Celever
i am town
On the topic of Exp. Share and Exp. Groups, I had another idea of how to fix it that might be tenable?
What if instead of distributing experience (or maybe on top of it, if the experience shared is balanced better), having it enabled also nullifies the effect of Exp. Groups. So every Pokémon in your party levels as if they're in the Normal exp. group or something.
I feel like this is a more refined way of achieving what the devs seem to want:
A) The purpose of exp. groups, insofar as I can tell, is to make it more difficult to use powerful Pokémon. Of course, it doesn't do that and only works theoretically and in isolation, because it actually makes it harder to justify using the Pokémon on your team with better experience curves since you have to focus on using the one Pokémon with a slow curve so it keeps up. Since the Exp. All seems intended as some kind of easy mode, nullifying this effect seems better.
B) The modern games seem as anti-grind in design as possible, because Game Freak is for some reason still scared that all the kids will go and play Angry Birds instead of Pokémon. This idea legitimately just gives every Pokémon better experience throughout the adventure lessening the need for grinding even more.
C) Since the games seem designed around having Exp. All on (SwSh doesn't even let you turn it off), every Pokémon having the same level curve makes it way easier to balance opponent levels.
This would depend on the Exp. All being a key item again, of course, so players who don't use the Exp. All can play with a more authentic experience where the on paper more powerful Pokémon still require a little more work grinding. But it seems like a pretty clear solution to the at times game-breaking interaction between Exp. Groups and the Exp. All (this interaction being my least favourite part of SwSh and why I dislike going back and playing it now).
What if instead of distributing experience (or maybe on top of it, if the experience shared is balanced better), having it enabled also nullifies the effect of Exp. Groups. So every Pokémon in your party levels as if they're in the Normal exp. group or something.
I feel like this is a more refined way of achieving what the devs seem to want:
A) The purpose of exp. groups, insofar as I can tell, is to make it more difficult to use powerful Pokémon. Of course, it doesn't do that and only works theoretically and in isolation, because it actually makes it harder to justify using the Pokémon on your team with better experience curves since you have to focus on using the one Pokémon with a slow curve so it keeps up. Since the Exp. All seems intended as some kind of easy mode, nullifying this effect seems better.
B) The modern games seem as anti-grind in design as possible, because Game Freak is for some reason still scared that all the kids will go and play Angry Birds instead of Pokémon. This idea legitimately just gives every Pokémon better experience throughout the adventure lessening the need for grinding even more.
C) Since the games seem designed around having Exp. All on (SwSh doesn't even let you turn it off), every Pokémon having the same level curve makes it way easier to balance opponent levels.
This would depend on the Exp. All being a key item again, of course, so players who don't use the Exp. All can play with a more authentic experience where the on paper more powerful Pokémon still require a little more work grinding. But it seems like a pretty clear solution to the at times game-breaking interaction between Exp. Groups and the Exp. All (this interaction being my least favourite part of SwSh and why I dislike going back and playing it now).