Gen 2 underwhelming

yes boring but its fun to put blissey in gyms. it brings hell to other people. you know whats boring? easily kill all the gym pokemons using few dragonites. thats why they put blisseys at gyms it brings more challenge to other people.

Of gen 2 I use Tyanitar, Blissey, Espeon, and Scizor. I do not have a Heracross or Piloswine. I feel like most other gen 2 pokes are poor versions of their gen 1 counterparts. Some like Skarmory have good typing and should be good but are severely lacking in the stat department.

A great bunch of prestigers as Piloswine, Forretress, Steelix, Skarmory, Lanturn, Umbreon, Noctowl, Azumarill, Belossom.
I hardly prestige with Gen1 anymore.

No one has any difficulty in beating NPC in the core game, but still many people play them by just collecting new PMs, and fight with them for fun. I would recommend you to try using weaker PMs or PM with low CP but type advantage (prestigers) to enjoy the game.

Simply comparing Gen 1 to Gen 2 - you're spot on right. Bo-ring. Adding Blissey to gyms doesn't make anything more difficult IMO, just more boring. Blissey is easy to take down, but what it does is lengthen an already boring game mechanic (taking a gym). If you're fighitng a gym all you need is time and an adequate level (to have adequately leveled mons to go with it). There is zero skill involved in the game. In fact, the largest factor in success with this game isn't skill, but time invested.

That's not to say I don't like the game, I do. The game's success (and failures) are rooted in this core goal (spend time outside). Which is great. You don't have to be a chess master to be successful at this game. You just need the right mindset and a good amount of time.

Better still, you can avoid gyms completely and still have fun with the game (I know a few who just collect pokemon for their pokedex while exercising). In this manner, you avoid the conundrum of who to pump up, IVs, and the entire madness that is gyms.

For my wife? Gen 2 is the single greatest thing to happen to Pokemon Go. More stuff to collect. In the gym meta it's almost a non-issue. Blissey. Who only serves to lengthen to gym battles. But, it is one more thing to strive for if you're a competitive player.

Also, remember the generation releases aren't there to balance Pokemon Go as much as they were there to balance a different version of this game playing by entirely different rules.

Once the game adds another couple Generations the new mons will make a big difference. If anything, the true hurdle will be keeping some of the early mons still viable in whatever meta is around and current at the time.

One truly fun direction will be the PvP mechanic if it ever comes to fruition. I would imagine that might even put the whole gym thing on the backburner for some.

1. Tyra: You will change your mind after using a B/SE Tyranitar, as I changed my mind about almighy HP Vape after I used DB/DC. I think him alone is enough since he challenges the best attacker position.
2. Fire pokemons: Blissey as defender made fire pokemons relevant again, at least for prestiging for 600-700 points. Gen 1 pokemons, indeed, but useless before.
3. Machamp: made relevant by Blissey and Tyra as defender
4. Espeon - surprise defender, dies fast but with your attacker following quick (if not well prepared).
5. Blissey - finally a mon that constantly cause problem, as Snorlax did when players were not past lvl 30 with a lot of attackers.
6. Prestigers: a formidable range of prestigers as Bruno said, from which I use Lanturn in main 1400-1500 CP prestigers squad, equalled only by Tangela in frequency. And furret tops Raticate :), both as throwaway if bad moveset or keeper with top moveset. And available at a rate of 1 per day at least.
7. Murkrow - awesome throw away prestigers, my favorite free prestigers for lvl 1-2 gyms. I read on TSR that you can get 1000 prestige from Blissey with an enough number of them, did not tried yet.

Under the current CP system which the attack stat is more influential than others, many Gen 2 Pokemon are kind of meh because of their weak attack stats. If you say Gen 1 is the generation full of attackers (Alakazam, Flareon Gyarados, Gengar...), then Gen 2 would the generation full of defenders. Steelix, Shuckle, Milktank, Skarmory, Mantine, Forretress, Umbreon... (Even Suicune) They all have impressive defensive stats, yet average/below-average attack stats, which makes them not able to shine in the CP system. Heracross could have been a very good Gen 2 attacker in the current meta-game (Blisseys everywhere) yet it is now region-exclusive. So if you want decent attackers in Gen 2, there are only Scizor, Tyrannitar, Ursaring, Espeon, Donphan and maybe Ampharos, which the amount is much less than Gen 1.

Another thing that makes Gen 2 a bit underwhelming is there aren't as many new Pokemon in Gen 1 (151 vs 100), so it feels like there are much less choice in Gen 2, and people can quickly fill up their Pokedex than they did in Gen 1 (the only challenge is unown).

Unarguably, Blissey is definitely the best defender of all even if the CP system is gone. What makes the gym mundane FOR ME, as someone who dislikes the CP system, is the lack of variety of gym defenders and the repetitive tap and swipe mode of battling. Somehow for me, battling a Blissey gym tower is still a nice challenge and you would have a greater sense of accomplishment (Yes I am even bored of loads of Dragonites/Snorlax on gyms, they can be taken out so quickly). Yet when you do those stuff continuously, you would get bored.

Dynamic Punch, Counter, and other anti-blissey moves.

I can agree to some points. I have yet to evolve a Blissey, but I have the candy, and I am no where near Ampharos or Tyranitar but I do use Feralgtor, Espeon, Umbreon, Ursaring, Scizor, Steelix, Piloswine, and Kingdra as attackers and prestigers so I don't feel totally bored or underwhemled.

To be honest, I wish Niantic had never released Gen 2.