Frenzy Plant Buff
I'm saying it right away- It was totally unnecessary!
(Skip 2 the last line if you think this post is long)
Frenzy Plant was already a very good charge move compared to Solar Beam with almost equal power but 2 bars. It didn't need the buff at all. What Niantic just did it is make the recent thing wayyyyyy more powerful than anything else so that nothing else matters. Now, Solar Beam Venusaurs are totally outclassed, Sceptile is completely useless (untill Treecko day maybe, but BS/FP is weak compared to VW/FP; and even if it gets close the current Sceptiles are all useless because they can't learn FP by TM) and nothing but Frenzy Plant matters. The same thing happenned a few days ago when Niantic buffed Sky Attack. Why the hell did you just buff Sky Attack when it was already very powerful and Aerial Ace is a useless move but the most used flying move of all. Oh, I understand, so that nothing but Sky Attack Lugia matters! Oh, come on Niantic! Stop making recent things clearly outclass everything. Create a balance. We want a balanced game!
My point: MAKE THE GAME MORE SOLID AND LESS SHINY!!!!!!!!!!
Answers
But the 2.8s cooldown was pretty much perfect. Everyone likes starter Pokémons. I like them too. I also wanted Venusaur to be one of the best Grass Pokémon of all. But I never wanted all other Pokémon to be worthless. Frenzy Plant was about to be the best grass move in the game. Venusaur, Exeggutor and Sceptile were about to be perfectly balanced as Grass attackers. But Niantic just wanted the 'new' thing to be 'clearly much better' than all the other. So, nothing but the newest matters. I wanted Venusaur to be 'one of the best' but I never wanted it to be 'the absolute best with a clear margin'.
It seems that way; my Level 35/Attack 13 Venusaur with Frenzy Plant went through a Blissey in a gym almost as fast as my Dynamic Punch Level 35 Attack 13 Machamp goes through them. I'm actually going to look for gyms with Blissey's in them to test this out, and see if it wasn't just my imagination.
(That MIGHT be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much of an exaggeration)
Try it for yourself; I only used the Venusaur to see what the animation was like (which wasn't that impressive on my phone as the move was blocked by the bulk of the Venusaur), but it went down in 3-4 Frenzy Plant attacks and it only got off 1 Psychic. For a Blissey of that size, normally it takes 2 DP's (maybe 3 if my phone is glitching).
Venusaur isn't unseating Machamp in that role by any means, but Frenzy Plant is surprisingly powerful. It certainly feels like it's buffed.
I really don't see the issue with anything of that. It would be much more game breaking to give Mewtwo Future Sight or Groudon an actual good DPS ground attack- I do like to have a good shiny Venusaur with good moves I can finally fight with to have some variety and avoid using all the time Exeggutor...
I mean, did you all spend so much more money on the game just because of this CD instead of getting ready for it when it was forecasted weeks ahead?
I didn't. Weekends are very busy for me as I am sure they are for many people. This whole weekend thing they have introduced really sucks for those of us that put a lot of time in to the game just to have one specific day be a "super day" that we cannot participate in. At least before the moves I couldn't get weren't the best... the Frenzy Plant thing really irks me.
Frenzy Plant was not buffed. The original Frenzy Plant assessment was done by watching a Trainer Tips video that contained footage of Frenzy Plant provided by Niantic, but server lag made the move appear to be around 2 ms slower than it actually is.
Buffing Sky Attack was a way to make a legendary with underwhelming attack feel a little more legendary without screwing with the meta since no other gym or raid viable Pokemon learn Sky Attack at the moment.
Aerial Ace might be "useless," but thanks to his 284 attack stat and having a flying type fast move, Rayquaza makes very good use of Aerial Ace in Machamp raids.
Understand that it's impossible to make all players happy. Many players complained that rare candies and TMs were given out at an alarming rate and would break the game, so Niantic severely nerfed the raid rewards and people went nuts. Since the game started countless players have lamented that the starters that they love so much are useless and begged Niantic to buff them. Just buffing Charizard, Venusaur and Blastoise would have screwed with the game since the CP formula is based off the base stats from the core games, so Niantic did the best thing possible to appease those players by adding the starters exclusive moves and making them very powerful, but limiting them to Community Day for the time being.
As someone who invested a lot of stardust and TMs in my six double grass Exeggutors, I'm okay with this. Future proofing should not be possible. The game would become very boring if it were. We need the best at each type to change from time to time and just because something else is better doesn't mean that the previous best is garbage. I evolved 5 Frenzy Plant Venusaurs but I'll still use my Eggies from time to time and even if I use them less, they already paid for themselves in all the legendaries, rare candies and TMs that they earned me.
About Sky Attack- I still think that buffing Sky Attack was unnecessary. Lugia was the best TDO choice for Machamp raids. But now, it is a good DPS choice as well. Like, Lugia is now good in both roles and so it is the best attacker to Machamp. This is what I don't like. I want every Pokémon to have a particular role and not 1 Pokémon to be good in all roles. Lugia was a very bulky attacker and should have remained one. It's now a bulky and fast attacker which eliminates a lot of Pokémon from this role.
About Starters- I too wanted Starter Pokémon to be good. They're my favorite. I always wanted Starter Pokémon to be useful. But I never wanted them to be 'the only option'. That's right, Venusaur is now clearly the best Grass Pokémon in the game. And this is what I NEVER wanted but this is what Niantic ALWAYS does. They just make the most recent thing 'clearly' outclass everything. This short-term hype is the thing that make me sick! Why couldn't Frenzy Plant have the 2.8s cooldown. If that had happened, Venusaur, Sceptile & Exeggutor would have been in a balanced position. But no, Niantic wants the recent thing to be !!!!!SO!!!!! good that nothing else would matter. Why, man? Why? So now, Venusaur is better than everyone in every way. What was Sceptile and Exeggutor's fault? In the main games, these 3 Pokémon are almost equally powerful. Before Frenzy Plant, Venusaur was CLEARLY worse than the other 2, now Venusaur is CLEARLY better than the other 2. Why, Niantic? Why do you need a Pokémon to be best or worst? Why can't they be balanced? I never wanted Pidgey and Rayquaza to be equal. But come on folks, Don't you think that Sceptile, Exeggutor & Venusaur deserve to be balanced? All I ever wanted was a little balance in the game. Is it REALLY too much to ask?
Yeah, reminds me of how overpowered Suicune was when they released it...
...or Ho-Oh...
...or Entei. (he's not bad, but Moltres Att stat plus resistances keept it better in most situations)
Stop crying, Lugia gained more relevance and is far away from being OP.
Venusaur is just a little bit better than Exeggutor and Sceptile Dps wise, but there are still situations were Exeggutor outclasses Venusaur so I would say they are pretty much on par, plus not everyone owns 6+ excellent FP Venusaur. Sceptile is still good dps wise, but his missing bulk is a bigger problem now - I'm still going to power one up, just because FC/LB is a lot of fun to use
The buff to Sky Attack did not make Lugia a particularly fast attacker, its base attack is still very low. It's #6 or #7 depending on level against Machamp, still solidly behind the top DPS choices. Mewtwo remains the supreme counter by a massive margin.
I agree with you on FP, bad move for game balance and makes a lot of players salty about their previously evolved SoB Venusaurs and previously powered Eggys and Sceptiles that are now second-best options.
I agree the game is all about short term hype rather than long term balance now but with the present gym & raids system is balance really necessary? It is so heavily tipped towards attackers anyway that any move buffs are somewhat irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. I wish that weren't the case but a powerful sky attack or a powerful frenzy plant isn't gonna change or break the current meta.
