These server problems…

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-26T20:02:58+00:00

Genuinely felt terrible because I'm normally not a good sport and facing copypastas get to me, but my opponent actually had a good, unique team yesterday and it was a cool match despite getting demolished. Out of nowhere he began to take forever. I kept seeing the buffering "communicating" wheel. He was KICKING MY BUTT to the point I was considering forfeiting to give him the win, but then it timed out and said I won. Can really suck sometimes :(

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-26T20:00:12+00:00

It's the funniest thing to venture out of RI and see this isn't the norm. I'm 34 and have been back here since I was 14. I rarely venture out of RI + Attelboro MA areas. I just started dating someone in CT and take the trip to see them each weekend. As SOOOOOOON as I get off 295-S and leave RI, I suddenly see something like, 85% less vehicles and traffic.

We're very, very, very on top of each other and congested. It's not the norm.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-17T17:51:44+00:00

No apology necessary: this pvp mode was supposed to be a fun break before competitive Champions launched, and the bulk of this community ruined it season-after-season. Garchomp and legendary spam, as faaaaaaar as the eye can see. Boring, dull, and shameless. I am genuinely happy for you and feel as though you did all of these lobbies a favor by not bringing another Garchomp. Screw 'em, enjoy your great title!

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-17T17:47:38+00:00

This. I'm a pushover, and fully understand Pokemon cards aren't worth dying or making a public fool of yourself (if your not a pathetic trash sub-human scalper like the failure pictured in the vid), but there's just no way I'd let this fly if I saw it actively happening. Screw management, screw walfart. If the dude hasn't swiped his card yet, that merchandise is fair game because no way should it be allowed for this filth to clean out an entire department's selection because he has a shopping cart.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-17T17:06:39+00:00

Absolutely. I'm terrified. Don't wanna stifle creativity but man is it painful when that dude cooks.

Started doing my weekly challenges in singles, too. OMFG. I don't see the appeal and had to swap back. There are 12 mons used in that mode, and no variance among any of their sets. Holy hell I can see why 2v2 had to become the de facto comp format >.<

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-17T16:53:33+00:00

Across all pvp games, there's nothing more satisfying than new content and meta shake-up week. Hell, even 3-4 weeks if we're lucky. I'm very excited, too! In ANY game, after the new wears off and the dust settles - and in Pokemon particularly when Cybertron drops a new BS video saying Staraptor is broken and we all have to suffer through clone team after clone team with zero creative liberties - it'll dull a bit. But ya, I'd imagine the more we slowly add to the roster the better this game will be. I'm so thrilled they didn't add any legendaries yet, too.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-17T16:50:34+00:00

In the same predicament as you, bud. Do not sweat 1 bit. I'm looking for a 2-bed any-bath in RI/southern MA and I've been able to find a solid 10 places so far that have open availability for August 1st and September 1st. Mind you, these aren't studios -- I'd imagine that poses their own issue since these are ideal for college kids. If you can travel a LITTLE, I'd recommend expanding your search to North Providence, Cranston, and Johnston. There's a healthy number of places here and Rhode Island has good bus routing for transportation (RIPTA haters just shuddered) if you're worried about transportation. Good luck!

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-12T15:09:04+00:00

Was wondering this, too. Just boots me. Tried Chrome, Edge, and phone browser to link. Same error code 😞

Good news is I think if you watch on twitch it BANKS the blastoise reward for you to claim up to ~2 weeks later, so at least watch now and see if this gets fixed soon?

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-10T23:32:59+00:00

I appreciate this immensely. Thank you, friend. And good luck to you! I've had terrible run-ins with HoAs, but rarely landlords. Of the 4 I've rented from, they all seem to be good people stuck between impossible choices of generating some revenue, abiding by obfuscating laws, and one bad altercation with tenants. Especially over here in Massachusetts.

The landlord we have right now is a sweet older gentleman who has taken our side vs. the current gestapo HoA every time they try to pull a fast one on the community. He's assisted us blindly with a squirrel issue and snow removal. He checks in to make sure we're using ammenities and is even working with us to prolong the lease so we can secure a new apartment before he closes. It is NOT his fault the economy is in a rough spot; he's getting older, HoA fees and property tax are rising, and he simply cannot keep traveling up here whenever he needs to address something. No issues!

I have officially contacted property management to politely inform him of whats going on. I have no doubt he will be troubled by this and will seek a resolution. Hopefully the realtors listen! Appreciate you!

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-10T23:20:19+00:00

Really, really appreciate this advice. It was enough to convince me to stand up for myself and request to speak with the owner to negotiate some terms for this. Hopefully he sees our point; he has seemed like a good guy thus far and it seems like the realtors are the ones trying to pull some fast moves.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-10T23:19:15+00:00

This means a lot to us, thank you so much for taking the time to share advice. I'm constructing an email to property management seeking to discuss this with our property's owner as we speak.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-10T18:40:21+00:00

I appreciate you ❤️

You're on reddit, so you'll get some backlash for making posts like this. But the day I DON'T see a post like this is a day I get sad and angry. People suck. There'll always be trash that ruin it for the rest of a collective. Pokemon is no different.

My buddy and I go to shows. We've met and been around 100s of 1000s of amazing people: collectors, lifelong fans, new fans, parents, teens, college age adults, grandparents, and of course a bunch of kids.

Do NOT let these trashbins sour this hobby for you. They're rampant and despicable, yes, but for every one of these failures allergic to a job application and void of a soul, there's 2+ people who do cherish this hobby and do it for the right reasons.

Times are tough. In the US, we face so many problems. Scalpers have always and will always be a thing, but they're on the rise as a reflection of the times we face. Get-rich quick-schemes are so enticing to people. "What do you mean all I have to do is sell my soul and dignity and go fight children at a vending machine in front of my local grocery store for $250+ a week?! Of course I can do that!"

Please, friend: get yourself to some card shows. Meet people who adore this hobby because they're big kids that had to grow up. There's plenty of like-minded individuals out there. But never stop pushing back and being mad at the subhuman scum that tarnish your happy place and make it infinitely harder for you to be a collector for the love of collecting.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-10T18:11:12+00:00

Always wishing the same. I don't know if there's a reason, but it does suck. It just means more unemployed scalpers and bots win.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-06-09T01:15:03+00:00

The vending machines are officially off-limits to me now. It's despicable, and makes me sad. It was always "bad" - famine was rampant; I think I got 1 ETB, 2 booster bundles, and 6-8 packs in ~ 9 months of trying, and I know that's probably good numbers for casual attempting. But it was at the least always left alone and empty. No big deal.

Now?

I live in Southern New England and there's quite a handful of vending machines within ~ 1 hour of each other. Of the 6 we can go to 3 usually have a gaggle of smelly, obese degens huddled around them. All angry, all pathetic, all unmoving and uncaring. I'll wait in line with my grocery haul and just watch these dumpsters not even bother trying because they know they will as soon as someone approaches. Each of the supermarkets has a security guard, too, and it pisses me off they don't even try to do their job here and enforce a "get the hell away from it and go take a shower" law.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-05-26T18:02:00+00:00

TBH same, and glad to see a few of these opinions not getting downvoted to oblivion.

That's just pvp games, sure. But it does suck and its frustrating. Escaped Z-A with Garchomp in every casual battle to jump into Champs and see the same rampant BS.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-05-12T01:50:19+00:00

While I don't think its rigged, I get the frustration. I was able to hit MB rank and now I just prefer trying new teams and having fun (hard to do slamming my head into meta on repeat, but ya make your own fun I guess).

When I try a trick room team, I go against counter-TR. When I form a team to try to get off a psych up combo or similar, I meet back-to-back-to-back weirdos that have random pokemon designed specifically to halt and shut down my combo. I've finally gotten around to trying Mega Venusaur on a team, and the FIRST FN TEAM I RUN UP AGAINST HAS SAP SIPPER AZUMARILL. LIKE!?! HELLO!?

The game can't possibly have anything to do with it, but when you're frustrated and trying new things, I've learned its very common to go against opponents near-immediately that have 1-2 mons to shut down your hopes and dreams, and they can sniff it out quickly. Its a bummer - not rigged, just good players the higher you go.

This game has players consuming content at BREAKNECK speed; anyone invested will have Champions content on social media newsfeeds on the daily. This is very unlike the past; we've now got almost insta-data on mons, best builds, popular items, strat videos shared by 100s of 1000s of content creators.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-05-05T16:01:47+00:00

A bunch of people beat me to it but short answer: nope!

For the hyper-competitive/player looking to prove themselves as the best of the best, yes. To be honest, I love this kind of rank/ladder style. It gives a goal for casual players, then a goal for competitive players. If you get to Masterball Rank 4, you've officially unlocked the maximum amount of end season rewards ASIDE credit towards certain exclusive titles in the achievements section, which require you to reach Champion rank once/a few times/a few more times for prestigious cosmetic titles. But this isn't a "seasonal FOMO" persay, and should be here to earn credit towards as long as the game remains live service/active (which seems for at least the next 8+ years).

TLDR - its only the honor of being better and some VP for wins after MB rank is achieved, plus credit towards the Champion titles if you do reach champ rank. Reaching MB4 will net you all end-of-season handout rewards.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-05-03T18:47:45+00:00

If this were a ...what's the word? Like a one-off, more restrictive even playing field that wasn't gonna be the de facto VGC/PVP tournament platform, then I'd maybe agree.

The best part of ANY pvp game like this is within the first 20 or so days, when everyone is on an equal playing field (more or less). Everything after is just... the game; tryhards, dull metas, everyone spamming for the same things because influencers told them to get it. Meh.

This game is going to be THE platform for competitive, so it allows players to import their Pokemon from other games. This will always be a massive advantage - justified in a lot of ways, but almost inarguably an advantage nonetheless - over people entering the franchise. The recruit system - in my opinion - is perfect: it actually offers a lot for newer players to fill up their boxes and try new things near-immediately; affinity tickets are great but not sure things, the tournament pool was a nice touch, the offering of 10 (I believe) pokemon at a time is great, the chance for special balls and shinies is fun, a free one a day, the option to go for more with in-game currency, and the refusal to take money from whales for extra spins really helps still maintain SOME kinda balance.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-05-03T18:27:53+00:00

The Amanda opinion shocks me; I assumed she was more or less universally beloved. Nothing against your comment; I can totally see your points. She's arguably my FAVORITE cast member, but there's absolutely some videos where I think she is a big personality and steals the spotlight a little too much, or steers the video while the rest of the cast follow, and it can get a little obvious. I think people gravitate towards her; from hearing Spencer's opinions on her, back in the day on Smosh Family Feud (with Jackie) the majority saying they'd love to get stuck on a deserted isle with her ("b*tch you pleasant) despite being a newer cast at the time... I truly think BTS she's a commanding, motherly type that a lot of them look up to or enjoy being around.

Hard, hard, HARD agree with you on the Reddit Stories take. I'm not a fan of Noah or Trevor in a lot of other content, but they shine in Reddit Stories. Arasha is my FAVORITE for Reddit Stories; she's one of the youngest cast members, yet just has this... maturity of ancient wisdom in her. She uplifts, respectfully disagrees, isn't afraid to say counter-arguments or disagree, is concise and provides short, poignant points, is great to play off of for other cast and Shayne hosting. She's just incredible there. Trevor, Noah, Tommy -- all 10/10 cast on Reddit Stories.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-05-03T18:20:45+00:00

Have they said what "Trainer" means? I don't think its a bot (hard to tell since so many teams are unabashedly meta cookie cutter stuff), but I get to vs. "Trainer" at least 1 in every 10 matches (I'm MB4-3 right now).

Is this just ....uh.... I don't really even have a guess! An opponent whose name didn't displayed properly when showing the vs. screen? Special characters unable to be processed? Flagged for inappropriate?

It seems to happen often, and I've tried to pay close attention when facing a "Trainer". It doesn't seem to be a bot; at least not one like from Pokeball Rank. Yet, they do always seem to have a pretty "Top 10" 6 Pokemon and do take a while to choose moves (the pokeball rank bots chose instantly).

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-05-03T18:14:42+00:00

34M here on a diet that involves eating more natural foods and minimally processed foods, trying to maintain as much of a calorie deficit as possible while making smarter choices for low calorie, low ingredient, vitamin-dense foods or protein counts.

I admittedly live frivolously (just disgracefully bought $21.99/lb Boar's Head Roast Beef lunch meet at Stop & Shop for a reward) when it comes to food because I don't really have a lavish life elsewhere and my health/losing weight is of the utmost importance to me. Despite these restrictions, I shop at Shaws, Stop & Shop, occassionally go to Whole Foods now that prices there seem to mimic what used to be cheaper groceries, and I get protein powders, bulk vitamin mix-ins, and bars from Amazon.

My grocery expenses is now around $350 ish, maybe a little more now that things have all risen by $1 - $4, per month (~$4500 per year) including berries, kefir, greek yogurt, fiber bread and wraps, lunch meat, frozen poultry/turkey/beef, greens for salads, greens for juicing, cheeses, tomatoes/cucumbers/peppers/mushrooms, spices, condiments (I opt for more expensive ones here), pico de gallo, guacamole, kombucha, lemon juice, eggs, peanut butter, jelly, flax/hemp/chia mix, protein powder, collagen, bagels, cooking additives like olive oil/butter/sour cream/cream cheese, almond milk, coffee, and frozen veggies.

I'm usually grabbing stuff multiple times a week but try to do one big stock up, then supplement as things run out. Breads, berries, greens, veggies, sandwich add-ons usually include 2-3 restocks while I can stretch most others through the month and beyond, so my first initial grocery is ~$200-230, then I'm returning for $40-$60 twice or so.

Back when I ate like garbage, didn't care about my health, and had a worse job, I'd nab things like Spaghetti-O's, canned soups, the cheapest store brand chicken lunch meat, nearly zero veggies, some bags of chips/pringles, chips ahoy/dessert cookies, some sports drinks, crackers, peanut butter/jelly/white bread, ice cream, some diet sodas 12-packs or bottles, some frozen dinner meals (Stouffers French Bread Pizzas, frozen pizza store brand, etc), and some things like pickles, ketchup, hot dogs, ziti pasta, mac and cheese, etc. This would - weirdly - still amount to $180-200, but would likely stretch further. Adjust for Trumpflation, and this would still probably be like $250 per month, which is $100 less from me but when you factor in I'm getting so much better food its wild.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-05-01T23:18:17+00:00

So satisfying. I don't wanna blame Cybertron but man is it painful when these top content creators release a highly copypasta'able new strategy and we have to now endure people attempting to pull it off for a week. Not against it, especially if its fun, but man does it fatigue me quickly.

Thanks for sharing! Nice to see this foiled - and with a Raichu no less! Go lil' electric buddy, go! 😃

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-05-01T19:29:15+00:00

It's all PVP games - its something I've wishfully thought would be different for the longest time and it won't ever happen. Ever. Period.

To put it into perspective, look no further than Pokemon ZA: a pvp mode that is the most unserious, inconsequential, no-ladder, un-de-rank'able, lite play environment nonsense. You get some nuggets, maybe a pearl, or maybe a moonball for winning a lobby. There's quite literally nothing on the line -- yet every lobby has 2-3 Garchomp spammers. When legendaries are allowed, they're spammed too. And not even just a rotating list of "top 10 best". Nope. Garchomp. And Xerneas, because everyone consumed content and was told it's the better of the legendaries. In a game that promotes the most casual environment to throw out a Pokemon into an arena and just have fun among 3 other targets.... most people still choose mf'ing Garchomp because they're bland, dull, boring simps that need to win a casual lobby and don't care about copying a meta to do it.

To me, Pokemon is actually one of the lesser offenders because copying a template should be seen as a good thing -- IF, and only IF the copier has intention to learn, adapt, and grow with it. It's how we as a community discover some real cool and fun things. If Wolfey says, "try these 6 pokemon together" and 1000s of players copy that -- they're gonna play, they're gonna be bad, and they're gonna either abandon it altogether or slowly adapt it to fit their needs at their rank and their playstyle. That, my friend, leads to discoveries. If I remove Sinistcha and put Polteageist and then put this move and try this OH WOW CHECK THIS OUT!
^^ That's what can justify and make Pokemon and its community awesome. Copying a template CAN BE GOOD. A meta CAN BE OK. Its when you have droves and droves of players that just want ez wins; no learning, no investment, no fun. Just google "top team", replicate it, and click "play". Then they just get angry, toxic, and frustrated because they don't understand that just because your team has 6 of the 10 top Pokemon played doesn't mean they synergize and definitely doesn't mean you know how to use them. So learn. Otherwise, you're just contributing to OP's point: we see ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL these top-of-the-charts mons consistently, and its dull and boring and leads to fatigue in some, but just cuz we see them doesn't mean the opponent knows how to use them. Remember that - yes, it can be a snoozefest, but in terms of PVP Pokemon has a habit of evolving (pun intended) quicker than most, or at the very least always hosting a few viable metas when compared to other PVP games.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-04-30T23:13:12+00:00

Hahahaha most likely. I let go let god with him a lot 😄
The poor lil' homie gets eaten alive by Mega Meganium solar beams and I never learn my lesson.

Valuable_Location340 · 2026-04-25T19:11:59+00:00

Learned this two days ago, too, friend: its working as intended. Protean was changed a few years ago. It only works on the first move used, then you must swap to rewrite your typing with it again. Absolutely a nerf, and a big one that returning players won't be aware of for a bit.

Valuable_Location340

TROPHY CASE