Family Item Changes

I believe Stormy has a point, actually. If we’re going to advocate for tweaking specific pokemons’ family items, then I think the more important discussion to have first is by what method to re-assign the typing of absorb items in general. While I agree with the 4 pokemon you’ve pointed out, I don’t think quashing the discussion on the bigger picture is warranted here.

There are a lot of cases where the type-absorb family items overlap with globes and the like, as well as some cases where the quad weaknesses are ignored, and of course the few that actually protect against only neutral damage. Where do we draw the line? Should the priority be something like x4 weakness not protected by globe > x2 weakness not protected by globe > x4 weakness protected by globe > x2 weakness protected by globe > weakness a pre-evolution has but not one the fully evolved pokemon shares? Should abilities like Levitate, heatproof etc. be taken into account? I don’t think it’s fair to just start listing off our personal favorites and ignoring the rest.

Until we know what the actual “rules” we want to set are, it’s hard to consistently judge what should and should not be adjusted. Since as you mentioned, Scizor and Forretress have had their items changed, I do agree that there’s precedent for further alterations.

The problem with this though is that, unless the weather required to grant the speed is different from the relevant crystal, these items have 0 utility later on in the game, which hurts their potential for progression as they just kind of fall off.

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Your reasoning is understandable. I became defensive when Stormy decided to shove their suggestions in here - my apologies.

On an interesting note, Garchomp is the only official PMD mon thats recovery item doesn’t lean towards a 4x weakness. Along with Scizor and Forretress.

From looking at the newer generation mons (Mons without family items in the PMD main games), most recovery family items created by PMU lean towards the bigger weakness.

However you’re correct. Now with other items to negate other weaknesses, status, and provide speed (Globes, Gems, and Crystals), it’s difficult to pinpoint a specific priority. The best way to approach the matter, in my opinion, would be to review the pokemon at hand, and pick the best option available. Yet, the ‘best’ option varies between individuals. Some may prefer to negate one weakness over the other, while others prefer attack speed over movement speed.

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That’s an awful lot of work per pokemon, which was why I suggested a priority-based system, picking the highest on this list:

  1. A double weakness the pokemon’s globe(s) don’t already cover
  2. A normal weakness the pokemon’s globe(s) don’t already cover
  3. A double weakness the pokemon’s globe(s) already cover
  4. A normal weakness the pokemon’s globe(s) already cover
  5. A non-weakness the pokemon’s pre-evolution was weak to

(A case could be made for inserting 5 at 3 instead, with the caveat of it being for a non-globed type).

This should ensure pokemon are assigned an item that patches a hole in their defenses for anyone who spends the time and effort acquiring their item, rather than some pokemon winding up big winners from the system and others just stacking so many immunities to the same type they’d make Air Balloon Rotom-F proud.

I also think such a list could be compiled by a player (or multiple players) to save the staff team valuable time in manually going through and applying whatever rules are decided upon, should a conclusion be reached that staff like.

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I agree with how you sorted the priorities. It would certainly save staff time when it comes to changing, and creating family items. As well as, hopefully, pleasing the community in the process.

This made me laugh, holy.

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I think the system Leo came up with is a good one in terms of priority. I think the only issue (Potentially, assuming this all gets addressed by staff) is what to do about Electric, Normal, and Poison/Dark types.

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You may want to re-read what I just proposed.
The first three options don’t apply, so say Skuntank as an example would wind up with 4

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I guess I’m more in the mindset of giving the family items different effects, there are a some 3* items that don’t provide healing from specific type attacks. I was thinking that it’d be neat to introduce more of those and use the Pokemon who have one weakness which is already covered by the globe benefit from it.

Take for example the Eeveelutions and all their 3* items inflict status conditions. You could possibly make Skuntank’s 3* item inflict Cringe (I’m just imaging it as the smell causing enemy Pokemon to cringe in response, or ect… That way it’s fam item has a decent effect and it’s weakness is covered by the globe. ) or make Persian’s 3* make Secret Rooms more likely to appear (I would say more Poke drops but that’s already broken as it is)

Just to name a few effects that could potentially be used

  • Chance of no PP usage
  • When hit PP may be restored
  • Increased PP
  • Moves and Items will not damage teammates
  • Status Infliction
  • Increased HP recovery rate
  • Immunity to Hail & Sandstorm damage
  • Bonus exp
  • Damage counter
  • Attack Speed increase (Weather dependent)
  • Evasion increase (Weather dependent)
  • Reflect & Lightscreen bypass

These are just some I was looking at when scrolling bulbapedia’s page. Some of them aren’t anything to write home about but I think they’re a nice alternative to overlapping with Globes. There are some more unique ones that tend to be exclusive to legionaries however (Such as restoring HP when entering a new floor). I also think the staff team or possibly some players would be able to come up with some unique effects too, as long as they’re balanced and aren’t broken.

Again I don’t have as much of an issue with globes overlapping with family items because I think the niche benefit of healing vs party wide immunity is a fair trade off. But if we’re making changes like these, I think this is a good opportunity to see some unique effects implemented in the game.

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Just bumping this thread. I’d be appreciated to have a staff’s opinion on the matter.

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Can this thread be noticed more?

Can we have some essential family item changes, in order for the game to make more sense?

Can we make family items absorb 4x weaknesses for all mons that have one, e.g. Charizard, Torterra, etc?

Also, can we repurpose currently useless family items (e.g. thrown status) into actually doing something? That’d be really cool and make items useful.

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Oh boy. There’s something that peaked my suspicion, and has irritated me since yesterday.
Warning, there’s a mini rant within the spoiler below.

This thread was made on June 3rd. Torterra, Lapras, and Lucario’s family items have been changed, which is great. However, this thread didn’t play a part in that. A player messaged an in-game staff member, requesting these 3 items be changed yesterday. I see this as pure ignorance, as if that staff member didn’t know this thread even existed. Which brings the question, was this ever discussed? Reviewed?

I agree with this. Scizor and Forretress’s family items were changed to their 4x weakness, to improve their effectiveness. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Charizard and Garchomp are the only mons with recovery family items that don’t lean towards a 4x weakness, which would be a good change.

Charizard [ Flame Bangle ]
Water → Rock

Garchomp [ Mach Scarf ]
Dragon → Ice

I agree with this as well. I do remember a staff member saying how the thrown protection items will be ‘useful’ in the future. However, personally, I see them as useless. I’d like others’ opinions on if they should be changed or not.

Here’s a list of all the family items under the ‘thrown items’ category, unless I missed any.

Kakuna [ Kakuna Scarf ]

Pidgey [ Pidgey Bow ]

Diglett [ Diglett Hat ]

Scyther [ Strike Ruff ]

Togepi [ Egg Shard ]

Qwilfish [ Qwilfish Bow ]

Mudkip [ Speed Scarf ]

Shieldon [ Rebound Bow ]

Drifloon [ Draft Ring ]

Dewpider [ Dew Torc ]

Additionally, there’s family items that give a ‘Long Toss Status’. This is useful in the main series, but useless in PMU.

The family items under the ‘long toss’ category include:

Cubone [ Cubone Scarf ]

Remoraid [ Reach Bow ]

Tyrogue [ Muscle Charm ]

This could play into what Stormy suggested, regarding changes to these types of family items.

Thank you~.

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Imbalance in the Monkey Trio


Following up with this prolonged request to change certain family items, I’d like to place in my qualms about Bush Charm (Pansage/Simisage’s fam item).

23d

In comparison to the other two monkeys’ charms, -sage is the only one that isn’t consistent with the weather for its gem/crystal items (by which, Grass/Fiery items share Sunny Weather to take effect). Adding on as a final note, -sage doesn’t have Chlorophyll to balance this loss of its charm.

Though I haven’t seen any other instances like this yet, I believe that most family items effected by weather should/would work effeciently if correctly paired with the Pokemon’s type gems/crystals.

:monkey_face::monkey_face::monkey_face:

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Fully agree with your post, Misery. No PP consumed or infiltrator effect sound appropriate for the piercing items. I hope this thread is noticed more, it even has 13 votes, which given the actual number of active players, is pretty high.

Also, Dibei is right about the monkey stuff, plus there is a typo in the description (it’s => its).

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Any update on this? Some changes in family items are essential

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Bumping this as well, staff input would be nice.

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Bumping; this is at least top 3 of the most voted suggestions on the forum, so like others said, staff input would be nice.

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Me and several other players actually asked staff amount this particular thread during a voice call, in which we did get a response from members of the staff team. The response being that this is one of those things they’d love to change but don’t have the time to given how short staffed they are currently but that this isn’t a thread that has gone unnoticed. Family items are a massive project to deal with, and there are lots of problems with them as you know hopefully we will see some changes in the future.

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There are quite a few 'mons out there with two 4x weaknesses, and in most cases, these 'mons get an item that absorbs the type that the 'mon has a 4x weakness to that isn’t covered by one of their globes (or they’re Parasect and Leavanny whose 4x weaknesses are covered by both of their globes xd). However, three of these 'mons aren’t so lucky, as their 3* item absorbs a type that is also covered by a globe, leaving them completely unprotected from their other 4x weakness. As such, I’d like to suggest these changes:

Golem [ Rugged Sash ]
Grass -> Water

Rhyperior [ Rhyperi-Torc ]
Grass -> Water

Magcargo [ Torrid Scarf ]
Water -> Ground

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Cool, I’m glad we’ve gotten some word on it at least. It’s understandable that it’s a lot of work for a small team.

Any news on the family item updates? It’s literally a matter of copying and pasting code so it shouldn’t take too long to implement. From where I stand all that needs to be done is just make a handful of fam items absorb x4 attacks, and assign a different function to a couple of items that will never work (e.g. thrown items). ANY function will do, just assign something that will work, and the problem will be solved! If staff team needs help with these changes or a poll to make decisions then the community will be more than willing to help.

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If I may add something to this (4-year old damn) thread, can we please update Anorith’s family item so that it prevents all status conditions under Rain?

Despite not actually being Water type, Anorith/Armaldo can almost work like one thanks to Swift Swim and Rock Polish à la the Aqua Crystal (which I know ain’t everyone’s forte but meh works for me) – emphasis in almost, though, it cannot block status conditions unless someone manually sets up Safeguard or spams Refresh. And hey, the Guard Claw’s among the useless and buggy +10 max HP gang anyway, so I see no harm in such a change!

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