★Devolution Battle Royale!★

[Neo Emolga]

Had a quick chat with Chakra and this will be the official ruling for Season 26 and onward:

We're going with the quarantine ruling and arnisd with his Gastly > Haunter > Gengar Lineup will be paired with ARandomTool and his Sableye > Mega Sableye / Spiritomb Lineups within their own bracket as the Seasons progress. If RNG calls up one of them, the other is called in as well. They'll battle each other within this specialized isolated bracket that no one else can be pulled into until one of them remains from this 1-on-1 duel (you are free to wear cowboy hats if you choose). They each have three stages that all involve ghost types so it's a pretty fair fight. In light of this, Wheeling can't be an option for these two during this duel as it would be crazy unfair considering it's pretty much a death sentence for the victim with the other only having ghosts then. You'll still have the option to both devolve and evolve, however.

While this is going on, the remaining players (Neo Emolga, Chakramaster, Scytherwolf, Noblejanobii, and Bulbasaur) will be in our own playing field bracket. If RNG calls on one of us, we step up to the plate, but the second RNG call-in can't be ARandomTool or arnisd until after their duel is over. They will only rejoin this bracket after the duel. This bracket will proceed as normal alongside the ghost-duel bracket as the Seasons go on.

The duel between ARandomTool and arnisd concludes when one or the other has been eliminated and perma-egged. The one that wins then has to trade in their remaining ghost Pokémon stages for any Pokémon they so wish (as long as it follows the same format that was implemented when the game started), but these new selections can't be ghost types. Anything goes but ghost types. The advantage here (and as compensation for this much-needed intervention) is that they can go for something that might have some advantage over what remains on the playing field, but it won't be the game-breaking advantage they currently have as ghost types.

But yeah, I tried to think of the fairest way to resolve this without completely disrupting the game and this was the best solution I could think of that keeps it fair and keeps the spirit of the game intact. It's too late to hit the rewind button and undo the impact it had already (unless one of you has a time machine I can graciously borrow), but at least it's being addressed now. Hey, if you consider how many times online games get patched and updated, I think we did pretty good on this one. :P

I'm also happy to say DBR2 has a wide variety of ways to address this advantage in that ghosts can still be used as a viable option and don't have to be completely banned, but there are tools, tactics, and strategic approaches that can be used to counter and turn the tables on this advantage they have. Multi-battles will ensure the amount of normal-move flinging at ghost types is minimized (although it's still possible). Items will also be available. One is Just Desserts that the loser of a match can use on the winner to send the winner into their own Wheel, which can disrupt a seemingly unstoppable ghost type's reign if they get turned into something else. And there is a second item called Cheaty Cookie that will turn the user's Not Very Effective attacks and No Effect attacks into normal strike and super-effective attacks. That alone will be an effective tactic in turning the tables on a ghost type's advantages and actually have them work against them. There's plenty more planned for DBR2, but those stand at the front of ideas we've come up with to rebalance the playing field. And of course, to make things ridiculously wackier because that's what you came for, of course. But as much as we'd love to, these are major game changes and it's out of place to drop them in mid-way through this game. But it at least gives you something fun to look forward to in the sequel!

And there you have it. Thanks for understanding and I hope you enjoy the remainder of the craziness to come!