2022 pumpking community difficulty poll.

[BrokenJoker]

Now that the event is over im curious to how the community felt about the pumpking boss. How easy or difficult was the boss for you

[Raichuforyou]

I feel like it's really hard to judge the difficulty on these bosses. I'd really like it if you could just take in your OU/Doubles comps and do fine against it. But the truth is that you have to make a niche set to play through the cookie cutter way that everyone has figured out in order to beat these bosses. In my opinion, this ends up making events way more boring than they should be.

 

The 10th anniversary boss was like this as well and honestly I'm kind of just sick of bosses having 1-3 team comps that are only attemptable against it. I think in the end it just makes a less accessible event which I don't think the devs want as a consequence.

 

Most difficulty on these bosses are only created through the obfuscation of information on how to beat them anyway. Browse the forums/you're in a team/on the discord? It's easy. Have nowhere to begin on learning how the Pumpking uses certain attacks, how it reacts to moves, status, or abilities? Then it's hard. IMO this is the wrong way to do difficulty.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Raichuforyou

[Jgaw]

The easy mode was too very easy

Phase1 2 turns

Phase2 2 turns

Phase2 3 turns

Less than 5 minutes = 5 goodies bags

Really too easy (it turns à very bit fait when the boss of Phase3 hits 2 phantom strikes in à row) 

 

The hard mode is as well not too very hard, it was fair, even if when pumpthief shows up, to clear it u Must have some battle items (xatt, x spécial, xspeed) some cookies (pumpkin, cat, ghost) 

And it s not that hard sincerely, even the boss in phase3 u Can predict Who s gonna strike first and based on that, u will full attack him

So whatever easy or hard it was, im so glad to participate in that event with u guys

And Lookin forward to next year

 

#xmas_countdown

[CanadaSorry]

Very well said Raichu. I couldnt agree more. From the position of having not just a team, but a very active team.....this was a very tough event. It was fun. But it was tough. A lot of time and money was spent creating 3 teams that now need to be completely readjusted, since NOTHING in pokemmo is comparable to the strength of pumpking, and an honorable mention to pumpthief xD that thing was annoying. Thankyou reactive gas ♡ but otherwise, these teams not only have zero use for an entire year....they are likely not going to be useful the following year, with the exception of hydreigon and krookodile. Our pumpking staples. 

 

I admit, i struggled with the event, however, i like to struggle, and i was able to farm the boss still. From my personal standpoint, i enjoyed the challenge. The easy vs worth it matrix was in full swing here. "If its easy, its probably not worth it. If its worth it, its probably not going to be easy"

 

 

That said......i also feel strongly for the new/returning players without a solid team/group of friends. These players were more or less left in the dark and restricted to flipping candies and goodie bags for profits, to then hopefully buy pumpking goodie bags and pray to RNGsus for a shadow items. And the particle? LOL forget it. Unless you knew EXACTLY when and where to use a specific item, that run is going south for you, in a heartbeat. 

 

Previous years were similar to this.....but not to this extent. This year was so dependant on RNG, it has caused more annoyance and anger than enlightenment. These events are supposed to be fun, profitable, and a good learning experience. Instead, players were taught, that even if they spend the time and money to make a dedicated team, you still need to further invest into x items, max revives, cat/ghost/pumpkin cookies, full heals, energy roots, etc.....and take on many losses until you know EXACTLY when to use these items, so that HOPEFULLY fever dreams doesnt screw you. Or 85% HP instead of 87% HP will instant phantom strike your efforts to smitherines. Spirit away will screw you because you used a full heal instead of a ghost cookie, maybe you previously needed a pumpkin cookie and you were unable to get off a taunt. There were many many different ways for a run to go sour, and i feel the number of bad runs this year, greatly exceeds the number of good runs. 

 

To the devs, this was a fantastic event for old players. Rich players. And players with big teams. The addition of wisps and event alphas was awesome. I enjoyed catching my spiritomb even though i had to sacrifice my Lunar Wing for it. Damn you iron mountain xD I have a tremendous amount of respect for the effort that was put into this, and i DONT feel like pumpthief should go away, i liked the difficulty of hardcore this year. But i hope that for next year, we can acknowledge the bigger group of players here, the new/returning players. And maybe we have a "soft-core" version. Add a 3rd option.

 

1)    Easy mode for the goodie bags/event exclusive vanity. The event exclusive vanity is always a nice touch.

 

2)   "Soft-core Mode" for x5 pumpking bags and the particle (also i like the small chance at winning the shiny version of the particle from the boss. Brilliant.)

 

3)   And then our coveted Hardcore mode, for the wing nuts like myself that enjoy suffering. Maybe increase the chances of obtaining the shiny particle effect, but still give x5 pumpking bags, or keep the drop rates of the shiny particle but give 7 or 10 pumpking bags instead.

 

 

Simply having 2 options, and 1 of them excluding you from all the cool stuff.....i believe is an issue that should be acknowledged. 

 

I dont think the drop rates from the bags themselves should change at all. The low chance of getting your item is compensated by the large numbers of boxes farmed each year......but something should be done for the group of players we actually want to reach out to. An old/loyal player will always be so (for the most part xD) but new/returning players should recieve some sort of encouragement to keep playing. 

 

This concludes my novel/2 cents about the event this year. To those of you still reading, congratulations, youve made it to the end and i applaud you. Thankyou devs, thankyou to the community, definitely still looking forward to next years pumpking, but i feel like im part of the minority on that note

 

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

 

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by CanadaSorry
Spelling

[Belegado]

That event was not fair at all. It requires lvl100 mons with specific nature ivs and evs, items (New player cant afford all of that) and rng. 

 

It doesn't make sense a farm event that requires money and Luck.

[SephirothNinety]

The "easy" mode required an specific pokemon team, with specific moves + natures and specific tactics that you MUST follow perfectly, because the smallest mistake cost you the victory.

 

I used Krookodile, Typhlosion and Chandelure for the boss ("easy" mode) and switched chandelure for Hydreigon for minibosses. If, for any chance, I forgot to change back when challenging the Boss...that was a lost candy. Due I used to farm the boss while doing something else (working, watching TV shows, etc), more than once missclicked "Safeguard" in my 2nd turn of second phase... silly noob mistake, yes, but one that meant almost instant defeat in 3rd phase, and even the time I made it out at the end, was at a very high cost. So, in my very own personal opinion, a Boss that requires a very specific team, tactics and doesn't forgive the smallest mistake, ISN'T EASY AT ALL.

 

Sure, you go to youtube, watch a few videos and build a team EXACTLY as explained there, then go defeat the boss using the EXACT steps shown and start saying "ez boss"...it wont change that.

Make it challenging, of course, but I think devs need to analyze a better way to accomplish this, because the boss felt unfair every step of the way.

Pretty sure almost 99% of players that defeated it, did it after seen a guide elsewhere.

 

Other than that, this has been the best Halloween event so far since I'm around (almost 3 years). The one thing I missed were the particle mons in Halloween swarms, but it is understandable due all things they have pulled out in the past months... and the ones that are coming.

Edited November 10, 2022 by SephirothNinety

[suigin]

About Hard mode:

Idk if it was the methods I used. I tried two separate methods to little success. It felt like it relied way too much on luck, if you didn't have a perfect run you were fucked, you HAD to restart. it ate up way too many consumables to be a reliable money maker, I'm pretty sure I ended up losing money that I hope I recoup in 4 years when I sell the rewards I got from it (admittedly I started actually fighting it on the last day and rushing through the whole process).  And like Raichu said, it seemed to all boil down to having your very niche Assurance dark types/snarl hydreigons and your fast weezings as well as being told "ok x special on A, attack with b, spam taunt with C, oh you missed snarl, gg redo". It did not feel very interactive.

[RysPicz]

I totally agree with people who spoke before me. I'd rather have an event where the success is done through careful preparation, good strategy and skill, rather than RNG. Something like I dunno, utilizing less used moves such as Heal Block, Lucky Chant, maybe the Pledge moves to give starters some viability and general fun. The pokemon pool for this event was scarce and did not promote much creativity- just keep using same mons you did last year and 2 years and 3 and 4 and 5 years ago and swap Weezing with Neutralizing Gas.

 

I did like this event despite the fact that I had to reset many, many times purely because of RNG (snarl miss on all 3 mons in phase 3 ftw, 95% accuracy my ass). And even though I opened like 300 pumpking goodie bags and got absolutely nothing at all.

Was fun tho, I did enjoy beating the kids

[MightyMichele]

Delete

Edited September 20, 2023 by MightyMichele

[Xratello]

I allways like Events because in between... From March-Oktober the game seems Kinda dead. But this one was for the big ballers'. We (the ,,new" ones who were unprepared) Had a Lil Bit of a drag...hard mode wasnt really an Option for small Guys who dont have the mons...besides that the Event was nice to be honest. I like the new only Halloween Alphas...i still like the Game and next time...im surely prepared...

 

Dark/Ghosttype FTW

 

God Bless the devs that we even have Events and fun and a drag to complain about..all Love! ✓<3

[CanadaSorry]

10 hours ago, MightyMichele said:

My run was like that:

 

Hydreigon (Modest, Lum Berry)

Sunny day, Dark Pulse, Toxic

 

Krokodile (Adamant, Soft Sand, 28+ in hp and def)

Earthquake, Crunch assurance, protect

 

Aerodactyl (252 Ev sp def, 252 speed)

Taunt, wide guard

 

Chandelure Modest Choice Specs.

Shadow ball

 

Tyranitar Adamant Air Balloon

Crunch, assurance, protect, toxic

 

Ditto Air Ballon

 

 

Boss 1: taunt accuracy 100%

 

Turn 1

Sunny Day, Earthquake, Taunt.

- Aerodactyl receives Hex -15% HP (252 Ev Sp def).

 

Turn 2

Dark Pulse, Assurance, Taunt.

Aerodactyl receives Hex -15% HP (252 Ev Sp def).

(If storm, replace Dark Pulse for Sunny day)

 

Turn 3

Dark Pulse, Earthquake, Taunt.

- Aerodactyl receives Hex -15% HP (252 Ev Sp def).

- If Pumpprincess traced Hydreigon Levitate, send dark Pulse to princess, otherwise to the boss.

 

Turn 4

Hyper Potion, Crunch, Taunt.

Aerodactyl receives Hex -15% HP (252 Ev Sp def).

 

Turn 5

Dark Pulse, Earthquake, Taunt.

- Aerodactyl receives Hex -15% HP (252 Ev Sp def).

 

Turn 6

Dark Pulse, Assurance, Hyper Potion.

- pumpking faints if not loop it.

 

Boss 2:

 

Turn 1

Sunny Day, Earthquake, X Attack Krokodile.

 

Turn 2

Dark Pulse, Assurance, + Full Heal Krokodile (or super potion if he is not sleeping)

 

Turn 3 (No thief)

Dark Pulse, Earthquake, X special Hydreigon / Ghost Cookie if necessary.

(If princess spawn with levitate, dark Pulse it)

 

Turn 3(there is a thief and Krok is sleeping)

Lava Cookie Krokodile, Earthquake, xAttack krok.

 

Turn 3: there is a Lil Pump Bomb

Lava Cookie/Ghost Cookie, Earthquake, wide guard

 

Turn 4

Dark Pulse, Assurance, Lava cookie/Ghost Cookie/X Special Hydreigon/X attack Krok.

 

- Pumpking fainted.

 

Boss 3

Turn 1

X Attack Krok, Earthquake, X Attack Krok.

- Aerodactyl faints for a phantom strike (always happens)

- Send a Tyrantar to replace.

 

Turn 2 (-2 SP DEF, -2 SP ATK, -2 ATK, -2 SPEED to krok)

X Attack, Crunch with Krok, Assurance with Tyranitar.

If Krok received -2 in speed, reverse Crunch with Tyranitar and Assurance with Krokodile.

- Sandstorm damage the boss.

 

Turn 3 (no thief)

Cat Cookie, Crunch, Assurance.

- the boss can die here sometimes.

 

Turn 3 (thief)

Cat cookie, Earthquake, X Attack Krokodile.

 

Turn 4.

Send Chandelure.

X Special, X Special, Shadow Ball Chandelure.

- Pumpking faints.

 

 

Now Turn 2 (with -2 Def)

Send Tyranitar.

Dark Pulse with Hydre, Assurance with Krok, X Defend to Krok from Tyranitar.

 

Turn 3 (no thief)

Cat cookie, Earthquake, Max Potion Krokodile.

 

Turn 3 (thief)

Cat Cookie, Earthquake, X Attack Krok.

 

Turn 4

Send Chandelure

X Special chand, x special chand, Shadow ball.

Pumpking faints.

 

The RNG is not going to make you lose, you have to think more, and a few times you cant do it. Sometimes spirit away ruin it in phase 2 because boss life was orange and you could not take him down. If you get Tyranitar and Chandelure in the camp then, you do assurance + shadow ball + X Attack to tyranitar and you can finish him after spirit away, if not disconnect.

 

The boss is great, I have enjoyed it a lot, you just have to find the way to beat it, I learned that perfected in the last 2 days hahaha

 

 

---

Edit: In the last turn of phase 3, something is wrong because you lost 2 instead of 1, and you need to replace 2 X special to chandelure to 1x special + 1 revive to any, because sometimes the boss can die and kill you together. Also sometimes I use Brom Cookie if the boss wants to harvest for any reason something is wrong. Never used bat cookie or pumpkin cookie.

 

 

Very few people here are saying he was unbeatable. We are saying, it was unnecessary and not all that fun, which only compounds for newer players.

[MightyMichele]

3 hours ago, CanadaSorry said:

Very few people here are saying he was unbeatable. We are saying, it was unnecessary and not all that fun, which only compounds for newer players.

Thank you for clearing this out.  I agree with that, the difficulty was pretty hard. There is 2 more days though. Instead from 31-----06November, we got 31-----09November.  The cheap special candies helped a lot. I guess that was necessary to previously prepare PokeYen or dozens of medicines/berries/tms to have a chance to learn the boss (and Pokemons perfected in IV 28+ and +Damage nature)

 

I had to ask the Chinese General discussion for help (they have a good discussion about the boss difficulty there), I watched some of the video of them, asked for help for several friends in my friendlist, they have watched my run, I also watched their runs, and that helped a lot like each friend passed me one hint that I could add to my strategy, I have also coached some of my friends, and everything together made me able to defeat the boss more often.

Edited November 11, 2022 by MightyMichele

[Utsa]

Wouldn't say that  it was that hard since I had to to use the same team as the previous year .
Just changed a little for the pumpthief.
Yeah perhaps the pokemons to fight the boss are limited (Krockdile , Aerodactyl , Hydregion same in all halloween)

[OGQT]

21 minutes ago, Utsa said:

Wouldn't say that  it was that hard since I had to to use the same team as the previous year .
Just changed a little for the pumpthief.
Yeah perhaps the pokemons to fight the boss are limited (Krockdile , Aerodactyl , Hydregion same in all halloween)

I'm sure there's a strat that uses other pokemon. There's so many good dark types around, after all, and even other types that are super effective against Pumpking. It's just that people see a strat that works, and stick with that.

[Utsa]

Just now, OGQT said:

I'm sure there's a strat that uses other pokemon. There's so many good dark types around, after all, and even other types that are super effective against Pumpking. It's just that people see a strat that works, and stick with that.

I agree  but those pokemon became very common for defeating the boss.

[TohnR]

On 11/10/2022 at 10:44 PM, SephirothNinety said:

The "easy" mode required an specific pokemon team, with specific moves + natures and specific tactics that you MUST follow perfectly, because the smallest mistake cost you the victory.

 

Nah I use 6 lvl 100 comps all fire or dark type and beat the easy mode without much issues to get my Paladin's Shield
Of course you need some basic understanding of what the boss does but it wasn't that tryhard. I call it fair

The hard mode requires specific strategy and team composition but that is only natural, my main issue being the amount of consummables required and the amount of RNG there was to farm it consistently with most popular methods I've seen.

[Bertolfoso]

In my opinion, from a game design point of view, it is necessary for these fights to have some sort of RNG aspect, because if there was a 100% win rate strategy, it would ruin the value of the prizes since they are effortless to get (and it would get nerfed anyways). Since Pokemon is a game with so many variables, the Human is waaaay better at using every possible combination than an AI, a true "hard" pokemon game is impossible to achieve, unless using "overpowered" mechanics (present in Halloween), which are still not enough, so putting RNG is literally necessary.

[CanadaSorry]

2 minutes ago, Bertolfoso said:

In my opinion, from a game design point of view, it is necessary for these fights to have some sort of RNG aspect, because if there was a 100% win rate strategy, it would ruin the value of the prizes since they are effortless to get (and it would get nerfed anyways). Since Pokemon is a game with so many variables, the Human is waaaay better at using every possible combination than an AI, a true "hard" pokemon game is impossible to achieve, unless using "overpowered" mechanics (present in Halloween), which are still not enough, so putting RNG is literally necessary.

Right. I kinda feel bad for the staff cause they are definitely in a "damned if you do, damned if you dont" scenario, every single event lol maybe part of my issue is having too much empathy for the nooblets xD at the end of the day, its a very good teaching tool....even if maybe the lesson learned this year, is "you are not prepared. Try again next year". 

 

And at least by next year most of these vanities will be relatively cheaper xD

 

[Raichuforyou]

54 minutes ago, Bertolfoso said:

In my opinion, from a game design point of view, it is necessary for these fights to have some sort of RNG aspect, because if there was a 100% win rate strategy, it would ruin the value of the prizes since they are effortless to get (and it would get nerfed anyways). Since Pokemon is a game with so many variables, the Human is waaaay better at using every possible combination than an AI, a true "hard" pokemon game is impossible to achieve, unless using "overpowered" mechanics (present in Halloween), which are still not enough, so putting RNG is literally necessary.

I think the problem is that the RNG based mistakes weren't really able to be recovered from especially when round 3 came along. A move missing or a "wrong" minion showing up was absolutely game ending.

 

There are many RNG events that happen in real competitive matches that can be overcame as you try to squeeze out the W. I wish any mistakes you made in a run could be overcame by general game and mechanical knowledge of what to do.

[Bertolfoso]

On 11/12/2022 at 7:17 PM, Raichuforyou said:

I think the problem is that the RNG based mistakes weren't really able to be recovered from especially when round 3 came along. A move missing or a "wrong" minion showing up was absolutely game ending.

 

There are many RNG events that happen in real competitive matches that can be overcame as you try to squeeze out the W. I wish any mistakes you made in a run could be overcame by general game and mechanical knowledge of what to do.

AI is different from a real player, in PvP you're managing odds, but your opponent is a Person (hard to predict).

A PvE fight is like a puzzle, once it's solved there is no challange anymore, it becomes a mechanical process to beat the battle/puzzle. Unless you put RNG in it (be the solution having to rely on inaccurate moves, having the AI randomly choose a different move, etc.) 

 

[Raichuforyou]

21 minutes ago, Bertolfoso said:

AI is different from a real player, in PvP you're managing odds, but your opponent is a Person (hard to predict).

A PvE fight is like a puzzle, once it's solved there is no challange anymore, it becomes a mechanical process to beat the battle/puzzle. Unless you put RNG in it (be the solution having to rely on inaccurate moves, having the AI randomly choose a different move, etc.) 

 

Sure, my main idea though was that there was no need for the RNG elements of the boss run to be so punishing. "Do everything perfectly and get zero misses, critical hits against you, and correct minion placement or else you lose" isn't exactly interactive at all. The pumpking might as well just check if you brought the right party members to the battle then do a roll if you get the rewards or not if we're going this way with boss philosophy.

[xRdZiiiN]

I really enjoyed the event, and both difficults of it ~ [ i agree with the argument most of ppl said about the need to spend time / money to make / buy specific mons / items, it's kinda lame ... ] i agree and disagree about the RNG aspect of hard mode pumpking it's a bit unmerciful and at the same time it's challenging.

 

i'm looking foward for christmas event now, i wish we can have a solo alternative for it this year... co-op is soo lame ...

[angryfatbear]

i REALLY enjoyed the hardmode,. im a new player and im 1-2 months casually into the game. i dont really play pokemmo but now im super into it cause of the pumpking hard event, please dont change, the difficulty is well balanced. it was really mind blowing and fun and challenging!

I kept tweaking my team to make the runs even better , wish we had more time or i was more prepared though! After the event, i felt like the devs of this game is genius, atleast the design of the pumpking event was! . so i am just very into pokemmo now and waiting for more fun events 🙂

Im also looking forward for Christmas event and wish we have solo, i dont really like co-op and waiting for other players. wish i can grind on my own time.

Edited November 14, 2022 by angryfatbear

[MightyMichele]

50 minutes ago, angryfatbear said:

 After the event, i felt like the devs of this game is genius, atleast the design of the pumpking event was! . 
Im also looking forward for Christmas event 

@Kyu @DesuAwww so cute! I love this answer very much I also think the devs are genius for make that alone! Pumpking challenge is handsome. These are best devs ever!

It seems they have recruited someone else to make the new game keyboard. @VukoooI like the new keyboard very much ❤️

 

 

@Darkshade @Rache you are also definitely genious and very kind person I like you very much and I loved the new Halloween cosmetics design<3

[CanadaSorry]

Nice alt name :]