"The problem with adding Abilities and not adding Abilities to Pokemon Go"

#PokemonGO: One of the big changes that could occur with the onset of Gen 3 is the addition of Abilities. For those who have not played any main series games past Gen 2, abilities are passive effects Pokemon have that can affect it inside or outside of battle. Examples are: Bulbasaur's ability Overgrow, which powers up Grass type moves when its HP is low and Meowth's ability Pickup,where the Pokemon has a chance of picking up random items when walking around.Even not considering the potential coding difficulties of adding all the various abilities to Pokemon Go, which I'm sure would be very difficult, many abilities are currently completely useless within Pokemon Go. Parasect's ability Effect Spore has a chance to cause the enemy Pokemon to become paralyzed, poisoned, or asleep when using a move that causes physical contact with Parasect such as Tackle or Aqua Tail. Currently though, status effects are not in the game. This means if they choose to implement abilities, they will need to either completely redo the entire combat system to account for abilities such as this, or some Pokemon will not have abilities due to not having the mechanics necessary for them.Another problem with adding them is it introduces another layer of RNG for Pokemon that have multiple possible abilities. Magcargo can have the ability Flame Body, which has a 30% chance of burning the enemy when hit with a physical contact move. Or it can have the ability Magma Armor which prevents the Pokemon from being Frozen. Obviously, Flame Body is the (usually) far more useful ability, and would be the one people would want to have their Pokemon to have. This would would make it so a pokemon has to not only have a good moveset, but needs to have the right ability to be optimally used. There is an item which allows one to change a Pokemon's ability, so long as it has more than one possible ability, but there is no guarantee Niantic would add those. And at least for me, I don't want another layer of frustrating RNG where I have to find a Pokemon that not only has high IV's, but the optimal ability as well.The problem with not adding them, it that Gen 3 introduces multiple Pokemon that need their abilities. Shedinja is an example of a Pokemon which will be useless without its ability. Shedinja would have a max CP of 421 and stats of 153 Attack, 80 Defense, and 2 Stamina. In the main games, it had a max HP of 1. Shedinja's Ability is Wonder Guard, which prevented damage from direct attacks unless the attack is Super Effective on Shedinja. With this ability, Shedinja would not be too strong, but it might be very good for prestiging gyms since it couldn't be hit by certain Pokemon at all. Without it, Shedinja would be completely useless except for the Pokedex Entry.On the other side of things, we have the example everyone brings up will be a problem if they don't add abilities Slaking. In the main games, Slaking had the ability Truant, where it could only attack every other turn. In Pokemon Go, Slaking would have a whopping max CP of 4372 and stats of 319 Attack, 201 Defense, and 300 Stamina. Without Truant, Slaking will without a doubt become the gym topping pokemon, not counting legendaries. Without Abilities being added, Slaking will define the meta and make most all other Pokemon completely useless for gym defense. But I don't currently see a way it could be added without needing the rework of combat I mentioned before.Is there any way Niantic could implement abilities in Pokemon Go without having to revamp the entire gym and combat system? While we know there is a gym rework on the way, we don't know if it will entail a rework of the entire combat system, or just how gyms function. What are all of your thoughts? Do you think Niantic will add Abilities to Pokemon Go? Should they? via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2q4LuZm