it" rule. I mean, if you really cannot referee something during the next week or whatever, what is not stopping you from just... Posting in the Battle Tower by yourself & calling for a sub-referee for the match you are reffing, even if you are within the DQ time (Heck, organise a sub-referee to take over on IRC & post for the sake of confirmation)? By the current rules, you are still expected to get the pay proportionate to the amount of rounds refereed if you do that. Sure, it -might- be a bit slower than what is being proposed, but it is still effectively the same thing as proposed. Basically, I see no reason to implement this on the basis that we can effectively do this already, as well as the fact that it is a giant middle finger to the subrefs claiming full rewards rule.
I apologise if I am completely misunderstanding this whole thing, but I honestly cannot see why we should go forward with this. I understand that this community reffing thing is optional, but I still feel like this is designed to bypass the subreffing rules, which is what I do not like about this.
Anyhow:
"How much of a role does HP play for a Pokemon? Additionally, how much of a role does Weight Class play for a Pokemon?"
HP is one of these strange mechanics. A higher HP can correlate to being more likely to win a damage race, but it is not a be all end all stat that determines whether a Pokémon is viable or not. See: Sableye. It has some influence on the power level on some mons, but that is also balanced (by those with general fixed recovery) by the fact that those recovery moves recover less percentage for more energy. Having a high HP stat can be a big boon to a Pokémon, but HP is just a statistic. It is essential to winning a match, but it does not always make a Pokémon great. Just ask Wobbuffet, a Pokémon that is virtually useless in the majority of singles matches.
I see Weight Class as more of a risk statistic, that is to say, "The bigger they hit, the harder they fall". WC is good, especially when you have moves that benefit from it. There is a reason why people grow a hate for Pokémon like Pyroak, Aggron, & Snorlax. The ability to slug the opponent with a 15+ BAP drawback-free STAB (Apart from Snorlax Double-Edge) is an incredibly powerful tactic, & also allow the Pokémon to win against lots of Pokémon one on one as well. On the other hand, their greatest strength is usually their greatest weakness. The majority of these primary WC abusers are weak to one of: Grass Knot, Sky Drop (Restricted by user), Psychic (Restricted by user), & Low Kick, which will be able to slug them for a load of damage. Though that means nothing. It does not take away from the fact that WC is a powerful tool that can be abused. I would like to see it (or some facet of it) have some sort of review at the least, perhaps alongside HP, but we need to pinpoint what needs to be hit, should we need to hit something related.
"Are you having fun in ASB? Why or why not?"
To be honest, I am kind of having fun. Not as much as when I started out all this time ago, but enough to keep me interested in the game. Probably the most fun I get from ASB is the Raid Zone & The Legend Run. The adventure, the fun from making players suffer / kicking Valaun into the next century can be very satisfying, & keep me waiting for the next part. Winning makes me more satisfied, & the joy of denying a TLR player a legend can make me feel better as a player. These endgame RP's are something I enjoy, & make me proud to be involved with either in some capacity. The Gym League is fun as well, though no challenges to my Gym of late make me sad... :(
What aspects I am not having as much fun with any more, however, are the Facility RP's. The last time I did one of those was reffing EM's super subway where he reached Ingo Matezoide. I enjoyed haxxing him out of the Subway & impersonating Matezoide with his penchant for spamming pony gifs & yolol while keeping Ingo involved, but other than that bit of fun I had, the facility RP's just seem boring to me nowadays. I just feel like the magic with those RP's are lost. I find it hard to put it into words, but I just do not like them any more. Hall is the main offender in this regard, with its high sized queue, an odds of winning outright that is even lower than a TLR, & the fact that most people go in there just to train their Pokémon. I have just... fallen out of love with them.
"Is the game basically good as is or does it still require a lot of changes?"
This is perhaps one thing I, like several others, like about ASB. The fact that the game is very balanced, even in singles. Some Pokémon might seem stronger than others, but there is nothing inherently overpowered, let alone broken. If things need to be change, it should be more of a reactionary thing. If someone manages to engineer a broken strategy, then hit the strategy. I am not too fussed with things changing, but as long as the change is responsible & we have questioned why the change with some proper justification, then there is not much problem. The issue is that many people tend to ask why not instead of asking why (Read removing stat boost decay). All in all, there is not much that really needs changing imo.
"What are your thoughts on the registration system of Generation 6? In particular, for newer users joining in Generation 6, did you find the process too complex?"
The generation system of generation six is a big improvement over the last, especially in the light of the issues that reared up in the final few months of the last generation. One thing that would need to be improved is making things easier for new users to join, but that is being progressively addressed. One issue I can see is that new users post a profile & it gets idling & whatnot without approval. One idea I could see working is a registration thread, just like Registration Tower, but a temporary one where users make their two posts there. When they get approved, their posts then get spliced off to a new thread of the same format as the current (With the user being notified of the new thread by VM), with approval posts being deleted eventually. The idea creates a queue for new users to get approval, making the approval process a bit more streamlined. There are issues like if it is possible (I think it is), & what this has that the current system does not do better. IDK at the moment, but this is just a rough idea. If people like it I might expand on it, but I guess this is a case of "thoughts for now"?
