In game player Pokemon league idea

[Discoe]

Hello, i'm Discoe and I would like to introduce an idea I have been thinking about recently. An in game pokemon league. This would consist of 18 gym leaders. Once a player has beaten 8 of the 18 gym leaders ( one of each type) , they will be entered into a conference, like the anime. The winner of the conference will battle the elite 4 and then Champion. The gym leaders are restricted to a main type, with variance such as Bruno's onyx. The Elite 4 is bound to the same restriction. The Champion however may use any team they would like. A challenger may use any team for the gym leaders, but must register a team for the conference up to the champion. All battles will use level 100 pokemon, but challengers may use anything as long as it's not illegal within pvp rules. Gym leaders will be decided by tournament within the respective type. And may reside anywhere accessible by non-members. Elite 4 will be composed of the best gym leaders decided by a round robin. There will always be 18 gyms, leaders who are promoted are replaced. If a gym leader steps down another tournament for a valid replacement is held. Same for Elite 4. If a champion steps down no replacement is made until the next championship. If a challenger looses to an E4 member the winning member may continue to challenge up the E4 and Champion. If a member feels it necessary they may challenge the gym leader to a replacement battle. The winner becoming the gym leader. The gym leader may set rules for their gym, such as a double battle once implemented, or no substitutions. I would like to hear out the communities ideas on this, and any modifications to the system.

[Sparklylemonade]

Unfortunately, I would only find this a viable idea if we didn't have NPC gym leaders already, there is already a lot of time spent facing the gym leaders and doing the story, and with PvP a big part of the game, ascending the ladder is already a major goal of any competitive and I honestly don't think there would be much interest, especially since you'd have to wait for said members to be online etc.

I also noticed you mentioned "replacement battles" to take over as gym leader. This would cause further problems, since even with a forum post on who the current gym leaders are etc, I think gyms would change hands far too quickly to keep up with and update on the forum (especially since the original forum poster would have to be online the same time as the new gym leader to update it, which brings in time zone issues, too.) In addition, having the gym leader choose specific rules that may change depending on what the new leader wants would bring similar issues.

Regarding your rules on gyms, I also find them to be far too vague to have a good impact; variances such as Bruno's Onyx as the example - where is the line? Your line may be different to the person creating the team. It also has the same limitations of general gyms - Players just tailor their teams to beat that gym, and the difficult of the elite 4 is then gone too, since the can be tailored against, also. Finally, a round robin to determine who's in the elite 4 is a very peculiar idea; how would you determine which is best? Obviously it completely boils down to typing and who has the least weaknesses, which completely defies the point of it.

In conclusion, I feel that though the idea is well intentioned, it's just not viable in an MMO with such dynamic play and the rules have not been thoroughly considered enough to work.

[Discoe]

First off, I feel that since the story line is only for early game this would be good for late game players. Also with the pvp ladder, this would still be a fun thing to do for less competitive and people looking for something different. The idea for replacement battles was just as a way to make sure that the gym leader is qualified at all times. This can be adjusted. As for finding the leaders, an in game chat can be made to allow communication of whose online and where they are. I do agree maybe a time period to slow down a too rapidly changing environment. Also the goal of a gym leader is to make a team that is skillful enough to resist counters. Like a sunfisk for an electric gym. Strategy is important. Since to challenge the elite four you must've won the conference with that team it is less likely to be made specifically for each one. You must lock in a team for the conference up. As for selecting E4 the idea is rudimentary but since each type faces all its weaknesses and strengths ,while the better type may win, the better gym leaders will as well. And since E4 is meant to be difficult the better types makes it more interesting. I think this is very viable within a community driven mmo like PRO. The rules may not be perfect but that is the purpose of a post. Constructive criticism and formulation of a more complete idea.