Laga
Forever Grande
This post will address how the lack of / nerf of gems and the offensive moves will affect the metagame,
I started off by thinking very negatively about not having gems, and I am still pretty bummed about not having my slap-on items. That aside, I actually think this whole gem hype is kind of a nostalgic thought process about thinking back to the good old kill or be killed mindset that was so omnipresent in gen V. I personally think the absence or potential nerf (30% instead of 50%) of gems could be a positive affect to the metagame, since it will encourage better teambuilding skills alongside the general nerf to offense.
Basically, teambuilding in gen 5 was just asking yourself a bunch of questions to end up at an item:
Is my Pokemon a supporter? yes = Sitrus Berry
Is my Pokemon an offensive supporter? yes = GEM (or in rare cases, Sitrus Berry)
Is my Pokemon a bulky attacker? yes = GEM
Can my offensive Pokemon take one or two neutral hits? yes = GEM (or LO sometimes)
Is my Pokemon a glass cannon? yes = Sash or Life Orb. Sometimes even GEM
Does my Pokemon use hit-and-run? yes = GEM
etc. etc. etc; gems were a complete binding point of teambuilding in gen 5, something that almost every Pokemon could use to "go bigor and then go home". Now that they won't be playing such a big role anymore, we will obviously see more of Life Orb, Focus Sash, and even Choice items. I find myself particularly interested in Choice items, since they are the only items that can provide as good a boost as gems did, which means that literally nothing else will be able to fulfill all those awesome calcs we had with gems in gen 5. Life Orb and Sash are the no-brainers though, as they where like the next-most popular offensive items after gems in gen 5.
The point I am trying to explain (and clearly failing at) is that the absence of gems combined with the nerf to the most powerful offensive moves (120 BP -> 110 / 95 -> 90) might just go and influence the metagame to focus more on bulky offense with a bunch of supporters, obviously making games longer and more filled with prediction and teambuilding, thus ultimately making it more competitive. This is, of course, just a theory, but if I am right, I am definitely glad that gems where removed / maybe nerfed. I think we'll see more Sitrus Berries and Resistance Berries, and hopefully more Choice items to make games more unpredictable :)
I started off by thinking very negatively about not having gems, and I am still pretty bummed about not having my slap-on items. That aside, I actually think this whole gem hype is kind of a nostalgic thought process about thinking back to the good old kill or be killed mindset that was so omnipresent in gen V. I personally think the absence or potential nerf (30% instead of 50%) of gems could be a positive affect to the metagame, since it will encourage better teambuilding skills alongside the general nerf to offense.
Basically, teambuilding in gen 5 was just asking yourself a bunch of questions to end up at an item:
Is my Pokemon a supporter? yes = Sitrus Berry
Is my Pokemon an offensive supporter? yes = GEM (or in rare cases, Sitrus Berry)
Is my Pokemon a bulky attacker? yes = GEM
Can my offensive Pokemon take one or two neutral hits? yes = GEM (or LO sometimes)
Is my Pokemon a glass cannon? yes = Sash or Life Orb. Sometimes even GEM
Does my Pokemon use hit-and-run? yes = GEM
etc. etc. etc; gems were a complete binding point of teambuilding in gen 5, something that almost every Pokemon could use to "go big
The point I am trying to explain (and clearly failing at) is that the absence of gems combined with the nerf to the most powerful offensive moves (120 BP -> 110 / 95 -> 90) might just go and influence the metagame to focus more on bulky offense with a bunch of supporters, obviously making games longer and more filled with prediction and teambuilding, thus ultimately making it more competitive. This is, of course, just a theory, but if I am right, I am definitely glad that gems where removed / maybe nerfed. I think we'll see more Sitrus Berries and Resistance Berries, and hopefully more Choice items to make games more unpredictable :)