Having just finished Pokemon White, I found it ridiculous how the wild Pokemon encounter rate has seemed to jump up by a lot. In past games, I never found it as annoying or anything, but in these games wild battles seemed more like tedious roadblocks rather than "oh I wonder what Pokemon can be found in these areas?" It just seems like every time I take my -first- step into any patch of tall grass, I'm instantly greeted with a Pokemon battle, and even when I turn to change directions, bam! and another one sneaks up on me. I wouldn't really care if this didn't happen so often, but I think coupled with the abundance of annoying Pokemon (I seem to be running into Fake Out Liepards or Sturdy Boldore all the time..) I've found myself overloading my bag with Max Repels.

I know about the effects of Running shoes too, but is it just me, or does everyone else feel the same way? Or am I just missing the whole entire point of the RPG? Does anyone know what the percentage of triggering a wild Pokemon battle is?

Yeah, while playing Black it seemed like the encounter rates were higher. In some places (like that forest right before the big bridge) you only had to take 1-3 steps before a battle. And when you're in the city with all the water you can walk on, the rates seem really high. Thus, I have to use a max repel everytime I have to walk through five pieces of grass just to avoid two or more battles. Although in that Celestial Tower, it seemed like on average the rates were a little lower... for me at least.

Celestial Tower and surfing seemed to give me lower encounter rates. Pretty much anywhere else it was basically this: They kept popping up when I didn't want them to, and they happened a lot less when I wanted them to happen more.

And given the shenanigans I have had with confusion and paralysis (but oddly enough, not Focus Blast), I think the game hates me every so often, in its own weird way.

I never even touch the grass for fear of an annoying Pokemon battle. When I do, I'm using Max Repel or intentionally trying to find a Pokemon. Grass = no trespassing for me.