Why hasn't the Battle Tower been improved after all this time?

[Anacybele]

I decided to try the Battle Tower out in Sword to see if it got any better than it was in the past, since I never enjoyed it.

But it isn't. It's just the same old trashy place with entirely OP opponents and crappy reward system. You still face extremely difficult opponents right away and you still only get 2 BP per win despite almost everything in the shops costing a buttload of BP.

I'm aware that certain milestone battles will reward you with some more BP, but those are few and take a lot of time/effort/skill to get to. It's SO tedious and stressful, especially before you actually have a super competitive team to blaze through a number of battles. But how do you make more competitive teams? You're best making use of items that you can only get in that BP shop.

You want a certain nature mint? You have to win 25 battles because it costs 50 BP. Maybe a little less if you reach one of those milestone battles that give more BP in the mean time and win. But otherwise, hope you feel like spending a lot of time battling, because you're probably going to lose along the way. I only did one battle, but I almost lost.

This is such an unforgiving, awful system that I'm surprised it hasn't been improved or that no one complains about it. I'd suggest two main changes:

- Make the earliest battles fairly easy. They should only get harder as your rank and win streak go up.
- Award at least 5 BP per win rather than a measly 2.

Really, my biggest complaint is how long it takes to be able to afford just one of many of the items in the BP shop. Battling over and over like that gets really tedious.

EDIT: So I might have gotten unlucky in that first battle, or Zacian really is OP as fuck, so this isn't as hard as I thought it'd be, at least in the early tiers/ranks. Though beating Leon took a few tries. Just gotta warn folks, beware of his super annoying Aegislash if he uses it. Thankfully, I only saw it once.

But I still think you should earn a little more BP per win than you do.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Anacybele

[Ottservia]

Honestly this is probably the best the battle tower has ever been. It’s better than the battle maison or battle tree at least. Yeah sure the AI is still bullshit cheap but nothing a decently competitively viable team can’t handle which is a lot easier to get now more than ever before. Sure, we don’t have horde or SoS battles anymore but with raid battles and mint candies getting a full competitive team is easier than it’s ever been. Cause raid battles can give great rewards like bottle caps for hyper training, TRs for good movesets, and plenty of other things to get your team up and running, 

So I disagree the battle tower isn’t that bad because it’s not streak like before. You have no idea the rage I felt farming for BP in the battle maison only to lose like 30+ streak to some bullshit RNG. This new system is far less frustrating.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Ottservia

[Emmy]

It's still boring af but yeah i agree with Ottservia.

[Lightcosmo]

It could be as poorly designed as Pokemon Crystal's.

[Anacybele]

Yeah, I realized in the end it's not as bad as I thought. I even beat Leon a second time and in only one try this time.

But I still think 2 BP per battle is dumb, especially since you still get only 2 BP for beating Leon too! Wtf man.

Funny thing though, when I got the 50 BP needed to get a nature mint, I ended up getting the one I wanted as a reward anyway. lol So I get to save that BP!

Edited September 2, 2020 by Anacybele

[Ottservia]

5 hours ago, Anacybele said:

Just gotta warn folks, beware of his super annoying Aegislash if he uses it. Thankfully, I only saw it once.

you think Aegislash is scary? maybe back in gen 6 because fuck king's shield back then but it's so easy to predict the AI with aegislash also obstagoon says hi. I never thought I would see the day that Aeigslash would be in UUBL of all places. Now that's I don't think anyone expected going into gen 8

[Anacybele]

3 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

you think Aegislash is scary? maybe back in gen 6 because fuck king's shield back then but it's so easy to predict the AI with aegislash also obstagoon says hi. I never thought I would see the day that Aeigslash would be in UUBL of all places. Now that's I don't think anyone expected going into gen 8

King's Shield is still stupid. It negates any attack, doesn't fail as far as I can see, and it lowers the opponent's Attack. And Aegislash can still switch between its two forms constantly too.

I don't use an Obstagoon, though, so...

Edited September 2, 2020 by Anacybele

[Ottservia]

7 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

King's Shield is still stupid. It doesn't fail as far as I can see and it lowers the opponent's Attack. And Aegislash can still switch between its two forms constantly too.

I don't use an Obstagoon, though, so...

Well it's not as bullshit as it was before because they nerfed it so now it only lowers attack and Special attack by 1 stage instead of 2 like it did in previous gens. There's a big reason why Aegislash isn't uber anymore even with the dex cut. It just has way too many counters now like Obstagoon, dragapult, cinderace, volcorona, galarian corsola, Urshifu, etc. Also throw in the fact that so many pokemon now get mystic fire and well yeah. I think it also had it's defense stats lowered by like 10 points each so yeah Aegislash just kinda nerfed real hard. He's really not that hard to deal with in this meta.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Ottservia

[Anacybele]

1 minute ago, Ottservia said:

Well it's not as bullshit as it was before because they nerfed it so now it only lowers attack and Special attack by 1 stage instead of 2 like it did in previous gens. There's a big reason why Aegislash isn't uber anymore even with the dex cut. It just has way too many counters now like Obstagoon, dragapult, cinderace, volcorona, galarian corsola, Urshifu, etc. Also throw in the fact that so many pokemon now get mystic fire and well yeah. I think it also had it's defense stats lowered by like 10 points each so yeah Aegislash just kinda nerfed real hard. He's really not that hard to deal with in this meta.

Wow, sounds like they nerfed it too much, poor sword. It's a cool looking Pokemon too.

[Ottservia]

1 minute ago, Anacybele said:

Wow, sounds like they nerfed it too much, poor sword. It's a cool looking Pokemon too.

I mean he's still good. It's fucking aegislash of course it's gonna be good but overall not as good as he used to be

[Lightcosmo]

Huh, Aegislash was good, I didn't know that! Interesting!

Surely there must be other reasons than just King's Shield?

[Anacybele]

6 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

I mean he's still good. It's fucking aegislash of course it's gonna be good but overall not as good as he used to be

Ah, I see then. Glad to know it's still a good Pokemon.

[Ottservia]

4 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

Huh, Aegislash was good, I didn't know that! Interesting!

Surely there must be other reasons than just King's Shield?

It was a combination of power, versatility, and just generally overcentralizing the meta if I recall. Thing has access to 150 on both offensive and defensive stats at the drop of a hat with stance change and king’s shield which is just a good move anyway. Not to mention swords dance and with king shield mind games yeah plus a stab priority move with shadow sneak. All of that running off of a base 150 atk stat. And sometimes you don’t even need swords dance. Weakness policy works just fine.

[Lightcosmo]

4 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

It was a combination of power, versatility, and just generally overcentralizing the meta if I recall. Thing has access to 150 on both offensive and defensive stats at the drop of a hat with stance change and king’s shield which is just a good move anyway. Not to mention swords dance and with king shield mind games yeah plus a stab priority move with shadow sneak. All of that running off of a base 150 atk stat. And sometimes you don’t even need swords dance. Weakness policy works just fine.

Most of what you just said... flew right over my head, haha! But i'll take your word for it, you obviously know more than me!

Hey, at least it's not like RBY, where Psychic ruins the game!

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

22 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

It was a combination of power, versatility, and just generally overcentralizing the meta if I recall. Thing has access to 150 on both offensive and defensive stats at the drop of a hat with stance change and king’s shield which is just a good move anyway. Not to mention swords dance and with king shield mind games yeah plus a stab priority move with shadow sneak. All of that running off of a base 150 atk stat. And sometimes you don’t even need swords dance. Weakness policy works just fine.

For the record, they nerfed Aegislash as of Gen 8, so that now it only has 140 in each transformed stat. Still really strong, just slightly less so.

47 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

King's Shield is still stupid. It negates any attack, doesn't fail as far as I can see, and it lowers the opponent's Attack. And Aegislash can still switch between its two forms constantly too.

I don't use an Obstagoon, though, so...

One trick is, status moves can work through King's Shield. Say Will-o-Wisp, or Sleep Powder. Or Taunt - once Taunted, Aegislash won't be able to use King's Shield until the Taunt wears off.