ELI5: Is it true that some pro players are discussing things like a weapon and special charge up banned from competitions?

[angelicakuma]

I saw someone talking about this (title) on a Discord server I’m in but I don’t really want to ask that person myself.

I have largely removed myself from learning about the competitive community for mental health reasons and now I only follow one league that my friends compete in solely to cheer for them (this is why I don’t know anything about new bans atm). But the idea of having certain abilities and even a weapon removed from the game for competitions is really interesting to hear, I’m curious to know if that’s true

 

[isaac4]

Not a comp player but yeah, this is something that top level players have been discussing about. There's already been two tournaments with bans if I remember correctly, there's definitely been one at least and another that will happen soon if it hasn't already. I'm pretty confident that bans will be more common after a while in this meta and if the next patch doesn't change anything (like nerfing Pencil), bans will stay around for even longer.

 

[sevenleaf]

popgun discussed bans in a recent popcast episode! though i’ve admittedly been a little out of the loop recently in terms of what anyone else has said/any bans that’ve already happened. but yeah, a lot of folks are growing tired of the stale meta we’re in, and if patches don’t shake things up soon, i’m for it.

…not that i as a tetra player in low-level am too affected by bans on pencil or zooka, lol

 

[missingno]

Things get talked about all the time. It's a long way from any kind of consensus or decision yet though.

 

[Flango]

Outside of screen weapons I’d imagine any talk of this is in the very early stages with a couple of gimmick tournaments testing it out if you’ve seen any.

 

[angelicakuma]

popgun discussed bans in a recent popcast episode! though i’ve admittedly been a little out of the loop recently in terms of what anyone else has said/any bans that’ve already happened. but yeah, a lot of folks are growing tired of the stale meta we’re in, and if patches don’t shake things up soon, i’m for it.

…not that i as a tetra player in low-level am too affected by bans on pencil or zooka, lol

thanks for sharing this with me!

I found it interesting when popgun said that banning the pencil with cooler is justifiable because “that gameplay isn’t Splatoon.” I know popgun explained that bans will have unintended consequences, but I think that type of rhetoric is still really dangerous because it would lead to a slippery slope. Like, what is and isn’t splatoon then? No Kraken? No Ink? No moving in squid form? Those latter two rhetorical questions are silly but I hope ppl know what I mean

Thinking about this, I think there *is* a place for people to play competitions with [number] amount of bans for them if they want, but at EOD I don’t think leagues like LUTI (places where people wanna be the best and eventually make it to worlds) should have bans like that because meta gameplay is what it takes to be the best at a game…e.g: in Figure skating there’s all different types of technical elements they can incorporate in their competition songs, but you don’t see the competitors necessarily picking a diverse set of jumps to get the highest points. Instead, you’ll see the best-in-the-world competitors consistently try their hand at the most difficult-yet-doable jumps (like a quadruple axel in the men’s competitions recently) to earn the most points. All jumps are still “part of figure skating,” but the ones who want to be the best will try to go for the ones they know would get them the most points/the win because that’s the “meta” of figure skating.

I just hope that TOs will consider keeping in some elements of meta in the comps because it’s still part of Splatoon whether they like it or not, and the best strategies/gameplay choices are part of what it takes to be the best at the game. I trust the TOs will make the right decisions for everyone

(added one edit for clarity)

 

[sevenleaf]

thanks for sharing this with me!

I found it interesting when popgun said that banning the pencil with cooler is justifiable because “that gameplay isn’t Splatoon.” I know popgun explained that bans will have unintended consequences, but I think that type of rhetoric is still really dangerous because it would lead to a slippery slope. Like, what is and isn’t splatoon then? No Kraken? No Ink? No moving in squid form? Those latter two rhetorical questions are silly but I hope ppl know what I mean

Thinking about this, I think there *is* a place for people to play competitions with [number] amount of bans for them if they want, but at EOD I don’t think leagues like LUTI (places where people wanna be the best and eventually make it to worlds) should have bans like that because meta gameplay is what it takes to be the best at a game…e.g: in Figure skating there’s all different types of technical elements they can incorporate in their competition songs, but you don’t see the competitors necessarily picking a diverse set of jumps to get the highest points. Instead, you’ll see the best-in-the-world competitors consistently try their hand at the most difficult-yet-doable jumps (like a quadruple axel in the men’s competitions recently) to earn the most points. All jumps are still “part of figure skating,” but the ones who want to be the best will try to go for the ones they know would get them the most points/the win because that’s the “meta” of figure skating.

I just hope that TOs will consider keeping in some elements of meta in the comps because it’s still part of Splatoon whether they like it or not, and the best strategies/gameplay choices are part of what it takes to be the best at the game. I trust the TOs will make the right decisions for everyone

(added one edit for clarity)

you’ve heard of Low Ink, now get ready for No Ink—

but yeah you bring up some good points i hadn’t thought about. admittedly as a low-level player who isn’t suuuuuper ambitious about being The Best of the Best i don’t think too much about what kind of practice and tournament experience players at top level need. because “what will beat prepare the west’s top players to compete internationally,” “what makes the competitive scene appealing to new players,” “what’s fun to play at any level,” and “what’s fun to watch/commentate on in a streamed tourney” are totally different questions, huh

i wonder though - maybe just having some tournaments put weapon bans in place and leaving others alone would go a long way in making the meta feel less stale? that way top players are still able to access all the tools at their disposal some of the time, but they’re able (well, forced) to play outside of this current meta often enough that the pencil-double-zooka-etc-etc comp isn’t the ONLY thing they’re playing.

 

[angelicakuma]

you’ve heard of Low Ink, now get ready for No Ink—

AHAHAHAH THIS IS REALLY FUNNY, new comp league incoming? /j

i wonder though - maybe just having some tournaments put weapon bans in place and leaving others alone would go a long way in making the meta feel less stale? that way top players are still able to access all the tools at their disposal some of the time, but they’re able (well, forced) to play outside of this current meta often enough that the pencil-double-zooka-etc-etc comp isn’t the ONLY thing they’re playing.

I think what you said here is the conclusion top players and TOs are looking for but haven’t really vocalized or maybe realized for themselves yet. It sounds like people are getting bored of playing the same few weapons (which is totally fair, I know that feeling too even though I focus on solo queue) which is why they want to figure out a way to have more variety in competitions. But it’s also unfair to create a bunch of self-made rules (that could change if Nintendo releases certain patches!) on everybody just because a certain percentage of influential people are getting bored of playing meta strategies all the time. Like what you said here, there should be a variety of tournaments that people can freely enroll in so they can compete in the ways they want to do. That way everybody wins: people can go to some tournaments to play meta all the time/practice to be the best in the world, whereas other tournaments can be available for people to practice other strategies/weapons instead.

 

[missingno]

Experimental tournaments are also just good as a testing ground to see how players feel about potential rule changes once we've actually tried them. If it catches on, then we can consider standardizing it.