Attacking Players

How does the combat work against other players? My stats are pretty high, higher than some of these guys attacking me. How are they slapping me around so much? Are there ways I can counter this or make myself less appealing?

It's the pokemon that do the fighting, so getting a good pokemon and leveling it up is the way to make yourself a less attractive target.

Your stats don't matter in those fights, except HP, you take the actual damage so the HP of the pokemon is a non-factor.

hmm, ok well I see I just need to adjust my energy and will use then lol rip

Player stats should have some play into an attack. If the player is losing hp then defense and Agility should have some say on the matter. Shoot, labor could even be used to affect hp pool. At least some anyways. No sense in training much after you meet the basic requirements

Yeah, currently the only reason to hit the gym after reaching requirements for job promotions and school, is to climb the stat leaderboards. Could definitely be utilized a bit more, but I do see why that hasn't been a focus for development yet.