There is no Lv100 option in XY battles : Heart Gold and Soul Silver were the last Pokémon games to support an auto-Lv100 option. Since then, cartridge players have had to rely on Action Replays to level their Pokémon to Lv100 for competitive play. We kept the auto-level 100 ruleset last generation, but is it really worth widening the gap between simulator and Wi-Fi players?

: Heart Gold and Soul Silver were the last Pokémon games to support an auto-Lv100 option. Since then, cartridge players have had to rely on Action Replays to level their Pokémon to Lv100 for competitive play. We kept the auto-level 100 ruleset last generation, but is it really worth widening the gap between simulator and Wi-Fi players? All cartridge and officially supported metagames are Lv50 : As previously mentioned, all XY Wi-Fi battles will be at Lv50. You will never find two players who legitimately leveled all six of their Pokémon to Lv100 in order to fight each other. GBU and VGC already use the LV50 format; many players are already familiar with it.

: As previously mentioned, all XY Wi-Fi battles will be at Lv50. You will find two players who legitimately leveled all six of their Pokémon to Lv100 in order to fight each other. GBU and VGC already use the LV50 format; many players are already familiar with it. Getting competitive Pokémon in-game has never been easier: XY introduced a number of breeding mechanics changes and legendary Pokémon changes that make getting competitively viable Pokémon easier than ever. With the ease of access, many Smogon players will choose to play on cartridge in addition to playing on our simulators. It makes sense for us to lessen the gap between the two mediums and offer continuity. By doing so, we can allow players to transfer their knowledge directly from one medium to another.

Here are a few reasons why I believe we should make this shift. I will also briefly address counterarguments.There are two main counterarguments to this proposition: tradition and "simulators should remove all the hard work." To these two counterarguments, I say, "Why?" Is there really a need for us to continue the trend of Lv100 battles simply due to tradition? Previous generations have brought much more drastic changes to competitive play: the physical/special split, team preview, etc. As with each of these changes, people will eventually adapt to Lv50 play. Yes, you might have to learn new stats and EV/damage calculations might be a little different, but I think these minor inconveniences are worth it in order to further close the gap between modes of play. Regarding "simulators should remove all the hard work": in previous generations, cartridge players had access to Action Replays to simulate the ruleset of Smogon metagames—they could use Rare Candies to level their Pokémon to Lv100. This is no longer the case on the 3DS and in XY.I think this is a rational move for Smogon to make. I do not think it is as drastic a shift as it seems at first, and the benefits it has for the community far outweigh any temporary annoyances.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Just copied over the OP from the insidescoop thread cause I want to see what the general public feels about the matter.I'll give my thoughts separately in a bit.