Okay, so earnest question time. I used to play competitive Pokemon until they made Mega Rayquaza and decided it wasn't worth it. Why do you still play competitive? Is it the fact that Game Freak wants to cut back on single player content and push this as a way to artificially extend game length?

When simulators exist it removes any real reason to play the games. But even worse people who want the true experience end up having to buy the same game every couple of years for added content so they can be up to date. Generation VI made me realize how autistic it is to be playing a 'competitive' series that doesn't receive updates and patches that do anything but make it more difficult to hack the game. It seems illogical to me

So if we aren't buying the new games for story (since that for the most part almost always hits the exact same beats anyways with barely any exceptions) and treating them more like engine updates, why bother? What keeps you playing?