I've missed out on WiiU, as I was a broke high school kid back then, so I've never played Splatoon. I've picked up Splatoon 2 not caring about things like splatfests, simply because I wanted to play this game since it was announced. I'm considering the time I put into this game as my attempt to get good at it before Splatoon 3 comes out. I'll pre-order whatever new system Nintendo announces along with Splatoon 3 on day one. It's the game I've been looking for, a shooter that feels fresh with it's mechanics and controls.
The funny thing is that the more I play it, the more I feel like new weapon classes are a net negative to the game, and that it would be MUCH better if it had nothing but shooters and rollers. Also, the fact that they replaced old panic specials with new ones is just silly, it removes some strategy from the game.
I'd say that sting ray and booyah bomb break the game, as the first one is nearly useless and super easy to dodge, not to mention that it's damage output is laughable after nerfing. The way it works is just wrong, and it's like a crappier version of tenta missiles, which have the benefit of revealing where enemies are for a short while. Booyah bomb is THE panic button special of Splatoon 2, and the only thing needed to fix it is to remove the shield boost it provides to the user. Don't get me started on the baller, which is the second worst special in the game.
Having only splashdown, tenta missiles, ink cloud and sub spam specials would make the game MUCH better IMO.
I've looked at prices of used WiiU systems, but it seems that people here charge a lot for it (~$200 is what I'd have to pay for used one in unknown condition). I'm considering to just use CEMU once I build a new computer to play it instead, as it seems there's only one minor graphical glitch in the game related to the skybox on one map, and even online works perfectly, and I can use the Switch Pro Controller instead to play it.
I don't want to come off as condescending, but I'm sure I will, so here we go.
If I'm inferring correctly, you are implying that you haven't played much Splatoon so far, (<50 hours) and it shows.
1. Having only Shooters and Rollers would be disastrous, because Rollers are much, much weaker than Shooters.
2. Removing panic specials actually greatly increases the strategy. Before you could just pop, say, Kraken, and with no thought process at all get out of jail for free. In Sploon 2, the specials are all much slower and more vulnerable, so you have to strategize a little bit when you want to use one.
3. Your use of the word "broken" is incorrect. In a game like Splatoon, "broken" is a stand-in for "game-breakingly good". You call the Stingray broken, but you then go on to explain how it is the exact opposite. It then seems like contradict your own definition of broken later on when talking about Booyah Bomb, as you want the armor removed, thus implying that you think it is too powerful.
Also, Stingray isn't garbage like you think it is (although it's not borderline broken like it was in the past either), you just probably haven't run into a good player using it. Ray is not a worse version of Tentamissiles either. Ray is designed to used in tight chokepoints to apply extreme pressure and get kills, whereas Missiles are designed to deal map-wide chip damage and scatter the enemy team.
4. Baller is one of the better aggressive specials in the game. I'm going to hypothesize a bit here:
You call Baller the 2nd worst special in the game, yet near the bottom of the post, you say you want to keep Splashdown (the main panic button, and one of the weakest specials of S2) in the game. If I were to guess, your favorite weapon has Splashdown on it, and since Splashdown instantly breaks the Baller shield, you think Baller is a weak special.