>>32460692I think it's pretty fun!
My only two gripes are that you will be punished for using suboptimal pokemon in higher brackets of play, and in that same vein of thinking there is a lot less diversity in those same higher tiers.
That said, most people never reach that point so it's pretty much a moot point.
One thing that you really need to accept when you start: EVERY time you jump up to a new tier of play, you WILL lose a few matches. That's just how it goes until you learn the "meta" and rebuild your team or your strategy.
When you start, you can use pretty much anything as long as you have a plan. There's pretty much no difference between low rating players and casuals. Hell, it feels like most of them just grab their biggest or strongest looking pokemon and just dive in with no strategy.
Nobody predicts. Half of them don't have a strategy. Even less than that take the time to breed perfect mons or learn how to gen.
In the mid tiers is where you'll start facing competent players who, while not bad, are just not as good as the higher tier players. Once you reach this point, you'll want to look into "team cores", breeding, and IV/EV distribution.
If you like strategizing and trying out new things,if you aren't afraid to get knocked down, go for it.
If you're gonna grab your favorite pokemon and beat your face on increasingly more skilled opponents until you're wallowing in Rating Hell with the invalids and the 10 year olds...well, whatever makes you happy.
