I've been at B-rank for a long while now...every time I make it up at the threshold of promotion (between 90 and 98), I get a LONG series of losses that puts me back down to low- to mid-B. These are the typesof player behavior that seems to cause me to lose, and I'd like to know how to deal with them as my teammates (and changing rooms doens't work--I just find myself with more of them):
• Glory hogs. In Tower Control and Rainmaker, they want the glory with minimal risk. They will absolutely refuse to be the first to get on the tower or take the Rainmaker and will even let opponents get them. They're most often at least pretty good with splatting and sometimes very good, holding off opponents and keeping them from reaching the goal. They are glory hogs because when someone (i.e., me) gets on the tower or takes the Rainmaker, they will follow 20 to 50 feet behind, inking only for mobility, and only gets on the tower or takes the Rainmaker when I've been splatted and we're close to the goal. These guys want to be the one to bring the tower or the Rainmaker to the goal at all costs, and they will throw matches if it cannot be done.
• Inflexible people. These people have one game plan, and they will keep trying it over and over until it works or until they lose, and then they'll try it again the next chance they get. This usually means they get splatted over and over without actually helping, and they are very easily flanked and outmaneuvered. Most commonly, said plan consists of a beeline to wherever the objective is, and once splatted, will ALWAYS Super Jump if possible regardless of if it's a good idea or not. If they cannot, they wil swim down the beeline they made. For some reason, this sort of player is more likely to have a weapon with an Inkstrike than more flexible players.
• Trigger-happy people. These are people who just want to go out and fight, and they might even have pretty high splat-splatted ratios. But they're not contributing towards the objective, or at least not directly. Looking at the map, these people will often pursue an opponent all around the map and completely forget what they're playing. They area nasty problem in Splat Zones, where matches can go by without them ever going near the zones, and unlike Tower Controlor Rainmaker, you have to keep tabs on everyone, as even one opponent can turn a Splat Zones match around.
• People who don't know the stages well. Every Ranked stage is modified from Turf Wars, usually to provide additional paths or to make traveling easier. It's less of a problem on stages with minimal changes like Camp Triggerfish or Port Mackerel, but it's a huge problem when a Ranked mode encourages you to take paths not normally used in Turf Wars, like Moray Towers or Museum d'Alfonsino. I mentioned in the "I'm sick of" topic about people who don't know about the tall wall in Moray Towers Rainmaker, for instance, letting whole teams get away with running away without my teammates noticing.
• People who mistake the countdown over the Rainmaker for the goal. I still see these occasionally, but not that often. But they're still often enough that they're infuriating. I had a match on Piranha Pit where we took out every opponent and provided a clear path, but the Rainmaker holder insisted on staying in the open area in front of the spawn point.
• People who think they're undetectable when laying still in ink. They are people who, in Splat Zones and Tower Control, will hang near a Splat Zone (or within one if they're a complete idiot) or on the tower hiding in their ink. Opponents are smart. They know that if the tower is moving away from the middle and there's no one visible, there's someone in the ink. And, of course, just laying still near a Splat Zone, especially when we control it, is an invitation to get splatted by surprise. They will usually get back up if they're being shot at in Splat Zones, but they are always unprepared for it and will shoot wildly and ineffectively. Tower Control is where it's a bigger problem though, because if I'm on the tower and we're getting shot at, they get in my way when I'm trying to move (and if it's somehting like Camp Triggerfish or Bluefin Depot, it's not always safe to get off).
• People who pick a corner and hide there the whole time. I don't know how these people got up to B, unless they're trying to make us lose, but it effectively means we're down a player. They don't hide in the spawn point either, but nearby, behind it (where possible) or in front of it (where it isn't).