Trainer inflation
This isn't really a question, but more of an observation that might be worth discussing.
I remember that when Lugia first came out, the raiding party would collectively grown, if it had hydropump, and sometimes even groups of 12 didn't succeed. Now, it seems like groups of 6 are enough, and people are blaze about hydropump.
I was first able to do a machamp raid after I got a lugia. With a little luck, I would succeed by a hair. My squad looked like: alakazam, alakazam, espeon, espeon, exeggutor, lugia, all level 30.
This afternoon, I soloed a machamp. There were 50 seconds to spare and I didn't even use my whole squad. The squad was, alakazam, alakazam, rayquaza, gardevior, mewtwo, lugia. The lugia never even got touched. Everything still level 30 and all moves SE against fighting.
Now, I have leveled up five times, since Lugia first came out, but none of the mon I'm using are something that I couldn't have at my old level, now. It is just that the game keeps giving me ever more powerful mon to use.
I suspect that, if I stopped playing for six months and came back to the game, later, my account would be weak compared with other trainers.
It is starting to feel like a treadmill that I'm afraid to get off and fall behind.
Answers
well duh, I mean, the more you play the game the stronger your account is going to be - candy, items, stardust, Pokemon. If you take a break others are going to catch up with you and even surpass you. Don't see the groundbreaking revelation in all this. With regard to your Lugia story, I don't recall being part of a group larger than 8/9 that failed even a HP Lugia, but at the same time we definitely have more optimized counters now (Tyranitar should be more common, Raikou now exists, TMs are far more commonplace, etc).
Why do you care about whether other players are higher leveled than you, or have stronger mons than you? Are there scoreboards? Is there duelling in the game?
Games are meant to be played for fun. Once you're not having fun, stop playing it.
I could understand your point of view if you were talking about exclusive things like Frenzy Plant Venusaur or the legendary birds. But stardust and mons can always be collected at a later date.
Yes, this. Look at it from Niantic's point of view. If the next big thing is a new legendary pokemon, but it's weaker than the old ones, no one will care. They have to keep raising the bar. Even keeping it at the same level will have people yawning. Even with Lugia, they buffed Sky Attack so Lugia is more powerful. (With that low attack, it was dicey from the get-go, and needed the help of FutureSight and a buffed Sty Attack. Maybe lose Hydropump, since we have plenty of alternatives to Ttar now.)
That's part of the motivation behind quests - make the game new and different. First it was just about catches and spins. Then gyms came into being, and we had holding gyms and prestiging. Then raids came around, and with them raid bosses, and the changes in gyms. Then Legendary pokemon, and looks like mythic ones and quests are next. New generations just mean more stuff to put in the pokedex, and us old hands at this know that if you play long enough everything will come to you eventually.
The only consolation about your treadmill fear is that if you do take a year off, when you come back, whatever you catch will be stronger than what you have now, and you'll get back up to speed pretty quickly. A year ago, the thought of grinding for Dratini eggs again and powering up a decent Dragonite would have put me off the game. Now just wait for a windy day and find a level 35 Dratini with good stats, evolve, and you'll have a Dragonite that was stronger than any I had for the first 18 months I played the game, all for about 2 minutes of work (and getting 125 Dratini candy, no small feat unless you have a Community day or something). Level 35 Walreins, Vaporeons, Rhydons, and so forth, are great equalizers allowing players with weaker pokedexes to get up to speed fast.
It seems to me that now everyone who is serious is at least level 35 or more, and what differentiates trainers is how many powered up good mon they have. Can you go against Raikou (when it returns) with 1 maxed out Groudon, or 3, or 6, or 10? Do you know that while Aggron might seem to be a strong counter and is recommended by the game regularly, it is more defensive, and won't get you the damage balls that something more offensive will? Do you have enough of the right pokemon to do almost any job, with enough strong generalists to fill in the weaknesses?
Of course, everyone plays with their own goals. Some want 100% pokemon. Some want 1 of everything. Some only power up one of each legendary. Some like hunting, some like raiding, and after this weekend, there will likely be some who just want to quest. And then there's the future things of breeding, and maybe trading (which could disbalance everything - trade all your alt's best pokemon to your main account, and the main is suddenly obscenely powerful), as well as other stuff we may not have even considered, and they could add.
Bottom line - for the creators, games like this are like a shark. Keep moving, or die.
Agreed on everything except the first three sentences. It's not fully within Niantic's control whether a new legendary (or any species to be fair) is gonna be better than the old ones. They can try to rebalance moves, but in terms of stats, what we have is what we'll get. Groudon is already the best of his type. So if you have a good IV, maxed-out Groudon, you are done for that type. Kyogre is arguably in the same situation.
Other than that, excellent reply aeronaut63
Part of the improved group dynamic is people not worrying about fainting and losing their damage contribution. Easier to hit the charge button, doesn't constantly misfire the charge move like it used to. Hydropump Lugia the first go around was needing about 11-12 in my area. Considerably less trainers needed now, still not a lot of them happening though.
My Pokedex says I've caught 36 Tyranitars, I currently have 2 larvitar candy, if/when I catch/pinap another...then that candy will instantly be gone too.
If you take Legendaries out of the equation, Gen 3 hasn't made anything obsolete, but rather just brought alot of good alternatives.
You are probably better at knowing when to dodge and when to tank. Failed charge moves have been eliminated since then, thanks to the Charge button. Then there's weather boosting to consider.
I guarantee if you used your old team today, you'd have alot more time left over than before, even moreso with a weather boost
