Let's discuss NU

[akaHeroGarou]

Greetings,

I write this topic in hopes of finding a solution to the diminishing NU activity and maybe even appeal and convince new players into trying it out.

 

Why do you even care about NU/How is NU interesting/What's so good about NU?

1. NU is a tier that I find very enjoyable because of its variety and the ability to put to use a vast majority of pokemon.

2. Although statistics show how a few pokemon dominate the meta, there are many prominent players who can put to use rarely seen pokemon and perform extremely well.

3. For new players, it is a better tier to learn teambuilding and experiment different types of play without going on a losing streak.

 

What is the problem/What's bad about NU?

1. You need different pokemon. Pokemon that may not be of use in PVE. Pokemon that only perform well in NU.

2. Lack of players in matchmaking. 

NU used to be a tier with less players as compared to others since long ago. After the introduction of Randoms, the need to grind to breed specific pokemon for NU (which may not be of use in any other PVE or even another PVP team) has vanished, since players can now use funny pokemon in randoms.

This is also because of similar rewards in matchmaking. You can grind OU with the same ladder team for a good amount of BP, whereas you cant find enough matches or grind enough BP for you to be able to sustain the burdens of making new teams in NU

Also in eastern timezones there are marginally fewer players. If you could spectate 10 matches going on in a western timezone, there's probably only 2-3 going on in the eastern timezones

 

What about tournaments? There should'nt be any trouble with playing there

Official tournaments are extremely demanding, not suited for trying new teams, pay off only if you are top 3.

Unofficial tournaments are good. I would rather call them challenging than demanding. If you have good teammates and you perform well, it is a great experience

Team scrimmages are amazing too. Drawbacks being timezones, availability of opponents and not being able to play at ease

 

What is/are the solution(s)?

I suggest improving BP rewards in tiers like NU, UU and Dubs so that old/seasoned players can use them towards making new pokemon for these tiers and new players would be encouraged to play these tiers.

 

Please discuss and provide your suggestions too ^^

Try to avoid saying the situation is hopeless etc.

 

TL;DR Let's list some solutions for the extremely low playerbase of tiers like NU and discuss about the current scenario

[Potapotato]

NICE IDEA!

[Paul]

The solution everyone suggests is just increasing the rewards, but I don't think that solves the problem that the majority of the community just doesn't care for the tier. They could double rewards for NU/UU today & OU would still dominate the playerbase, it's just not an appealing tier in it's current state.

[Quinn010]

2 hours ago, Paul said:

The solution everyone suggests is just increasing the rewards, but I don't think that solves the problem that the majority of the community just doesn't care for the tier. They could double rewards for NU/UU today & OU would still dominate the playerbase, it's just not an appealing tier in it's current state.

i think if you buff ladder prizes x3 monthly 1 tier it motivate people to play the tier. Maybe also host 1 bigger tour with it to hype things up somthing like tier of the month tour with big cash prizes (would be good if its in the weekend). if you just buff the prizes once that won't motivate people enough to play lower tiers. 

Edited February 10, 2022 by Quinn010
this is basically roa monthly spotlight tier from smogon idea

[caioxlive13]

Problems I see in the low tiers, talking about all tiers, not only NU:
- Extremely unpredictable metagaming. Tier changes can change metagaming a lot. In OU, they don't ban any pokemon anymore(Since Draco Meteor + Hydreigon Ban, staff doesn't banned nothing more.), so it's a metagaming that is fixed, and that doesn't change / rarely changes, so teams last 3, 4, 5, 6 , several seasons. Unlike low tiers where a pokémon is promoted to high tier, it breaks the entire meta of the tier. Torkoal is a great example: Sun teams have always been good in UU, after all the competition with other climates was less than OU (where it is dominated by Sand/Rain teams), So this guaranteed viability to the pokemons that made up the Sun team. When Torkoal tiered up, this broke the tier's Sun teams completely.

- With that, we can talk about another problem: Teams that focus on holding the game. It sounds like we're complaining for nothing, but it's not. In Over Used, this is not a problem, after all as the meta is fixed, stallbreaks are fixed and will always be there. Unlike the low tiers, where we have to rely on luck so that the stallbreak doesn't go up in tiers. And seriously, it's easier for a stallbreak to tier up than it is for a wall to tier up. An example is heracross: It's much easier to move up to OU because it's excellent as a stallbreak on Rain teams, something that the Stallbreak of the tier, Darmanitan, wouldn't do well. Now a vaporeon would never rise to OU. Even though it has high Special Def and considerable HP, other high tier pokemons outshine it a lot there, such as Chansey and Blissey. On Never Used, have some cases: Is more easier to Blaziken growth up(If November/2021 were the last month of last season, Blaziken would go up by usage (Above 4.36% cutoff.). It just didn't go up because it was the penultimate month of the season, so it needed 6.7% to go up.), than Gligar growth up(Gligar only is used on UU to check Heracross, and if he doesn't on UU, Gligar never will be used on UU. Is evident because when Heracross go UP to OU, Gligar can't stand on UU and is relegated by usage.). With this, top rank prefer more Walls on their team because someone being promoted is rare, making long matchs more common and people that are new on low tiers will give up more soon from tier.

- Top Ranked Domain: In the lower tiers, we know very well that only the "Veterans" play. This is a problem, because basically a newbie in the tier would take a 6-0 defeat all the time, and this some "veterans" say helps the player learn to play, but actually makes them give up the tiers and go random where he you can at least have fun, which in the lower tiers is impossible. A solution to this would be to create incentives for players who farm BP in PvP, to play the low tiers (Buffing the rewards or something), so newbie players would find less veterans and could at least play against someone of their level, with this, they don't give up from tier too soon

[epicdavenport]

NU to me is the most fun and a extremely varied tier ( except blaziken but thats personal beef ). A not immediately thought of issue i think NU suffers from as well is that the higher tiers hold the pokes that are more commonly popular ( tyranitar, conkeldurr, milotic, etc ). It's difficult to attract players to overall weaker pokes unless they just like its design.