Ok, I feel obliged to answer to some of the negative feedback because I think it requires context. I commented on context the beginning of the thread, but probably could have gone into greater depth.
First of all, in regards to the "misplays," I would like you all to remember that this warstory occurred near the very beginning of an entire generation of battle. I had played for several weeks on PO server before Smogon server opened, but that was a different metagame with different players that, let's face it-- still wasn't completely matured. This was a battle that happened on my second day of laddering-- probably the second day Smogon server was even put together.
Really, do you think the plays will be perfect when the players are still that inexperienced in a new meta?
I had never fought a Xatu before! Frankly, I was used to Breloom scoring huge hits even on resisted enemies from behind a substitute.
I had never fought panamaxis 5th Gen, and I had never fought a bulky Mence with Dragon Tail, and I had not gotten used to abusing team preview yet-- neither of us had.
What we gave you in this battle, were our real thought at the time-- with the excitement and intrigue we both played with, using the skills we had available to us at the time.
Would it really more interesting if I posted: "Oh yeah, man I can't believe I did [this] back then when I would have done [that] now." No, it's far more interesting about what the players were thinking at the moment.
Also, while I do think it's important for warstory tellers to be humble, I can go out and say it: The reason why the names above attract people to the warstory is because they know they can expect a certain level of skill. I will be the first to admit I'm not in panamaxis' league, but I know I'm still one of the stronger players (out of 6000 whatever), and am playing much better now. As "green" as this warstory is, both teams featured are still extremely successful (especially panamaxis' obviously) and interestingly enough-- despite the maturity of the metagame today, remain almost completely the same.
I'm still using the exact same members with pretty much the same EV spreads-- just with some different moves that I will not indulge in this public setting for now, but they (combined with improved metagame knowledge since this battle) have made the difference. I will say that my team members remaining unchanged is a testament to my initial team building.
I'm not really trying to defend the story-- you are free to think as you will. The above is just anecdotal to better explain the context of the warstory.
As far as percentages and sprites turn by turn go, I frankly don't give a flying fuck. This and the above are 2 different issues. Writing a warstory takes a lot of time and energy-- I always laugh at people who say "it was hard to follow," without having ever written one themselves.
This is a pokemon site where I volunteer to hang out, and yet I know a warstory expects a certain degree of content and writing-- so I dedicate to the content and writing. Do cute little pictures really add content? No, they don't. Do turn percentages add much? Probably, but it takes a fuck more load of work to do them (and sprites) that I am not about to give for cursory substance.
From my stand point, these are just fades started over the years by n00bs who needed to be flashy to obscure a lack of real content. Or, when done by really good writers were just a nice plus-- the real content, the real warstory, is in the content and warstory.
Traditional warstories from 3rd gen didn't even have turn-by-turn play-by-play, and the players of that gen see 4th/5th warstories as obnoxious walls of log instead of focusing on the point of the overall battle. I started writing in the beginning of 4th Gen DP, where the above was the standard format-- and I still believe it to be the ideal format, for both the readers, and the hard working writers who volunteer to entertain on a pokemon site.
If you are going to complain about little pictures and %s I suggest you go write your own (good) warstory first with pictures and %s-- then you will understand how much work goes into it, and how much more work it takes to add them.
To be fair, yes I am swinging around my weight, history, and name in order to format things the way I want and get away with it. Is that fair to all the new writers? no. But then, half the time, I think all the crap that many new writers get about trivial format BS is also unfair. You all should be more greatful for the time and effort that goes into the writing.
It's this kind of pissant attitude that made warstories all but disappear from Stark Mountain near the end of 4th Gen.