Speaking of Mega Magcargo...
Not suppose to really talk about fanmade stuff, but jeez is that bad. Though for some reason they only increase its stats by 20 and dropped its Defense to 10 so that's probably why. All that said, think Magcargo would probably really like to have Solid Rock as an Ability.
Well Ultra Necrozma kinda has that, since Ultra Burst is its special variation of Mega Evolution, and then Z-Move next turn. I'm guessing it doesn't get a 100 point increase like Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion is because of that Z-Move.
Well I thought of three ways they could combine Mega & Z-Moves:
Mega Z-Move: It's a more powerful Z-Move, with what Mega Stone used affecting its Power, giving it a secondary effect, increasing priority, etc.. However the move used to initiate the Z-Move would be all used up (move doesn't have to have full PP to use Mega Z-Move, just when it's used does all the remaining PP get used up).
Mega Z-Evolution: Mega Pokemon will be stronger with different Z-Crystals effecting different stats. However Mega will have less HP (not sure how much, would by half be too much?).
Mega Z-Combination: Pokemon Mega Evolves and then uses a Z-Move. However it'll receive recoil damage (equal to half the damage it does or is that too much?).
And if they just so happen to have a Mega Stone and Z-Move for a specific Pokemon (like let's say they make a Z-Crystal for Lucario, Lucarium Z), since it's a matching pair it lessens the negative effects of whatever one you do (Mega Z-Move would only use half the remaining PP, Mega Z-Evolution won't lose as much HP, Mega Z-Combination will have recoil damage be less).
An Opportunity cost could balance it out. Instead of being able to Mega Evolve right away, you have to wait a few turns as in building energy for Mega Evolution? Pokemon with a higher BST will have to wait longer than Pokemon with a lower BST. That way, there's a higher opportunity cost for using the stronger Megas like Salamence.
Maybe? Though I think my point still stand that I think they should find a way to have multiple Mega Pokemon and Z-Moves, especially for Mega Pokemon if we'd like to have more of them be made.
But the casual games never have this kind of prediction. It doesn't matter if the Xerneas KOES you with Moonblast or Critically KOES it doesn't matter. All you can do is use a revive for the former or a full Restore for the latter. Now you can check that Primal Groudon when that Xerneas is gone. That kind of privilege rots any desire to play conservatively, making predictions without any caution, and respond to RNG and that badly prepares someone for the competitive scene.
And that's another reason why the battle facilities are a poor thing for the casual players. The game suddenly transitions from use potions when in trouble to now you need to conserve. If there's a mishap, too bad you can't use the potions we taught you so far. This is why battle facilities are a problem and discouraging for the casual player, since it takes everything from the casual side and throws it out the window.
And the potion problem isn't that hard to fix. Simply make it that Potions and healing items can't be used in-battle: Only outside of battle. I'm guessing in GF eye's, its balanced since it takes a turn and the AI use it. But being able to revive a Pokemon is a small opportunity cost for a turn. Not to mention the AI only hits certain threshold and then they use it, this can be played around. The AI only has two Potions and 0 revives as well, so its very weighted in the player's balance.
I always thought that when challenging a Gym or the Pokemon League you should be given a "Battle Bag" where you could only put a certain amount of Potions, Medicine, Revives, Ethers & Berries in (and it goes by a point system where the better items cost more points) and those are the only healing items you can use throughout the challenge (they would also have to make it so that you're unable to leave the Gym/Pokemon League unless you forfeit, but you won't get the experience and money you normally would have gotten and the whole challenge resets including Gym Trainers). While not completely preparing a player for competitive play, it does introduce that element of cautious and conservative play as you don't have access to those 99 Full Restores and Revives in your bag, you only have the 2 or 3 Full Restores or Revives (or more of a lesser Potion or Medicine which then brings its own level of cautiousness as you'll only heal for a certain amount of HP or a specific kind of status ailment). Would also make Ethers useful as, if they also make it so you can't leave the Gym without forfeiting, that means running out of PP for your strong moves might also be an actual factor. Also obviously the Gym Leader, Elite Four, Champion would be restricted to the Battle Bag limits (or maybe be allowed to have a little extra as they are the boss...).
But to give a player a taste of competitive play, I think they should have the Battle Facility available during middle main game and put some emphasis on it (maybe even outright mentioning that the rules of the Battle Facility are the same as professional battles). With the Move Tutors and able to buy some stronger battling items for BP would at the very least encourage even new players to try it out and showing them what to expect and that could very well mold their strategies to try and use less healing items, thinking about what held item their Pokemon should have, and take a second look at those Status moves they've been overlooking or weaker moves with useful secondary effects.
Grass types in general have problems, mostly due to so many other types resisting it and coming with a lot of weaknesses. The best single turn Grass attacks in the first two generations had 60 base power at best, and Leaf Blade was exclusive to the Treecko line in the GBA games. Grass types are supposed to counter Water, but Water types can have Ice moves, and some common ones have a secondary Flying or Poison type to make Grass attacks neutral.
Even with the improvements like Energy Ball and Grass Knot in the later games, my solo Roserade still had trouble with all the Flying, Poison, and Bug types in Pearl.
Another issue with Grass-types is that they're supposed to have a gimmick of passively healing/curing thanks to moves like Leech Seed, Ingrain, Aromatherapy or stronger healing in general like in Synthesis. But the problem with that is that you need to use up a move slot for each one they want to have. Also there's an issue with a lot of their Abilities and some moves being stronger in Strong Sunlight... which power-up Fire-type moves that they're weak to.
If this passive healing is a route they want the Grass-types to use they really need to add/change a few things: Give them an innate trait (like how Fire-types are immune to Burn, Ghost-types can't be trapped, Dark are immune to Prankster, etc.) to just heal 1/8th of their max HP every turn if the weather is strong sunlight or raining. Chlorophyll & Leaf Guard gives the user Fire-type resistance when Sunny Weather is active (thus countering the Fire-type move boost used against them). Similarly also have Synthesis, Solar Beam and Solar Blade grant the Pokemon that use it Fire-type resistance in Sunny Weather for at least the turn it's used on.
Absolutely. I don't even necessarily think that upping the maximum to 4 is necessarily the way to go (albeit I'm not against it), but boosting all FE Pokemon to 3 and making hidden abilities less restrictive to get. Some Pokemon could use an overhaul, especially ones stuck with field abilities like Illuminate and Pickup that serve no purpose in battle (or at least give them a battle mechanic along with the field mechanic).
I also think it's time for GameFreak to break their Levitate and nothing else clause officially. It's a great ability but good grief, give Flygon something else. Bronzor/Bronzong being the only Pokemon to break the trend after all this time is so weird.
But you see, that's the issue. GF can certainly address the 4 moves & 2-3 Abilities issue in various ways that gives more options to Pokemon and letting players use more content... but they don't want to. Don't know whether it's because they feel it's too much of a risk (I can see something like this being a fanbase splitter), it might become too overwhelming, and/or they're just not interested and prefer to focus on the newer features & mechanics even if they're going to drop it next gen. Infact many problems we have can be easily addressed with simple solutions, but GF for one reason or another don't see a reason to go back to it because they're already "done" with it and want to move on.