I did Tentatek division since the game released except for last season I did Takaroka. I think it’s hard to compare because so much has changed with that recent patch.
My experience with Takaroka was not that impressive. For reference, I had been averaging around 2500-2600XP in Tentatek.
A lot of people in Takaroka put up impressive X scores, but don’t be fooled into thinking switching to that server will give you an instant +100-200 point boost. My scores were actually lower for a couple reasons.
One reason is after reaching about 2400, I could not find games. I read on Twitter that the matchmaking is still both based on weapon pools and regions. From what they said, even if you join the Takaroka div, if you’re a charger from North America, the game will want to put another charger from North America on the other team. A lot of times this wasn’t possible, so I just wouldn’t get a game. With the patch introducing longer wait times before giving up and more flexibility with the weapon mirroring, this problem might not be as bad. But in my experience it was either I don’t get any games or if there’s someone from my region who is a top player with my weapon class, I will be matched against them every game. It got a little annoying being knocked down from a 2500XP to a 2300XP just because I can’t beat a guy who is 3000XP and I can’t get any opponents except for them. (I should note I do still have problems finding games in Tentatek. Maybe twice a week I’ll queue for half an hour and be unable to find games. Takaroka was still worse with that. Tentatek also has a smaller player pool so I do see the same players pretty often there as well, but it doesn’t feel as mandatory.)
The second thing I didn’t like about it was the lag. I’ve noticed increase latency in this game since the demo and I don’t understand why it isn’t talked about more. It’s such a notable downgrade from Splatoon 2. It is frustrating getting hit by a player while I’m moving and they are aiming at where I was a second ago and not where I am now. It is frustrating to fire a Zooka shot right at a guy, nothing happens, and when I fire the second shot at him, the kill confirmation from the first shot finally appears. Yes I have good internet and yes I’m playing wired. These things happen in Tentatek region too, but not as often. Takaroka region it was multiple fights every game. I guess top players have just adapted to this from what I watch, but my brain has a really hard time trusting what the game can/should do on a delay rather than react to the sounds and visuals that I’m experiencing in real time.
I initially thought I’d stick with Tentatek to aim for a top 10 badges and switch to Takaroka to aim for new XP high scores, but with the scoring system change it’s easier to climb than it used to be and I’ve already hit a new best XP score in Tentatek. It’s still a climb for a top 10 badge so I don’t know if I’ll get it, but if I don’t I’m close enough that I think maybe I’ll just try next season. I’m actually really undecided on what I want to do, but I will be very disappointed if I try Takaroka again and my experience is how it was before.
As far as the players, Takaroka just has more. That means more better players, but plenty of others as well. I definitely encountered some brain dead teammates on that side as well. It also doesn’t help knowing that many of them don’t like seeing westerners in their lobby because we are laggy to them.
My dream is they get rid of this divisions nonsense altogether. Between Anarchy Series, Anarchy Open, Challenges, and 2 X Rank regions, the player base is so fragmented into different queues whereas before all we had was X Rank alone or League only with friends. Those were all of your ranked mode options. If so many of us are having issues finding matches barely a year after release, things are going to look dire in the future.
