Which tier is your least favorite?
I don't think I can give proper justice to this question because the only tiers I've truly played are Ubers, OU, and DW. I've played a few matches of UU and maybe one of NU. I'd like to explore the other tiers a bit more, but until then I'll say my least favorite is OU. Hopefully BW2 changes this, but so much of OU is quite literally the same thing over and over again. Props to the people innovating but seriously, practically 75%+ of the teams are volt-turn.
What are your opinions on Smogon as a whole?
While there are some noticeable and big pitfalls to the site, it has a strong direction and a lot of potential. Even without chaos (one of the site's largest problems), we're pretty good at self-governing, which speaks volumes to our sites leadership IMO, especially the fact that some of it was directly snubbed by some actions yet are still staying on for the good of the community.
What was the last GP check you personally performed?
I haven't been a truly active GPer in ages. Back when I created the GP team with whistle, I realized that administrating (not being an admin, but running things like the team) made it much harder to be as active in actually doing the thing. My most active period was back in 2009. If you were active in C&C during that time (and a bit in the beginning of 2010), there's a fair chance that I checked many of your analyses. diinbong, jumpluff, erodent, and I were the driving forces in that area back then.
How "active" do you think you are, especially in comparison with other site leaders? I.e. how often do you get stuff done?
Most people recognize me as an "active admin." The line between "active" and "inactive" admin are nebulous at best because a lot of admin work is behind the scenes, but I think the fact that I log on almost everyday and do my "jobs" of administrating C&C and doing PO/IRC stuff, along with peripheral jobs like the Smog, pushes me into the "active" tab.
Thoughts on Pokemon Showdown! and all of its events?
I think with Smogon's pull and Zarel's majesty of a simulator, we have the tools to really wallop PO. The fact that it is browser-based simulator is not to be underestimated; when the kinks with things like saving teams are worked out, we'll have a simulator that you can easily use on almost any computer straight from the get-go. People don't like downloading software if given the choice. Furthermore, in the few times I've been on when a spammer hits, it seems a lot easier to deal with them than on PO, so I anticipate a much cleaner chatting environment as well. I think we have a real winner here.
If you had $100,000 dollars right now, what would you do with it?
100K doesn't buy you really obscene things like jets or homes, so I would probably invest it or save it for education. That can buy me like 2 years of college or some amount of med school (lol Columbia is so expensive) so investing in my future when I can conceivably make more money (not the first priority obviously but still) seems to be a good path.
I'm actually not a huge fan of chocolate. I like it in moderation but I often turn away chocolate candy for fruit or sour candy. In any case, I do enjoy Mars bars and Butterfingers every so often.
What is the purpose of life, in your opinion?
From a purely biological standpoint, the purpose of life is to increase diversity in the gene pool of the species, specifically with good, survival-promoting genes. This would ensure continuity of the human race.
I bet you wanted a more philosophical answer though. I don't think that there is a clear, dominating "purpose" of life that we can generalize to people. I think the first part on the path to complete a "purpose" of life is to, well, give yourself a purpose. For some people, for example doctors, that is to help others. For religious people, it is often to be close to or please God. Once you can identify something that has deep meaning to you, you can turn an abstract, intangible concept into something you can actually complete. It's all well and good to set out to do something, but actually completing something and having closure is where the feeling of accomplishment comes from; that's what we're searching for, right?
ibo gimme another song to listen to :>
Either listen to Thank You that I linked to ete earlier, or, courtesy of shnen:
[youtube]g-Z_6_iZnJw[/youtube]
if you could kill somebody with the guarantee nobody would ever find out and it would be a total stranger you would never have met otherwise, would you do it? why or why not?
I'd probably pass it up. I doubt I could live with the knowledge that I took another person's life, even if I would never have met them.
if you could fuck any girl ( or guy, gaybo) right now, who would it be? You have to answer the question with a picture.
No matter what girl (I'm heterosexual) I link to you, I bet you'd be able to find me a more attractive one.
If you're really picky I can make a jpeg with that on it.
When you told me that you have played Starcraft, I couldn't help but ask you this question: What is your favorite Starcraft race?
(If you can't tell by my sig, my avatar, and my name, mine's Zerg.)
In terms of those rpgs or mass attacks, I'd probably say Zerg. Critters like the zergling and the hydralisk are pretty classic Starcraft and they're very effective.
In terms of actually building, I'd probably go with Terran. I dislike how drones are consumed in building and the issue of making sure you have creep is kind of irritating. On the flip side, while probes can "set it and forget it," Protoss buildings and units are, in general, incredible expensive and overall slower when compared to other races.
Make Fireburn come on IRC more.
I'm trying, I'm trying.
Do you enjoy my writing? Are there any weaknesses you've noted that I should work on?
Yeah, it kind of reminds me of my own. I try to stick away from overdoing it with superfluously complex words and using totally outlandish statements so I guess that's a good place to start.
Do you agree with me that Tornadus-I is probably better-suited for Ubers play than Tornadus-T?
121 Speed is still nice, albeit not as nice as in OU. Tornadus-I's Prankster Tailwind is still the main reason to play it so it'll probably remain the most popular. Don't underestimate the fact that Regenerator essentially undoes the only entry damage that Tornadus-T takes though, since it's especially important in the current Ubers metagame.
Apparently Regen Ho-Oh is released. Are you as excited as I am? Also Multiscale Lugia's a thing now but that can go eat a dick.
Regen Ho-Oh is going to be simultaneously awesome to use and a nightmare to prepare for. Expect a huge rise in sun teams in the next month, and a leveling out soon after. I think rain will still be more popular but who knows.
Multiscale Lugia is cool, although Pressure was great for the standard walling set. I'm determined to try a CM Multiscale sweeper though.
Do you know of me? If so how?
No. Should I?
If you had the opportunity to promote one mod/supermod, who would it be an why?
I've been a driving force behind most of the super mod promotions since January. I already influence the process so this question is kind of moot.
Nice well so far, hopefully this doesn't too argumentative but I want to just ask this.
What is so good about the insaneness in ubers? With a lot of less skilled players all it is giving powerful mons max speed and attack/sp.attack and then just blast it out. This insanity means that skill and strategy sometimes isn't needed to win so solid walls kinda stop just teams getting thrown together just because they have the highest attacking stats.
Sure, clicking Outrage with DD Ray is pretty easy, but for every awesome sweeper you get, that's one extra sweeper your opponent can use. In a tier where most of the Pokemon have no absolute counters, unlike OU, many play strategies will rely more on smart playing instead of "did I pack a counter for this specific Pokemon."
That being said, that post has spawned some less serious that I'd like to know.
What wall do you most often use in ubers?
I primarily use rain teams, so I usually stick with things like Ferrothorn and Lugia. Gliscor is hilarious fun though and that's definitely worth a shot.
What's you're favourite check for Ferrothorn?
I really want people to start using Specs Ogre again. Most players use Ferrothorn as their sole Kyogre switch-in, so having it take 60% from a Specs Ogre Water Spout will be a real wake-up call.
Have you ever used a stall team in any tier?
Every so often I use a stall team in Ubers. One of my better teams was Dialga / Kyogre / Gliscor / Ferrothorn / Arceus-Ghost / Lugia, which had a nice little run before I realized it was terribly weak to Forretress and spikestacking. I just feel more comfortable with offense I guess.
If the species clause was turned off and you faced a team with a Kyorge and 5 Ferrothorn's, how would you react?
I would hopefully be running a sun team with Palkia to decimate it.
Going away from that.
Do you think Keldeo, Genesect or Melotetta will stay uber? Why, why not?
None of those Pokemon are actually Uber; they're unreleased, meaning that they're illegal for gameplay use.
Genesect will probably be knocked to Ubers because it has great stats, a great ability, and a fantastic movepool, meaning that it can be very hard to deal with. It's a dominating force in DW and I think people will find it overwhelming in OU.
Keldeo is kind of on the fence because it's got great STABs but a strangely restricted movepool. Secret Sword plus Hydro Pump is most of what it needs, but being one of the only Water-types without an Ice move kind of hurts. I think rain was kind of broken by BW2 though, between Thundurus and Tornadus' Therian forms along with Keldeo, so we'll see what gets banned. I don't think Keldeo is overwhelming though.
I can't see Meloetta getting banned. The Pirouette form has great stats, but the Aria form's stats are by no means gamebreaking. The fact that you have to "set up" the Pirouette form will probably be a death blow to its hopes of being super top tier.
And I believe that is the end of my well. Thanks to everybody who asked questions!
