>>35243427Before giving some ideas, I wanted to go over all the big changes we got to battle mechanics in each gen and some overall thoughts. I'm not including certain out-of-battle mechanics like new evolutions/prevos, breeding, new battle modes, etc. Just things that affect the actual core meta of battling.
>Gen IIDark and Steel type, Special split, hold items/Berries
>Gen IIIAbilities, altered IV/EV system, altered hold items/Berries
>Gen IVPhysical/Special split
>Gen VHIdden abilities (and even that's a stretch to include on this list... Gen V really didn't add anything "major")
>Gen VIFairy type, Mega Evolutions
>Gen VIIZ-Moves
The past two generations have really only added temporary "buffs" as part of the changes to battle mechanics (plus a new type), while older gens overhauled some major aspect of how stats were calculated, how Pokemon behaved, etc.
For Gen 8, it's tough to say. They could go back to making another major overhaul to some mechanic similar to Gens II-IV, they could change nothing like Gen V, or they could just add another "super cool buff" like Gen VI and VII.
Personally, I'd be okay with either the first or last options, but they do need to change something about the battle system. The current development team (which has been around since XY) seems to be all about revisiting older Pokemon and giving select Pokemon special abilities like Megas and Z-Moves, so I could see something along those lines being a bit more likely. But I definitely don't think we will be getting new Megas or Z-Moves. The current team has made it clear they want to keep things sort of "locked" to their generation and come up with newer ideas for the next games, so I'd say we're done with those mechanics being worked on and will probably get some "replacement" next gen.
I'll share my thoughts in the next post.
