[Denied] Optional Battle Timer

[BigShotJoe]

It's rather irritating when you are having a friendly tournament mode battle with a teammate or friend and one of you has to pause the battle for one reason or another. There is no way to pause the 3-minute timer, usually resulting the battle ending. This can also be caused by lag. It happened to me three times today before I decided to make this topic. Would it be possible to add a button or other form of option to turn the AFK timer on or off? Showdown is a good example of a good AFK timer, if someone is wondering what I mean.

[OrangeManiac]

I'm sorta favor of this, sorta not. I hate winning by time so I like the possibility to stop the time if I wish so. However, the problem about this is that if you're not the player who stops the timer you might be seen as the same guy who always pressed AFK timeout the first second you saw it so I guess for some people there could be a certain peer pressure for it to not allow your opponent run out of time. The more freedom to the player the better, I'd say though.

Edited January 13, 2016 by OrangeManiac

[JIceJDragon]

Maybe just an option when requesting the duel to have the timer on or off 

instead of having the button appear during the battle in case players abuse the button

[BigShotJoe]

Well, forgive me but I'm going to reference Showdown again. Unlike our previous AFK timer, I would like to see one that allows us to turn the timer on and off at will. If a person is taking too long to make a choice, simply turn it on and let them AFK out when the timer counts down. If they make a move, you can simply turn the timer off again. As on Showdown, many people would simply turn the timer on immediately when the battle starts. As far as i can see, it would add a lot of convenience (which is, after all, all this suggestion is trying to accomplish) for a minimal amount of inconvenience for the players (I'm no coder so i don't know how much work would be required to implement this).

[Darkshade]

We don't want the timer to be optional, it represents the standard of competitive play - and we want to continue this theme in automated PvP.

It's already hard enough to get some players to select the right tier in an Official Event, we'd rather not allow them to switch off the timer as they please.

 

It shouldn't take anyone such a long time to pick a move.

[BigShotJoe]

We don't want the timer to be optional, it represents the standard of competitive play - and we want to continue this theme in automated PvP.

It's already hard enough to get some players to select the right tier in an Official Event, we'd rather not allow them to switch off the timer as they please.

 

It shouldn't take anyone such a long time to pick a move.

It's not only about taking a long time to choose a move. Sometimes the server gets full and lags. Sometimes an individual person lags. People do like to have friendly battles without any pressure in picking a move quickly and the automatic timer prevents that. If a person has to go to the bathroom, they either have to do it very quickly or forfeit the match (forfeit button >.>). Life outside the game happens and sometimes it interrupts a person during a battle. 

Maybe make it so that both players have to disable to timer for it to pause. Then, if one player decides they don't want to wait anymore, they re-enable the timer on their end and it begins counting down. Much like a two-switch electrical circuit. However developers might go about it, the important thing is that players are able to pause and take a moment to do something, should the opponent wish to allow it.

[XelaKebert]

It's not only about taking a long time to choose a move. Sometimes the server gets full and lags. Sometimes an individual person lags. People do like to have friendly battles without any pressure in picking a move quickly and the automatic timer prevents that. If a person has to go to the bathroom, they either have to do it very quickly or forfeit the match (forfeit button >.>). Life outside the game happens and sometimes it interrupts a person during a battle. 

Maybe make it so that both players have to disable to timer for it to pause. Then, if one player decides they don't want to wait anymore, they re-enable the timer on their end and it begins counting down. Much like a two-switch electrical circuit. However developers might go about it, the important thing is that players are able to pause and take a moment to do something, should the opponent wish to allow it.

The timer is not optional in Tournament Mode for the reasons Darkshade listed above. If you don't want to use the timer you can always use Normal Mode. I do believe you can select clauses to be enforced there.

[BigShotJoe]

The timer is not optional in Tournament Mode for the reasons Darkshade listed above. If you don't want to use the timer you can always use Normal Mode. I do believe you can select clauses to be enforced there.

Normal Mode has obvious disadvantages compared to Tournament Mode and the very suggestion is... unrealistic. Besides, there's no way to know if you are going to be interrupted during your battle. The only way to account for this would be to play in Normal Mode for every battle just to be sure you don't have to worry about being interrupted and the timer running out. While possible, it is neither likely nor plausible for several reasons.
1.) Very few people keep every Pokemon they use on any given team at either 50 or 100.
2.) Convenience. A lot of people prefer Tournament Mode simply because it has preset clauses that don't have to be checked before every challenge. 
3.) Most people simply don't raise they're Pokemon at an even pace. If you were around before Tournament Mode was a thing, you probably remember trying to find people with teams that were all the same level.

In my previous argument, I suggested a way to prevent the timer from being abused the way Darkshade mentioned. If this suggestion is no good, please explain to me why. Being biased as I am, I don't see any flaws.

[XelaKebert]

Normal Mode has obvious disadvantages compared to Tournament Mode and the very suggestion is... unrealistic. Besides, there's no way to know if you are going to be interrupted during your battle. The only way to account for this would be to play in Normal Mode for every battle just to be sure you don't have to worry about being interrupted and the timer running out. While possible, it is neither likely nor plausible for several reasons.
1.) Very few people keep every Pokemon they use on any given team at either 50 or 100.
2.) Convenience. A lot of people prefer Tournament Mode simply because it has preset clauses that don't have to be checked before every challenge.
3.) Most people simply don't raise they're Pokemon at an even pace. If you were around before Tournament Mode was a thing, you probably remember trying to find people with teams that were all the same level.

In my previous argument, I suggested a way to prevent the timer from being abused the way Darkshade mentioned. If this suggestion is no good, please explain to me why. Being biased as I am, I don't see any flaws.

It is easy to abuse. If you want a free win you decide to not allow the timer to be paused on a disconnect. As Darkshade stated, we already have a slight issue with players checking the wrong clauses and/or wrong tiers in official events. We do not want someone to just be able to disable the timer. The only disadvantage of playing in normal mode is that your Pokemon do not get healed after the battle.

The issue that you don't know when you will be interrupted during a duel really is not as big of an issue as you think. Reconnection support was added in the last update so if you suffer an unclean disconnect you have some time to reconnect where you left off. The obvious issue here is that the timer continues to count down when someone disconnects before making their move. That is what should be addressed. We will not be allowing the timer to be optional in tournament mode.

[codylramey]

Perhaps we could make tournament mode standard set in stone, if  you choose tournament mode you choose the tier and everything else is picked for you and make normal mode more like tourny mode is right now with more options such as turning off the battle timer (maybe even turning off certain RNG.) This would allow people to customize their battles for fun should they choose to.

[PandaJJ]

The only disadvantage of playing in normal mode is that your Pokemon do not get healed after the battle.

"Let me just pretend that I just read the comment I'm replying to."

 

Apart from that, I do agree with your comment. After having experienced an unclean disconnection for the first time during a battle, I realized the current system doesn't work. There needs to be a way to save players from a disconnection, as letting the timer go down while you're disconnected simply means that you lose once you disconnect, so the reconnection feature has no actual purpose in PvP. If you wonder why, it's because it will take a while to even realized you have disconnected, before you can even attempt to get back into the game. Reconnecting in less than 2 minutes is a best case scenario, and then you're likely out of time already. A disconnection timer (suggested in another thread) should be looked at.

[BigShotJoe]

It is easy to abuse. If you want a free win you decide to not allow the timer to be paused on a disconnect. As Darkshade stated, we already have a slight issue with players checking the wrong clauses and/or wrong tiers in official events. We do not want someone to just be able to disable the timer. The only disadvantage of playing in normal mode is that your Pokemon do not get healed after the battle.

The issue that you don't know when you will be interrupted during a duel really is not as big of an issue as you think. Reconnection support was added in the last update so if you suffer an unclean disconnect you have some time to reconnect where you left off. The obvious issue here is that the timer continues to count down when someone disconnects before making their move. That is what should be addressed. We will not be allowing the timer to be optional in tournament mode.

I don't think you understand at all what I'm suggesting. First off, when I talk about being interrupted, I don't mean by connection issues. If you have to use the bathroom, answer the door, stop your house from burning own, etc... we have no way to allow a person to take a momentary break from the battle. I'm not even going to comment on the whole "only disadvantage of Normal Mode part". If you need an example of what I am suggesting, take a look at the Showdown AFK timer. If one player wants the timer on, they simply push a button to toggle it on. If, for whatever reason, the timer needs to be turned off, that same person needs to push a button to toggle it off. If both players turn the timer on, then both players must turn it off. This allows a person to be like, "Hey, I have to do something real quick. Can you wait a moment?" Then, if the other guy is feeling generous, he can pause the timer and allow their opponent to take care of whatever they need.

[XelaKebert]

I don't think you understand at all what I'm suggesting. First off, when I talk about being interrupted, I don't mean by connection issues. If you have to use the bathroom, answer the door, stop your house from burning own, etc... we have no way to allow a person to take a momentary break from the battle. I'm not even going to comment on the whole "only disadvantage of Normal Mode part". If you need an example of what I am suggesting, take a look at the Showdown AFK timer. If one player wants the timer on, they simply push a button to toggle it on. If, for whatever reason, the timer needs to be turned off, that same person needs to push a button to toggle it off. If both players turn the timer on, then both players must turn it off. This allows a person to be like, "Hey, I have to do something real quick. Can you wait a moment?" Then, if the other guy is feeling generous, he can pause the timer and allow their opponent to take care of whatever they need.

You have completely misunderstood exactly what I said entirely. I'm well aware of Showdown's timer and I'm also aware that such a feature is too easy to abuse in the first place. Just because you make so both players have to agree to it, that doesn't make it so it can't be abused. That being said, this will not be happening. It's way too easy to abuse both ways. One player could use it to get more time under the guise that they need to take care of something or a player could use the dual verification system as a means to a free win by not agreeing to pause the timer.