Should I get competitive?

[Hero_Of_Flames]

I've been thinking about this for a while. Part of me wants to get into competitive battling, but half of me doesn't want to invest the time. What are your thoughts? Also, sorry if this should be somewhere else. I looked but I couldn't really find somewhere more appropriate.

[Delicious_Scout]

There is a wide array of answers, but I will simplify your choices by granting you three answers:


a) Do not get into competitive; I do not want to bother with IV, EV, and VGC.

b) Get into competitive but without going to tournaments, just as a hobby. This is a very good idea if you want to know how the mechanics work, and just to have lots of fun wherever you go. The mechanics are quite easy to study and many points of view for a single Pokémon can be shared, as there are multiple ways of getting into an optimal point. It's not the same talking about an Impish and an Adamant Drapion, but, depending on the version, one can be better for one kind of team or another.

c) Get into competitive, going to tourmanents. Same as b), but requires some extra effort, and guts.

[SirBlaziken]

I'm competitive and sometimes do an occasional tourney at a local hobby shop. It's a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work getting set up and everything. Thankfully EVing this gen is a lot easier. Many users here would be glad to help out.

[Hahex and Oshawott]

Try out Pokemon Showdown and see if you like it or not. At the very least, I would try to make at least one good team of Pokemon so just in case you run into someone on the street who wants a battle you can stand a decent chance.

[SirBlaziken]

Like I said, there's plenty of people out there willing to help out. Marti and I are breeding out some pokemon and we (at least I will, I won't speak for Marti) may be willing to hook you up with a couple of pokemon to start you off.

[JES]

 Hahex and Oshawott already beat me to it, but I can still expand upon it:

I've been with Pokémon Showdown for two weeks now, and it is one of the best decisions I've made in months.
If you liked the Battle Factory, you'll love Random Battles? If you're scratching your head, still trying to come up with a decent team, Random Battles are a quick, fun way to get into battles, and once again tests your knowledge. They are a good way to get experience with all sorts of Pokémon, and even different types of battles. You might even find some new favorite Pokémon.

And when you're ready, you can quickly put your own team ideas to the ultimate test, and figure which ideas work, and which don't, and quickly find weaknesses to patch.

[Turner]

I find YMMV when it comes to competitive. I tried it for a while but it stopped being fun when I found that if you want to play to win, you have to sacrifice favorite Pokemon for strong Pokemon and I just couldn't back that program.

Generally I try and use my favorites in a way which are both viable in single player and competitive. Using a competitive Pokemon on the main game is difficult because the best moves don't always have the most PP or just take too long to set up and use effectively, I find that if I can do this or come close it makes the battle more fun, I feel more personal investment in the battle rather than a sense of detachment from losing with a Pokemon crafted for competitive battle.

I think this is also good for coming up with very creative strategies and generally making online play more fun for everyone. I have pulled off wins against traditional OU teams on Wi-Fi purely because their team was constructed for checking and countering the usual suspects. I went in leading with a ridiculously awkward and annoying Porygon and watched the guy constantly switch Pokemon trying to figure out which of his team was best for dealing with it. Wi-Fi gets boring when it's the same moves, the same Pokemon over and over again, the more people that use curveball teams with unusual strategies then you open the game up more and more.

[SirBlaziken]

Speaking of unorthodox strategies, I face Liam in the finals of an LC tourney here on the site once and tried to stall with a toxic Bronzor. It worked well for the first 2 pokemon I tried..... then recycle ran out of PP.