Probably the way to go about this that would bring you the greatest certainty and peace of mind would be to try it both ways. To this point you've been playing "clean", so you know what that's like. If you have the opportunity to battle regularly, try sharking up a team and fighting with them next time. See how you like it.

I see the major advantage of sharking and other "cheats" as being the elimination of mindless labour. By my standards, it doesn't take a great Pokémon trainer to sit there for hours and hours using the same attack over and over against hapless E4 pokemon. You could train a parakeet to do that. Knowledge of the game, tactical play, team construction etc. are the marks of a good trainer.

I can think of several disadvantages to sharking teams. First, it may piss off your opponents if they find out. Second, it may make you feel guilty, especially if you win: it may seem like less of an accomplishment. And third, if you shark up a team that you've never actually used in the game, you have less of an emotional stake in your pokemon. We play this game for fun, after all, and I find that it's a bit more fun when your team has a history that goes with them.

But all of these factors will play out differently for different trainers. You need to find out how you feel about it personally, and the best way to do that (if you can't tell in advance) is to try it.

You may also find a middle ground. Perhaps you'll use the shark to catch pokemon, but train them in a more traditional manner. Maybe you think that training should involve some drudgery, but not too much, so you Rare Candy to L100 and use duped boosters, but then box trick the hard way.

I'm sure you'll find your own path eventually. Good luck!

------------------
Jolteons the best!
T-bolt
T-wave
Focus energy
Toxic

*ZAP sent out Jolteon*
*out comes mewtwo*
*Toxic*
*focus energy*
*T-bolt*
*T-bolt*
*mewtwo fanted*

All max stats!

No work! All play! Come join us in the outer colonies! Oops, wrong speech.

I WILL cheat on that version, but for fun purposes only (like 6 Mewtwo), but for battling seriously, I will use unsharked pokemon.

But, I agree, it is very tempting to shark them. I WANT a 5 way max Mewtwo...

------------------
E mail: branners78@hotmail.com
AIM: lllbrannerslll

'They say if we keep polluting this beautiful planet, in ten years Britain will have the climate of Ibiza. Lets make it happen.'

HOWEVER, DONT SHARK THEM TO MAX STATS, THAT ISN'T FAIR!
------------------
"Dance, Dance, Dance" --Casey "Magician Type 0" Morris (me)

Email: webmaster@casog.zzn.com

AIM: Magician Type 0
ICQ Nick: Mågìçìañ Tÿpé 0®
Number: 45597626
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/4615.html

I'm not insane. I just hear voices. And the aliens are stealing my thoughts.

- Casey Morris- Founder of the FUOA (Flash Users of America)

------------------
where does a snorlax sit?

quote:

---

That kind of takes the excitement out of looking for the best Pokemon

---

Looking for Pokemon is BORING. Whenever i tried i stopped 4 hours later, angry and tense without a good pokemon.

------------------
where does a snorlax sit?

I can't say I have any problem with using a Shark to boost your level and stat experience. Frankly, I think GameFreak made the amount of time it takes to level up Pokemon ridiculously long. You can easily beat the Elite 4 with a team at around Level 50. Then, you have to go through another 50 increasingly long levels of mind-numbingly repetitive training. The night before the tournament, I was trying to get my three-man team ready for the Prime Cup. At 3:00am, when I was only at about Level 75, I said "Screw it" and got out my GameShark.