MasterShaper

Maybe someday you'll make it to one of their performances - Arnie Roth claimed at London that they'll be running it for quite a while to go Hmm, perhaps some explanations are in order for the apparent hodgepodge of songs. --- For the starting, I wanted something distinctly FF/KH, and something that could get my attention. Sephiroth's theme fit the bill, so there it was. After that, I wanted something that fit an introductory theme, which resulted in the sequence for 2 and 3. Enough with the introductions, then. I then moved on to something jumpy and lively to start the playlist for real. 4 and 5 were good for that. 6's choral bits went well with the guitar in 5, so I worked onwards from there, leading to the brief interlude with and the marching band sequence from 8 to 12. Battle time, then. 13 to 16 were battle themes that went well in that order, and 17 was a fitting theme for a break in the battles. 18 and 19 wound down the battling bits somewhat, to be washed down with 20 and 21. 22 to 24 were intended to effectively mark the end of the first half of the playlist. Yes, I use them to study. So the breaks in the playlist indicate it's time for a break (after approximately 90 minutes, attention starts fraying). Onto the second half, the opening sequence - 25 and 26 - was energetic, just as in the first half. The following parts from 27 through 31 are mostly soothing tunes meant to ease me back into work (it's always harder to get back into the groove, somehow). Then, once I'm back in the loop, 32 and 33 build-up for 34, which dovetails somewhat with 35 (also a good alarm clock, since I might nod off during the second half). 36 through 40 are faster-paced tracks that ease in some adrenaline, allowing me to accelerate my work a little. 41 is a brief breather, followed by 42, which is probably one of the finest dramatic pieces I've heard for FF/KH orchestral performances. 43 winds down the effect of 42 a little, followed by the depressing 44. 45 starts mellow but blasts its way to a nice finish, backed up by the final piece, the classical Victory Fanfare from FF. When I hear this, I either a) hit Play again, or am already done with my work, or c) switch playlists. --- And yes, it was designed to mimic the sequence of a regular orchestra. Have a friend who's a fiend for orchestrals, and he's been a bad influence on me.

It's been a while since I've been around these parts, it seems. And from what I've gathered by skimming through some threads, my housemates have been notoriously gossipy about me in my absence (probably only matched by the apparently missing Gossip Gardevoir/Rumour Roserade/Mysterious Masked Mon). ANYWAY. I'll be attending Distant Worlds: Kuala Lumpur this Sunday. Seeing as I'm a sick, sick fan of music from FF and KH, and love the orchestral versions even more, I decided to make a huge playlist of my favourite orchestrals from those two franchises. Each and every song has been placed based on the dominant instruments and mood, I suppose. And all good music deserves to be shared * All FF tracks marked as Orchestrals would be from Distant Worlds, all KH tracks marked as Orchestrals would be the opening sequences for the games, and those marked as Drammatica would be from that very performance. Anything left simply without a specific label would be an original soundtrack piece. ** For those who are interested, the composers are listed separately. And for those who are interested, the composer lists (just the primary composers). I believe in giving credit where it is due, after all. --- It's probably a whopper, at 3 hours and 24 minutes (or at least, that's on my computer, with the versions I have on file). Hopefully, someone else would find as much enjoyment as I do from this... stew of music. I suppose it IS a stew, especially since it's more or less taken a year to put together

Aside from the legendary 'I HEARD U LIEK MUDKIPZ', I'm pretty sir there are many more similar memes and comics out there So, share them?

I'm not too active around these parts due to a pesky geographical issue, but welcome Trust me - being unconventional with the battle tactics can pay-off well

Just my humble suggestions for both the abilities and the design For the design, may I propose a possessed suit of armor? Golurk's already set the precedent for an automaton-like ghost, and so it should be workable. From there, it stands to reason that the abilities could be along the lines of Battle Armor, Broken Armor, or Sturdy (which do fit steel-types, anyway). Come to think of it, a ghost with Sturdy may indeed be formidable, given how nasty the likes of golurk have already proven themselves to be. May sound like it defeats the purpose of a speedy staller, but do keep in mind that if it's fast but can't take hits, it might as well not exist XD

Interesting concept... a speedy stall pokemon. Considering that most stall teams seem to be centered around weather, I suggest the following pokemon - might be interesting. Since Bullet already proposed Ghost/Steel (I definitely love that pairing), here's something else I've been thinking about Couldn't help it - I just like ghosts. --- Ghost/Fighting - No double weaknesses - Weaknesses: Ghost/Psychic/Flying - Resistances: Bug/Rock/Poison - Immunities: Fighting/Normal - Reduces the effectiveness of an opponent's Sucker Punch or Pursuit - Has STAB against one of its type weaknesses (Psychic) - Has STAB against an opposing type that normally nulls one of its types (Normal) - Immune to Mach Punch and Vacuum Wave (I'm looking at you, breloom and conkeldurr) Stats: - HP: Maybe 90-100 - Atk/SAtk: Maybe 60-80 - Def/SDef: Maybe 90-100 - Speed: Maybe 110-120 Appearance: - For some reason, I like the idea of clothes that have no wearer. Maybe a haunted judo outfit or something - would go with Overcoat. Think the Phantom from Kingdom Hearts to get a general idea of how I see it (incidentally, I somehow always envisioned a Ghost/Steel type to be an animated suit of armor). Possible Abilities: - Overcoat (for weather) - Intimidate (hell, it's a ghost, ?) - Cursed Body (haunted shit) - Levitate (more haunted shit) - Pressure (... it's a ghost) - Mummy (gimmicky, but useful sometimes) - Shed Skin (would also go with the suggestion of a haunted clothing item) - Wonder Skin (similar to Shed Skin) - Speed Boost (just because it's a speedy staller) Movepool: - Status moves such as Will-O-Wisp, Toxic, and Hypnosis - Recovery moves such as Recover and Moonlight - Defensive moves such as Substitute or Double Team - Perish Song (could possibly be horrible if a Tagged chandelure was an ally) - Priority moves to put targets out of their misery if needed (its typing alone would give it possible access to Sucker Punch, Vacuum Wave, Pursuit, and Shadow Sneak - Mach Punch sounds hilarious for something dead) Strategy: - Umm, stall? Use its speed to inflict status problems on opponents and get your Substitute or whatever up. Then just pepper the opponent with hits to annoy them further. --- Just as a suggestion - doesn't really do much beyond what ghosts normally do, but has the capability to give those bastard eggs (a.k.a. blissey and Eviolite chansey) a run for their money if things came down to a stalling match.

Hmm, another chandelure thread - at least this time the OP included stats instead of ranting aimlessly XD Seriously, I view chandelure with Shadow Tag very simplistically - if it gets a revenge kill on one of my team members, and that one kill could cost me the match, there are only two real reasons for such an incident: 1 - The revenge-killed pokemon was actually the centerpiece of my team (unlikely, since most teams tend to have more than one sweeper - even if the man sweeper is down, the backup sweepers typically should be able to handle a chandelure. If you tell me that you only have ONE attacker that can hit a ghost or fire pokemon... I pity you if you ever take on Shade, Cal, or Amaria). 2 - I goofed up my team construction severely (if a team is THAT reliant on ONE pokemon to hold its own, there's definitely a problem with it). Now, chandelure has respectable defenses. Problem is, priority absolutely rapes it if the attacker has STAB and a decent attack stat behind it. Some common examples could be: - Dugtrio with Sucker Punch (also traps the chandelure). - Toxicroak with Sucker Punch (with or without rain, works either way). - Conkeldurr with Payback (I'm iffy on this one, but unless chandelure has Psychic to whack it with, it might survive to strike back). - Gallade/dusknoir/shedinja with Shadow Sneak (limited usage, but respectable nonetheless). Even a cacturne, shiftry, or bisharp could rip chandelure a new one (again, they are uncommon, but shiftry seems to be a tad popular in sun teams of late, at least on PO and the PBC. Cacturne has appeared in sand quite a bit, too). I'm going to assume that most players wouldn't lead with a chandelure unless they somehow knew what their opponent was going to run (read - Shade XD). So it's probably reasonable to assume that by the time chandelure reveals its presence, you'd have seen at least some of its teammates - which obviously makes its escapes a risky affair for the unfortunate soul that gets sent out to take the hit in its place. One case I recall clearly on this server is that of Titania vs. Saya - Titania's lucario was against Saya's tyranitar with a +2 SAtk boost (Nasty Plot), but hit the tyranitar with a Shadow Ball instead of Aura Sphere (that would have killed the tyranitar). This may have cost Titania the lucario, but her reasons for it were quite clear - she expected the scarfed chandelure to come in and get cozy with Flamethrower/Overheat (can't recall which it had) while the Aura Sphere hit nothing. Entry hazards aside, switching a pokemon in to protect a chandelure and vice-versa could easily go bad, given that most players are capable of prediction to an extent. Not knowing your opponent's moveset and team works both ways. ANYWAY. The point I'm trying to make is that maybe, just maybe, there is no need for a counter to chandelure (and from that, no dire need for it to be made uber). OU has enough pokemon in it for chandelure to get consistently beaten, Shadow Tag or not. You could bring in all the calculations and stats you want to, which is fine, but at the end of the day, the numbers only go so far - the human element will ultimately determine the outcome of matches (probability accounts for a significant bit of it also, but that's a topic for another day). Just my humble opinion - have yourself a good day

[quote name='Winter' timestamp='1309821077' post='17254'] Nice..I don't really have any corrections..Aerial Ace? Most Ninjask sets usually have X-Scissor. [/quote] Haha, since it's a ghost team, figured that the psychics were not a problem, and golurk is very capable of handling dark-types with DynamicPunch. Dusknoir and shedinja can take care of the plants, otherwise. And ironically for a ghost team, fighting types gave me headaches, such as scrafty. So ninjask handles those (my chandelure also has Psychic).

[quote name='Amethyst' timestamp='1308381171' post='16284'] Also if anything, HP's type should be changed, probably to something that does better against other electrics. And the other moves ought to be special to make better use of Lighting Rod. Megahorn is strong enough you might be able to get away with it, especially since it'll help against grass types, but isn't there a better choice than Waterfall? [/quote] It was just an experimental team that hasn't actually been used in a while - will need to play with it a little more before I can determine a good set for seaking

So tachycardia basically means accelerated heartbeat - something that this team concept has been reasonably successful at achieving on the PBC/Smogon/PO servers in this last week I love my ghost types, I really do. Problem is, there are annoying things like excadrill, jolteon, and Choice Scarves out there that tend to make life problematic for them. Ghosts may be capable of massive damage, but those that CAN take a hit or two usually have significantly reduced offensive capabilities. And my luck is HORRIBLE with Will-O-Wisp. So I decided to break my monotype habits for once, and include ONE pokemon of a different type in my ghost teams --- Ninjask @ Focus Sash Aerial Ace Swords Dance Baton Pass Protect --- So it's basically a ninjask meant to Baton Pass some speed and/or attack to my ghosts. If my opponent opens with a fighting type, one Swords Dance and an Aerial Ace usually downs the fighting type. Otherwise, I'll use Protect and Baton Pass as needed. The usual physical attackers I use with the Swords Dance are: - Golurk @ Colbur Berry Earthquake DynamicPunch Stone Edge Protect - Dusknoir @ Lum Berry Shadow Sneak Fire Punch Ice Punch Trick Room - Shedinja @ Focus Sash Shadow Sneak X-Scissor Will-O-Wisp Swords Dance - Sableye @ Leftovers Brick Break Taunt Will-O-Wisp Recover --- Golurk's a basic hammer that I use to handle attackers with Sucker Punch. Dusknoir has TR in case I don't get to set-up a speed Pass, and shedinja's SD is in case I don't get to pimp my attack using ninjask. Sableye has yet to be actually tested, but I'm thinking it'll actually be pretty nasty if I get to set it up - it's basically a Prankster that gets pimped to attack normally. None of them have outstanding speed, but if ninjask can stall for even a +2 or +3 boost, you'd be surprised at the number of opponents that they can outspeed. And of course, since they have solid defenses, not much can OHKO them barring super effective hits. Movesets I used are a matter of preference - you could try your usual favorites, and I'm sure the attack/speed boosts wouldn't hurt them - I particularly enjoyed a match where my opponent lead with a dragonite - he allowed me three SD with ninjask as he DD'ed, and I let ninjask use Protect to get +6 speed. Then, I swapped shedinja into his Outrage XD He forfeited after I took out his fifth pokemon, a ferrothorn LOL. Shedinja died after Iron Barbs hit it, I still had ninjask and the other four ghosts. Moral of the story? Never try to out-stall a Baton Passer, or at least set up some entry hazards for them... LOL Golurk sweeps are fun, to the point of making an opponent ask me what kind of evil crap I was pulling for 'that thing to outspeed jolteon'. Thoughts?

@ Dragonz996 - That's the fun part; trying to beat them using a water monotype On the topiic of poliwrath, I *have* tried it - problem is the prevalence of priority moves and the opponent swapping out the egg before I can swipe it. Plus, poliwrath's defenses aren't anything worth writing home about. Lapras with Curse is also alright, but has more type weaknesses as opposed to swampert - Ice Shard's priority is a plus, though. That's the reason why I brought up the swampert concept to begin with - it's proven itself to be relatively useful on the PBC/Smogon/PO servers thanks to its obscurity

[quote name='Amethyst' timestamp='1307601767' post='15610'] Personally I have to rely on Politoed's Perish Song to down these things, which usually means stalling out the enemy team until they're the last standing. Definitely not the best solution, but these are pretty creative. Alternatively, I think the popular Hydration abusers can out-stall them, but that's also not a preferable plan... You could also trick-scarf from Rotom- there might be something better yet than Rotom, but that's the first thing that comes to mind. Starmie too, Specs though instead. Oh, and there's also that Taunt-Jellicent set Bullet posted... [/quote] Haha, I rarely run politoed, since I'm having fun trying out the other water types out there So I'm actually pretty clueless about Hydration and Rain concepts I did use lapras to Perish Song and Block them before, though - didn't work too well unless they actually stayed in the battle for the Block. Whirlpool was another option, but it was unpredictable. The only time this really worked was in doubles, when I used gastrodon to Block and lapras to Perish Song at the same time. My ghost teams tend to handle them better, ironically - sableye can rape a blissey/chansey with Toxic/Taunt/Mean Look to stall them to death.

It's me again XD As some of you might have figured from my previous posts in this part of the forums, I enjoy running water monotype teams Unfortunately, that leaves me with one major problem - those bastard eggs (a.k.a blissey and eviolite chansey). Cloyster offered a means of killing them, but their defenses - weaker, but nonetheless capable - often managed to wall even a Shell Smash/Icicle Spear combination. At first, I used to use my physical empoleon to finish them: - Pang-Pang (Empoleon) (M) @ Air Balloon Trait: Defiant EVs: 212 Atk / 248 Def / 48 SDef Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Aqua Jet - Rock Slide - Brick Break - Swords Dance - Alas, while he was immune to the Toxic that the bastard eggs usually carried on them, Thunder Wave was something that allowed them to parahax him before finishing him with Seismic Toss (needed the Swords Dance at least twice to make Brick Break really hurt). So I finally decided to try a move that I usually avoided for its stat-reducing nature; Superpower. - Moivre (Swampert) (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Damp EVs: 136 Atk / 176 Def / 84 SDef / 112 Spd Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Earthquake - Superpower - Rock Slide - Curse --- SO. Swampert is immune to Thunder Wave, which nulls the parahax thing (I'm seriously unlucky with parahax). Lum Berry ensures that he gets at least one Curse in without status ailments, and before the eggs can usually get a second Toxic up, he usually smacks them with a +1 Superpower (since I minimize defense on this swampert, that's a 300+ Atk stat after the Curse). Since the eggs are usually damned slow, even with a -1 drop on Spd I can hit first. The reason why this works is because most players that run blissey/chansey forget that swampert can learn Superpower; I assume that they think I'm Cursing to prime swampert for a Waterfall/Stone Edge/Earthquake. My stats for Atk/Def get dropped, but the Curse compensates for that This method also works for dealing with ferrothorn, though I typically try to get two Curses in for that. To counter the speed drop, I simply swap out (if needed). My base stats are usually capable of withstanding an Earthquake from excadrill if need be thanks to swampert's bulk, and so that blasted mole also goes down with one Superpower/Earthquake. Another notorious opponent that this swampert has taken down is volcarona - surprisingly annoying for my teams since I don't run entry hazards that often. Thoughts?

@ Slut - This was a sort of 'in your face' thing for the folks at Smogon, since some of them seem to think water types are doomed to be slow thanks to the Drizzle ban XD @ Winter - I use water/ghost monotype teams, so for water these are the other three: --- Rotom-W (Levitate) Thunderbolt Shadow Ball Will-O-Wisp Pain Split - Pelipper (Keen Eye) Surf HP Grass Soak Tailwind - Gastrodon (Storm Drain) Earth Power Scald Ice Beam Recover --- Other water-types I've used before instead of the non-Tailwind pieces are as follows: - Empoleon (physical attacker) - Sharpedo (physical, duh) - Swampert (also physical) - Cloyster (got to love being physical!) - Octillery (special) - Jellicent (special) - Kingdra (special)

Hmm, here goes nothing: - Have been involved in pokemon since I was nine. - First game was Yellow when I was 10. - Then came Gold/Crystal when I was 11. - After that, I took a hiatus until I was 16. - Pressure from my LAST EVER exam in high school made me resort to Crystal for relaxation XD - Replayed Yellow. - GBC breaks down, was sad (and obsolete, so no replacements available). - One year hiatus. - Read an incredible fanfiction novel, and got inspired to reenter the world of pokemon games. - Finished Sapphire. - Began writing fanfiction for pokemon again, and also battling on Pokemon Online. - One day when PBC/Smogon/PO were overcrowded, happened to come across the Reborn Server. - The rest is history.

So, with *certain* people complaining that Swift Swim is horribly uber, etc. and that it should be banned, I decided to try and design a strategy to accelerate the speed of a water team. Granted, it only works optimally for doubles/triples, so it's limited - but it's a start, nonetheless Below is my opening line-up for the triples and doubles variants: --- [b]Triples[/b] - Gyarados (Intimidate) Waterfall Earthquake Ice Fang Dragon Dance - Mantine (Any ability - irrelevant) Aerial Ace Bullet Seed Toxic Tailwind - Seaking (LightningRod) Waterfall Megahorn HP Electric Protect --- [b]Doubles[/b] - Mantine (see above) - Seaking (see above) --- So, you might be wondering, just what the hell has this dude been smoking? The key is [i]Tailwind on Mantine, and LightningRod on seaking[/i]. EV the rest for speed, and you ought to be set. Now, most people out there immediately assume that I'm using mantine to set up Rain Dance for a Swift Swim on seaking (with the banned Drizzle, lol). So they try to zap mantine, which seaking sucks up as the Tailwind goes up. To make it more annoying, I tend to Sash my mantine. Best part is that you could Tailwind even before it fades out. Backup Tailwind piece for me is a pelipper - non-monotype players might opt for non-water types As I might have mentioned earlier - gimmicky, but IMHO a concept worthy of exploration beyond its present application using whimsicott and/or flying teams. Thoughts?

[quote name='Winter' timestamp='1307306439' post='15328'] Well. Most people on PBC are people who want to winwinwin. They can't handle a loss. So, what's the point in respecting an opponent who ragequits just because they lost 11 ladder points? And what happens if that faceless person cusses you out? [/quote] Then it's a case about who tries to be the bigger person, I guess. Sort of like when you're driving, and some random driver cusses you out XD

[quote name='Amethyst' timestamp='1307298058' post='15322'] The people who do that sort of thing, I theorize, are not here for the same reasons as us. They're there to get a quick match in and dabble around in some shallow competitive battling and be on their way, whether their way be offline on or to the next tournament. They're not like us, who linger around and find friends among the battlers. To be frank, the people they mingle with on servers are not even people to them, but just faceless trainers. Consequently, they do not see the need to show respect. That's what I believe. That it's a matter of perspective. PBC is one of those servers- well, all of the larger servers are like that. Their target audience is mostly who I have just described. It's only natural that they should think you're reading too far into it, because you're looking for something different than they are. That's something that smaller servers with stronger community, like Reborn, would offer. Were you to verse the sentiment on Reborn's chat, I would expect you would find much different results. [/quote] That's the thing, Ame - regardless of what you're looking for, where's the harm in courtesy? That's the main bone I have to pick with them. Even a faceless person can be deserving of respect, I guess. But I'd agree that it depends on the communal nature of the servers also - less people does equate to closer bonds, indeed.

[quote name='Amethyst' timestamp='1307297228' post='15321'] It's neat that you've figured this out; it's the same strategy Kiki/Victoria use in their triples teams for the league. Though to see how it applies to a different typeset is interesting as well. [/quote] Really? Never seen fighting types using TR before Water's hard to set up TR in, not like rock/psychic/steel/ghost/fighting... Most players tend to get suspicious of a slowbro/slowking in triples XD I tend to use it with a physical empoleon - switching empoleon into center-spot and using Rock Slide can be painful if done right. Another variant of this tactic involves using Hail on the water-types instead of TR, but I maintain the low speed in favor of defense/attack.

Haha, in singles I rarely run TR... just in doubles or triples. As you've said, in doubles I only get one Fake Out, but it'll have to do (it's a rare opponent that opens with two sleep-inducers). Hmm, come to think of it, my doubles teams have been more to Water/Ice than TR.

I'll admit that I have a fondness for Trick Room - something several league leaders might agree with XD Alas, playing it in a water monotype is harder than doing so for psychic or ghost, SO. I decided to try and use Fake Out to make sure my Trick Room opened Specifically, I used TWO Fake Outs to make sure I got my Room opened, hurr hurr! --- I use this tactic in triples, with the following opening line-up. - Ludicolo Fake Out Bullet Seed Ice Punch Leech Seed - Slowbro Psychic Flamethrower Sunny Day Trick Room - Blastoise Fake Out Surf Ice Beam Roar --- Usually it works, since most players out there don't expect double Fake Outs! And then the Trick Room opens, which adds to the fun XD ESPECIALLY handy for dealing with the likes of excadrill, smeargle and darkrai. My backup Trick Room piece is usually jellicent or slowbro (starmie's an option, but is too fast for optimum Trick Room damage). Just my suggestion on how to ensure that the Trick Room gets set up

[quote name='Winter' timestamp='1307267539' post='15300'] Try briefing your topics next time.. I understand you're a nice guy and all. You do have many points. Even if you are getting thrashed..Say..6-0, you shouldn't quit. The opponent is just above your skill level. That's why you keep on fighting, keep on trying, to get better than that one guy. Well. If you're making someone's day worse when kicking their behinds in the game, they, instead of getting mad, should go outside and take a break. Simple things. Keep in mind that I didn't read this whole thread. So that's all i'm going to touch base on. Otherwise, I thank you for addressing this. [/quote] Hmm, you do have a fair point there - alas, concise writing is not my forte So I guess that will be something to work on for me. Exactly - losing/failing is a learning process. And it's just a game in the end, lol. "He who has never failed has never tried anything new."

Before I go on with the actual content of this topic, let me make a disclaimer - I am no saint by most accounts, but I do try to practice basic courtesy and sportsmanship when I am competing against others. This post is also not intended to provoke others or point fingers - it is merely an account of my observations, and so please keep that in mind if you find yourself wanting to dig out a bazooka or something to deal with me. And this is in the Game Corner because well... it's online gaming being discussed here. --- I was on PO today (nothing new...) and happened to be at the PokeBattleCenter. In the main chat, I chanced upon a discussion regarding ragequitters and fast forfeiters, which caught my interest. After following it for a while, I decided to chip in a little. It was not the urge to criticize the ragequitters that started it - rather, it was because I noticed the members of the discussion seemed to think that just quitting matches whenever they felt like it was acceptable. So I just asked them if they ever spared a thought for the politeness of such actions. Obviously, I was promptly labeled as a baby and told to take it easy. Now, this is something I simply cannot do. Maybe now I should share a little about my real self. While I am spending most of my time pursuing my Bachelors degree, I do have some spare time to play with. Aside from online gaming, I am involved also in some tutoring at high school level (also college level for a brief stretch this year). If the opportunity presents itself, I also go back to my high school to help out with my old scout troop - some of the present senior scouts are sadly incompetent to the point that they cannot even teach their juniors a basic reef knot (for those who didn't have the chance to learn some knots, a reef knot is among the simplest of knots). One thing I try to teach my students and junior scouts is to respect others - it was one thing we had drilled into our skulls when I myself was a junior in high school. It is one thing to playfully use vulgar language on a friend, and another to blatantly curse someone's mother to their face. Likewise, when competing, one should always respect one's opponent. Really, since when was it acceptable for people to just walk out of a competition/game/match just like that? Even if you wanted to do so, would giving your opponent a 'good game' or something equivalent be too much to ask for? Similarly for forfeiting because there isn't a point to the match anymore - say you're facing a shedinja with no moves that can kill it. Would it be that tedious and/or awful to type a 'I have no way to kill that thing', or thank your opponent for the match before forfeiting? In chess matches, I've seen players gently tipping over their king when they concede a match, and offering a handshake to their opponent. What's there to lose by doing the online equivalent? Always keep in mind that when you start a match with someone, you've already taken some of their time - and that's something that no one can ever reclaim. You might say "But it's just a few seconds/minutes!" but remember that many grains of sand a mountain make. And since most people play online games to unwind, you might have just made someone's day a whole lot shittier by quitting a match just like that. - That's it for the topic of ragequitting and forfeiting. Now I'd like to touch on what's probably the more hopeless cause - trash talking. It is one thing to argue with someone and insult them - personal vendettas tend to move beyond the realm of manners, for the most part. But to outright trash talk an opponent is nothing short of bad manners. So what if your opponent wants to run a cliched, overused team? So what if they use move-sets that they like but which aren't top-tier competitive? Freedom of expression should extend to online gaming also, and so gamers should not talk down to an opponent like that. So what if you cannot see the logic in your opponent's team - they might have some train of thought which never occurred to others. A simple analogy could be made using university-level mathematics for those who are unfamiliar with its theorems and axioms - it would appear to be as alien as a foreign language to the uninitiated, but to a student majoring in maths, it would probably be as clear as daylight. I've actually seen a match where someone ran a whimsicott, chansey (Eviolite, obviously), and blissey against a ghost monotype team. Obviously, that was match-up that was bad beyond description, but the non-ghost dude still persisted in trash-talking the ghost monotype player as if there was no tomorrow. He did win, and called his opponent a noob - the monotype player was hardly a noob if you ask me, given that the match went 6-5 despite the ghosts' disadvantage. --- Now, the responses to my arguments in the aforementioned discussion were obviously negative. I was told that "You need to get your priorities in life right", that "QUITTING IS NOT A FUCKING HONOR THING" and that "You are looking too far into things". Let's not even touch the topic of honor - whatever happened to basic courtesy and manners? If manners and self-conduct are not to be prioritized, then just what the hell should we concern ourselves with? If you say 'survival' or something like that, let it be made known that even the garbagemen over here are a polite bunch that always have a smile and cheerful greeting for those whose trash they collect. I'm going to assume that most people on PO are young or young-ish, and that we all have a decent number of years ahead of us (barring accidents). It stands to reason then that this problem would only worsen over time if left unaddressed. Maybe I'm being old-fashioned. Maybe my time in the scouts and high school was different from what goes on nowadays - and it hasn't even been ten years (but then again, the world is progressing at a breakneck pace, so that's not unexpected). Maybe I'm holding on to a set of obsolete principles that no longer have a place in today's online scene. At the risk of sounding like I make racial stereotypes, maybe it's my Asian heritage that causes this 'baby' behavior. For the record, they finally backed off when I resignedly stated that I might be a dinosaur who had no place in the world of online gaming anymore. Now, some of you might agree with them, but hear me when I say this - the internet should NOT be a domain devoid of courtesy. Anonymity is not an excuse for bad conduct. If moderators on the gaming servers can kick/ban people for typing in all uppercase letters, then I don't see why there's such an opposition against the idea of trying to maintain basic courtesies online. This rudeness is probably the root cause for people going all rage-like on the servers to begin with, so maybe some thought should be spared for this matter. Call me immature for not tolerating the internet's nonsense if you may, but there are just some things in life that should not be compromised. If these people are so adamant on defending their rights as enshrined in the Constitution, then I don't see why they cannot try to defend what's LEFT of humanity in this rotting society. Yes, I am a believer in the saying 'progress has enriched the lives of mankind, but destroyed a large portion of man's humanity'. Call me a nihilist, anarchist, or whatever, but... this is just wrong. I do try to uphold the principles which I was taught to value, and in doing so maybe I'm swimming against the current. Is it too much to hope that one's actions would eventually make a difference in a matter such as this? I once wanted to be a teacher, but if this is how things will continue to play out in the future, I'm glad that I ended up majoring in optometry. I tip my hat to you if you're actually reading this line, and more so if you actually give a damn about what has been said. Either way, thank you for your time.

Due to time difference problems, I shall not be trying any longer to participate in the Reborn League However, if I happen to be online, I'll still be game for a match MS out.