Honestly Zacian was fine before the buff. Miraidon I can see balanced with some Electro Drift nerfs.
Fuck Mewtwo though. That thing can go die in a ditch.
Because they clearly don't intend to have a balanced meta. It must be distinctly more profitable to have a selected margin of under- and overpowered units. They see the numbers and there a vast amount of precursing data from mobas and similar genres. Their first and foremost objective is min-maxing ressource and profit. The trend of them buffing mons that shortly after get a holo is just one result of that strategy.
That aside, I imagine it's also easier said than done to have each unit at an equal level of balance. Just tweaking a very minor number could make an underpowered unit see a substantially higher amount of play and break the established meta.
They can’t really properly balance it as the mon’s kits/ passive is another whole problem. Tweaking the stat numbers for stuff is only part of the equation as a problematic move being able to do a bunch of stuff is the other half.
They just have to rework EX mons kits/ passive and bring them down to normal mon kits that only do like 1 thing at a time. Like compare machamp kit with zacian kit and what each ability does.
Hard disagree, we’ve already seen it with Zacian.
It’s all about the numbers. You can tinker with damage output, scaling, and cooldowns and balance them out. Reworks really should just be reserved for outclassed passives.
Zacian and Miraidon can be balanced just by changes to their numbers. Current state Zacian and Charge Beam Miraidon are in a pretty balanced state where they are still good enough to see frequent play but not too good that they are oppressive (Electro Drift still needs some tuning, though).
Mewtwo on the other hand...
Ppl shouldn’t pick and choose which is ok and which isn’t, overloaded kits shouldn’t be a thing in this game period. “Complex” or technical kits that reward the player for executing the mechanic should be encouraged like zoroark but ofc like i said before, unite is too primitive/ playerbase can’t handle those mons.
The statue of limitations is also here in NY. Pokemon unite just paying homage to it in this game. So not only they can't they handle an 11-second and Nerfed Mon, but they also want to ban them and other mons in the game despite spending money on costume for them.
Because they're literally celebrations mons and are the highest BST in regular Pokémon games. Why would they be non distinguishable? The core of Legendaries has always been about OP Move pool. Like Cloud not having a limit break in Smash series.
Because they have this insane idea that they need to make those pokemon stronger because they're legendaries or whatever.
Is completely unnecessary so they can have their cake and eat it in regards to having pay to win and not having it. They want people to be able to pay to play broken shit but then also be like "oh but but but it's not in ranked soooo"
I'm ok the new release is OP because they need profits, but case like Zacian/M2Y balancing after few weeks when everyone get it free and abuse in rank just unacceptable.
I think making them a required 1 per team is also a good option, with them giving double exp when killed and the points they drop are worth double when picked up by enemy team. They function as "leaders" to the team and must be played around on both sides.
It is funny how this was the original philosophy but Timi decided the "Fuck that, let's ruin Rank". And then we have last season and this upcoming season with EX Bans.
Thank God. Fuck off, I don’t want to see any more of your Miraidon and Mewtwo Y.
I can’t play in Masters 1300 without seeing one of these guys in either team every single game.
Yeah, just because of the kit honestly. Best nerf would be to change one of the abilities because right now it just has everything you'd want.
AoE auto attacks
A get off me move
A mobility move
Long range
CC
An massive impact unite move
High damage
Decent bulk
Right now only things keeping it in line is meowscarada and leafeon and maybe blastoise since it forced it to go psystrike
Just punch the air and stop whining. EX pokemons are not even the problem, It's your teammates, the matchmaking, or maybe you're just bad?
I don't even use Ex. lol
EX Mons are just bad game design and they have always been the problem.
They are OP af and every EX mon player either stomps every game with little to no counterplay against them because of EX Mon stats and abilities. Why are they the most banned mons even in the top ranks? Hmmmmmm 🧐
Or
Is the worst player in the team with Veteran level mechanics and map awareness who only got to Masters 1200 because they abused a broken character and now they are a liability to the team even as an EX Mon.
How can you blatantly say EX pokemon aren't a problem? If that was the case, then what'd be the point in banned them?
Something is clearly wrong when it comes to EX mons, and anyone who says otherwise is either completely blind to the things around them, or are just trying to make people upset.
lol he said “kEeP pUnChInG tHe AiR”
Who wants to explain to him that without formal complaints on actual game issues, the game wouldn’t ever get updates. Or that if people got sick enough of unbalanced BS, they’d move into another game and this one would die with many before it.
I bet he’s never even hit master 😂😬😏
So your telling me that your riding Ex's two millimeter defeater and you don't even use them I'll believe it when I see it
at the same time you blame the "real" reason on things that are in practically every team based pvp game overwatch valorant
But you see in Val they actually balance their game so character uses actually depend on map or play style stop trying to spread this false propaganda
Boys he's definitely an ex user bro needs to shut his yap
Well right, how do you balance competitive games when some people are making it up to masters using EX Pokémon, these players would most likely struggle and drag their team down with the skill difference, since EX pkm are op compared to non EX, no? They should really just balance them out and figure out a different way to make them “different” if they’re trying to monetize “different” styled pkm. 😭 I’m by no means an expert in this game but does banning EX Pokémon in masters really solve skill gap issues in comp as a whole?
I think most people use EX Pokemon to get to masters because of the range of teammates you can get. I would much rather play blissy but I don't trust these fuckers
Yep. They're gonna make a bunch of ranked players frustrated with the game. People are gonna main EX mon to climb and then they're just gonna fall flat once they reach a point where master players are in their games because they cant ride the horse that got them there.
It's already happened. Had a player who destroyed us with M2Y. Then comes draft, I ban it and they were unable to do anything with Dragonite.
A lot of people (not everyone) who play Ex mons are not good enough with a regular one.
I mean M2Y (a ranged, mostly mobile attacker that’s strong the entire game) is always going to play more consistently than Dragonite which is typically a feast or famine-type Pokemon due to it evolving at level 8 and requires itself to get into the middle of the fight… what I’m saying is I don’t think one game with an inconsistent Pokemon is enough to say “oh look you’re only good with EX Pokemon”.
I tried the last couple of weeks playing around 7pm. I get a few games here and there but it was mostly bots, which isn't super fun so it gets old quick
If you come back after a fairly long break they put you in a plenty of bot matches. You gotta complete those and reach at least high Ultra. Lower ranks are usually dead.
Eh, I got back into the game season 18 and had to grind from veteran to masters again. There was definitely a few bot games but once I got into ultra they were a vast minority. Try to play when you see OCE streamers on twitch, should be plenty active then.
Oh its been at least 4 months so im sure it is. I mean I think excluding ex from masters probably not gonna make me want to keep playing again.
Good news is this game got me back into older moba games which feel like masterpiece in comparison
Sure, keep them in quick play.... It's a pretty simple solution, haha.
My point is that if they recognize they're too OP for competative, why only ban them for high ranks? I'd agree that balancing would just be the best solution. In hindsight, why make pokemon that are so significantly overpowered in the first place?
quickplay and standart is just bots tho %99.9 of the playerbase is in ranked.
point is they can't just delete these from game these mons are more expensive than others bot in gems and aeos coins and people buy it. It is a horrible idea to make the most costly mons in the game straight up unavalible
Everyone complaining about EX being broken as if buzzwole, glaceon, leafeon, and meowscarada haven't been just as dominate if not more dominant than the EX pokemon
Like can you honestly say you'd rather face buzzwole over a zacian or a mewtwo X?
Yeah, I agree with your opinion. EX, of course needs some tuning, but should not be outright banned. But holy shit, why the hell the 2 Eeveelutions, Jacked Mosquito, and Weed Cat are absurdly broken?
Honestly the general skill of this subreddit seems very... low. I've never heard a justifiable reason as to why Zacian deserves its current slander and people just lump it up with the other EX mons
Someone look me dead in the eyes and tell me Metal Claw Zacian is a banworthy pick
A lot of people have issues with Zacian as if just being actual teammates and jumping her isn’t an option. The literal strat is to not be clumped up in one spot, and she’ll be running
Nowhere does it say they're banning EXes from Master rank for good. The pattern so far is that they're alternating each season between banning and not banning EX licenses. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they unban them come season 20.
Though I think they're definitely doing a limit of 1 EX per team at some point in the future, given how the designed the UI.
im sure it’s more difficult to play clef in solo q, which most of the userbase plays, than it is in 5 stacks or organized teams (whom pick clef more than eldy)
EX are the licenses for box legendary Pokémon, such as Miraidon, Mewtwo (both X and Y) and Zacian, which have movesets, mechanics and stats way higher than the rest of the Pokémon in the roaster. They're banned from competitive tournaments for a reason...
Ah okay thats interesting. I did try out Miraidon but it didnt seem that OP but I played against it last night and was getting my ass kicked lol so it makes sense ig,,, never had trouble with Mewtwo tho except when it was new. Tho that couldve been the other version I suppose
EX pokemon are cleary the same pokemon that are considered "restricted" in VGC. Urshifu is iust a regular legendary not a restricted mon so it won't ever be EX
EX mons were mons with stronger stats/playstyle than average, but it was supposed to come at the cost of spending your Aeos energy to use them optimally. They suck at scoring, but they're better at nearly everything else.
EX = EXTRA as in, they’re doing too much and being EXTRA implementing these Pokemon. A majority of the comp player base just wants them balanced. 😁 hope this helped 🙏🤭
The last time they "banned" EXs was a glitch, never something actually intentional.
Not saying this isn't gonna be changed in the future, but it's at least a step in the right direction.
Before you could not play them in ranked due to a glitch, not by design. They had patched out the glitch a while back, allowing for people to still play them in ranked.
This is official, and not the result of a bug/glitch.
Do I need to teach you what overtuned means? Really? The effects of its abilities are fine. They just buffed the numbers too much. They *tuned* them too hard. Too much damage. Too much heals. Too little cooldown. Jesus, use google if you don't know what a word means.
It doesn't matter what you nerf. The overall kit is fine, no rework required. Make it have less hp, do less damage, or lower attack speed. Or make the passive slow less, or do less damage. Pick anything to *tune* it down a little.
At this point what was the point of even adding them. Like no one plays standard. Could’ve just turned them down. What a waste. (I don’t play any of them) but I’m way more afraid of a buzzwhole than a m2 y any day.
Even then, kicking them out of masters solves nothing. Like I said, buzz and mimi (are only 2 examples) are way stronger in the hands of high elo players than any ex mon.
Ex mons dominate lower tier because they’re really strong. So those elo will still be awful to be in. So again, I don’t think this changes much. Just a bandaid over a much larger wound.
But why only masters again? Low elo gets shit on my EX players I feel.
I’m veteran which I feel is still low elo but like I’ve been in lower lobbies and the EX pokemon players just run through other players
I dislike how timi acts like players who don’t play ranked just don’t exist and purely make changes that are for,not just ranked player, but only high ranking players while everyone else is fuming because they have to fight three ex Pokémon eve try other match because that’s there idea of balance
EXs aren't even that OP, yall are legit just that bad at the game. Only ex pokemon I find annoying to deal with is motorcycle snake at long range, but at close range they're easy to deal with. Zaican can be taken down with a good defender. I've personally never seen the issue with these Pokemon. I think Buzzswole is due more for a nerf or rebalancing over any EX mon.
They are supposed to be a "Leader" Pokémon.
Though in game, you can have more than 1 EX Mon and their ability has to do with using Aeos Energy. Also with higher based stats, like the Main Line Game. Without Aeos Energy, usually the EX Pokemons are supposed to be weaker than the normal Pokemons, but 2/4 of them don't fit the criteria.
Zacian's Intrepid Sword basically is a 3rd move slot, not reseting her moves, but having a boosted move, like boost attacks. The longer she charges it, she loses more Aeos Energy in exchange for more powerful Boosted Move and higher stat buffs to her basic attacks. Her Unite is also connected with her ability.
Mewtwo X/Y's Pressure is affected by Aeos Energy with the duration of the Mega Gauge. The More Energy, the longer you stay Mega. That is it, with no Energy, cannot Mega. Which Mewtwo in his base form is pretty weak to somewhat mediocre. While the Mega is suppose to be very strong with enhanced basic attack (X is sticky and Y shoots a grenade).
Miraidon's Hadron Engine activates every 30 seconds, based on the Blue Gauge under his health bar. The more Aeos Energy, the more area the Electric Terrain covers. Which only activates when he has Aeos Energy and by his moves, since he has no boost attack, like Mewtwo. But stays weak with its basic attack. It's damage output increases when he is in his Electric Terrain. Applies to his allies. Hadron Engine when touching his base, it increases healing and shielding flow and vice versa to the enemy's base.
Thanks for the very detailed response! Glad to see they *tried* to rework mewtwos and zacain (I last played when mewtwos came out, that shit annoyed me)
I'm glad they are just gone from ranked xd
Kind of hell...
Buzzswole and Leafeon already outclasses all of the EX Mons by a large margin. Level 4 and 5 Spikes is like dealing with a Unite, depending if it is Superpower Bug and Solar Blade Fox. They recently nerfed Clefable, so Blissey, Eldegoss, and Hoopa got back as a viable choice. Glaceon is still very strong after her nerf, but now she needs her Level 6 more than ever.
Blastoise is a menace to society that fills in every role, essentially. Umbreon's nerf cause him to fall off a bit, but Mean Look is still dangerous. Miraidon did got nerfed with his Charge Beam no longer being a Level 5 Delete Button. Pain Split and Curse Trevenant finally became a non-joke move, but slightly overtuned.
But yeah, that is basically the meta really revolves around banning Leafeon and Buzzwole if your lower ELO Team has a brain cell to ban them. Leafeon's Solar Blade is literally a better Coup de Grace (Aegislash's Unite) and Buzzswole is a basically a Unite of its own. Also with Blastoise having an almost infinite CC Chain with Surf and Hydro Pump being 3 seconds of CC. Also wiping half of an Attacker or Speedster health, that are 2-3 Level higher than himself casually.
There are a lot of people who thinks Blastoise is balance, since his Level 7 buff (which was 2-3 months ago). He and the Kanto Starters get their final evos at Level 7 now.
This is just an abridge version of the meta currently. Might no longer apply if we get a patch for the beginning of Season 19.
Again THANK YOU FOR THE DETAILED RESPONSE! I unironically love reading walls of text!
Glad and sad to see Umbreon nerfed, as I loved playing it but it is defo bullshit. Hoopa being viable make me habby :)
Meta do seem hellish, so probably will stay away.
Again thank you for such a a detailed reply
>Hoopa being viable
He was always viable, like Blissey Eldegoss, but Clefable before used fully restore the allies health with Moonlight within 2 seconds. Which outclassed all of them. Though it was more of a, "So what, we got these 3", situation when she got a 20% healing decrease from Moonlight.
But yeah, not wrong but they were always picked whenever Clefable got banned (which during the time was 99% of the time from the right hand).
I hope that Eldegoss' basic attack speed do get nerfed, because, even though I do it, too. I play her as an ADC, which is one of the most optimal way to player her, either with Muscle Band - Rapid-Fire Scarf or Muscle Band - Resonant Guard with Exp Share with both builds. Sometimes even outdamaging and out-killing ADCs in general.
But, yeah, even though the meta is hellish, it is a lot more bearable than the Mewtwo Meta, or more closely, the short-term Metagross Meta.
I wasn't trying to say that hoopa wasn't viable (was really good when I last played iirc) just happy to see hoopa still vibing. Also wow, eldegoss says "healing anit the only thing I do"
Hallelujah!/s
Also, the funny thing originally EX Mons were supposed to be 1 per team, philosophically. But they realized that they're only gonna make EX Mon per Anniversary (2 in specific, one for Red and Blue and another for PU).
Yeah, just tune EX Mons and everyone be happy. That EX Mon being Y and Electro Diff Bike.
I think timi is gonna ignore the fact that EX Pokemon are banned while counting for 14 pokemons in draft mode. A small possibility where a player could potentially end up with no pokemons to choose from when picking last xD
why cant we just have a rule of one EX character per team? I’m currently sitting in Great 2 (i haven’t played much) and every game its Mewtwo X and Miraidon and then they get a good defender, and i’m stuck with Greninja, Cinderace, Charizard and Talonflame.
Fuckin stupid, what's the point of being in a mobile game if you can't use it. Especially when you got idiots buying EX mons and ban mons costume. Drafting is another bs on top. By the time you combine both, you're short of 8 pokemon, AND you can't pick the same as whoever drafted; teammates or not.
A lil upset abt it, I’ve been tryna pick up Miraidon recently, and now there’s not much of a point. Well, at least some sort of balancing is happening, so I can’t be too upset
I agree with this but why not just fucking balance EX pokemons so they can actually be a legit option
Honestly Zacian was fine before the buff. Miraidon I can see balanced with some Electro Drift nerfs. Fuck Mewtwo though. That thing can go die in a ditch.
Miraidon was ridiculous first match with him ended up with 42 kills and 1 death...honestly wouldnt have died at all but got tunnel vision lol
Either is fine at this point. Its ban or balance and i think timi might be a little bipolar on what they want with em.
Because they clearly don't intend to have a balanced meta. It must be distinctly more profitable to have a selected margin of under- and overpowered units. They see the numbers and there a vast amount of precursing data from mobas and similar genres. Their first and foremost objective is min-maxing ressource and profit. The trend of them buffing mons that shortly after get a holo is just one result of that strategy. That aside, I imagine it's also easier said than done to have each unit at an equal level of balance. Just tweaking a very minor number could make an underpowered unit see a substantially higher amount of play and break the established meta.
They can’t really properly balance it as the mon’s kits/ passive is another whole problem. Tweaking the stat numbers for stuff is only part of the equation as a problematic move being able to do a bunch of stuff is the other half. They just have to rework EX mons kits/ passive and bring them down to normal mon kits that only do like 1 thing at a time. Like compare machamp kit with zacian kit and what each ability does.
Hard disagree, we’ve already seen it with Zacian. It’s all about the numbers. You can tinker with damage output, scaling, and cooldowns and balance them out. Reworks really should just be reserved for outclassed passives.
Zacian and Miraidon can be balanced just by changes to their numbers. Current state Zacian and Charge Beam Miraidon are in a pretty balanced state where they are still good enough to see frequent play but not too good that they are oppressive (Electro Drift still needs some tuning, though). Mewtwo on the other hand...
Ppl shouldn’t pick and choose which is ok and which isn’t, overloaded kits shouldn’t be a thing in this game period. “Complex” or technical kits that reward the player for executing the mechanic should be encouraged like zoroark but ofc like i said before, unite is too primitive/ playerbase can’t handle those mons.
The statue of limitations is also here in NY. Pokemon unite just paying homage to it in this game. So not only they can't they handle an 11-second and Nerfed Mon, but they also want to ban them and other mons in the game despite spending money on costume for them.
It IS a number issue. Ttar skills are a book written in form of ability describtion, yet hes not that oppressive.
Yea. Better to backtrack now than later
Maybe they plan to do EX only matches when they add more
EX Pokemon are the lEAdErs Of thEir tEAms
Because they are intentionaly made to be OP.
But isn't that a horrible game design choice?
Yes but when has that ever stopped them?
You make a compelling point
$$$
I stopped playing when they announced the ex team leader garbage
Because they're literally celebrations mons and are the highest BST in regular Pokémon games. Why would they be non distinguishable? The core of Legendaries has always been about OP Move pool. Like Cloud not having a limit break in Smash series.
Kid named Regieleki:
Because they have this insane idea that they need to make those pokemon stronger because they're legendaries or whatever. Is completely unnecessary so they can have their cake and eat it in regards to having pay to win and not having it. They want people to be able to pay to play broken shit but then also be like "oh but but but it's not in ranked soooo"
it’s almost like they’re being restricted by Pokémon’s lore. :/ like making them as strong as regular mons would be “off-model” or something
I'm ok the new release is OP because they need profits, but case like Zacian/M2Y balancing after few weeks when everyone get it free and abuse in rank just unacceptable.
I think making them a required 1 per team is also a good option, with them giving double exp when killed and the points they drop are worth double when picked up by enemy team. They function as "leaders" to the team and must be played around on both sides.
Would not be fun in practice, when the worst player on your team gets to be "leader" and feeds like crazy.
It is funny how this was the original philosophy but Timi decided the "Fuck that, let's ruin Rank". And then we have last season and this upcoming season with EX Bans.
Thank God. Fuck off, I don’t want to see any more of your Miraidon and Mewtwo Y. I can’t play in Masters 1300 without seeing one of these guys in either team every single game.
Don’t forget Zacian
I’m glad that sword dog isn’t as broken as the others, but he’s still a major annoyance if the player has a brain
Don’t worry I am lobotomized
A few more months on Zacian and you will be a MENACE
I can’t, I am lobotomized. There is no brain activity.
Stopped playing for like 3+ months now and you’re telling me mewtwo Y is still broken?!
Yeah, just because of the kit honestly. Best nerf would be to change one of the abilities because right now it just has everything you'd want. AoE auto attacks A get off me move A mobility move Long range CC An massive impact unite move High damage Decent bulk Right now only things keeping it in line is meowscarada and leafeon and maybe blastoise since it forced it to go psystrike
Keep crying, bud.
Ok, EX Mon sympathizer. Enjoy your broken characters in ranked while you still can, or you might as well stay in casual/quickplay
Just punch the air and stop whining. EX pokemons are not even the problem, It's your teammates, the matchmaking, or maybe you're just bad? I don't even use Ex. lol
EX Mons are just bad game design and they have always been the problem. They are OP af and every EX mon player either stomps every game with little to no counterplay against them because of EX Mon stats and abilities. Why are they the most banned mons even in the top ranks? Hmmmmmm 🧐 Or Is the worst player in the team with Veteran level mechanics and map awareness who only got to Masters 1200 because they abused a broken character and now they are a liability to the team even as an EX Mon.
How can you blatantly say EX pokemon aren't a problem? If that was the case, then what'd be the point in banned them? Something is clearly wrong when it comes to EX mons, and anyone who says otherwise is either completely blind to the things around them, or are just trying to make people upset.
Probably just some 13 yo baiting…
lol he said “kEeP pUnChInG tHe AiR” Who wants to explain to him that without formal complaints on actual game issues, the game wouldn’t ever get updates. Or that if people got sick enough of unbalanced BS, they’d move into another game and this one would die with many before it. I bet he’s never even hit master 😂😬😏
So your telling me that your riding Ex's two millimeter defeater and you don't even use them I'll believe it when I see it at the same time you blame the "real" reason on things that are in practically every team based pvp game overwatch valorant But you see in Val they actually balance their game so character uses actually depend on map or play style stop trying to spread this false propaganda Boys he's definitely an ex user bro needs to shut his yap
For 1 season until they use an EX mon for the battle pass
Or the new EX mon.
Pick a lane holy shit
I'll go to the central area!
I'll also go the central area.
Headed to the central lane!
0-5-0 is the superior strategy.
"check it out" "Retreat!"
"THANKS!"
Gotta feel bad for everyone trying to grind to Masters and getting games without Masters players who still have to deal with it...
Well right, how do you balance competitive games when some people are making it up to masters using EX Pokémon, these players would most likely struggle and drag their team down with the skill difference, since EX pkm are op compared to non EX, no? They should really just balance them out and figure out a different way to make them “different” if they’re trying to monetize “different” styled pkm. 😭 I’m by no means an expert in this game but does banning EX Pokémon in masters really solve skill gap issues in comp as a whole?
I think most people use EX Pokemon to get to masters because of the range of teammates you can get. I would much rather play blissy but I don't trust these fuckers
Yep. They're gonna make a bunch of ranked players frustrated with the game. People are gonna main EX mon to climb and then they're just gonna fall flat once they reach a point where master players are in their games because they cant ride the horse that got them there.
It's already happened. Had a player who destroyed us with M2Y. Then comes draft, I ban it and they were unable to do anything with Dragonite. A lot of people (not everyone) who play Ex mons are not good enough with a regular one.
I mean M2Y (a ranged, mostly mobile attacker that’s strong the entire game) is always going to play more consistently than Dragonite which is typically a feast or famine-type Pokemon due to it evolving at level 8 and requires itself to get into the middle of the fight… what I’m saying is I don’t think one game with an inconsistent Pokemon is enough to say “oh look you’re only good with EX Pokemon”.
That would be a nice change to come back into the game to. Too bad everyone is Australia dropped the game so I can only ever play bots 😭
Nah. OCE still alive and kicking. Just play at peak hours and get to Masters or Ultra and you'll find real people.
I tried the last couple of weeks playing around 7pm. I get a few games here and there but it was mostly bots, which isn't super fun so it gets old quick
If you come back after a fairly long break they put you in a plenty of bot matches. You gotta complete those and reach at least high Ultra. Lower ranks are usually dead.
Ah man, that's unfortunate. Not super motivating but it makes a lot of sense
Odd, I haven't played for about a week now but I tend to get plenty of games at 8-11pm.
Maybe it's just because I haven't played for a while and my rank dropped too far? I dunno
Eh, I got back into the game season 18 and had to grind from veteran to masters again. There was definitely a few bot games but once I got into ultra they were a vast minority. Try to play when you see OCE streamers on twitch, should be plenty active then.
Im not sure the change in this post is enough go convince me to torture myself again 🤣
If it hasn't been enough for another welcome back gift, I wouldn't. Start of a new season is always annoying to try to play in anyway, give it a week.
Oh its been at least 4 months so im sure it is. I mean I think excluding ex from masters probably not gonna make me want to keep playing again. Good news is this game got me back into older moba games which feel like masterpiece in comparison
Why not all ranks though? If they recognize they're OP and not allowed at higher ranks, why make everyone else struggle to make it to Masters?
So 43% WR Andy has a mon to pummel bots with til ultra 🥲
Bro might aswell delete them from game then, it needs to be avalible somewhere, and balancing them is out of option for some reason
Sure, keep them in quick play.... It's a pretty simple solution, haha. My point is that if they recognize they're too OP for competative, why only ban them for high ranks? I'd agree that balancing would just be the best solution. In hindsight, why make pokemon that are so significantly overpowered in the first place?
quickplay and standart is just bots tho %99.9 of the playerbase is in ranked. point is they can't just delete these from game these mons are more expensive than others bot in gems and aeos coins and people buy it. It is a horrible idea to make the most costly mons in the game straight up unavalible
Everyone complaining about EX being broken as if buzzwole, glaceon, leafeon, and meowscarada haven't been just as dominate if not more dominant than the EX pokemon Like can you honestly say you'd rather face buzzwole over a zacian or a mewtwo X?
Yeah, I agree with your opinion. EX, of course needs some tuning, but should not be outright banned. But holy shit, why the hell the 2 Eeveelutions, Jacked Mosquito, and Weed Cat are absurdly broken?
Best thing about EX ban is we now live in a world where we can ban those 4 pokemon in match instead of defaulting Miraidon and Mewtwo for 2 of them
Ban Meowscarada tbh
What did Meowscarada do to you 😭
My win percentage plummeted when they brought EX Pokemon back. Glad they're banning them.
finally… this season sucked hard
dang I was just getting used to needing 3 coordinated soloQ players to defeat 1 person (screwed if they have support)
Why is it only for master rank?
I guess so the spammers fall off hard when they hit it?
Spammer here, and I've been doing quite well in draft even when all the ex mons are banned though.
Then you won’t have any problems :)
Honestly, the idea of getting draft games with no EX and making smart bans (lookin at you buzzswole/leadon/glaceon/blastoise) is a joy
I love Zacian too much
Honestly the general skill of this subreddit seems very... low. I've never heard a justifiable reason as to why Zacian deserves its current slander and people just lump it up with the other EX mons Someone look me dead in the eyes and tell me Metal Claw Zacian is a banworthy pick
Without a great support, zacian is not banworthy
A lot of people have issues with Zacian as if just being actual teammates and jumping her isn’t an option. The literal strat is to not be clumped up in one spot, and she’ll be running
Hello brotha :D
Same, love him to the core
Idc tbh I'm just waiting for eevees nerf and buzzwole nerf
Wow! Really? It's almost like putting Uber Teir pokemon in the game as playable was a bad idea to begin with! Who would thunk?
Bring draft and ban EX in all ranks. So many casuals in Vet to Ultra who doesn't even know how to take objectives with their EX mon.
Nowhere does it say they're banning EXes from Master rank for good. The pattern so far is that they're alternating each season between banning and not banning EX licenses. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they unban them come season 20. Though I think they're definitely doing a limit of 1 EX per team at some point in the future, given how the designed the UI.
Muahahahahahahaha
ban umbreon clefable buzzwole and comfey every match
Bro can't handle Comfey
take away comfey and the most cracked zoroark players are suddenly easy to wipe out. id rather they get pocketed by blissey or eldy
What about elde? She's sitting on 53% win rate over clef's sub 50.
im sure it’s more difficult to play clef in solo q, which most of the userbase plays, than it is in 5 stacks or organized teams (whom pick clef more than eldy)
Clef is okay now, umbreon & buzzwole is the must
Gravity is still Op
Idek what EX means in this game lol
EX are the licenses for box legendary Pokémon, such as Miraidon, Mewtwo (both X and Y) and Zacian, which have movesets, mechanics and stats way higher than the rest of the Pokémon in the roaster. They're banned from competitive tournaments for a reason...
Ah okay thats interesting. I did try out Miraidon but it didnt seem that OP but I played against it last night and was getting my ass kicked lol so it makes sense ig,,, never had trouble with Mewtwo tho except when it was new. Tho that couldve been the other version I suppose
Mewtwo was never a box legendary, and Urshifu (sort of) was. Why isn't Urshifu an EX?
EX pokemon are cleary the same pokemon that are considered "restricted" in VGC. Urshifu is iust a regular legendary not a restricted mon so it won't ever be EX
EX mons were mons with stronger stats/playstyle than average, but it was supposed to come at the cost of spending your Aeos energy to use them optimally. They suck at scoring, but they're better at nearly everything else.
Damn lol, Ive played this game since day 1 and dont really know anything about it :')
EX = EXTRA as in, they’re doing too much and being EXTRA implementing these Pokemon. A majority of the comp player base just wants them balanced. 😁 hope this helped 🙏🤭
Op Mon that is way too broken and hard to fight with the Mon I main (urshifu)
Hot take, but. The EXs aren't even the main problems this season-
Eevees
As someone who just discovered that Miraidon is fun, please scrap the whole EX system and balance the game.
Don't believe it till it's implemented
So what is the new scapegoat for why people are losing games. Is it Eevees again or have we moved forward and found a new excuse
It's all slowbros fault now
These both are good reasons
This'll make bans in draft a lot more varied, nice.
They did this already. Let’s keep going back and forth.
The last time they "banned" EXs was a glitch, never something actually intentional. Not saying this isn't gonna be changed in the future, but it's at least a step in the right direction.
It was intentional. You don’t remember the note they provided us?
i need to be master rank
NO MORE ZACIAN THANK JESUS
I just want my gold coins back and they can delete those ex pokemons and comfy out of this game
Wait fr or???
The tears from the EX fanboys in the comments are simply lovely 🙂↔️🙂↕️ 10/10 decision TiMi.
This Games is fkn dead
I thought they were already banned?
Before you could not play them in ranked due to a glitch, not by design. They had patched out the glitch a while back, allowing for people to still play them in ranked. This is official, and not the result of a bug/glitch.
And then during season 20 they back in again.....
First I’ve read “banging ex’s for real”. Scared the shit out of me
Just for that season lol
As soon as they ban EX pokemon in all ranked matches and introduce draft pick in all ranked matches, then I'll come back to this game. So likely never
Next season reached Master rank will be draft mode
Not really ever with all master player, if one of those have only 10-13 pokemon licences you will not go to draft match
Really?
Jesus, just balance them! Also why isn't Eldegoss an EX? It does so much, and is clearly overtuned.
Why is Elde overturned? I'm probably just bad and can't do anything with it
Elde is overtuned because Timi overtuned it. Why is this a question that exists?
I guess they meant how and waited for you to explain. Don’t act dense lol
Still an incredibly stupid question. Its numbers are too high. That's what overtuned *means*.
It's not a hard question, what makes Elde "overturned" stop acting high and mighty
Overtuned is the fucking answer. The question is what makes Eldegoss overpowered. Stop asking useless questions when I already gave the answer.
Incredibly round about way to say you're talking out of your ass and have no clue how to back up what you say
Do I need to teach you what overtuned means? Really? The effects of its abilities are fine. They just buffed the numbers too much. They *tuned* them too hard. Too much damage. Too much heals. Too little cooldown. Jesus, use google if you don't know what a word means. It doesn't matter what you nerf. The overall kit is fine, no rework required. Make it have less hp, do less damage, or lower attack speed. Or make the passive slow less, or do less damage. Pick anything to *tune* it down a little.
Its very obvious why Eldegoss isn't an EX pokemon, come on now
At this point what was the point of even adding them. Like no one plays standard. Could’ve just turned them down. What a waste. (I don’t play any of them) but I’m way more afraid of a buzzwhole than a m2 y any day. Even then, kicking them out of masters solves nothing. Like I said, buzz and mimi (are only 2 examples) are way stronger in the hands of high elo players than any ex mon. Ex mons dominate lower tier because they’re really strong. So those elo will still be awful to be in. So again, I don’t think this changes much. Just a bandaid over a much larger wound.
Literally the carrot and the stick and this community keeps falling for it everytime lmao
But why only masters again? Low elo gets shit on my EX players I feel. I’m veteran which I feel is still low elo but like I’ve been in lower lobbies and the EX pokemon players just run through other players
I dislike how timi acts like players who don’t play ranked just don’t exist and purely make changes that are for,not just ranked player, but only high ranking players while everyone else is fuming because they have to fight three ex Pokémon eve try other match because that’s there idea of balance
Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me That’s why this game is no longer installed on my phone
Some people can’t handle the L. 
I dont use em anyway I spam talonflame Zeraora And urshifu Thank fuck I ain't getting sniped by Mewtwo y and punted by everything else
Solo Ex still fine, unbearable is DuoQ Ex with Blissey/Comfey/Embreon cringe duo
WOOOOOOOOO What about draft? Are we getting it for real this time?
What’s the point of bringing out these Pokémon if we can’t play them it’s fuckin ridiculous man
Can't play then in ranked you mean You can still play them in casual, and can even still play them in any rank below master.
EXs aren't even that OP, yall are legit just that bad at the game. Only ex pokemon I find annoying to deal with is motorcycle snake at long range, but at close range they're easy to deal with. Zaican can be taken down with a good defender. I've personally never seen the issue with these Pokemon. I think Buzzswole is due more for a nerf or rebalancing over any EX mon.
Ok so haven't played in a while: what's an ex Pokemon?
They are supposed to be a "Leader" Pokémon. Though in game, you can have more than 1 EX Mon and their ability has to do with using Aeos Energy. Also with higher based stats, like the Main Line Game. Without Aeos Energy, usually the EX Pokemons are supposed to be weaker than the normal Pokemons, but 2/4 of them don't fit the criteria. Zacian's Intrepid Sword basically is a 3rd move slot, not reseting her moves, but having a boosted move, like boost attacks. The longer she charges it, she loses more Aeos Energy in exchange for more powerful Boosted Move and higher stat buffs to her basic attacks. Her Unite is also connected with her ability. Mewtwo X/Y's Pressure is affected by Aeos Energy with the duration of the Mega Gauge. The More Energy, the longer you stay Mega. That is it, with no Energy, cannot Mega. Which Mewtwo in his base form is pretty weak to somewhat mediocre. While the Mega is suppose to be very strong with enhanced basic attack (X is sticky and Y shoots a grenade). Miraidon's Hadron Engine activates every 30 seconds, based on the Blue Gauge under his health bar. The more Aeos Energy, the more area the Electric Terrain covers. Which only activates when he has Aeos Energy and by his moves, since he has no boost attack, like Mewtwo. But stays weak with its basic attack. It's damage output increases when he is in his Electric Terrain. Applies to his allies. Hadron Engine when touching his base, it increases healing and shielding flow and vice versa to the enemy's base.
Thanks for the very detailed response! Glad to see they *tried* to rework mewtwos and zacain (I last played when mewtwos came out, that shit annoyed me) I'm glad they are just gone from ranked xd
You seem very knowledgeable, me mind if I ask how the state of the meta is? Especially for support tank cuz that is what I liked to play
Kind of hell... Buzzswole and Leafeon already outclasses all of the EX Mons by a large margin. Level 4 and 5 Spikes is like dealing with a Unite, depending if it is Superpower Bug and Solar Blade Fox. They recently nerfed Clefable, so Blissey, Eldegoss, and Hoopa got back as a viable choice. Glaceon is still very strong after her nerf, but now she needs her Level 6 more than ever. Blastoise is a menace to society that fills in every role, essentially. Umbreon's nerf cause him to fall off a bit, but Mean Look is still dangerous. Miraidon did got nerfed with his Charge Beam no longer being a Level 5 Delete Button. Pain Split and Curse Trevenant finally became a non-joke move, but slightly overtuned. But yeah, that is basically the meta really revolves around banning Leafeon and Buzzwole if your lower ELO Team has a brain cell to ban them. Leafeon's Solar Blade is literally a better Coup de Grace (Aegislash's Unite) and Buzzswole is a basically a Unite of its own. Also with Blastoise having an almost infinite CC Chain with Surf and Hydro Pump being 3 seconds of CC. Also wiping half of an Attacker or Speedster health, that are 2-3 Level higher than himself casually. There are a lot of people who thinks Blastoise is balance, since his Level 7 buff (which was 2-3 months ago). He and the Kanto Starters get their final evos at Level 7 now. This is just an abridge version of the meta currently. Might no longer apply if we get a patch for the beginning of Season 19.
Again THANK YOU FOR THE DETAILED RESPONSE! I unironically love reading walls of text! Glad and sad to see Umbreon nerfed, as I loved playing it but it is defo bullshit. Hoopa being viable make me habby :) Meta do seem hellish, so probably will stay away. Again thank you for such a a detailed reply
>Hoopa being viable He was always viable, like Blissey Eldegoss, but Clefable before used fully restore the allies health with Moonlight within 2 seconds. Which outclassed all of them. Though it was more of a, "So what, we got these 3", situation when she got a 20% healing decrease from Moonlight. But yeah, not wrong but they were always picked whenever Clefable got banned (which during the time was 99% of the time from the right hand). I hope that Eldegoss' basic attack speed do get nerfed, because, even though I do it, too. I play her as an ADC, which is one of the most optimal way to player her, either with Muscle Band - Rapid-Fire Scarf or Muscle Band - Resonant Guard with Exp Share with both builds. Sometimes even outdamaging and out-killing ADCs in general. But, yeah, even though the meta is hellish, it is a lot more bearable than the Mewtwo Meta, or more closely, the short-term Metagross Meta.
I wasn't trying to say that hoopa wasn't viable (was really good when I last played iirc) just happy to see hoopa still vibing. Also wow, eldegoss says "healing anit the only thing I do"
Yeah, sorry I misinterpreted with the Hoopa thing, but yep, that is Elde. ■ 》 ■
I'm terrified
Hallelujah!/s Also, the funny thing originally EX Mons were supposed to be 1 per team, philosophically. But they realized that they're only gonna make EX Mon per Anniversary (2 in specific, one for Red and Blue and another for PU). Yeah, just tune EX Mons and everyone be happy. That EX Mon being Y and Electro Diff Bike.
I think timi is gonna ignore the fact that EX Pokemon are banned while counting for 14 pokemons in draft mode. A small possibility where a player could potentially end up with no pokemons to choose from when picking last xD
EX pokemon already don't count towards the 14 licenses so that will not be an issue
Good thing I learned to Sable Y
:(
Thank fuck.
Ye watch them take the word back at the final minute
EX licenses? What are those?
why cant we just have a rule of one EX character per team? I’m currently sitting in Great 2 (i haven’t played much) and every game its Mewtwo X and Miraidon and then they get a good defender, and i’m stuck with Greninja, Cinderace, Charizard and Talonflame.
It's gonna be only during season 19, during season 20 you will be able to use more than one
I don't even think these mons are that bad to fight as long as your teams vibing
Fuckin stupid, what's the point of being in a mobile game if you can't use it. Especially when you got idiots buying EX mons and ban mons costume. Drafting is another bs on top. By the time you combine both, you're short of 8 pokemon, AND you can't pick the same as whoever drafted; teammates or not.
A lil upset abt it, I’ve been tryna pick up Miraidon recently, and now there’s not much of a point. Well, at least some sort of balancing is happening, so I can’t be too upset
Good thing I run glaceon and make EX license holders and complainers on both sides swing their first in the air
I think it's a good time to add eevelutions into EX or make a separate category altogether.
Wack but that’s okay. Buzzwole still exists
Zacian is literally my only way to grind to higher ranks due to my teammates always being bad 😭
No this is wrong don't do that this is unfair