"[Suggestion] Full set of CP changes for a balanced metagame"

#PokemonGO: I originally posted this at r/pokemongo, but I've been told that this is a much better place for this kind of talk, so here I am. I also added a few more details.While being extremely grateful to Niantic for the effort taken, I've always had mixed feelings about the latest CP fix. IMHO they took 2 steps in the right direction (attack specialization and speed more relevant) and 1 in a totally wrong one: defense specialization, while leaving many unsolved issues and imbalances open. Vaporeon and Snorlax are even stronger than before (Snorlax is stronger than the legendary birds), and Blissey will single handedly destroy the meta once 2nd gen comes out, as many people have already figured out: 2nd best overall (right behind Ho-oh), impossible to prestige against due to having ~1100 CP less than her real worth when maxed AND extremely hard to defeat within the time limit.The purpose of this thread is to analyze the current issues, discuss them and reach a consensus on a fix that will deal with everything for good, so that the next time they change CP will also be the last one.Current issues with stat and CP formulasThe CP formula itself: As everyone already knows, the current CP formula favours attackers and impairs those with high defense or HP. This, coupled with the fact that those 3 stats have the same "weight" in battle, implies that many Pokemon are weaker (or stronger) than their CP imply. Old Wigglytuff (the Dragonite slayer) and current Alakazam (still weaker than Exeggutor by a pretty big margin despite what CP say) are well known examples.Defense specialization: Favouring specialist defenders makes little sense to me. It's perfect for attackers cause you're the one to choose how you attack, but obviously you don't get to choose how your opponent attacks. In fact, more often than not he will attack your weakest stat. But making the weakest stat too relevant is also wrong, cause specialists will be shafted then. 50% & 50%, like it was at the beginning, is a nice compromise.Stamina: In this game the HP stat is extremely important, cause OHKOs or 2HKOs like in the original games just don't exist. HP also act as a fuel for your energy gauge, which makes high HP mons even better, cause they're able to spam their special move more often. The usage of a big flat multiplier to HP is the main reason why the likes of Vaporen and Snorlax are dominating the metagame since July while 2 fan favourites and former powerhouses like Alakazam and Genger are still weak: they just can't take hits.Speed: Niantic did a very good job at increasing Speed's relevance in stat calculation with the latest fix, but something's still missing. IMO Speed's importance is different between attackers and defenders. For attackers, it matters a lot cause they usually have weak defenses so the one that lands 1 more hit just wins, but defenders simply don't care about it, cause it's expected for them to be slower than their opponents... what matters is that they can take hits.New formulas and reasoning behind themCP = 3√ATK2 * 3√DEF2 * 3√STA2 * CP_MUL2 / 10These minor adjustments to the current CP formula easily fix CP imbalances while keeping values identical to those players are familiar with. Tinkering with exponents in other ways or inserting flat multipliers to compensate changes made has the downside of altering the differences between values.STAMINA = ROUND(1,2 * HP + 0,17 * Stat_Total)Lower multiplier and a flat bonus help keeping HP monsters in check while also giving not so healthy mons a chance to shine. I originally considered using level for calculating the bonus (just like the handheld games do) but that would have buffed too much unevolved mons, so I switched to stat total.ATTACK = ROUND(1,3 * (7/8 * MAX(Attack,SpAttack) + 1/8 * MIN(Attack,SpAttack)) + 0,8 * Speed)Attack specialization is still here, but the overall multiplier is lower in order to give some space to Speed.DEFENSE = ROUND(2 * (1/2 * Defense + 1/2 * SpDefense) + 0,1 * Speed)Defense specialization is reverted and speed's influence is minimal here.NB: it's EXTREMELY important that the sum of the overall multipliers in atk and def is equal in both formulas (1,3+0,8=2+0,1) to avoid favouritisms to attackers or defenders. The actual numbers are less important, but those are both the simplest and the ones that gave me the most satisfying results.Weight of each stat in the CP formula before and afterHP: 24,83% -> 22,22% (flat bonus that helps those with low HP NOT included)HighAtk: 21,71% -> 21,06%LowAtk: 1,55% -> 3%HighDef: 21,71% -> 18,51%LowDef: 1,55% -> 18,51%Spd: roughly 10% -> 16,66%ResultsAs expected, Blissey is hugely nerfed.Rhydon also takes a big hit, but he's still the strongest among the ones with his stat total.Snorlax, Vaporeon, Lapras and Exeggutor follow in the nerfed list, with Snorlax being finally weaker than legendaries. Vaporeon is still the strongest eeveelution but it's closer to the others now instead of being in a league of its own.On the buff side, EVERYTHING that is not too bulky or a specialized wall has improved:Electrode, Starmie, Crobat and Jolteon are all winners, and represent the "speedy with low HP" category.Lugia, Umbreon, Suicune, Meganium and Blastoise are the mixed walls that are shafted by the current formula and the ones that gain more CP.Specialized but frail attackers like Alakazam, Gengar, Aerodactyl and Espeon are all slightly stronger despite losing CP (cause CP are currently inflated by attack).Extremely different mons are very close to each other! Look at the 2.7k range for example: it contains Vaporeon (a bulky, specialized attacker), Arcanine (a all-rounder) and Crobat (the fastest gen II mon). Espeon and Umbreon are polar opposites but are only 26 CP apart. Blastoise (another mixed wall) and Jolteon (VERY similar to Espeon) are right behind them.ProofFull documentation: http://ift.tt/2glwaTF: The "Real Worth" column is CP calculated with my formula but old stats. Basically it just removes CP inflation caused by a high attack stat.Current Dex sorted by new max CP:http://ift.tt/2gIQVMd II Dex sorted by new max CP:http://ift.tt/2glwcef few groups that demonstrate how much balance has improved:http://ift.tt/2gzEmma how much variance (max-min difference) has lowered:Kanto starters variance reduced from 264 to 17Jhoto starters variance reduced from 506 to 124Eeveelution variance reduced from 1113 to 270!!!Legendaries variance reduced from 554 to 175The huge gap between Lugia and Ho-oh is no more.Please voice your opinions on the matter. If a general consensus is found, we can submit the idea to Niantic with the whole sub backing it. They said they're listening to feedback so there's no way they won't be interested in a final fix to the CP issue instead of changing it once every 4 months, upsetting people that spent dust on this or that and saying "see you next time".PS: There's no fix to Slaking by tinkering with stat totals onlyTL;DR: With my changes, Pokemon with similar stat total have similar CP. Do you agree or not? Discuss! via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2gbZcYk