For those who haven't gotten X/Y yet, the new EXP SHARE item differs from previous incarnations in the following ways:

1. It's received extremely early in the game.

2. It distributes experience to your entire party, rather than just the one who held it.

3. It's not actually a held item anymore, therefore allowing the party members to hold actually useful items.

Basically, the archaic practice of having to constantly swap out pokemon to ensure that they're all getting experience has been massively mitigated. You can literally not use any pokemon except your starter and the rest of your party will not be the same level as that starter, but will at least not be in any danger of falling massively behind.

What I'm saying is that this is the greatest thing to happen ever.

Yes it's awesome. It was also in the first game. I don't know why they changed it.

jesus christ really

It is really incredible. Just grabbing a Weedle and Caterpie early on, not using them once, and them both evolving in a row solely off exp. share. *drools*

Oh man, that sounds fantastic.

Yeah it's been great. Made for a whole lot less grinding.

I equally find this great and really sad (that it took them so long to implement it).

Now if they just got rid of HM's...things are fucking pointless and take up a precious ability slot.

It's fantastic, you can now train up multiple teams of pokemon and everyone else in the party gets 50% of the xp EACH meaning if a pokemon you defeat gives your pokemon 400xp, every unused pokemon in your party gets 200xp each for nothing.

What's more, you get xp for catching pokemon and then this xp is shared among your party too, you just level everyone soooooo fucking fast and it gives you that much more freedom to catch and train as many pokemon as you want instead of focusing on 6-8 for the entire game.

I'm loving the hell out of this game, who knew game freak had it in them to be so forward thinking finally?

Seems I'm the only one who feels that this is a bad thing. It's making it too easy. Taking away the management aspect entirely and automating the entire process. Isn't that super boring? They may as well just have some conceit that bakes that system into the narrative better rather than cheaply just throwing out that it happens because you find this item. I don't know, man.

This seriously feels like a Real Money Auction House moment of "Oh, that's so smart!" just to later turn to "Well, that ruined the whole thing..." Maybe not on the same scale, but you know what I'm getting at.

Its good for pokemon that are useless when you catch them but get better skills once they level up a bit. Like when your sole ability is harden for instance.

Disable it from your bag if it bothers you that much.

What? No. That's too easy. Where's the challenge in that? And without challenge, where's the rewarding feeling?

Honestly, don't know if I'm going to be using that item. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me.

I wonder what happens if I transfer an old Exp. Share from Black 2 or something (if possible). If it behaves the same as it used to, I might use that instead.

That sounds really casual. Ash would be raging. Isn't it the most fun of the game to level up all your beloved Pokemon? Certainly you do not play this game for the story.

@jjweatherman:

Yep, i feel the same way. Just watched some guy's stream, and he just steamrolled everything with his starter, while his entire team leveled up. Game being toddler-level easy doesn't help much too. I won't be using that thing for sure, i just hope that old exp.share is in the game in some form.

This is pretty much the best thing.

That sounds pretty cool. Makes the most annoying part of pokemon (for most) less of a problem, and people can also disable it if they want to. It seems like the best thing ever!

I love how people are still complaining about it, though. I guess people like to complain, but that's one of the reasons why I love the internet so much.

Not that I'm necessarily going to know much of what I'm talking about here since I've never played Pokemon to a hardcore degree, but I imagine that this probably has stat consequences in terms of EV and IV growth for the Pokemon that don't actively fight, no? I can appreciate the existence of this item as a consolation for those mostly interested purely in catching and raising as many Pokemon as possible, but from a competitive perspective, I can't help but wonder if there are consequences for utilizing it. The fact that you can apparently turn the item off seems to indicate as much, but again, I'm not super knowledgeable about that scene, so I'm mostly asking out of curiosity.

Does this mean I need to buy Pokemon X/Y?

there are minigames with the touchscreen specifically for increasing EVs and IVs and the stat gains happen retroactively as if you had them all along.

Yeah, I am pretty glad for the exp share and not having to juggle lvling them all individually.

Though in regards to the Super Training mini-games for EVs that have been mentioned i'm not liking the fact that it requires you to use the circle pad to move and dodge along with the stylus to target. I'm left handed so it feels pretty uncomfortable and awkward to try and play them. I have to either awkwardly cross my hands, or fumble trying to use the stylus in my right hand. They don't seem to have included any sort of left handed option.

It has made the game way easier than previous ones (my Pokemon were 15-20 levels higher than the Elite Four when I battled them). However it's promoted more flexibility in 'trying out' new Pokemon on your adventure.

I think it's a welcome change which will likely get more people focusing on the stats of their Pokemon instead of which level they are.

I just got this thing, there are no drawbacks with it right? If you used two pokemon during one fight before they both got XP, they still get the same right?

Yo, that shit just ain't pokemon.

The game is easier now sure but could have been fixed by having the trainers you fight focus more on your weaknesses or have them be stronger. That EXP share item can be a game changer for future titles because for the first time you don't have to grind for the rest of your life to get a full party in fighting shape. For nearly ever game before this one I would just pick 2 guys, maybe 3, to stick with and have them be my mains so that they get all the EXP and can fight anything, that gets boring after a while including endless grinding just to boost the other 3 guys (which I never did)

Now with this EXP Share I can have a full party that are within a similar lvl range which encourages me to catch more Pokemon that I can use, change my battle strategies to incorporate the different types I have and so on. I see this as nothing short of a plus in my book, future games just need to include a smarter AI now.

That definitely can be a problem but this can be easily fixed by just having stronger trainers to fight or if you want a bigger challenge, go play multiplayer

@colourful_hippie: We approach Pokémon games in very different ways, it seems. For someone with your play style, I can see how this makes sense. To me though? Seems silly.

I can see how this could be useful when I find a pokémon I really want farther on in the game, but that pokémon happens to be really low-level compared to the rest of my party. I might use this item then... but that's just for one pokémon, and the old Exp. Share was already effective in that way (although the fact that it isn't reduce by half does help).

I totally agree that the trainer AI should be a lot better. I hope that's where they focus next.

Well now I have to buy it. Apparently Mario 3D Land is pretty great too, and there's a new Zelda coming, Smash Bros. down the road...I might have to get myself a 3DS.

@snail: Well the thing is optional so if you don't want the extra advantage then don't use it but personally I'm hoping that the trainer AI will get to the point that it makes sense to have a full party that are all relatively strong because you would be forced to switch out and use multiple Pokemon in one fight, at least that's my hope but I have my doubts on whether or not Nintendo wants to make the game that hard.

Pokemon is for the children.

The auction House in D3 is also optional but it still destroys the game. I get that now in our casual age we should have something like that but at least do different difficulty levels to counter this thing.

Um ok? That's a terrible comparison, not sure how they even relate other than them being optional which is a very loose connection. Also Blizzard is killing off AH.

Well, I'd assume that this would mean that the non-battling pokemons would recieve no EVs... and that would be a pretty big bummer if you're one of those crazy people.

someone mentioned it before in this thread so I picked it up. There are thing in games that maybe optional like the auction house in D3, the listen mode in Last of us and so on that can totally change the experience and the game overall. And this exp share item is such a thing. It made the game even more easier than before to attract a even wider non gaming audience.

Might actually buy this then, that was my issue with B/W.

Experience sharing is pretty standard in RPGs these days, I don't really see the problem.

No, you don't get it. I always have a team of equally leveled up pokémon, and I never find that to be a chore or anything. It's all part of the game to me, and it's enjoyable. I don't even find myself doing that much grinding: the game's natural progression and the crossing of the map, along with my obsession to complete as much of the Pokédex as I can, ends up making me level up all my party naturally and sufficiently to carry on from gym to gym.

This would make it too easy. And yeah, you're right, it's optional, I know that. I'm not pissed or anything (in fact, it's interesting and kinda cool they're trying new things on a "low-level" like this). I'll have to see if I can import an "old" Exp. Share and see if it still works as it used to, if that's even possible.

Bad for EV training.

This really. If you are just trying to fill the Pokedex, then it's really nice. If you want to have really good Pokemon for battling, then it's bad. Glad you can turn it off though.

@snail: You're right, we definitely approach the game from different directions

Told ya! In the end it's good that Game Freak is making the game more approachable for one group of players, while not diminishing the enjoyment for others (people who care about EV training, etc.) by essentially making this optional. It's a totally welcome way to evolve a franchise. No pun intended.

I didn't consider the EV part but I stopped caring about that stuff because I've been moving my guys over to the newest game since Blue Version so I've managed to grow a stupid large roster of EV hulks that I've trained over the course of the franchise so I no longer care about beefing up new guys as much. That's a good balance though that the EXP Share is balanced in some respects

It's magnificent.

I don't really bother about EV training utill I want to do it, so I don't really mind the Exp Share right now. (I focus on finishing my Pokedex and then I go EV train, that's how I play pokemanz.)

Yep, ended up buying a copy, this makes me actually want to train new partys and not stick with the same 6 all game. Not to mention for the first time in a long time i actually want to try and fill the Pokedex.

Heard about this a week or two ago; sounds totally awesome (and I'm one of the crazy people that worries about IVs/EVs and plays competitively). The difference is that I do that after I've played through and enjoyed the main game, so who cares (especially with it being toggleable).

Do HMs still exist and take up a move slot? If so, that's still the biggest thing they need to change. I've been saying since Gen fucking 1 that they should just allow any Pokemon that would be able to use an HM (Cut, for example) to use Cut outside of battle once you earn the gym badge that would let you teach it. There's no goddamn reason to force me to teach my Pokemon a shitty move and take up a move slot / have an HM slave and take up a Pokemon slot. Either way, you're forcing me to devote limited resources to a shitty, unfun mechanic.

It's a really poor comparison. D3RMAH was implemented by Blizzard to try to cut out all the third-party sites that sold items in D2. It ruined D3 because they built the loot system around an AH existing and people using it, which meant that individual players got far less good drops than they did in D2 and were forced to go to the AH to buy good gear using the gold they earned vendoring all the trash they found. (Blizzard is also shutting down the AH in March of next year and revamping the loot system, for anyone who's actually interested)

Here is how the new EXP Share affects Pokemon:

Single Player: Allows people to level the rest of their party faster if they want to
Multiplayer: Is irrelevant because people playing competitively in multiplayer are using max-level Pokemon that are EV trained anyway. All it does is allow them to max their Pokemon's level in a shorter amount of time.

Allowing players more choice in their single player experience is only a good thing.

@ajamafalous: HM slaves are still a thing