URPG Contests Board

[Ataro]

http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68401&highlight=contest
http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/forum/showthread.php?t=100358&highlight=contest

These were threads created in the past to understand and introduce new changes in Contests. Some have been carried out, some have not.

I'd like to know your opinion, and suggestion if any. Why is it you don't visit the Contest board? And for your reason, why do you think that way. I want to know what you think of Contests and what would you like to see being introduced that will draw you in. Any suggestions, discussions, or/and opinions of any sorts can be posted, this is an open discussion!

[Monbrey]

I think promoting AIM contesting a lot more would be the best start. The huge split between AIM and Forum battles clearly demonstrates what the more popular system is. If you can find 20+ people for an FFA, surely 4 can be found for a contest. I think the problem is that they don't pay very well - at least as far as the Forum is concerned. What usually takes 10-15 days to finish pays a measly $2,000. For an hour on AIM that's not too bad, comparable with a gym battle, another argument for pushing AIM as a contesting platform.

As well as that, it costs roughly 25-30k to max a Pokemon's stats. Spending that much on TM's doesn't seem too bad, but thats because battling is a much more common occurence - it pays for itself a lot quicker. Contesting however is much slower and happens less frequently, and members are therefore more reluctant to spend the same amount of money - they dont forsee a good return.
Of course, the problem with lowering the cost of raising stats is that if it does indeed increase popularity, it becomes a much quicker way of making money, contradicting the original reasons.

There is still a small group of people to enjoy contesting and participate fairly frequently, however there is no incentive to progress to the higher levels. Ribbons have no real value other than to show, so there is no need to start competing at the Super/Hyper/Master levels, not to mention there's no-one there to compete against. I think I suggested this to Feng once before; that obtaining/trading in sets of Ribbons could be worth a larger reward.

Will probably come up with more ideas later.

[ChainReaction01]

I've played in a couple Contests and enjoyed them. I think that it's definitely a part of the URPG that is worth keeping and refining.

However, the reason I didn't come back to it is simply because of maxing out the Pokemon's sheen or whatever it is. One of the things I like best about the URPG is that you don't need to train your Pokemon. You buy / earn / catch it, and after a couple quick basic battles it is perfect and ready to fight.

This isn't carried over into the Contests section. You need to spend fair amounts of money just to make winning them viable, and to me it seems contradictory to the "all Pokemon are perfect" theory that's behind normal URPG battling. It's the whole reason I don't often participate in contests. I hear that some contests these days skip the part where visual appeal or whatever it is is ranked - I'll happily take part in any of those. Then, it's just skill and luck, not how much money you've stacked onto your Pokemon.

Monbrey makes a good point about AIM and the Forum - 2k for half an hour to an hour isn't bad at all, especially to newbies. If you're looking to expand the Contests section of the URPG, I'd advise advertising there.

[Ataro]

I can always abuse my rights and advertise in this week's coming newsletter, harharhar.

I will reply more when I get home.

[MuddyMudkip]

I, for one, take part in contests. I enjoy them, and without it, the URPG would seem to be missing something--even if it wasn't very important to a lot of members.

However, I think what's pulling people back are the costs of the Pokeblocks. You spend so much time making your Pokemon "perfect", and what do you get? A mere amount of $2000 and a ribbon... I think many people find buying those stuff just for the contests is worthless and/or a waste of money. They'd rather spend it on TMs and the like.

I agree with Chainy and Monbrey, starting with AIM would be wise. Battling seems to shine there all the time--less activity on the forums. Contests on the forums take a long time to finish, so it's quite time consuming to have these time limits--though it makes coordinating a bit more of a challenge than what it already is. Perhaps we have a scarcity of judges? Refs are overflowing, though a lot are inactive, but battles are getting done efficiently. In the Contest section, there's only, like, two or three active judges handling a lot of contests.

EDIT: I almost forgot...
How come Contest Credits and the virtual URPG money have the same amount? They can both be used in buying Pokeblocks and stuff, and there's no amount difference--you can pay with, say, 2000 contest credits and/or $2000. I think it is cool to be able to use two currencies, but what's the point in having two if they're just the same? Or are they?... Perhaps a transmutation table is needed?

[ragnarok0422]

^ I totally disagree with those inactive judges. I, for one, wanted to judge for as much as I'd like. Though, the only problem is that I just don't like judging in forums because (as you've all just said) it is too time-consuming just for 2k. If, coordinators, would want to have a contest and you see me online, you can ask me already to judge that contest for you. I'd be honored to judge non-stop AIM contests for as long as I'm online at AIM.

There must be a way to make people notice contest at some point so that they could try these out as well. If succeed in promoting contests, then..... then its a good thing. Lol. XD

I think a raise in the prizes for at least another $500 needs to be in order? (That's only a suggestion, please don't kill me. I still need to wait for 2012.)

[JokesterJesse]

@the I don't want to stat up my mon cause it cost money thing.

If you dont have stts or want to buy statsta ask me to judge, I find myself ONLY WANTING to judge for people who don't have stats.

I agree with money increase aswell


SO I END THIS BY SAYING ASK ME TO JUDGE, BUT ONLY IF YOU NO STATS.

[TheEvilDookie]

I don't feel like making a new page for stats
I don't feel like waiting forever for one to finish
I don't feel like understanding the concept

[Fawkes.]

More focus is put on battles anyway it is better money wise to battle. Maybe create a structured Contest league in the same way we have the gym league

Hold a B/W festival in the same way we're having a B/W tournament with B/W prizes, that would advertise Contests more.

Or we could always try and implement musicals in some way

[Dinobot]

Like people above said, they take too long on forum, and I don't get invited to ones on AIM cause appearently I have almost maxed stats on my contest mons.

I like Monbrey's idea, collecting the ribbions and trading them in for something. That sounds like a good idea imo

[HikaruIzumi]

I'm quite addicted to contests (and barely active otherwise because of school atm) so I can't say why I dislike them. Though, I have to admit that when I was starting the fact that there were people with maxed stats and won purely because of them was making me angry a lot. I think there should be a way to make people with experience and high stats join higher ranked contests so that normal contests would be left for beginners and/or for people with low stats. Maybe raising money for them or giving a free TM to the winner, simply something that will make even people that love battling consider entering a contest and getting to a higher rank.

IMO that's the main problem with contests. They don't pay off in other sections of URPG. I mean, for stories you get mons you can use everywhere. For battling you get money that you can use in Contests section, Park and marts, etc. In Park, you can get both mons and money you can use everywhere. However, in contests, you get CC that you can spend only in contest section and money that you can get for 2 quick basic battles (and that is only if you win). Not to mention that contests take weeks, while those quick basic batttles could be done in 10 mins. Why would you waste loads of money for something you can't use anywhere?? (I mean CC) Maybe there could be a discount for CC. If there is CC why can we use normal money anyway?? I don't see a point in Contest Credits if I think about it. Like, if someone pays with CC they get 10% discount. Or simply raise the CC won in a contest. Either way, if we want to keep 2 currencies for berries, we should make people believe that the CC is there for a reason.

I like the idea of trading ribbons for something. Maybe like 5 ribbons of the same kind for a special items like Mart coupon or charatcer reduction item for Stories etc. It would make it rare and more people will try to get it. Then there could be better stuff on higher ranks. But this should be done from the Super rank (or whatever follows after Normal) up, because otherwise we'll be just left with mons with maxed stats spamming contests with newbies once again. But I still think that what's missing the most, is connection to other sections. The money prize is simply not worth the time and effort considering that you can get the same for something much shorter and simpler.

(I can't believe I wrote something outside contests.)

[Mubz]

I think another thing is that, for the most part, Contests are a side part of the actual games. Anyone who has played a Pokemon game knows how to battle, and knows the mechanics of the moves and such. Contests arent played as much i think ingame, so getting to know what the different moves and such do puts people off. Also as some people have said above they're isnt really a goal. Sure you can have Master Ribbons in every category (never gonna happen unless people do contests in the first place), but there isnt the equivalent to say Pidge, URPG Champion.

[Monbrey]

I like the Contest League idea, although I have no idea how the implementation would work. I guess a good example might be my Charizard, it has maxed stats and wins Cool Contests pretty easily. For a special Ribbon, you would have to face me in a contest? That doesn't account for the two other people though.

B/W did nothing for contests. The Pokemon Musical isn't a contest, and I really don't see any way it can be implemented. You put accessories on your Pokemon and watch a cutscene.

R/S/E - Awesome contests.
D/P/Pt - Added Dress Up, and took half the contesting away
B/W - Took the other half. Enjoy your dress up.

[evanfardreamer]

I'll chip in to agree with the gulf between the newbies and the people who've blocked up their Pokemon. My second ever contest in URPG, and come to think of it, last, I won the appeal round by a surprising margin - especially considering it was a come from behind victory with plenty of luck. However, I still wound up only getting 3rd place simply because I didn't have any of my stats boosted. Second place went to the guy who placed last in the appeal round, but had maxed stats - in other stats than the contest was even for.

That sort of soured me on the whole experience, because I don't like having to put that much effort into something in the hopes that it pans out later. It may just be that I don't like contests in general. I'm glad they have a place in URPG - plenty of people seem to like them. The hurdle with stats was just too much for me to get over.

[Feng]

We don't want to distance contests too far from the game though. If my prayers come true, the RSE remake will reintroduce Pokemon Contests (which it was most known for). Probably, those contests will gain a major facelift.
Moves
They might also add in the effects for the new BW moves in this RSE remake. I believe we should have a temporary, separate list for the BW moves for now to integrate them into the RSE and DPP contests that we provide currently.
Contest League
A contest league sounds fine, as long as it doesn't totally stray away from contest traditions (Yeah, conservative much?) We also might want to add uniqueness into the equation so it doesn't feel just like another Gym/Dojo league that already exists.
AIM
As Monbrey implied, AIM contests are one of the most convenient (and some consider the more fun option) of Contests. Both the contestants and the judges are able to participate at real-time for maximum efficiency and speediness. We need some promotional event or propaganda campaign to convince more players to do these though.
Money
Although the paychecks for contests are already quite large, a raise may be a nice push to increase productivity. As HikaruIzumi already implied, Contest Credits are convenient only within the Berry Store. Because many of these items could also be purchased through the normal currency, there won't be as much motivation to obtain the unique cash that contests provide. I think it might be interesting if we make it so Scarves and some berries are only purchasable through Contest Credits, it might also lure in more coordinators if we had the Prism Scale for sale only through Contest Credits (the BW method of evolving Feebas).