History Main / PowerCreep

Compare with RevenueEnhancingDevices. Not to be confused with PowerCreepPowerSeep, which is about characters becoming more or less powerful in a crossover work.

** While earlier Pokémon generally have inferior stat spreads compared to later ones, many Pokémon from early Gens can combat power creep by getting new moves, abilities, evolutions, and other changes to mechanics that make them much more playable. One such major change was in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', when all moves were now denoted as physical or special on an individual basis, rather than it being determined by a move's typing, which breathed new life into the many Pokémon whose typing made them previously unable to effectively utilize their better attack stat.[[labelnote:*]]For example, the Water-type Kingler line has high Attack power, but since Water-type moves were originally denoted as special (thus running off its abysmal Special Attack), Kingler's SecretArt Crabhammer wasn't very useful and it couldn't make good use of Water moves in general. From ''Diamond and Pearl'' onward, Crabhammer is now a physical attack and runs off Kingler's Attack stat, allowing it to do a lot more damage with it and other Water moves that were made physical.[[/labelnote]] The above-mentioned [[SuperMode Mega Evolution]] mechanic was also given to older Pokémon.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'' quickly gained notoriety for introducing the highest amount of power creep in the series to date. While Base Stat Totals haven't gotten higher for the most part, the way the stats are allocated has become a lot more optimized, bordering on MinMax. Abilities and moves have also gotten much stronger on average, often lacking the {{Necessary Drawback}}s of those that were previously introduced[[labelnote:Example]]Hydro Steam getting boosted in both rain ''and'' sun)[[/labelnote]], combining several abilities into one[[labelnote:Example]]Mind's Eye having the effects of both Scrappy and Keen Eye[[/labelnote]], or being straight-up better versions of pre-existing moves[[labelnote:Example]]Torch Song having the same type, power and PP as Fiery Dance, but having a 100% chance to boost Special Attack compared to the latter's 50%[[/example]]. This has resulted in Pokémon that were once considered the cream of the crop falling to the wayside and down the tiering rungs, most notoriously Tyranitar and Garchomp, both of whom dropped to [[Website/{{Smogon}} Underused]] (and Rarelyused at certain points in time for the former) in Generation IX.

** The biggest factor is that ''Magic'' has over 20,000 unique cards and has been continuously released since 1993, and Wizards of the Coast would like to keep it going for as long as possible. Letting the game's power creep up overall would slowly kill the game, as every set would just push it higher until the game was no longer fun... but ''not'' letting new sets have powerful cards would make them not exiting for players, and would kill the game as well.

This makes sense, at least [[MoneyDearBoy from a financial point of view]]. You want people to buy and use your new additions, but why would they do that if [[{{Whoring}} they can keep on using]] the awesome InfinityPlusOneSword they already have? In order to spur sales, you 'need' to have your ExpansionPack introduce an Infinity +2 Sword which is overall better. [[SerialEscalation And then an Infinity +3 Sword the next time around and so on]]. The level of power present in the game just keeps creeping upwards-- Power Creep.

** Blizzard seems to be addressing the Power Creep issue with the introduction of Standard format, which forbids older expansions from being used. Coincidentally, the two expansions that are first being rotated out of the format (''Curse of Naxxramas'' and ''Goblins vs. Gnomes'') contains many of the most dominant cards in the game since. It also ensures that even new and possibly overpowered cards will eventually get cycled out, or at least possibly receive indirect nerfs by removing older cards that had strong synergy with newer ones. For example, Mysterious Challenger, the single-most [[HighTierScrappy notorious]] card at the moment, got less powerful with the removal of Avenge and Muster for Battle. [[note]]Avenge, when combined with Noble Sacrifice, allowed you to block a hit with a 2/1 minion, which would automatically trigger Avenge to give a random minion +3/+2. Combine that with Muster for Battle to summon 3 1/1s and Competitive Spirit and you can have either 3 2/2s and a 10/9 or a 7/7, a 5/4, and two 2/2s on the next turn, giving you substantial board control as long as the opponent didn't have AoE removal at hand. Muster for Battle's comparative replacement, Stand Against Darkness, costs one too much mana to play in one turn normally.[[/note]]

This gets out of hand really easy, particularly in LongRunner games. After four or five expansions, with the new Infinity +8 Swords that gives you 10 free mana, there is little point in using the Infinity +3 Sword that costs 2 mana, and let's not talk about the lame [[OvershadowedByAwesome Infinity +1 Sword that cost 5 mana]]! ([[SeinfeldIsUnfunny Who'd ever use that, anyway?]])