OzAndrew's April-Esque Cafe of Corruption, Bitchiness & Crying Children (Chat Thread)

[Weasel Overlord]

I have to fight Negrek again. I'm doomed already.

My team is fun though. And the people I talk to online already know what it is... I got too excited and we all shared, lol.

But yes. I have a general feeling of my own impending doom. Nothing like a bit of doom to keep you on yer toes, eh?

And I CANNOT wait for DP! Admittedly... I do kinda need a DS first, but hey, it'll probably be YEARS til it comes out in Brittania. We're crap like that.

[Elec Man EXE]

If the Legendary Tourney thing comes into play, probably best to wait until D/P come out and give a few more pokemon?

I don't know much at all about D/P pokemon since I'm trying to keep the experience "new", but surely there are a few legendaries that would be elegible. The more the merrier.

And I certainly like the idea of the Legendary Tourney. Gives you a chance to use some pokemon that you'd literally never get to use otherwise.

Good to hear about the D/P attacks. Sounds like everything might be ready by the time D/P come out, which would be a nice change from the Ru/Sa transition. I remember R/S being out for almost a year before I left ASB for a while, and RS pokemon and attacks were still disallowed in ASB.

[Chris 2.1]

Elec: DP has introduced more Pokemon than ANY OTHER GENERATION. :|

There's maybe 3 or 4 new DP Pokemon I'll invest in

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

I'll certainly invest in the Fighting Poison toad, but besides that, I'm not to interested in the DP version. The attacks look pretty nifty, though.

Anyway, sharing my happiness over the Safari Zone. I'm loving it, good initiative.

[Negrek]

A legendary tournament would be cool, but Mew should really be banned--playing against something with all possible TM's, tutor moves, and so on, is not liable to be much fun.

So far as the random tournament goes, I'm all right with my team. I know what I'll be using in the first round, anyway, and what I will probably save for last.

[Chris 2.1]

The thing is Mew having access to all TMs is not as amazing as it seems. I mean Pokemon like Lickitung, Granbull, Ursaring etc. have access to all the good or useful TMs; Mew has access too those too and ones like reflect or sandstorm isn't too good. I mean it doesnt have access to all moves.


But if the majority want it banned, then I'm all for it. Its size is also a negative factor; take stats out the equation and these guys aren't so legendary :p

[Negrek]

Hmm, I seem to have recall arguing about this before, although I can't find the post and find myself too lazy to type it up again. Condensed, though, I find that Mew has a greater advantage over other legendaries, many of whom have relatively restricted movepools, in utility attacks, most notably transform, fly, surf, and similar. Its size I would call an asset rather than a detriment; most of the legendaries are fairly lumbering, and something small and agile could easily run rings around them. That, and I'd call reflect a good attack... and sandstorm better still.

In the end, though, give me a Mew to use, and I'd stop complaining happily enough.

[Chris 2.1]

Hehe you're not complaining; on the contrary you're bringing up some points I hadn't thought of. We'll definitely consider giving Mew the boot

[Phoenixsong]

Elec: DP has introduced more Pokemon than ANY OTHER GENERATION. :|

There's maybe 3 or 4 new DP Pokemon I'll invest in

I must ask, Chris: what exactly do you mean by that first part? DP is the second smallest generation. Unless you meant moves, in which case, well, I have no idea exactly how many new moves there are.

I'm quite pleased with my tourney Pokémon. There /IS/ one tiny thing about them that annoys me, but it's a secret. I'd get creamed if I mentioned it.

I sure hope that the tournament moves quickly... eh, I wonder where Wolfsong and Silencer are.

Oh, I long for some DP Pokémon. I should go and get a Sneasel... and name him Underwood... mwahahaha. I love my stupid inside jokes.

[Pichu Luver]

I for one love my Pokémon. They range from cool, too funny and good, but not one I'd pick for myself. I don't know what people have, but its like when you post a battle, you choose your Poké and hope they don't decide to pick a Fire against your Grass. Lol, it looks to be fun though. ^^

The Legendary Tourney sounds cool, heh it'll be fun to say, go Articuno! Lol, neat idea but I'd also rather not have Mew. Most TM's are the most powerful version of each type. Not always but a lot are.

Come forth D/P! I soooooooo wanna start playing that game, it just looks to cool and fun. ^^ A couple of Poké's I have my eye on to get. *rubs hands* Much as I like snow, April come sooner!

[Chris 2.1]

Ooops. I meant DP introduces more legendaries than in any other generation.

[Blademaster]

Wah, wah, wah... Everyone keeps whining that Mew is too broken...

Ha! I'll take part in this Legendary Tournament, and I'll GLADLY accept the challenge of fighting Mew myself. No Pokemon is invincible - not even the very first one. I'd be willing to bet good money that any Legendary I was given could take Mew down.

And another thing, banning Lugia, Ho-Oh, Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza just because they're 'too big' is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. My colossal Gyarados has been beaten by a Kangaskhan. MLG's huge Steelix was felled by a Blaziken. Crystal's already-weakened Nidoran (M) was less than 20HP away from bringing down a fully-powered Onix(forgot who's it was) some 30+ times his size in one match. Size does NOT matter - it's what you do with it that's important.

[Andrew]

A Legendary Tourney! Hoorah! I'd totally <3 Articuno. The "Legendary Dogs" are really retarded. Out of the Regis I only like Regi-Ice. Mew could also be a very deadly and AWESOME pokemon. The Latis/meh.

All the new legendaries - SCARY!

You know, except for that lame little grass echidna.

[DarkestLight]

You talk blashpemy Andrew. That little grass echidna will flower power ANYTHING in its path to DEATH and you know it!

I'd use that sucka-and heck yeah; if you make a Legendary Tournament, I'm down for the cause. Be my first Tourney too, but I'd be all for it.

As for D/P yeah they're alright. I say alright cause I'm really not that keen on the Pokemon. Its the moves. Since everything is fixed now, I'll be very happy that some of my oldbies are much better to use.

Though Lickilicky is awesome. xD

[Andrew]

LickiLicki is hideous.

[DarkestLight]

I don't mean the actual pokemon, I mean the name! XD That fake supercurl having p.o.s can die a thousand deaths along with Happiny and most every other prevo.

[darktyranitar]

Can someone go and ref this match?

dt VS Wurz

As you can see, it's a one on one... and it's an Absol VS an Absol! Come on, you know you wanna ref this!

...please?

[Ultimate Charizard]

Is it just me or do we have a bit of a problem with Ref's at the min.
I understand that people have lives of their own etc but i was just looking through the battles recently posted and at least 3 people have said something along the lines of 'well ill challenge you but in my last few battles ive had trouble getting refs' and indeed i have just taken on a battle and at the moment were still waiting for a ref.
Do any of the ref's have any thoughts? Do we simply not have enough refs? Do we need better incentives to be a ref??

Without them there can be no ASB unless of course you expect the Mods to ref Every match.

[DarkestLight]

Maybe people just stumbled upon a busy time of year. I know some of the refs that are reffing my battles are just in need of reminders.

Which brings me to my solicitation! I need a ref here....

http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=15609

And Verm? Verrrrrm!

http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=15450

It's calling youuuuuuu!!

[Negrek]

Do any of the ref's have any thoughts? Do we simply not have enough refs? Do we need better incentives to be a ref??

Every ASB on the internet has problems with ref shortages. There are just some times of year when people are busy or just not very interested in doing ASB stuff. Things will pick up again eventually; it's not like all the referees went and died off or something.

[Phoenixsong]

...I love how Negrek said "every ASB on the internet" when there are, like, seven all together. j/k

Anyway, speaking as a ref of two different ASBs, both of which do indeed have ref shortages, I can safely agree with Negrek: stuff happens. That's the main reason that refs get their work done late or not at all. School happens. Family happens. Punishment happens. Mood swings happen. Life happens. And there isn't really much that can be done about that. How fast and how often reffings get done depends largely on nothing more than whether or not the ref has the time/patience/whatever to attend to them at the moment; if the ref is actually in the mood to get it done, a decent reffing shouldn't take more than about half an hour to write, so it's all a matter of attention span. For example, I'm subreffing Dark Sage vs. Master of Paradox right now. I've gotten around to writing their reffings with weeks in between or minutes in between (the last two reffings in that match were both written and posted with a little over an hour in between them). And--I'll freely admit it--I've completely dropped/forgotten about reffings before simply because I was too busy or because I was going through one of my moods where I'm pretty apathetic about ASB/TPM/the internet and couldn't be bothered.

Reffing is something that takes dedication to want to do and free time, with a generous serving of willpower, to actually get done. There are simply times in people's lives when those things can't happen, and reffing stagnates. Eh, what can you do?

...I'm done lecturing now. Oh, and the legendary tournament sounds fun. I call Rayquaza/Articuno/Azelf/Raikou/Suicune/Latios/Palkia!

[Chris 2.1]

I agree entirely with Negrek. This place is a fun hang out and people that ref are doing it in their own time. So when ANYTHING else comes up it deserves priority.

I also feel a majority of people treat refs like punching bags. There is rarely constructive questions and I'm quite annoyed when people show a lack of respect to refs or seem to challange every artistic decision they make.

But what's new?

[Phoenixsong]

...Like what you asked me? No, seriously... I've never seen anyone dogging any refs about the reffings themselves, but I agree that people do seem to have short fuses when it comes to refs. Everyone needs to take a chill pill and remember that the world will NOT explode if your ref has been MIA for two weeks. Yes, it's annoying, but I think that somehow we'll all pull through.

[Negrek]

...I love how Negrek said "every ASB on the internet" when there are, like, seven all together. j/k

Seven? I count, only, like five of any considerable significance. It's easier to make generalizations when there isn't much to generalize.

Edit: Gah! Is there no way to disable smilies?!

[Phoenixsong]

Actually, when I tried to count I only found four. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt. Who else is there, other than here, TCoD, Serebii and PFU? Most of the other big forums don't have them.

(And my old one, but that folded, so eh.)

And... um... "Disable smilies in post" checkbox in the main post composer-thingee o.o? There certainly isn't a way to do it from Quick-Reply.

[Negrek]

Actually, when I tried to count I only found four. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt. Who else is there, other than here, TCoD, Serebii and PFU? Most of the other big forums don't have them.

SPP's partner, UPN. That league was down for a bit, but it got put back together recently. BMG used to form a trio of connected leagues with those two, but its league appears to have vanished.

And... um... "Disable smilies in post" checkbox in the main post composer-thingee o.o? There certainly isn't a way to do it from Quick-Reply.

There's only "show your signature" and "automatically parse links in text" checkboxes. D:

[Phoenixsong]

Huh, there's a disable smilies button on mine. I wonder why you can't see it? Maybe you need a certain number of posts... that would be stupid, though.

And I didn't know UPN was back, or else I would have listed that. Ah, well.

[Ultimate Charizard]

Ok i try to make a point and as usual i get jumped on....

All im doing is venting my frustration that i havent had a match finish in almost 6 months. Now ill admit one of those (my gym match) was because i forgot it was my turn and got DQ'd but when ive had a number not even get past the first round because i couldnt get a ref (see my battles with Oz or Weasel overlord as main examples) and you can understand why i get frustrated.
On one occaision we had one ref volunteer, then not post so we found a sub ref who volunteered, then never posted a reffing....

Im really am sorry if this sounds like nothing but a pointless bitching but its hard to give ref's positive comments (as opposed to negative) when frankly i see so very little of them.

[Elec Man EXE]

I think part of the the problem likely lies in refs taking on too much at once. Every time there's a "surge" of refs, it seems that the number of new battles raises as well. The new refs end up taking too much on at once, and taking on the load all at once burns them out entirely and then they're done.

Its also a possibility that seeing some of the "uber-refs" makes people hesitant to take up reffing. They see people taking 5-6 battles, and think that they'd have to do just as many. Few people can handle that.

As a ref, its quite tempting to want to help out every battle you see needing a ref. I find myself going through the forums each day, thinking "I can handle just this one more battle." Then I take it, and move on to the next and think the same thing. I often end up over my own set "limit" (4 battles) because of it, but likely I've managed to avoid the burnout. The challenge is in ignoring them when you know you've already got enough going on.

But aside from that, reffing just isn't for everyone. And since you are always going to have less refs than battlers, the existing refs have a pretty heavy load if every battle is going to be ref'd. You figure its 4 battles per every 2 ASB participants, and I'd guess that 50% of the ASB population are refs, maybe (probably) less. Figures to about 4 battles per ref, and for many people thats just too much with everything else (real life) going on. Reffing is fun to a degree, but no one wants to spend all of their free time on it.


Naturally, it can be quite frustrating for the battlers. But its not all ice cream and lolipops for us refs either :p

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

Yes it's true, before I stopped reffing I had like 7 battles going at a time, it can be a real pain in the ass to manage all of them. People then say: 'why don't you take less reffings and stop complaining', yeah that's true, but I hate to see so many unreffed battles.

[Phoenixsong]

No one was jumping on you, UC; it was just an explanation from a ref's point of view. It is indeed unfortunate that refs are so difficult to find.

I know for a fact that I, like Elec Man, have to stop myself from taking on too much at once. I think I'm currently only reffing three matches total: two here and one on a different ASB. I know for a fact that I'm too busy/lazy/ADD to logically take on more than four. During summer (probably not this summer, but in general) I could possibly take up to six, but that would still be quite taxing. I'd say "lower the current battles per player limit from four to two or three" or "perhaps place a limit on the number of matches a newer ref can take on at once", but that would possibly restrict people's fun here, so I don't know what to do about it. Certainly a reminder to newer refs that they don't have to "live up to" the experienced refs might help, if anyone thinks that's part of the problem.

[Chris 2.1]

Ok guys time for discussion!


Andrew suggested we have a Contest Discussion thread. A place where we can discuss the best and worse appeals, the oddest choice of Pokemon, the weirdest battle strategies or the most simon-cowel esque judges we've had.

Thoughts? If you want a seperate discussion thread then we could have one. Or we could simply have discussions in here.


PS: The April sign-up has unlimited signups before April 1st. So lets give Andrew lots of work to do and all sign up!

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

I think discussion are best put here, but this place can be really cluttered. A seperate contest topic wouldn't attract so much attention I guess.

[Andrew]

Some of my favourite appeals have been from Charles Legend. The Piggybank one, and his one with Leeks particularly stand out.

The worst one I can remember was with a Cyndaquil. Ugh, BORING!

[Negrek]

Don't see any real reason an additional thread would be needed; this one isn't exactly a font of activity as it is.

[Elec Man EXE]

^ My thoughts exactly. It'd actually give some much-needed life to the topic :p

I can't think of any outstanding appeals off hand, but then again I don't tend to remember stuff like that... brain's too full of stuff like the attack power of every attack and whatnot :p

[Chris 2.1]

One of my favourite was the double appeal Aragornbird did in the Grand Festival (Round II - Check it out). His Salamence and Charizard firing explosive blasts off at everyone. Nice!

And Blademaster's use of Castform to create a real-life candle was radcool.

[Chris 2.1]

New title

Its my birthday present to Andrew.


Member of the Month: The Missing Link

Who else? Becca's an awesome awesome mod at sorting the bank out, keeping tabs on people, double checking transactions, being thorough and just making things so much easier.

Thanks Becca. You get 5 points in your bank. Link here.

[The Blue Avenger]

Congratulations, Becca. You're a great person to have in ASB.

And Chris, I dig the new topic title.

[Weasel Overlord]

Seconded! The new title is bitchin'! Can I help corrupt some people!? Oh please? *rubs hands* You know you wanna let me loose on the innocents with my yaoi'ed up mind of filth and woe...