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Entry Hazards themselves are such a poorly conceived and redundant idea.
Not even acknowledging stealth rocks' specific problems, the concept of hazards itself is fucking stupid. They exist to punish switching, but switching is already inherently punished by NOT GETTING TO ATTACK THAT TURN. Hard switches are their own punishment.
The difference is, hard switching only presents the OPPORTUNITY to be punished, which the opponent has to capitalize on by playing aggressively.
Hazards do two things. First they passively punish the opponent for switching regardless of their actions or despite playing passively, also excessively punishing switches in addition to the inherent cost of switching if the opponent DOES play aggressively. Second they're bullshit because they work not only on forced switches which the player doesn't control, but they work when a pokemon is sent out after one faints. That's not a player's decision that's a mandatory effect of the battle system meaning you're forced to take hazard damage eventually even if you don't ever manually switch.
They're excessive and they do a job the basic game mechanics have already done on their own but vastly worse.
