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Oh look, this thread again.
I think anyone who actually plays the meta I.e. maybe 20% of /vp/'s poster base will tell you flat out that stealth rocks are a necessary evil. They'll also probably agree that yes... they are slightly overpowered, but the main reason is usually overlooked.
It's a matter of field advantage.
"Well duh," you say. "Of course having hazards is field advantage, everyone knows that!" Not quite. The worst part of stealth rock is not actually the residual damage, but the fact that it cannot be removed by means other than rapid spin, which is, in all other ways, and awful move. Meanwhile, during the turn on person rapid spins, which in most cases is telegraphed, the other player get a chance to switch into either a threat, spinblocker, or simply set up a sub and go to town. This is bad game design sadly, and could be remedied by simply having more moves that remove rocks, notably threatening ones.
But to be fair, doing a max of 25% certainly wouldn't hurt either, it would just make Volcarona less risky to use. Charizard, however, will never be viable due to power creep. Rocks have very little to do with his being a bad pokemon in the competitve circuit. They're more like a nail in the coffin than the bullet that killed him in the first place.
/2cents
Good day to you sirs...
