Counter and Mirror Coat are fine. I've had them used against me and used them myself and they are exactly as I imagine they should be.
Substitute is a pretty aggravating move, especially when it can be ranged to survive attacks with exactly 1 HP. That's pretty much the reason Substitute is so good, however. Detect / Protect / Dig are much cheaper methods of blocking status compared to Substitute, and just as widespread. I think it shouldn't have its range changed, however, I do think it should be fixed amounts at 15/20/25 of the player's choice. So they could do Substitute (15) or Substitute (20), but never Substitute (18). This prevents them from chucking out 1 HP survival Substitutes and in general balances out the move a bit based on why you'd use it in the first place.
Yes, someone has to ref the battles. If you increase the number of battles people can participate in, but don't compensate the number of referees at all, you only make problems more strained for the refs that are active. I agree with Deck on this one.
I am glad this got brought up, though it should also affect Tailwind and Wonder Room. I know Deck's adamantly against reducing them too much, and I can see why. Rain, sun, etc. affect both sides of the field equally, and so they're in a class of their own when compared to things like screens and Safeguard. I think they probably should last longer than screens, but definitely much less than they currently last. I like the idea of 9 actions, personally, but I'd also be okay with 12 actions. I specify actions there because then it lasts 4 rounds for singles and doubles, but 6 rounds for triples. Having it last 'rounds' and not 'actions' really hurts the moves in triples matches. I personally think it should go to a vote with the following options:
Should field effect moves have their durations reduced?
If the field effect moves do have their durations reduced, to what number should they be reduced?
- To 9 actions
- To 12 actions
The sub-vote ensures that Yes votes don't hurt each other against the No votes in the first poll question, while the second poll question asks everyone what the duration should go to if Yes passes in the first question.