Too many pokemon got unnecessarily hit with the nerf bat!
Overall I can see why there was a stat overhaul for a number of pokemon which has shifted the gym balance slightly. They obviously wanted to buff a few pokemon that they felt were underperforming - especially as attackers (Jolteon, Alakazam etc. to name a few).
There were also some smaller nerfs that I can accept as they felt some pokemon were a bit too strong. First two that come to mind are Arcanine and Exeggutor. These guys were unstoppable as attackers - I can see why they were nerfed a bit. I'm fine with that.
Now having said that there were some pokemon that were hit significantly hard with the nerf bat that was unneeded. The guys listed below weren't overpowered to start with and due to their type had some significant weaknesses already built in:
NidoKing and Queen (-defense for both): due to poison/ground they already could be defeated fairly easily in gyms. Now they are worse.
Vileplume (-20 Def) and Victreebel (-15atk -20def) - these were two of my favorites to see in gyms. I think they are pretty unique and not overpowered at all as defenders. Even as attackers they were good but not great as their poison/grass type limits them to a few battles. Also they are seriously eaten alive by fire pokemon. Still shaking my head at this nerf.
Poliwrath (-15def) and Slowbro (-7atk -4def) - two more rare guys (at least where I am) that were cool to see in gyms. As a result of their nerfs they aren't as good as defenders anymore. Very sad.
Blastoise - who everyone said is a weaker Vaporeon gets a Monster nerf (-15atk, -12def) yet Vaporeon gets buffed. Really? This was needed?
Golduck (-3atk -13def) - unnecessary nerf to this guy.
Pidgeot - nerfed... lol like he was overpowered.
Answers
It was the algorithm.
They overcompensated I feel like... Rhydon was too weak and now is way stronger than he should be (although his typing still sucks). Some of these guys may have been a little stronger than they were difficult to acquire (especially Slowbro and Golduck being 50 candy evolves and Pidgeot at 62, rather than 125 for the others) but the others really got hit unnecessarily hard.
I feel like they should have just buffed the Rhydons/Alakazams/Gengars of the pokemon world while leaving the Poliwraths/Vileplumes of the universe untouched... Throw a MAX(..) in the algorithm to keep a place for generalists rather than specialists.
Some need some special attention. I love 90 percent of the changes, but they should've looked at the end result and said "hmm 25 super common candy shouldn't get you a 2500+ vaporeon" they should go in and tweak a few outliers by hand that don't really translate well with their candy/stat/cp/gym system
Overall though, awesome to see change.
I disagree on the Vaporeon.
It's almost necessary for a game like this to give easy access to something at the top tier of strength. Otherwise, so many players will be unable to compete.
Level still drives your potential so they'll be behind to begin with, but if you take away Vaporeon and Flareon as high-tier fighters then there's really nothing these guys can do unless they get lucky enough to hatch a Snorlax or find a top tier pokemon at their highest level already.
No one is impressed by a 2500 Vaporeon, but having it exist at least lets some others play who may not have as much access to the stronger stuff.
Vaporeon would have still been fine if it didn't get a buff/increase. It still would rip through Rhydons and other fire pokemon. Just does it even better now.
But why the need to significantly nerf Blastoise? He was never as good as Vap anyways and now is basically useless. I have no idea the logic behind that one.
Vaporeon negates all other water types though and in the process destroys the option of using fire/ground/rock in gyms with its massive stats and ease to obtain multiples.
The huge leveling softcaps already let new players catch up very quickly if they want to compete. You could get to level 1- 20 in the time it takes to get from 30 to 31.
But top players have access to Vaporeons too, so lower players are still behind.
It would be different if Vaporeons weren't the best water pokemon, but almost as good. That way, the competitive players wouldn't use them, because there would be something that is slightly better although requires more effort put in, while more casual players have an easy to acquire Pokemon that is strong enough to be viable.
Imagine if Blastoise and Vaporeon had switched stats, so that Vaporeon is considered a "worse Blastoise" instead of the other way around. This way, both have uses.
Vaporeon would stil get used by more casual players because they're far more easier to acquire, while competitive players who want that extra edge, that extra 5-10% advantage, will put in the extra effort to get a Blastoise.
Eevees are much more common than Squirtles and evolving only requires 25 candies as opposed to 125 for Squirtle into Blastoise - yes it's random, Vaporeon's not guaranteed, but Eevees are common so even if you don't get one, you can soon find another one worth evolving anyway.
They could have done that with all the Eeveelutions. Make them crutches for new players because Eevees are easy to acquire and have low evolve costs, and that way you've got a usable Pokemon regardless of what you evolve instead of how it was before the stat changes, where there was only one good outcome.
Trying to get one of Vaporeon is already hard , not to mention about moveset and high IV. Most of Eevee I evolved are go to Jolteon and Flareon (I wasted 6 perfect IV to Jolteon) , unlike other pokemon that you can be sure what you gonna get when you spend its candy. I think 25 candy to evolve Eevee is reasonable.
Trying to get a vaporeon is hard? What moveset are you worried about? It has one quick move. 3 good charge moves. All with stab.
Can't say that for barely any other Pokemon, definitely not for 25 common candy that has massive stats/cp.
I could have a 2500+ with decent iv by the end of the day if I tried, that's impossible for any other Pokemon in the game.
It's not hard at all, most of players have 3 to 4 good vaporeon, some of bets players have an army of then. You can't count on perfect IV pokemon to justify the dificult because they are hard to find in any species.
The problem is that, with only 25 candy you can have:
best water pokemon(all movesets are good for something) OR
second best fire pokemon (maybe THE best with flareon's buff and arcky's nerf) OR
Best Electric pokemon (was the second best before)
It suposed to be 50 candies like all other pokemon that only evolve one time
