I'd like the game to be hard but the grind is way too much.

[Cynthetik]

After getting 8 badges and finally seeing the nature of the game I'd like to provide some feedback.

 

The game was very fun up until the point where I had to fight the elite four. That's great. Except I learned that grinding is especially required to even get a chance at defeating the elite 4. To gain from level 50+ to 75+. I also learned that in order to reach Hoenn, a level 80 rattata was required. I'm shaking my head at this point asking why. I'm not happy with that fact because rattata is a terrible Pokemon to begin with, and it could very well take hours to even reach that point and it's not going to be fun. I feel like it's added there for the sake of it.

 

The only thing that really diminishes my impressions of the game is the repetitive grinding. I get that it's an mmo. But this type of repetitive fighting monsters to level up and progress is the type of MMO I'd be playing in 2003. Not the type of mmos that would provide me with fun things to do that doesn't feel like I'm grinding. Don't get me wrong, I'd like the game to be hard, but not to the point where I have to farm for hours to be successful. That's not difficulty, it's time sink, and puts a mental strain on me as a player fighting geodudes for 5 hours, when I really want a chance to see more the content that the game has to offer. To get to the point, repetitive grinding is annoying and extremely boring.

 

I would really like to see more custom content in the game that does not require me to beat the elite four, or catch 200 Pokemon. There isn't a lot, and it would really help if more options were given to us early in the story game. Finding a quest/content to do only to find that it can't be done until much later in the game is beyond frustrating. Quests where I have to defeat some boss pre elite four is nice. MMOs like World of Warcraft, GW2, and ESO added quests into the game to make the experience more enjoyable and not feel like I'm fighting the same monsters over and over to get a small amount of exp. I'm focused on the gameplay and story as I level. If you think that just because it's an mmo excuses the repetitiveness of the game then keep in mind that this concept is extremely outdated and puts a lot of frustration to casual players who have life obligations that keep them from fully experiencing the game. At this point this game feels like a full time job instead of a game that is fun enough to escape from it.

[Airiid]

Buy membership. Leveled my rattata with thunderbolt in one hour.

 

The grind sucks I agree, but that's how the free-to-play model works for MMO's.

[Cynthetik]

235013 Buy membership. Leveled my rattata with thunderbolt in one hour.

 

The grind sucks I agree, but that's how the free-to-play model works for MMO's.

 

Like I said the grinding works in 2003 mmos and even some of them are improving to make leveling up feel like less of a chore. No recent mmo has ever done this.

 

And I have membership. The boost is okay, but that's the only good thing about it.

[Coop33]

Thx for your feedback!

Hmm but i have to disagree with u in a few points, letz see:

235010

The game was very fun up until the point where I had to fight the elite four. That's great. Except I learned that grinding is especially required to even get a chance at defeating the elite 4. To gain from level 50+ to 75+. I also learned that in order to reach Hoenn, a level 80 rattata was required. I'm shaking my head at this point asking why. I'm not happy with that fact because rattata is a terrible Pokemon to begin with, and it could very well take hours to even reach that point and it's not going to be fun. I feel like it's added there for the sake of it.

 

So as a experienced pro-player i can tell u after reading your post. U might have chosen the wrong spots to train your pokes for elite 4. Seafoam bf4 is the very best as long as u are in kanto and if your pokes are weak to that water types u go cinnabar. Dont train vs geodudes, sturdy is a b****. :)

Later on before johto e4 u get access to DragonsDen and Mt silver, which are the very best places to train until u get access to cerulean cave which needs a few requirements, so thats not so fast to get but possible achievment.

And trust me, dd does the job too quite well if u want 100s.

 

Rattata was lvl 100 at begin to prevent ppl from mass entering hoenn.^^ Its reduced to lvl 80 now and it takes 1 1/2-2h to get it from catching lvl 33 to 80. No Problem. No one forces u to go through story with this. U dont need, and if u cant accept to lvl up a poke for 1 1/2-2h, well u got my point, right? ^^

when I really want a chance to see more the content that the game has to offer. To get to the point, repetitive grinding is annoying and extremely boring.

 

So there are a few sidequest, areas for MS and some where u dont need ms. Most areas just need MS (which u can buy, u dont need to grind the money for it). Let me think, its Love Island and Cerulean cave which are areas which need Dex/Evo requirements, so just 2 areas. And tbh u play Pokemon, hunting pokes and completing dex data is a big part of it.

 

Other than that, steel valley, poke tower underground, rachel quest, rock smash, digging, headbutting, TrickMaster-house, doctorquest (ok possibly needs cerulean cave and naero boss), desert lagoon, sevii island.

And most likely a few more. Seems pretty much for me for a 1 year old FREE2PLAY game, which is FANMADE, where Staff earns 0 MONEY. And the game is still evolving, many things are getting added. Just to make it clear cause:

MMOs like World of Warcraft, GW2, and ESO added quests into the game to make the experience more enjoyable and not feel like I'm fighting the same monsters over and over to get a small amount of exp

 

 

Then u said:

I'm focused on the gameplay and story as I level. If you think that just because it's an mmo excuses the repetitiveness of the game then keep in mind that this concept is extremely outdated and puts a lot of frustration to casual players who have life obligations that keep them from fully experiencing the game. At this point this game feels like a full time job

 

U dont need to grind like a boss for hours and hours if u just wanna finish all 3 regions and get access to all quests/sidequests. Yeah its harder than in the handheld games, but if u lvl your pokes at the right spots, its no big deal. Thats my opinion tho.

[Alavar]

I have a job and I enjoy this game, despite its need for players to grind their Pokemon. Honestly, I don't mind grinding and sure this part of playing a game is outdated, but that's just it.

 

I remember grinding my ass off in another MMO just to reborn my characters. That took approximately 4 years. 4 YEARS TO GET THE APPROPRIATE ITEMS, GET TO LEVEL 120 (or 130 for those who want extra stats), AND TO FULFILL A MISSION THAT YOU HAVE TO DO ALONE. What's really scary is that even pay-to-play people were subject to grinding as well because there were LOADS of EXP necessary to level up at the higher levels, no matter how many double exp they got. We even had to traverse the world just to find side-quests.

 

The recent MMOs that have come out of the market are catered to players who have no time to sit down and play for hours on end. To compare such games to Pokemon is quite unfair, if you ask me, because for years, Pokemon is one of those games where you NEED/WANT to grind to be the very best in the game. I don't want to have to throw my character through an auto-path just to get to where I need to go. I love the feeling of exploring and traveling across the lands to search for pokemon I want in my team. Obtaining pokemon through extremely easy quests takes away the enjoyment of the game.

 

And I'll admit that I'm one of those old-school gamers who appreciated the end results of grinding for hours on end. It's one of those amazing feelings that's unexplained, but all you can say is, "Wow, it was all worth it in the end!" To say, "Wow, that was easy!" after 30 seconds makes me feel like accomplished SQUAT.

[Shawshu]

I have to agree with the OP for the most part. The amount of grinding a non-member player is subject to is quite obscene. I just started PRO yesterday, played for a couple hours, and my starting Pikachu was only LV 9 by the time I called it a day. I understand that MMO's such as these should be expected to involve grinding of some sort, but the fact of the matter is that these long grinding sessions we are all subject to are not in the books for busy people with relatively little time on their hands. The reason most new MMO's no longer involve an extensive grinding process is because society has changed. People today have busy and stressful lifestyles with little down time, but during the pockets of free time they have, they want to unwind and enjoy the content of an amazing game like PRO. However, like the OP said, these lengthy grinding sessions prevent many of these fellow players from fully experiencing the game, thus decreasing interest and player retention.

 

With all that said, you could argue that players not willing or able to put in the time required from this grinding should just not play. But instead of alienating a group of people that enjoy the same shared interest, I offer a solution. The developers can increase EXP rates by just a small factor. In this way, players with relatively smaller amounts of time with the game can still enjoy its content, though their Pokémon may be slightly under-leveled, and a certain amount of grinding is still necessary. This is just my two cents on the matter, but personally, it would encourage me and the entourage of Pokémon players in my family to be more engrossed in the game.

[Cynthetik]

And this is exactly it. I'm alright with a tiny grind. If I have to grind, make it fun and not tedious. Add quests or sidestuff that I can explore without making it feel like I'm grinding.

[Rsiddharth97]

235838 And this is exactly it. I'm alright with a tiny grind. If I have to grind, make it fun and not tedious. Add quests or sidestuff that I can explore without making it feel like I'm grinding.

 

You get exp boosts from membership and you're complaining :Ambivalent: just saying....But ya,there are ways you can avoid the problem.Knocking down geodudes isn't the way to do it.And about the rattata,I got mine to lvl 80 in a about 3 hours without membership so I'am pretty sure its not going to be much of a problem.

[Archina]

To be fair I do understand OP's point in a lot of this. So far I've hit a brick wall for progress 5 times. Only once out of those four could the blame be aimed at myself:

 

Sabrina: Used what I felt like and team had a bit of a weakness to psychic-types. Had to level a Snorlax up 20 levels just to stand a chance.

Giovanni (Gym 8): Underleveled by an unknown amount. Had to grind Snorlax up for a good hour or two just so it wouldn't get 1-shot and hoped it could paralyse with body slam.

Kanto E4: Underleveled by approx 20-30 levels below the recommended level and couldn't brute-force my way through Lance. Had to catch a decent Magikarp from scratch, give it decent EVs and level it to 75 to beat it.

Morty: Underleveled by ~10-15 levels. Had to grind out the fishing spot in town until my mons were strong enough to not get 1-shot.

Claire: Underleveled by a good 20 levels. Currently in the process of grinding in Dragon's Den so I can get back to the story.

 

Note: Excluding Sabrina, all the times I hit a dead end I had the membership exp boost and during Morty I had about a day's worth of the other exp boost on as well. All side-quests found have been completed, all maps accessible have been explored to it's fullest (I even found a Trapinch because of that :Grin: )

 

The fact that 4/5 times I've been stuck in a situation I can't use wits to get myself out of isn't a challenge. It's frustrating. It feels like Instead of using said wits and having agency in the battle I'm just playing the MMORPG number game as I know I can't use things such as status, items or tactical switching when all my pokémon are getting out-sped and (sometimes close to) 1-shot by the above. What makes matters even worse is that I feel like if I don't use the 'meta' pokémon for clearing the story I'll be hampering my progress even further so that seems to kill the fun even further.

 

I don't know about others as I'm not them yet I prefer a challenge that takes skill to overcome. Not a grind-fest that's beaten by how long you spent walking in a patch of grass.

[Yvexion]

Besides from the people above me I'd like to also give a tip. There are alot of good guides on the forums that cover your problems. few examples below:

There is a guide on how to beat the kanto and johto e4 easily, and there is also a guide on how to get a lvl 80 rattata in like 10-30 mins!

Hope this reply helped in some way ;)