How will squads affect the current ranking?

[correojon]

After the huge August update hits you will be able to earn rank playing with your squad of friends, but only up to A+. S and S+ ranks will still have to be achieved by playing with randoms. What this means is that if you have a good squad you´ll be able to reach A+ easily regardless of your skill level, so A+ will become a mix of people who have earned the rank on their own, others who have had luck and have been carried by good randoms and others who have been carried by their squad.

You can say that your squad still has to beat other squads, but playing in a squad removes some of the bullshit the current system throws at you:

• You´ll be able to setup strategies so no obvious mistakes like not getting on the tower happen.
• You´ll be able to agree your weapon choice with your team so things like 4Rollers VS 2Chargers+2Blasters in Moray Towers happen to you.
• You won´t be getting an useless A+ player (there is quite a number of these out there) on your team who contributes nothing but will cut your score to +8 if you win or boost it to -12 if you lose.

Getting to A+ on your own puts you through a lot of things that you can´t control and which make it much harder to level up.

At the same time, people playing in squads will have it easier to attack S and S+ ranks, so instead of getting the real elite in S and S+ I think this system will have the opposite effect and open the door to even weaker players to the highest ranks.

I think a new team rank should be made and separated from the current rank, because if not the game will be using the same unit to measure two very different things: Squad Performance and Individual Skill.

As a side note, I´ve read that in S ranks you´ll gain the same amount of points but lose more for defeats, so it will be even harder to stay there. I hope they go all out with this so only really great players get into S rank.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Demosthenes]

Yeah, I feel like a decent squad of four will be stronger than a better random team of four. However I don't think it requires a whole new ranking as I don't think squads will be overpowering to random teams.

I also heard that if you have a squad of 3, you only get 3 players going into a match against 4 players? Is this true?

 

[Nukichuu]

Too bad i dont have Friends

 

[Njok]

One thing that wasn't completely clear to me: when you enter ranked with your squad, will you be matched with 4 others who choose squad battle (which may result in very long waiting times) or will you be matched against 4 randoms who are just playing normal ranked mode?

 

[Nukichuu]

If you join as a 4-Squad team then you will get matched against another Squad
confirmed by the Splatoon Tumblr thing

 

[Njok]

Ok thanks. Here's hoping that will not become a disaster with waiting times.

It does make sense though.

 

[MickX]

At the same time, people playing in squads will have it easier to attack S and S+ ranks, so instead of getting the real elite in S and S+ I think this system will have the opposite effect and open the door to even weaker players to the highest ranks.

There was a tweet from SplatoonJP where it was said that squads are only able to get to S rank. To get S+ you'll have to play solo Ranked. I noticed while I was writing this that you wrote about that on the first paragraph, but well, just to be clear nonetheless. :p

Kinda makes me wonder what will happen when an S+ player plays in a Squad Battle, will the player get 0 points for a win but lose points for every loss?


I think it depends on how tough S ranks are. A+ kinda feels like a blend of different skill levels now (even accounting for those players who are having a bad day, it still feels like there's a bit of a gap), so with Squads I don't think it will be any different. Some players might get too used to the team mentality and get to A+ or S, but if they can't get a hold of themselves in solo Ranked they'll be unable to reach S+, or stay in A+ for too long without the team to back up. I feel the results will even out over time: good players will stay high while other players will struggle around ranks until they go that extra mile to work on their skills, regardless of game mode.

Somehow I'm not too worried. Unless S ranks give similar gains/losses against other S rank players like it does in A+ at the moment I don't think there will be too many players carried from Squad Battles into the top ranks. Sure, playing solo or in teams requires different mentality overall, but still if the player focuses too much on one side of things it might be overall harder for that player to keep up with the new ranks. We'll see how it works out once the update is out. :p

 

[correojon]

There was a tweet from SplatoonJP where it was said that squads are only able to get to S rank. To get S+ you'll have to play solo Ranked. I noticed while I was writing this that you wrote about that on the first paragraph, but well, just to be clear nonetheless. :p

What I meant is that if squad mode can "easily/undeservingly" (we´ll see) take you to A+ rank, you get more chances to get into S than someone who does it through normal ranked. If deranked, the guy playing on his own will have to make it all the way up to A+100 to return to S, while the guy in the squad will use his squad to get to A99, then just win one match (even a 4A+ VS 4C- will do it, just an example) and he´s S again. So it won´t be rare for S ranks to be populated with many players who just capitalize on their squad´s performance. S+ seems safer, but anyone can suddenly have a winning streak and go up a whole rank even if playing terribly.

 

[MickX]

Oh, I see what you mean now. Yeah, S rank feels a lot less valuable that way when thought like that. Maybe the patch could toughen up A+ a bit so that getting back to S via Squad Battles won't be much of a free ride to some people. Seems S and S+ has less gains/losses per match overall, so S+ might be the safest rank there when it comes to overall value, I guess.

 

[Sitri]

From the Splatoon tumblr:

Ranks for Ranked Battle are also getting an upgrade! While A+ is the current highest rank, you’ll now be able to reach the rank of S and S+. You’ll still need victory points to raise your rank, but keeping S or S+ once you’re there is no easy feat! Keep in mind that wins and losses in Squad Battle won’t affect your rank when you’ve reached S or S+ - it’s every squid for himself!

This update just keeps getting less appealing the more I learn about it. What's the point in even playing ranked with a team if it won't count towards your score? Solo queue isn't a good representation of how you are in team situations.

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

Being a good solo player means, you can hold your own, even if there is no one to back you up.

 

[Kaliafornia]

Being a good solo player means, you can hold your own, even if there is no one to back you up.

Yeah I get that but its kinda sucky if you like playing a certain weapon that cant carry well without a coordinated squad. Fortunately, I main with chargers and tentatek so it doesn't apply to me but a bit weird they would make all these support weapons without having them actually be viable in ranking in someway.

 

[Sol64]

There was a tweet from SplatoonJP where it was said that squads are only able to get to S rank. To get S+ you'll have to play solo Ranked. I noticed while I was writing this that you wrote about that on the first paragraph, but well, just to be clear nonetheless. :p

Kinda makes me wonder what will happen when an S+ player plays in a Squad Battle, will the player get 0 points for a win but lose points for every loss?


I think it depends on how tough S ranks are. A+ kinda feels like a blend of different skill levels now (even accounting for those players who are having a bad day, it still feels like there's a bit of a gap), so with Squads I don't think it will be any different. Some players might get too used to the team mentality and get to A+ or S, but if they can't get a hold of themselves in solo Ranked they'll be unable to reach S+, or stay in A+ for too long without the team to back up. I feel the results will even out over time: good players will stay high while other players will struggle around ranks until they go that extra mile to work on their skills, regardless of game mode.

Somehow I'm not too worried. Unless S ranks give similar gains/losses against other S rank players like it does in A+ at the moment I don't think there will be too many players carried from Squad Battles into the top ranks. Sure, playing solo or in teams requires different mentality overall, but still if the player focuses too much on one side of things it might be overall harder for that player to keep up with the new ranks. We'll see how it works out once the update is out. :p

You read slightly wrong Mick.

http://splatoonus.tumblr.com/post/125532251273/ranks-for-ranked-battle-are-also-getting-an

Adding more important info. Once you've hit S or S+ and you do a squad battle. It shall not affect your rank, however if you're below A+ then it will.

Kinda awesome here, it means I won't get punished for losing so much if i'm helping someone or a team. (And a team of S's can try strats without fear of dropping rank).

 

[MickX]

Yeah, read the blog's post this afternoon and realized I was told wrong. Possibly mistranslation of SplatoonJP's tweets on Reddit I guess.

If it doesn't affect score at all then it should be fairly inconsequential playing with any kinds of squads once you hit S. That's nice, makes me want to join random open squad battles on my friend list more often.