The big thing is TW, after 2.4 applies improved matchmaking. Whatever that improved matchmaking may be, it seems to like to pit good players against great teams accompanied by modest allies. I played TW all day yesterday. I played Custom Hydra (new weapon I'd like to add to my mains.) Lost almost every round (but I actually played the new Hydra well!) My team consisted of people who clearly did not know the keystones of the maps and didn't care. They wanted to rush out and kill stuff. Inking turf was not their priority. We'd finish Piranha Pit with the bottom section UNINKED. I was busy holding defense and didn't get a chance between waves of attacks to go down and paint, and the rest of the team just kept running right into the enemy base. But I commonly have TW matches with a C-, B+, and Lv14 unranked against a C+, B-, S, S+ (On a good round I'll be against a B, A-, A, B+, but my team will be C+, C-, and a lv3 unranked.). Invariably the S+ has like 14/3, the S has 10/2, and the other two don't really matter much, once the S's open their spawncamp path for them, they just sit there camping in their own ink at random places in our own base, picking us off and we can't get out of spawn. (I'll have my own thread on this topic later on.)
Point is, don't take TW losses personally. I played probably 40-50 rounds yesterday. If I won 15 it was a miracle. I looked at how well I performed and ignored the win/loss status. Getting 7/0 with a Custom Hydra was a triumph for me even when we lost the round. Even 3/0 was a triumph. I ignored the 3/5 spawncamp losses. Play TW, play for yourself and what your personal aims are with it (splat total, k/d, total ink covered, taking that one tricky camping spot and holding it as long as you can.) You WILL lose, and you will lose again and again. The matchmaker makes certain of that, and you might be playing S/S+ rounds anyway.
Ranked is another thing if you want to preserve your rank. Given the frustrations in TW, I'm getting very close to doing what I promised I'd do a month ago: Stop caring about rank. In other threads we've discussed just how AWFUL the matchmaking is, and that you're pretty much screwed with it. I avoid playing ranked, like you, because I don't want to lose my rank and want to play it only when I know I'll do well with a main weapon and aim to better my rank. My new goal: Stop doing that. I'm going to play ranked and I'll lose my way all the way down to C- if I want. I'm not going to worry about mains and winning, it's not a clan match. There are now, what, 74 weapons in the game? Why would I not want to try ALL of them on ALL 4 game modes? I spent $60 on Splatoon and I'm only playing with $30 of the content. I want to try kelp slpatterscope in splat zones. I want to try an aerospray in TC. Why not? So i can keep a letter next to my name that some opponent might see if they check the Plaza after they play me? A letter that indicates That I may have earned a rank, or been carried to a rank, or just savescummed my way to a rank? Isn't the "best rank' the one that provides games that don't suck no matter what weapon I feel like playing any mode with? if you want to impress the Christmas noobs, sure, that shining S next to your name in the Plaza is sure impressive. So is a level over 35. To skilled players, they'll know a skilled player when they see one (The "B-" ranked bamboozler in warehouse last week in TW that had perfect accuracy an 18/3 k/d and owned the whole map was sure as heck no "B-" in skill, broken letter system or not.)
@Zwei isn't wrong - it's easy to get an attachment to that letter and it takes effort to lose that attachment. But the more I get pwned in TW by uneven matches against S+'s with my squad of C's the more appealing playing ranked is. And the more I realize that by preserving the magic obnxious bragging jerk letter next to my name I'm just denying myself the fun of trying ALL the weapons in ALL the game modes and playing whatever I feel like (including playing something other than ***** Port Mackarel every time it's in the rotation for TW.)
I agree with you guys. I want the good letters! Once you earn one you don't want to give it up. But why buy a game to NOT play half of it? EARN that C- by mastering every weapon in every mode! :p SOME people didn't earn their ranks by even mastering all 3 game modes. Is a B- that can do well on all 3 modes with any weapon class really a lower rank than an S that played only Rainmaker with a Krak-On all the way to S? If you were building a tournament, which would you rather have on your team, the multifaceted player that knows every weapon and mode, or the guy that knows one thing well enough to do it better than most more times than not?
TL;DR: In TW you will lose. Period. But it's still fun without ranks. Dont play to win, play to do well. You're not going to win if, like me, you go 7/0 with a new weapon and held your territory, and the rest of your team went 2/8. Not gonna' happen. But it was a "win" because I played well.
Ranked, yes, play to win. If the letter is what matters most to you, you got your S. Keep your S. Don't return to ranked. Because it's not like you paid for the other 3 game modes, right? ;) (I know, it's easier said than done - I'll be taking that plunge soon, but haven't done it yet. But I suspect once I do it and let go of letters, I'll have a lot more fun playing more modes of Splatoon more often with more weapon play styles.)
:D
