How much better are players today?

[Cuttleshock]

When Splatoon came out, everyone maintained that Rollers were completely overpowered and kept getting squashed and the Aerospray was the way to go. Thank goodness we've come a long way from those dark times. But just how long? I started playing 7 months ago, around halfway through Splatoon's present lifespan, so I can't make as full an assessment as those who got it nearer to launch.

Specifically, for example, was S Rank in 08/2015 similar to A+ Rank in 05/2016? Is it more pronounced than that, or less so? An aim of this question is partly to reassure myself and others that, even if we're stuck in a rank, we're definitely improving over time, as we're able to keep up with the generally strengthening playerbase.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Having played since the day Splatoon came out, the player base is nowadays is unrecognizable compared to the early days of the game. With the early days, you could tell this was many people's first online shooter. It wasn't mine, and since I use twin stick controls, which are similar to other shooters, I had an advantage over most others. With time, people got better and better, weapons became more diverse, new strategies were used. The more time passed, the more my skills kept getting less impressive, to the point where I was not anything special anymore. I feel I got a very dramatic look at just how the player base changed in terms of skill. It's a pretty neat process to see, I'm glad I stuck with the game to witness it.

Turf Wars are a prime example of just how the player base has changed. You will still have your newer teammates who aren't much help to your team, but most players are pretty vicious, using turf to practice their skills to take onto ranked as opposed to using it as a casual mode like it used to be. This really changed after the level cap was raised from 20 to 50. People really became far more obsessed with winning more and more to level up quicker. That was the 2.0 update, and it truly changed the game in a big way. S and S+ were also added in that update, which made ranked battles in the A+ range far more competitive as well.

Another thing that really changed the player base was the emphasis on abilities, and the advent of save scumming for good rerolls. Before more competitively minded players used scumming to reroll, it was more based on whatever you were stuck with, and using it to the best of your ability. Now, there is a strong emphasis on stacking abilities to get the most out of each weapon. Which makes sense, since it's more effective, but I wish the system made it easier to build sets, or cap abilities so you cannot just rely on one or two. I hope that gets fixed in future games.

 

[MeTaGross]

I started in July, but I did see big changes. The biggest change: no more memes

If you want real evidence, I started out after watching a let's player and eventually got it. When I first started I was still adjusting, but I could easily beat the original people. When the first splatfest rolled around, I chose cats, and lost. I kept playing, got better, started to climb the ranks, then the big update happened. I made it to S rank and stayed there, for months. Not only that but the splatfests got much harder, to where the most popular team always lost. At the beginning, nobody used chargers, everyone used rollers. Now, chargers today are the rollers from then. If I've gotten to the point where I can score 1000 points with a charger and 10 kills with an aerospray, but can still barely reach S+, then that tells you how much better it has gotten.