How should XP Work in Gen 8?

[Aduro]

I think the key item Exp. Share should be given post-game. That was its still useful for EV training or setting up a new team full of poekmon you didn't have room for in the main story. But you should also have a held item exp. share available during the main story. That way it makes you commit to your team while playing the main game. It feels stupid when everyone goes on what a special bond you have with your pokemon, but you've only used some of your current team for like two routes.

As an aside, what's so wrong with and RPG making levelling up a little difficult?

The beauty of a scaling exp system is that it essentially auto-corrects level imbalances. You can use tons of pokémon, you'll be a bit lower level than if you use only a few, but you won't end up way behind because you'll simply get more exp to catch up. When you're quite a bit behind you'll just get a level every time you defeat a pokémon, so you'll catch up quite quickly. While if you're a bit ahead you'll get very little exp and the enemies catch up so you won't be in easy-mode for long.

Its nice, but it needs to be toned down IMO. It takes so little time to raise low-level pokemon that you don't get that sense of spending time with or thinking about the early stages at all. But when you're trying to get a bunch of lvl 80 pokemon to lvl 100 it slows down to an absolute crawl. No matter how well optimised for grinding you are. It really bored me, especially with the sheer number of legendaries you can only get postgame, and the requirement for lvl 100 for hyper training. Either reduce the scaling, or give us some postgame wild pokemon that make grinding easier,like lvl 75 chansey instead of lvl 50s.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Its nice, but it needs to be toned down IMO. It takes so little time to raise low-level pokemon that you don't get that sense of spending time with or thinking about the early stages at all. But when you're trying to get a bunch of lvl 80 pokemon to lvl 100 it slows down to an absolute crawl. No matter how well optimised for grinding you are. It really bored me, especially with the sheer number of legendaries you can only get postgame, and the requirement for lvl 100 for hyper training. Either reduce the scaling, or give us some postgame wild pokemon that make grinding easier,like lvl 75 chansey instead of lvl 50s.

I don't think that's down to the system of gaining exp as much as it is to the balance of levels in the game. The highest level opponents you can face in the post-game are still below level 70, and for wild pokémon they're below 60. The gap between that and level 100 is just very big. Compare that to BW2, where Champion Iris in the rematch has a team in excess of level 80.

It's also just down to how you play. I have two Rare Kitchens in my Festival Plaza. Last Friday I still had to hatch a Bagon and get it ready for the battle competition. I hatched it, went through the Elite Four once, and it was level 54. Grinded two levels on Poni Island in the wild to get it to 56. Then with two Rare Kitchens I could get it to 98 almost instantly, and used Rare Candies for the last two levels for Hyper Training. From hatching to level 100 took me about half an hour or so.
On the other hand, I also remember grinding a Sandshrew in post-game. I didn't feel like doing it the quick way. From about level 25-30 or so I took it to the grass at Mount Lanakila and battled wild pokémon like Glalie and Sneasel, which are in the 40s there. With perpetual hail and a lot of wild ice types Sandshrew could easily beat them with Iron Head. Had quite a bit of fun there.

 

[crobatman]

I think there should be an option with the XP share whether to use on just one pokemon or the whole party. Also, it should be given later in the game.

 

[Leonhart]

The Gen V model was pretty useful from what I can remember from my level grinding days in Black and White, although something akin to Gen VII's experience gain model would be alright, too.

 

[bobandbill]

I went with gen 5, although it was in part because (particularly B2W2) was well balanced with it in mind. I say that in relation to postgame too, because Join Avenue was a managable way to build up facilities to boost up levels to 100 (or whatever you wanted) combined with runs in White Hollow/Black Tower. SM/USUM seemed to lack this.

 

[XanderCage]

One thing I'd like to see that is tied to experience is removing the notification for every single level a pokemon gains when you're training them. If they gain 4 levels for example just notify for the highest level they reach. Any moves that they learn in between will just be mass editable at the level.

 

[Dragalge]

You guys do realize that Gen V/VII’s exp systems are the same, yes?

Gen V/VII’s exp systems are the best. It’s just that BW2 had a lot better areas to grind your Pokemon so hopefully something like the XY Chateau thing is present in SS.

 

[Ducolamia]

OOooohh This is an interesting discussion!

As many others have said, the gen 5 EXP system was the start of the near-perfect balancing we got in gen 7. For Black and White, it was a rocky start as there were not a lot of good areas to grind minus Audino via shaking grass and many of the pokemon had a level cap making it even harder to get to that point. The infamous post-game shows this as while you are around the mid 50's at the end of the game, the post game has mid=60 pokemon. Granted, they are fodder and can't do much to you, but it didn't chance the fact that you had a weird mix. It wasn't until B2/W2 that we actually got MORE areas to grind and with the variety of pokemon it made it much easier to level up and catch up.

The same can not be said for gen 6. For as much as I love the concept of the exp share all I think the execution still has a lot to be explored ( this is why a say near perfect for gen 7) and it doesn't help that you're given so much EXP from the get-go. It makes the game so pathetically easier than it needs to be. It's true. Pokemon games have never been super hard, but they don't need to make a "simple" game, even easier. There's more than enough given to you in the games ( Amie/Refresh, Super Training, Chansey Spots) to do that. And to add in the notion that the game was made easy for mobile players is baffling to say the least. I agree that being able to choose pokemon is much better than all or nothing.

This is why I'm glad they kind of stepped back in gen 7 and changed it. I honestly felt like the EXP in that game was fair enough. Never had to grind mindlessly for an hour (gen 2/3) or went through it with ease(gen 6) I always felt that as long as you battled the main trainers I was prepared. I played through Su/mo/US/UM 4 four times. And I can safely say there was never a point in which I felt like my levels didn't match the challenge I was facing. If anything it felt like my fault for not being prepared! Which is what I think was missing in other gens (specifically 2 and 6). If they choose to continue with the gen 7 system, I'm all for it. But I do wish for the EXP share to be changed to modify the initial journey.