Just because I posted several common complaints, does not mean I am advocating any changes in particular. In fact, I think Syclant is just fine as it is. If I changed anything, I would change the speed. The 121 is just begging for criticism. But, I don't think that extra point is affecting its playability very much either way. I would not change Mountaineer one bit. If for no other reason, than the fact that I've spent so much time getting it programmed correctly ;-)
As I said in my post, I think we have a "Perception Problem" with Syclant. It wouldn't be a very big deal, if the server hadn't exploded in popularity. My original expectation was that the server would allow a few of us from the CAP project to test out our creations. I really did not expect to have thousands of users and thousands of battles a day. But, since it has happened, this little fakemon we created has become a very visible billboard for the CAP Project, and by extension -- Smogon. Right now, I don't think the perception is that this is a brilliant creation by the deep-thinking pokemon experts at Smogon. I think a widely-held perception is that we created a completely broken pokemon and we must be brain-dead to think otherwise.
The question is, "Do we really care what people think?"
The contrarians amongst us probably say, "Fuck all the dumb-ass noobs that pull a drive-by on our server and talk shit about our pokemon!" I think we should pay a little more heed. Not because the pokemon is, in fact, broken. But, because all this server traffic has me thinking that we have chanced upon something that is bigger than we ever expected.
There are LOTS of modified Shoddy servers out there. Several of them have special moves, rules, etc. But people aren't going to those servers. They are coming to our server. And they're coming in droves. I don't know the reason why. Maybe it's the affiliation with Smogon. Maybe the "Create-A-Pokemon" name is so intriguing that people can't resist the urge to check it out. Maybe it's just the idea of really battling with a new pokemon. Maybe they don't like Official. It's probably a combination of all of the above. But, the sheer numbers have made me readjust my thinking on this whole thing.
I think we should do something to manage the perception problem with Syclant. One way to do that is to change Syclant. But, as it has been stated, people will always bitch. If we accede to every little complaint, we'll never stop changing this thing.
But that is not the only way to help manage the problem. Maybe we simply advertise the process and/or standard by which changes will be warranted. What are the criteria that determine if a pokemon is "broken"? I have no idea how to answer that question. But this is a large group of smart people. I'm sure we can come up with something.
So far, I've been asking for logs; with some hope that might allow us to have a discussion based on tangible data. Very few logs have been forthcoming. Porky is the only one I recall that has done so. I'm trying to write some reports that might shed a little light on the situation. Unfortunately, that's going to take a while.
In the meantime, what is the point of our playtesting? Certain individuals are getting battle experience with Syclant. But, based on the discussions, it doesn't seem like we are really getting any further than we did when it was all theorymon. A bunch of people think Syclant is fine, and a bunch of people think it is broken.
I don't think we should say "Syclant is set in stone. No changes will be made. EVER!" I don't think anyone is actually advocating that. So, let's figure out how changes might be made. What's the time frame? What are the criteria? How will the change process be handled? Once we get that down, we can make it known to everyone. At least that way there is visibility to the process, and that might stem the negative perception.
It won't stop the complaining, but it will give us a concrete response. It's a helluva lot better than the current back and forth. "Syclant is broken!" "No it's not!" "Yes it is!" "No it's not!"........... ugh.