>>52646549But their way of going about it is stripping away Pokemon's appeal as a competitive game.
The big thing that sets Pokemon apart is the massive quantity of options available to you, allowing for nearly infinite creativity.
Smogon doesn't want that. They want people to use the same handful of mons that do the same things. They want battles to consist of flowcharts and long switching chains and clicking status moves to try and fish for progress.
They refuse to accept that the meta is changing toward different playstyles being dominant.
If gen 5 came out now, weather would've been banned because it's too offensively strong.
If gen 6 came out now, Fairy-types would've been banned because Smogon wouldn't want to re-learn the type chart.
If gen 7 came out now, Z-moves would've been banned because it forces too many 50/50's.
Competition is about innovation and trying to be better than your opponent. Smogon is about stagnation and trying to stop your opponent from being better than you.
They've lost the plot and are stuck in their ways.
