Pumpking Hard is the least fun I've had with this game so far

[SphealTeamSix]

I'm sure I'll get plenty of "skill issue" or "it's supposed to be hard" comments here, and I initially wanted to write out a lengthy post about why I think this content is ridiculous, but I think I can make a much more condensed version...

 

Creating difficulty by adding multiple layers of RNG to a difficult, time-limited encounter is not fun, and doesn't feel like good game design.

 

For the record, I completed it. And as soon as I did, I sold my pokes, cookies, and items to try and recoup some of the massive losses I sustained trying to build the specific teams required to clear this (and I still almost lost because I Li'l Pump spawned TWICE for me, though luckily the second time he spawned on the side where he couldn't hit my only remaining damage dealer).

 

I did not have fun, and would hope that in the future the devs introduce difficulty in a way that people who aren't content creators or millionaires will have the time and resources to participate in this event by playing smart and developing a strategy, rather than by getting shafted by some unlucky RNG.

Edited November 7, 2023 by SphealTeamSix

[Carlosjxx]

6 minutes ago, SphealTeamSix said:

I'm sure I'll get plenty of "skill issue".

You're right! You have no skills at all. This is the easiest pumpkin-king I've ever seen. It's boring to win so easily. I've got boxes full of particles and bags that are worth nothing thanks to the nerf. The same team from last year works. 

[SphealTeamSix]

2 minutes ago, Carlosjxx said:

You're right! You have no skills at all. This is the easiest pumpkin-king I've ever seen. It's boring to win so easily. I've got boxes full of particles and bags that are worth nothing thanks to the nerf. The same team from last year works. 

 

17 minutes ago, SphealTeamSix said:

hope that in the future the devs introduce difficulty in a way that people who aren't content creators or millionaires will have the time and resources to participate in this event

 

[oLoze]

you weren't forced to do that boss.... 

i gave him 2 shots too before selling all but im not complaining....

it's just a game and you are supposed to enjoy and have fun while playing, if you are not having fun just stop playing like the majority of users did the 2° day of event XDDD

Edited November 7, 2023 by oLoze

[TheKrimsonKang]

**Insert "skill issue" or "it's supposed to be hard" here**

Edited November 7, 2023 by TheKrimsonKang

[Spxter]

I agree event was a lil broken, before it got nerfed. (Lost alot of money too, but it happens)

 

Now it is very easy.  There's a few videos on yt.. you could learn from.. 🙂 

 

Don't give up so quick! 

 

[Enpure]

100% agree, the fact the boss fight can literally be so different each time you fight it as well is so awful.

 

So many consumables each fight even on first round, steals one item from your pokemon and you've already lost the whole fight. Straight up thousands gone already.

[Goku]

13 hours ago, Carlosjxx said:

You're right! You have no skills at all. This is the easiest pumpkin-king I've ever seen. It's boring to win so easily. I've got boxes full of particles and bags that are worth nothing thanks to the nerf. The same team from last year works. 

People be complaining about how hard the pumpking is and then after it gets a nerf they complain about how easy it is... like come on bro xDD

[Seth]

16 minutes ago, Goku said:

People be complaining about how hard the pumpking is and then after it gets a nerf they complain about how easy it is... like come on bro xDD

There will always be different groups of people with opposite opinions whom are coming forward in different moments to express their opinion. 

 

It's a classic mistake to assume the community (also in other games) is one-sided as it can just be different people expressing their opinion. ^^

 

But yeah... Too much complaining in general - we are top tier at it. 🙂 

[MightyMichele]

45 minutes ago, Seth said:

There will always be different groups of people with opposite opinions whom are coming forward in different moments to express their opinion. 

 

It's a classic mistake to assume the community (also in other games) is one-sided as it can just be different people expressing their opinion. ^^

 

But yeah... Too much complaining in general - we are top tier at it. 🙂 

Yeah, we're pretty good at complaining sometimes. 😅

But hey, the devs listened, made tweaks, and now the Halloween event is on point. Thanks to the devs for the update.

I'm with  @OfficialDarku . I'm up to play the anniversary. Remember that the anniversary is not confirmed.

[Goku]

2 hours ago, MightyMichele said:

Yeah, we're pretty good at complaining sometimes. 😅

But hey, the devs listened, made tweaks, and now the Halloween event is on point. Thanks to the devs for the update.

I'm with  @OfficialDarku . I'm up to play the anniversary. Remember that the anniversary is not confirmed.

I saw a post where it was confirmed that anniversary will follow halloween. I might be wrong but iirc I read it somewhere and that we can expect something huge for anniversary.

[Carlosjxx]

4 hours ago, Goku said:

People be complaining about how hard the pumpking is and then after it gets a nerf they complain about how easy it is... like come on bro xDD

I never complained because it was difficult. Since day 1 I've been defeating the king with the same team from 2021 and they're all 2x31. Before the nerf you had to think, now everything is done on autopilot with a 98% chance of victory 

[CanadaSorry]

[Goku]

20 hours ago, Carlosjxx said:

It's boring to win so easily. I've got boxes full of particles and bags that are worth nothing thanks to the nerf. 

To me this is a complaint. Also stating that the pumpking is the easiest you have seen is false. The pumpking last year can be compared to this year after the nerf. Next time don't belittle someone because of your own opinion. What's "easy" for you might not necessarily be easy for him. So instead of telling him he has no skill why don't you advise him on what to do.

Edit: Not going at you. Just saying a little help goes a long way.

Edited November 8, 2023 by Goku

[Carlosjxx]

15 minutes ago, Goku said:

To me this is a complaint. Also stating that the pumpking is the easiest you have seen is false. The pumpking last year can be compared to this year after the nerf. Next time don't belittle someone because of your own opinion. What's "easy" for you might not necessarily be easy for him. So instead of telling him he has no skill why don't you advise him on what to do.

Edit: Not going at you. Just saying a little help goes a long way.

Last year the king was harder, the 2021 king even harder, the 2020 king was the easiest so far that this king was nerfed. If I say it's the easiest, it's because it is, right? Who advised me in 2020? Nobody! I learned on my own xD then this boy should stop complaining and learn on his own as well. This generation wants everything easy e.e I hope next year the king will use water spout 

[SphealTeamSix]

1 hour ago, Carlosjxx said:

Last year the king was harder, the 2021 king even harder, the 2020 king was the easiest so far that this king was nerfed. If I say it's the easiest, it's because it is, right? Who advised me in 2020? Nobody! I learned on my own xD then this boy should stop complaining and learn on his own as well. This generation wants everything easy e.e I hope next year the king will use water spout 

"this boy"? "This generation wants everything easy"?

 

I mentioned I completed the fight and I thought you were trolling with your initial comment, but ok, let's address this...

 

I work a full time job. I go to the gym 5 times a week. It took me a single attempt to beat Pumpking Easy, it took me almost 3 hours and probably ~2million Pokeyen to clear it once on Hard.

 

There were not publicly available "consistent" strats to clear this fight until maybe 1/3 of the way through the event. And even when that did happen, Pumpking was nerfed, which was welcome, but also required rewrites of those strats to work with the new fight.

 

You clearly missed my comment about "people who aren't content creators or millionaires will have the time and resources to participate in this event" since you mentioned having played this game for at least 3 years and fall into that category with your avatar showing off your vanities and shiny Metagross...not all of us can sit in front of the computer for hours on end to figure out a fight that goes away in 2 weeks.

 

There are plenty of players like you, but I'd wager there are more like me. Hell, I'd even place myself further along than most players with my gametime seeing as I've completed the OT dex and have a 350k gym rerun team.

 

The point is you're attacking "player skill" in a fight that's heavily RNG-based to make it difficult, likely owing to the fact that players WILL come up with very smart strats to eliminate variables, requiring the devs to introduce even MORE variables so Hard Mode remains Hard. The analogy I like to use is that it's like studying for a test that's different every time you take it - and I think the time and money required to experiment and figure out what to do in X situation likely alienates a lot of players that would otherwise have participated...especially when you consider that the upcoming Christmas event with the Elfbots literally GIVES YOU everything you need to participate and ONLY requires time investment...

 

But yes, go ahead, attack my player skill and apparent laziness for having a life outside of this game.

Edited November 8, 2023 by SphealTeamSix

[Carlosjxx]

21 minutes ago, SphealTeamSix said:

But yes, go ahead, attack my player skill and apparent laziness for having a life outside of this game.

I can just play 3 or 4 hours in the evenings, do you think I'm 12 years old and I don't do anything apart of playing? Don't put my poor metacross in your lack of skill issues 😉

Edited November 8, 2023 by Carlosjxx

[TheBloo]

20 minutes ago, SphealTeamSix said:

The point is you're attacking "player skill" in a fight that's heavily RNG-based to make it difficult

It really isn’t rng. Even before nerfs it wasn’t rng, it was skill issue and I mean this in the most sincere way. It’s suppose to be different every fight m, how is clicking the same buttons every rotation fun? Players give up the moment something goes wrong instead of thinking. For those crying about difficulty, ask yourself, do you put any effort into thinking in life? If not there is a easy mode more suited for you that does not require thinking 

[Jgaw]

4 hours ago, Carlosjxx said:

I never complained because it was difficult. Since day 1 I've been defeating the king with the same team from 2021 and they're all 2x31. Before the nerf you had to think, now everything is done on autopilot with a 98% chance of victory 

Simple

Explain the strat, pokes used, items, and moves

Phase 1

Turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 3

Turn 4

Phase 2

Turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 3

Phase 3

Etc.... 

[TheBloo]

4 minutes ago, Jgaw said:

Simple

Explain the strat, pokes used, items, and moves

Phase 1

Turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 3

Turn 4

Phase 2

Turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 3

Phase 3

Etc.... 

you want someone to spoon feed you every move when there are multitudes of variation? Just write down every possible variation for you because you can’t think? Do you wanna watch any bilibili streamers? They streaming for hrs since update and posting strats but noobs still crying they don’t get spoonfed

[Carlosjxx]

11 minutes ago, Jgaw said:

Simple

Explain the strat, pokes used, items, and moves

Phase 1

Turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 3

Turn 4

Phase 2

Turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 3

Phase 3

Etc.... 

Don't you have some college assignment that you also want me to do for you? 

[Spxter]

🤡

[Jgaw]

1 hour ago, Carlosjxx said:

Don't you have some college assignment that you also want me to do for you? 

Don't blâme others then

I have plenty of players Who Can help

Plus i have every useful available strat. 

And i don't need Such greedy players who think like u

It s pokemmo community

The main idea is sharing knowledge and help New players and Those Who want to achieve goals in the game

But standing there laughing at players and sayin skill issues is so mean

Remember ur beginings

 

[Carlosjxx]

6 minutes ago, Jgaw said:

Don't blâme others then

I have plenty of players Who Can help

Plus i have every useful available strat. 

And i don't need Such greedy players who think like u

It s pokemmo community

The main idea is sharing knowledge and help New players and Those Who want to achieve goals in the game

But standing there laughing at players and sayin skill issues is so mean

Remember ur beginings

 

Skill issues my friend It doesn't matter what else you want to call it. 

[Raichuforyou]

I have about 3 friends who are pretty damn good at Showdown ladder (made it to top 100 on various different ladders) who I invited back to the game to try out Pumpking with me. They were interested at first, and tried out a couple of battles, but it became very apparent that they were just losing interest in terms of how undocumented the "rules" are against Pumpking. They tried a few times on easy mode, then one time on hard, and honestly all decided this probably wasn't worth it as they started to lose money throughout this whole process. It also became very apparent that this was just not fun for anyone involved. I eventually pointed out some cookie cutter sets that were shared on YouTube, but by that point everyone was so disillusioned by Pumpking and just wanted to play another game.

 

I don't really think this is a skill issue at all. There are definitely players that are beating Pumpking that are frankly pretty bad at PVP. Sure, it's pretty "easy" if you copy someone else's set, and play exactly how they're telling you to play, but does that actually make for a fun event at all?

Edited November 8, 2023 by Raichuforyou