Pokemon Sword & Shield: Master Ball Tier Players in ranked battles were banned with ratings erased [Update: Now Fixed]

[Doorman]

All of the semantical bickering goes away as soon as some sort of official word comes out addressing whatever happened. Whether people like the answer or not is a different can of worms but it's not wrong to express frustration over the situation in the meantime.

I guess we are all incompetent then as we all make mistakes.

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A mistake of incompetence can be made without a person or entity being referred to wholesale as incompetent, yes. I don't know if that's what the other poster was implying but calling this "selective unavailability" a likely matter of incompetence rather than malice is a fair assessment.

 

[abellwillring]

Bans have never implied permanency though? Temporary bans or bans that get rolled back are as old as permanent bans

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Everything about the title, particularly the addition of "records erased" to the usage of banned, implies that this was a permanent action. If a duration is not provided, the word ban implies permanence.

 

[Deleted member 17402]

I come into this thread to see what the commotion is about and I find a semantics argument over the word 'banned.'

Thus the history of Era continues to repeat itself. lol

 

[Aaronrules380]

Everything about the title, particularly the addition of "records erased" to the usage of banned, implies that this was a permanent action. If a duration is not provided, the word ban implies permanence.

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I mean right now our ranks are erased, new players entering the tier are entering at ranks that would not make sense if the existing rankers were still being included and weren't just unable to play

 

[Jahranimo]

Gamefreak will probably sort this out by the weekend.

 

[TimeFire]

They are removing a few players to balance the rankings.

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Kids were finding very hard to reach the Master Ball rank, so we removed everyone on that tier so that they wouldn't stop playing and go to their smartphone. Please understand

Spoiler

this is sarcasm before anyone quotes me

 

[Horohorohoro]

Everything about the title, particularly the addition of "records erased" to the usage of banned, implies that this was a permanent action. If a duration is not provided, the word ban implies permanence.

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Peoples' ranks are erased, new people are claiming those ranks, and the old people can't play Ranked Battle at all. I don't know what other word you'd use.

 

[Kirbivore]

All Switch bans appear as errors. Even when you get console banned it appears as an error, not a 'hey you've been banned for being naughty' message. Why did any of you think that that's how it worked? Just guessing? This thread is a sea of semantics but yeesh

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I feel like that's something commonly known about Nintendo stuff and yet that bit of knowledge got thrown out the window for Pokemon

 

[Doskoi Panda]

I guess that nobody who has ever been banned from Switch online has ever really been gone. Since Switch "bans" have always just shown as error messages when you go online, only displaying a message about the console being restricted from online play under certain circumstances. According to you all, that means that they're actually not banned.

 

[Doskoi Panda]

I feel like that's something commonly known about Nintendo stuff and yet that bit of knowledge got thrown out the window for Pokemon

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That's exactly how I feel

 

[coconut gun]

Well considering it is based on the premise that they're banned when they haven't been. It's part of the antagonism that's happening regarding Pokémon right now.

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bro i feel you on how poisonous the discourse has been regarding these games but op doesn't come off antagonistic in this way.

we can ride the semantics merry go round all day but people refer to being locked out of multiplayer game modes as "banned" colloquially all the time. if a patch came out for smash ultimate that made it so everyone with Elite GSP could no longer queue for multiplayer there'd be threads asking why people got "banned" from quick play.

 

[Deleted member 48828]

Game Freak showing their incompetence in game design again? You don't say...

 

[mazpratim]

Competitive players were the ones defending this game the most so karma

 

[etrain911]

reasonable people also don't freak the fuck out over their toys being unavailable for a bit while the bugs get worked out.

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Do you work for Gamefreak or? For reals, these people bought a product and expect it to work. You're acting like they're out here sending death threats and calling for heads when they're really just expressing their frustrations.

 

[Aaronrules380]

Competitive players were the ones defending this game the most so karma

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I'm a competitive player and I was bitching a lot about the poor decisions gamefreak made

 

[Will]

Everything about the title, particularly the addition of "records erased" to the usage of banned, implies that this was a permanent action. If a duration is not provided, the word ban implies permanence.

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Game Freak hasn't provided any timeline for the duration of this issue so how should the OP have phrased it?

 

[Deleted member 8791]

I don't understand people handwaving concerns here. There has been 10 hours now with no official confirmation or roadmap to solve it. Tomorrow the Galar Beginnings tournament start and I have no idea if I can even participate.

Just easing the concerns of 40k+ in Master Ball tier in singles and around 30k in doubles isn't much to ask.

I put a ton of effort getting Master Ball in both and I just want my concerns taken seriously.

 

[NotLiquid]

Competitive players were the ones defending this game the most so karma

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If your implication is that competitive players deserved to get fucked on this because they defended Sword and Shield well that's one hell of a (garbage) take

 

[Aaronrules380]

I don't understand people handwaving concerns here. There has been 10 hours now with no official confirmation or roadmap to solve it. Tomorrow the Galar Beginnings tournament start and I have no idea if I can even participate.

Just easing the concerns of 40k+ in Master Ball tier in singles and around 30k in doubles isn't much to ask.

I put a ton of effort getting Master Ball in both and I just want my concerns taken seriously.

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I think the online competitions are handled separately from ranked, so it probably won't affect galar beginnings, but who knows?

 

[Deleted member 8791]

I think the online competitions are handled separately from ranked, so it probably won't affect galar beginnings, but who knows?

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I assume so too but indeed, who knows. A quickly put together FAQ to answer common concerns had meant a lot for me.

 

[Lyrick]

Do you work for Gamefreak or? For reals, these people bought a product and expect it to work. You're acting like they're out here sending death threats and calling for heads when they're really just expressing their frustrations.

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Nope, Software Engineer [Vision Engineering] in a completely different market.

Bugs happen

In this case some people are locked out of a mode on their game for a bit. In other markets people fucking die when bugs make it through testing.

Hopefully the ranked battle system becomes available to them again fairly quickly, and their existing progress doesn't get wiped.

 

[zMiiChy-]

Holy Hell
This is literally the most intense semantics argument I have ever witnessed on the internet

LITERALLY

 

[Aaronrules380]

I assume so too but indeed, who knows. A quickly put together FAQ to answer common concerns had meant a lot for me.

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yeah, this is really annoying and I wish gamefreak would just address it. Even just saying they're looking into the issue and will get back to us with details soon would mean a lot

 

[Charizard]

A couple of thousand but this still needs resolving

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There was a rank 8484 player in Singles a week ago so probably more like well over 10k at this point.

 

[Doskoi Panda]

lol, a group of the most diehard Pokemon fans can't play the game they just paid $60 and poured 100+ hours into, but there are more comments making sure that we aren't too hard on Gamefreak than worrying about the people can't play their game.

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It's downright stunning

 

[MrWindUpBird]

Plenty of major bugs are controversial in other games. Nobody is defending bugs in say, fallout 76. WHy should Pokemon be different?

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76 has been out for more than a year now and still has game breaking bugs. Sword and Shield have been out for two weeks and other than the dex issue and people moaning about the graphics, it's been a relatively bug free game. Games are huge And complex undertakings and any patches of any kind could break something, it's just the nature of the beast. If this ends up being a purposeful move on GameFreak's part then sure, let them have it. But all things point to it being a glitch, but the Pokémon fanbase is so rabid right now it's reaching "bitch eating crackers" level of absurdity. We gotta have our weekly negative Pokémon thread after all.

 

[Aaronrules380]

There was a rank 8484 player in Singles a week ago so probably more like well over 10k at this point.

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My singles rank was pretty shit so I know there were at least 40k people in the tier in singles. My doubles rank is way better so I don't have a good feel for how it compares in that respect

 

[Deleted member 8791]

There was a rank 8484 player in Singles a week ago so probably more like well over 10k at this point.

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There is definitely over 40k in singles. I just got Master Ball tier and stopped playing and the number was above that before this happened. Doubles is a bit lower.

Honestly, having to reladder in Singles is my biggest concern. I do not enjoy it in general. After Galar Beginnings I want a break until Season 2.

 

[Seil]

76 has been out for more than a year now and still has game breaking bugs. Sword and Shield have been out for two weeks and other than the dex issue and people moaning about the graphics, it's been a relatively bug free game. Games are huge And complex undertakings and any patches of any kind could break something, it's just the nature of the beast. If this ends up being a purposeful move on GameFreak's part then sure, let them have it. But all things point to it being a glitch, but the Pokémon fanbase is so rabid right now it's reaching "bitch eating crackers" level of absurdity. We gotta have our weekly negative Pokémon thread after all.

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Here's the thing. Some people being "rabid" or whatever doesn't magically make legitimate criticism unacceptable. And the people most seeming unreasonable in this thread are the defense force. It's 100% fair to criticize and be annoyed by the fact thousands, or tens of thousands, of players are barred from accessing ranked mode and have had their rankings lost. To say otherwise is, frankly, ridiculous. I don't see the affected in this thread trying to raise pitchforks or anything, instead they're just stuck trying to defend themselves against people arguing asinine semantics.

 

[Aaronrules380]

76 has been out for more than a year now and still has game breaking bugs. Sword and Shield have been out for two weeks and other than the dex issue and people moaning about the graphics, it's been a relatively bug free game. Games are huge And complex undertakings and any patches of any kind could break something, it's just the nature of the beast. If this ends up being a purposeful move on GameFreak's part then sure, let them have it. But all things point to it being a glitch, but the Pokémon fanbase is so rabid right now it's reaching "bitch eating crackers" level of absurdity. We gotta have our weekly negative Pokémon thread after all.

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Counterarguement: If it's so easy for a bug like this to occur with regards to a feature that was already working fine before, then isn't there a good reason for people playing ranked to be worried this won't be a one time thing? Especially since we don't know how restoring people's ranks will work, so if those end up fucked up even after people are allowed back in it'd give people a lot of pause about whether it's worth putting time and effort into the mode in the future if it could be wiped at random during any given maintenance?

 

[Ashlette]

It sounds like an error on Nintendo's part. Can't say much until they post something though.

 

[Saro]

All Switch bans appear as errors. Even when you get console banned it appears as an error, not a 'hey you've been banned for being naughty' message. Why did any of you think that that's how it worked? Just guessing? This thread is a sea of semantics but yeesh

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Echoing this. All banned "messages" on Switch are error codes and I don't where people are getting this idea that there is actual text to say you've been banned.

 

[Theorymon]

I assume so too but indeed, who knows. A quickly put together FAQ to answer common concerns had meant a lot for me.

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Oh most certainly. If say, Gamefreak or Nintendo or TPC had a statement along the lines of there being server issues, that ratings would be restored, etc, I can assure you the tone of this OP would be quite different! I still wouldn't be happy, because hey I'm sick right now and playing some mons would be a nice pick me up. But I'd at least understand whats going on.

Right now, I have no idea what the fuck is going on. Is my 20+ hours of laddering going to be a waste? Are there going to be safeguards to make sure this doesn't happen again? Hell if any of us know. Even something as simple as TPC going "we know there's an issue, there will be a solution" would be better than the nothing we've gotten for the past 10 hours.

This is why I didn't wait for it either, this is a massively impacting bug for anyone who takes competitive Pokemon outside of sims seriously. I don't like to use comparisons, but to compare... we have threads talking about fallout 76 bugs all the time. Should we have waited to talk about that Fallout 76 bug where people who paid 100 bucks for a subscription lost all their scrap? Hell no, you'd be laughed out of this forum if you suggested that!

And that's why I made this thread now instead of waiting. Sure, obvuously Pokemon Sword and Shield aren't a god damn disaster on the level of Fallout 76 rofl, but this isn't just some random bug: it's a bug that doesn't make some of us even want to play the game anymore if it means the ranking system isn't stable.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

Because some people here are so certain that ban =/= error message, and can't be arsed to google "console ban Switch"

These are people who got console-banned

(implying that it was a temporary ban)

Notice the error code and accompanying vague messaging.

 

[Deleted member 58846]

When do TPCi usually issue statements?

 

[Lugia]

After going back and reading through some of the posts in this thread, I think it's like absolutely wild how people are attributing people being mad about this to "the ire around Game Freak." Two of the people in this thread complaining the most about Sword and Shield's online effectively banning them are people who have obviously likely been playing very, very often since release. I don't understand where people are getting the fact that they're doing it out of some ire against Game Freak and not just because they have an issue with the game they bought, lol. I like Sword and Shield too but this is kind of just indefensible?

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I mean.. the title is so dramatic. "Latest Pokemon controversy" when its just a bug.

 

[BurritoBushido]

Calling it a controversy seems uncalled for (and inaccurate). There's no way any of this is on purpose, nobody thinks its a good thing. it just seems like people who can't wait to jump down GF's throat found another thing to pile on.

This absolutely sucks and I can't imagine what it feels like to be in that situation, but the game hasn't even been out a month, and this bug has been a thing for less than 12 hours and Japan is asleep. People expecting a response or solution in this timeframe from a foreign developer are just being unrealistic.

 

[Deleted member 8791]

The controversy is how GameFreak is handling this situation and they are handling it atrociously bad.

No wonder rumours of people being banned spreads when nobody knows anything.

 

[Luke88]

Welp, there goes my 1554th ranking

 

[dom]

I mean.. the title is so dramatic. "Latest Pokemon controversy" when its just a bug.

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Is it not a controversy when there is a big data breach? It is just bugs in software that leads to the data being able to be hacked, after all.

 

[cainhxrst]

Because some people here are so certain that ban =/= error message, and can't be arsed to google "console ban Switch"

These are people who got console-banned

(implying that it was a temporary ban)

Notice the error code and accompanying vague messaging.

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but the first two quite literally state that the online is intentionally restricted by nintendo, these aren't generic error messages lol

ban =/= error message because the first two images are effectively blatant "you have been banned" messages

 

[MegaManTrigger]

the first two quite literally state that the online is intentionally restricted by nintendo, these aren't generic error messages lol

ban =/= error message because the first two images are effectively blatant "you have been banned" messages

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People here are acting like the ban message is "you're banned" instead of what I showed.

 

[Jessie]

When do TPCi usually issue statements?

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Never

 

[Theorymon]

Got some great news everyone: The issue appears to have been fixed just now \o/

(And before anyone asks, my rating is lower because I haven't laddered in 2 days, so of course my standing will be lower than the first image, that's not a bug lol).

Phew, what a wild 10 hours that was, but it seems like it got fixed in the end! I'll put a threadmark here for now, and PM a mod to either change the title and/or lock the thread. I'm just glad the 230+ hours I put into the game and the 20+ hours of laddering won't go to waste now! I certainly hope there's better communication for this in the future though, that was quite a scare!

 

[Jessie]

Got some great news everyone: The issue appears to have been fixed just now \o/

(And before anyone asks, my rating is lower because I haven't laddered in 2 days, so of course my standing will be lower lol than the first image, that's not a bug lol).

Phew, what a wild 10 hours that was, but it seems like it got fixed in the end! I'll put a threadmark here for now, and PM a mod to either change the title and/or lock the thread. I'm just glad the 230+ hours I put into the game and the 20+ hours of laddering won't go to waste now!

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That's a relief. I just learned it was an issue two seconds ago, and apparently I'm in the clear next time I log in lol.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

So in the end, the error message was likely to do with online services being down for a certain reason.

This is the reason why people are complaining about vague ban wording. Saying that online services have been restricted could mean literally anything.

 

[Serebii]

When do TPCi usually issue statements?

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They don't. They fix things then move on

 

[Zarckoh]

There are ban messages on Switch games.

If a bug wiped out my ranking online data I would attribute that more to a (very bad) bug than a ban. The end result is frustrating but the ban comes from a imposed punishment for breaking some rules while the bug may come from a mistake on the code.

Gamefreak could use some improvement on the PR to address stuff like the ban message and solving ranking issues especially since the gigantamax event pokemon makes SwSh into a pseudo GaaS. At least the mythical isn't in the code so who knows what else they may change on their communication methods during this gen.

 

[Serebii]

So in the end, the error message was likely to do with online services being down for a certain reason.

This is the reason why people are complaining about vague ban wording. Saying that online services have been restricted could mean literally anything.

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Yep pretty much

solving ranking issues especially since the gigantamax event pokemon makes SwSh into a pseudo GaaS

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I'm not sure on the connection here

 

[Deleted member 925]

So everyone freaking out was overreacting to a situation that took less than 12 hours to be fixed because of a bug. Next time stop using words like controversy and use common sense, these things can happen unintentionally.