Posted on the behalf of the Mod Team
It's been a chaotic past few weeks, as Dogfish44 stepped down and inducted myself, TMan87 and Toon as new moderators of the forum alongside ZhengTann, and we've been busy. Today we're here to give you a very in-depth look at what we've been working on.
Name Change
First big thing, our name will likely be changing to both re-purify our brand and to get it closer to what we are here. See the thread linked to the title for the discussion about that.
Data Organization
The Handbook and NDA are undergoing extensive pruning, trimming, and rewording in order to make all things as clear as we possibly can make them from there. A primary concern about ASB from the onset of our conversation from about a month ago was that there was too much information that was either written with excessive amounts of fluff that befuddled the reader or that some of the knowledge was purely folk tale rather than written information. We strive to remove both of those issues as well as to better organize information that we've seen on the way.
As a result:
The above is the bulk of what is changing there, but there are likely to be other adjustments, all in favor of making the content more accessible to all users.
Special thanks to Agender Nerd for being so helpful in this process.
Roleplays
As it stands, all currently existing roleplays will follow us through our transition, but with new leaders. Big thanks to:
All of the above roleplays are undergoing updates to the newest content thanks to their new leaders. The details of each change will be released at a time subject to when their leaders deem it necessary.
As an additional note: Hitmonleet is in search of members of the community to assist him in running the Raid Zone, so if you're interested in that, do hit him up.
Economy
A part of the many gripes that were voiced was that the new player experience was too grind-heavy, and we agreed. We've changed some numbers in order to make the steps from new player to ready for the mid-game be less grind-based and more experience with the system linked. As such, these changes are coming to ASB in the future:
Additionally, we're going to be adjusting the prices of all items to fit a new relative pricing model. The actual prices will not be open information until the release of the updates, but here is the table we're going to be basing it off of:
Gym League
As some of you may already know, the Gym League is going to get an expansion with these changes. A common statement that has been made, and we;ve seen it in practice, is that the Gym's are far too hard for any new or relatively new player to get into, especially with some of them being led by very established names. All but one, ZhengTann's Rock Gym. For the sole reason that it has both a Normal Mode and a Hard Mode. That is the inspiration for this change. The Gym League will now have all gym leaders run both a Normal Mode and a Hard Mode version of their gym, with the Normal Mode being aimed at relatively new players, while the Hard Mode being targeted at the highly experienced players or players who think they are ready for the challenge.
In line with the change above, the Gym League rewards are also changing:
Badges for Hard Mode also count as Normal Mode badges for the sake of reward progression.
This comes with one more piece of news, a far sadder note honestly. As a result of the system being overhauled, all the badges earned in this current system will not count towards the new rewards. The badge counts will be retained for historical purposes, and the trainers may retain those rewards. But these new rewards will not be applied retroactively to them.
Battle Mechanics
If you haven't seen it yet, there's a mechanical test battle on the front page of the forum. The battle was being held to test a couple mechanics for increasing the pacing of the game and slightly adjusting the focus of what makes a Pokemon good here in ASB. The changes are proving successful and will be moving forward into the new rendition of ASB, alongside some other changes. The list of changes as of this post are below. They are likely to be the only changes, but there is always the possibility of more changes occurring as more concerns arise.
The Reset
Willing to bet anyone who has been involved in Discord discussions has been waiting on this part. And, quite frankly, we're glad we get to tell you all about this now. We apologize for keeping everything so hush-hush regarding the specifics of it, but here we are now to give you all the details.
These details were decided upon after careful evaluation of active profiles and how much we felt like was fair to ask you all to sacrifice in order to assist us. The reset is going to sting, we're very aware of this. But, we are fully confident that it is a step in the proper direction for ASB, simply because we do need the whole of our users to help us evaluate the changes, not just from the outside looking in, but also having been on the inside.
Closing
And now, we open this up to you all. The thread is intended to be a discussion thread, where you may feel free to pose any questions/concerns that you may have and we will do our best to address them, whether that be making changes or not is subject to the situation. Please keep the discussion civil and avoid repeating questions/concerns without adding more content to them if possible.
Thank you for reading all of this and we look forward to moving into the next stage of ASB with you all.
EDIT: Clarified things about the new Gym League and the reset
It's been a chaotic past few weeks, as Dogfish44 stepped down and inducted myself, TMan87 and Toon as new moderators of the forum alongside ZhengTann, and we've been busy. Today we're here to give you a very in-depth look at what we've been working on.
Name Change
First big thing, our name will likely be changing to both re-purify our brand and to get it closer to what we are here. See the thread linked to the title for the discussion about that.
Data Organization
The Handbook and NDA are undergoing extensive pruning, trimming, and rewording in order to make all things as clear as we possibly can make them from there. A primary concern about ASB from the onset of our conversation from about a month ago was that there was too much information that was either written with excessive amounts of fluff that befuddled the reader or that some of the knowledge was purely folk tale rather than written information. We strive to remove both of those issues as well as to better organize information that we've seen on the way.
As a result:
+ The Handbook will be significantly shorter, will more clear descriptions of rules
+ Both the NDA and Handbook will be closer unified in terminology
+ Targeting rules are no longer going to include Positioning, as it is a dead mechanic that made some rules more unnecessarily difficult to interpret
+ Moves, abilities, and items that constantly refer to groupings (such as Iron Fist, Soundproof, Electirizer, etc) now utilize the tagging system that is implemented in-game in the NDA, making it more clear what moves are affected without having to manually update several lists.
The above is the bulk of what is changing there, but there are likely to be other adjustments, all in favor of making the content more accessible to all users.
Special thanks to Agender Nerd for being so helpful in this process.
Roleplays
As it stands, all currently existing roleplays will follow us through our transition, but with new leaders. Big thanks to:
+ Hall: nightblitz42
+ Pike: LouisCyphre
+ Anime-Style Simulator: PTPlatinum
+ Raid Zone: Hitmonleet
+ The Legend Run: JJayyFeather + Maxim
All of the above roleplays are undergoing updates to the newest content thanks to their new leaders. The details of each change will be released at a time subject to when their leaders deem it necessary.
As an additional note: Hitmonleet is in search of members of the community to assist him in running the Raid Zone, so if you're interested in that, do hit him up.
Economy
A part of the many gripes that were voiced was that the new player experience was too grind-heavy, and we agreed. We've changed some numbers in order to make the steps from new player to ready for the mid-game be less grind-based and more experience with the system linked. As such, these changes are coming to ASB in the future:
+ EC is getting fully scrapped; Pokemon are eligibile for evolution after one battle
+ MC rewards are getting increased by 1 at each stage
+ AC is getting fully scrapped; Hidden Abilities are available at the cost of 5 UC (20 CC)
+ CC's reward table is getting reworked into a simple formula; ([total mons per side]/[active mons per side])+1
+ All moves are having their purchase cost reduced to 1 MC. This includes Sketch's cost to copy a move a Pokemon you own has learned. Also includes Hidden Power's type change cost.
Additionally, we're going to be adjusting the prices of all items to fit a new relative pricing model. The actual prices will not be open information until the release of the updates, but here is the table we're going to be basing it off of:
Mega Stones with bonus effects ==> 12 CC each
Mega Stones ==> 10CC each
Universal/Ubiquitous items ==> no changes
Mon-specific sigs ==> 8 CC
Consumables ==> really depends on the consumable, no more than 8CC for any of them
Z-Crystals ==> 4CC each
Berries ==> 2CC each
Mega Stones ==> 10CC each
Universal/Ubiquitous items ==> no changes
Mon-specific sigs ==> 8 CC
Consumables ==> really depends on the consumable, no more than 8CC for any of them
Z-Crystals ==> 4CC each
Berries ==> 2CC each
Gym League
As some of you may already know, the Gym League is going to get an expansion with these changes. A common statement that has been made, and we;ve seen it in practice, is that the Gym's are far too hard for any new or relatively new player to get into, especially with some of them being led by very established names. All but one, ZhengTann's Rock Gym. For the sole reason that it has both a Normal Mode and a Hard Mode. That is the inspiration for this change. The Gym League will now have all gym leaders run both a Normal Mode and a Hard Mode version of their gym, with the Normal Mode being aimed at relatively new players, while the Hard Mode being targeted at the highly experienced players or players who think they are ready for the challenge.
In line with the change above, the Gym League rewards are also changing:
1 badge: 1 of Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Togepi or Azurill
2 badges: 1 Hyper Potion
3 badges: 1 Mega Stone of the challenger’s choosing
4 badges: 1 Type:Null + 3 Memories
5 badges: 1 Phione
6 badges: 2 Heart Scales
7 badges: 4 of Heal, Quick, Repeat or Timer Balls
8 badges: 1 Greninja-BB
9 badges: 20 UC
10 badges: 1 Lycanroc-Du + Twilight Ray
11 badges: 1 of Moltres, Zapdos or Articuno
12 badges: Zeraora + 30 UC
13 badges: 1 of Entei, Raikou or Suicune
14 badges: 1 of Buzzwole, Kartana, Xurkitree, Nihilego or Pheromosa
15 badges: 1 Master Ball
16 badges: 1 Tapu
17 badges: 50 UC
18 badges: 1 of Shaymin + Gracidea or Manaphy
2 badges: 1 Hyper Potion
3 badges: 1 Mega Stone of the challenger’s choosing
4 badges: 1 Type:Null + 3 Memories
5 badges: 1 Phione
6 badges: 2 Heart Scales
7 badges: 4 of Heal, Quick, Repeat or Timer Balls
8 badges: 1 Greninja-BB
9 badges: 20 UC
10 badges: 1 Lycanroc-Du + Twilight Ray
11 badges: 1 of Moltres, Zapdos or Articuno
12 badges: Zeraora + 30 UC
13 badges: 1 of Entei, Raikou or Suicune
14 badges: 1 of Buzzwole, Kartana, Xurkitree, Nihilego or Pheromosa
15 badges: 1 Master Ball
16 badges: 1 Tapu
17 badges: 50 UC
18 badges: 1 of Shaymin + Gracidea or Manaphy
1 badge: 1 of Buzzwole, Kartana, Xurkitree, Nihilego or Pheromosa
2 badges: 2 Heart Scales
3 badges: 1 of Registeel, Regirock or Regice
4 badges: 1 Master Ball
5 badges: 1 Tapu
6 badges: 2 Sacred Ashes + 20 UC
7 badges: 1 of Buzzwole, Kartana, Xurkitree, Nihilego, Pheromosa, Blacephalon, Celesteela, Guzzlord, Stakataka or Naganadel
8 badges: 1 Tapu
9 badges: 1 of Celebi, Jirachi or Hoopa + Prison Bottle
10 badges: 1 Power Construct Zygarde
11 badges: 1 of Xerneas or Yveltal
12 badges: 1 of Buzzwole, Kartana, Xurkitree, Nihilego, Pheromosa, Blacephalon, Celesteela, Guzzlord, Stakataka or Naganadel
13 badges: 1 Victini + 30 UC
14 badges: 1 of Solgaleo or Lunala
15 badges: 1 of Groudon or Kyogre (without their respective orb)
16 badges: 1 of Dialga, Palkia or Giratina + their respective orb
17 badges: 1 Mew + 50 UC
18 badges: Necrozma + Dawn Wings + Dusk Mane + the respect of every active player
2 badges: 2 Heart Scales
3 badges: 1 of Registeel, Regirock or Regice
4 badges: 1 Master Ball
5 badges: 1 Tapu
6 badges: 2 Sacred Ashes + 20 UC
7 badges: 1 of Buzzwole, Kartana, Xurkitree, Nihilego, Pheromosa, Blacephalon, Celesteela, Guzzlord, Stakataka or Naganadel
8 badges: 1 Tapu
9 badges: 1 of Celebi, Jirachi or Hoopa + Prison Bottle
10 badges: 1 Power Construct Zygarde
11 badges: 1 of Xerneas or Yveltal
12 badges: 1 of Buzzwole, Kartana, Xurkitree, Nihilego, Pheromosa, Blacephalon, Celesteela, Guzzlord, Stakataka or Naganadel
13 badges: 1 Victini + 30 UC
14 badges: 1 of Solgaleo or Lunala
15 badges: 1 of Groudon or Kyogre (without their respective orb)
16 badges: 1 of Dialga, Palkia or Giratina + their respective orb
17 badges: 1 Mew + 50 UC
18 badges: Necrozma + Dawn Wings + Dusk Mane + the respect of every active player
Badges for Hard Mode also count as Normal Mode badges for the sake of reward progression.
This comes with one more piece of news, a far sadder note honestly. As a result of the system being overhauled, all the badges earned in this current system will not count towards the new rewards. The badge counts will be retained for historical purposes, and the trainers may retain those rewards. But these new rewards will not be applied retroactively to them.
Battle Mechanics
If you haven't seen it yet, there's a mechanical test battle on the front page of the forum. The battle was being held to test a couple mechanics for increasing the pacing of the game and slightly adjusting the focus of what makes a Pokemon good here in ASB. The changes are proving successful and will be moving forward into the new rendition of ASB, alongside some other changes. The list of changes as of this post are below. They are likely to be the only changes, but there is always the possibility of more changes occurring as more concerns arise.
All Pokemon have 10 less Maximum HP (this means that Gardevoir has 90 HP, not 100, to start with)
The Rank Bonuses in the Damage Formula are now calculated as [2 × Rank] for all ranks (8 Atk -> +16, 4 Def -> -8, etc)
All rounding happens by move, rather than at the end of the round.
Encore: Now costs 15 EN, up from 10 EN.
Taunt: Duration down to 3 actions.
Torment: No longer prevents same-move combinations
Imprison: Now costs 10 EN, up from 8 EN.
Focus Band limits move damage to 25% of Maximum HP, rounded up. (up from 20%)
Focus Sash no longer stops applying benefits at 33% Health.
The Rank Bonuses in the Damage Formula are now calculated as [2 × Rank] for all ranks (8 Atk -> +16, 4 Def -> -8, etc)
All rounding happens by move, rather than at the end of the round.
Encore: Now costs 15 EN, up from 10 EN.
Taunt: Duration down to 3 actions.
Torment: No longer prevents same-move combinations
Imprison: Now costs 10 EN, up from 8 EN.
Focus Band limits move damage to 25% of Maximum HP, rounded up. (up from 20%)
Focus Sash no longer stops applying benefits at 33% Health.
The Reset
Willing to bet anyone who has been involved in Discord discussions has been waiting on this part. And, quite frankly, we're glad we get to tell you all about this now. We apologize for keeping everything so hush-hush regarding the specifics of it, but here we are now to give you all the details.
Expected Date of Arrival: August 18th
All players retain a fourth of their CC and UC, rounded up
They may choose to retain up to 30 purchaseable Pokemon from their profile in full
They may choose to retain up to 15 items from their profile
Any non-purchaseable item that they earned is automatically retained, and does not count towards the 15 mentioned earlier. This also includes items such as the Master Ball and Sacred Ash
Additionally, in the future, players affected by this may opt to buy back their Pokemon at a cost based on the following formula.
6 * ([Current Stage]/[Maximum Stage]) + FLOOR([# of Moves]/15) in CC. Add 5 CC if you wish to have the Hidden Ability unlocked. Add 15 CC if it's a non-purchaseable Pokemon.
The above means that those Pokemon may be bought back in full as a part of a claim that's separate from your new profile. Think of it like buying a new Pokemon, but way better.
- All players will create a new profile.
- This profile contains 3 LCs of their choice that they get for free, along with all the CC and UC from their original profile.
- After all the starters on this new profile are FE with 40 moves, that player regains access to their original profile in full, to be imported and updated to go with the new profile.
They may choose to retain up to 30 purchaseable Pokemon from their profile in full
They may choose to retain up to 15 items from their profile
Any non-purchaseable item that they earned is automatically retained, and does not count towards the 15 mentioned earlier. This also includes items such as the Master Ball and Sacred Ash
Additionally, in the future, players affected by this may opt to buy back their Pokemon at a cost based on the following formula.
6 * ([Current Stage]/[Maximum Stage]) + FLOOR([# of Moves]/15) in CC. Add 5 CC if you wish to have the Hidden Ability unlocked. Add 15 CC if it's a non-purchaseable Pokemon.
The above means that those Pokemon may be bought back in full as a part of a claim that's separate from your new profile. Think of it like buying a new Pokemon, but way better.
- All players will create a new profile.
- This profile contains 3 LCs of their choice that they get for free, along with all the CC and UC from their original profile.
- After all the starters on this new profile are FE with 40 moves, that player regains access to their original profile in full, to be imported and updated to go with the new profile.
These details were decided upon after careful evaluation of active profiles and how much we felt like was fair to ask you all to sacrifice in order to assist us. The reset is going to sting, we're very aware of this. But, we are fully confident that it is a step in the proper direction for ASB, simply because we do need the whole of our users to help us evaluate the changes, not just from the outside looking in, but also having been on the inside.
Closing
And now, we open this up to you all. The thread is intended to be a discussion thread, where you may feel free to pose any questions/concerns that you may have and we will do our best to address them, whether that be making changes or not is subject to the situation. Please keep the discussion civil and avoid repeating questions/concerns without adding more content to them if possible.
Thank you for reading all of this and we look forward to moving into the next stage of ASB with you all.
EDIT: Clarified things about the new Gym League and the reset
Last edited: