>>57870996HDB massively changed the way the game is played and imo it really did make stall too strong (feels too easy to use vs how difficult it is to prepare for it)
however GF also added a few new major stall boons (dondozo, clodsire, skeledirge, even tera itself) so these issues compound each other
but it is what it is. you just really, really need to plan your capacity to beat stall when teambuilding.
stall always felt like a "boss battle" for me to play against lmao, and winning against stall felt more satisfying than other matchups. i think stall really does bring out a lot of emotions of people like this, hence why it gets so much hate.
i guess i can accept boots and their consequences because not every generation "should" feel the same. every generation feeling different and unique is a good thing and part of what makes smogon special (with the way they keep old gen metas alive)
still, part of me wishes they instituted an item clause in gen 9. NOT any old gens, they don't need it, they were balanced without it. i just think it would've been good for gen 9 (all tiers sans anything goes), i feel a much stronger case could have been made for it this gen. idk. i haven't really been paying attention lately but i'm surprised no one's brought it up or raised any serious discussion about it, if there hasn't been any. like no one has even considered it a possibility (presumably). it seems like the topic for a good PR thread. idk. lol