There’s been some questions floating around about PPL Online 2024 and this post will address that. Fair Warning that this will be a long read.

So, what’s going on with PPLO 2024?

PPLO started off very strong and very rewarding for the majority of participants (Leaders and Challengers alike), but has slowly been declining in numbers, with a lack of participation from both ends, for multiple reasons. PPLO 2023 really struggled. While fun for challengers, it did not meet the same results or expectations for leaders.

The feedback from leaders was majority negative, with very real concerns we saw in real time during that weekend. Many leaders sat there for hours doing nothing, and ultimately ended up battling amongst themselves. There just simply was not enough challenger involvement, or schedules didn’t line up for those who wanted to participate. It doesn’t feel great to put so much time and effort into planning the event only for there to be extremely little turnout.

The classic league format just wasn’t working anymore for Online. Because of this, the sad decision to sunset PPLO (at least for 2024) has been made.

Wait, really?

Yes, really. However! All is not lost. After much thinking and discussing, the idea for a series of NEW online events (that would take place in between PPLs, which also includes when PPLO occured) came into thought.

Instead of squishing it all in one 3 day weekend, the new events would take place over 3-4 weeks, or possibly longer (depending on amount of participation). Every week, participants are assigned a random** opponent and are responsible for doing one mandatory battle per week. Participants will be responsible for setting up a time to battle with their opponents, either through public channels that will be made for this event (similar to PPLO) or DMs.

There will also be opportunities to battle more than once per week if there is availability between both parties, for those of you that are itching to battle. Although battles will be entirely done through Pokemon Showdown and not the physical game cart, current PPL rules still apply but some rules may be tweaked a bit for the purpose of the event. Battles will be defaulted to Singles but if both battling participants agree to do Doubles, Doubles may be done in place of Singles.

**Depending on skill level, if there is a very large skill discrepancy, participants may have a smaller pool of opponents to be randomly matched up with so it is fair

Where are the Gym Leaders and Challengers?

There are no leaders or challengers for the new events. Every participant will be RANDOMLY assigned two types (dual typing) and a RANDOM Limited List Pokemon (is not contingent on your assigned dual typing) to build their teams with. Participants may use only one or both types assigned (this means ALL Pokemon included in each typing, not just strictly those Pokemon who fit the specific dual typing.) The randomly assigned Limited List Pokemon will be a participant’s Partner Pokemon, and they will not be allowed to use any other Limited List Pokemon (Just like standard PPL Rules. If you do not know what a “Limited List” Pokemon is, please visit our Rules page here https://paxpokemonleague.net/rules/), however, participants ARE NOT required to use it. Teams built are not static, and may be changed at any time during the event (provided it fits the parameters of your dual type restrictions, Partner Pokemon, and PPL rules). There will be also opportunities for participants to change their type(s) and Partner Pokemon to another randomly assigned one if they choose to.

Rather than a free-for-all, it will be a Team vs Team Area battle, and participants will again be RANDOMLY assigned and split into one of 2 Teams (or 3+ Teams if there is a lot of participants). Winning battles will net you points for your personal player score, along with points for your Team.

As for the “area” part, each battling pair of participants will be assigned an Area each week. The winner of the battle claims the Area for their Team. Each Area will have different bonus challenges that will be a set of rules or handicaps (for example, not allowed to Terastalize in the battle) where the participant choosing to opt in can earn extra points. The Area challenges will be optional, and Areas may be re-claimed by the opposing Team. Additionally, there will be some “free Areas” every week that have no participants assigned to them. These will be optional battles. Participants are free to fight over these Areas by scheduling additional battles with opposing Team members who agree to fight with them.

Note that participants are only required to fight the one mandatory battle of their assigned Area per week.

Interesting.. What about dues and Prizes?

There will be dues, but this time they will be entirely OPTIONAL. There will be two prize pools for this event, the Participant Swag Bag and the Winner’s Prizes.

Participant Swag Bag. These are available to all participants. Included in the Participant Swag Bag will be things like a physical badge representing your team (like the leader badges everyone loves), stickers, etc. Opting in to pay dues for the Participant Swag Bag will only be enough to cover the cost of shipping, and materials included for your package specifically. Oh, and as there are no Gym Leaders, there will also be no leader art.

Winner’s Prizes. There will be additional prizes for the winning team and for the individual(s) with the best personal scores, along with other superlatives. These will include things such as a Cool Discord Role!!!, a winning team badge, a certificate, PPLO enamel pin, possibly Pokemon plushes, etc. Even if you do not opt-in for the Participant Swag Bag, if you/your team wins, you are still eligible to receive the Winner’s prizes.

Finally, as usual, any donations or extra funds received will be put into funding prizes for the winners and PPL-related expenses such as server costs keeping the website running, Discord Nitro boosts so we can keep our customized server URL, etc. Anyone who donates and also opts into the Participant Swag Bag will receive a small gift.

Is there anything else you can tell me about this new event?

Above is a vague overview of what was planned. Details are not certain, may change, and will be finalized after feedback is provided and based on interest, so many questions will not be able to be answered at this time.

IF there is enough interest, details will continue to be refined and finalized for a projected launch of winter 2024, between Unplugged and East. Leading up to the launch, more feedback surveys and discussions may arise for updated rules and structure.

The new planned events are meant to be less time-restrictive and less burdensome/commitment involved, can be played entirely online without needing to rush to build a team on cart, and is just like a fun thing to do in between the in-person PPLs. The goal for these smaller events would be to take place more than once a year, likely the summer and winter in between the in person PPLs. There can be a lot of potential with this kind of event and each smaller event will have a different overarching theme to keep things new and fresh!

Please fill out this Google form to answer if you would be interested in participating in something like this (or if you would NOT) along with any other comments and/or suggestions you have to input that could make this event better!
https://forms.gle/PiEYVu1NGB8hxMkP7

The future of PPLO depends entirely on participant interest, so your feedback is invaluable. Note that if participation ramps up again and there is a good amount of interest, there is a possibility for PPLO to return in classic league format!

(Also, Gym Leader applications for PPL West are still ongoing! Apply here! https://paxpokemonleague.net/2024/04/ppl-west-2024-applications-are-now-open-until-june-1st/ )

-Online Admin doomy