It's not actually broken, hazards keep the game from turning into people switching every damn turn and being totally boring. I think a lot of the Stealth Rock whining is from people where Rock shits on their favorite pokemon (Charizard, Articuno, Volcarona, Scyther, etc.) or whiny bugfags with an inferiority complex. Stealth Rock also fucks over U-Turn and Volt-Switch, two of the most bullshit moves in the game, which are just as much bullshit as Stealth Rock is. Stealth Rock changes the way you play the game but it's not broken. What it does is it sometimes makes it more rewarding to stay in than to switch. The counterplay to hazard stacking is to use a powerful setup move, like Z-Celebrate, Dragon Dance, Quiver Dance, Substitute etc. Oh look, the turn the use to set up the hazards is a convenient time to do this! Another fine counterplay to Stealth rock is to simply Taunt whoever you think the Rock setter is, which is usually painfully obvious just by looking at the enemy team. And if Stealth Rock actually does hurt you that bad you have Rapid Spin, Defog, and Magic Coat (and pokemon with Magic Bounce ability) to also keep Stealth rock out. If Stealth rock actually was broken none of this counterplay would be available, and much of it (Taunt, Setup moves) is fine on its own even against a team without Stealth Rock on it at all. No one is obligated to let you kick their ass with Volcarona. You're not entitled to Vespiquen-related horseplay. No one is going to let you win because you love your bros, Smogon is Competitive, which means they're about victory first and fun second. You want to just goof around with your bros and not bother with any kind of support (Volcarona is fantastically powerful with the proper support, but you do need support if you want to use it), stick to 1 player mode where almost any shitmon is playable. Smogon even has lower tiers for shitmons, and they still require support down there too. Learn to teambuild.
