I have really mixed feeling about this new Splatfest system.

[CM2]

Yes I understand that people want to win but just trying to stay alive is so stressful when going against players with high Splatfest power. I can't relax anymore and have fun with the game. It just turned Splatfest into ranked battles. I don't know if I want to participate future splatfests for fun anymore.

 

[MissingNumbers]

Personally, I found Splatfests stressful because they were such a mixed bag. Now that it's actually organized so that people are on near-equal terms, I don't find it nearly as hard or as frustrating to get through it all.

 

[blu]

It's Hard for me to give my current thoughts without giving it another go, but it definitely feels different, and I'm hoping my jr can help make this work next time since I went in with a different weapon.

 

[Babycowland]

Yes I understand that people want to win but just trying to stay alive is so stressful when going against players with high Splatfest power. I can't relax anymore and have fun with the game. It just turned Splatfest into ranked battles. I don't know if I want to participate future splatfests for fun anymore.

I sort of see what you mean.

The old Splatfest rules could lead to some super lopsided matches where one side had amazing, experienced players and the other side had people who'd only had the game for a couple of days. That setup seemed to lead to some people gaming the system and arguably making things even less fair and more lopsided for people who aren't pro players.

I think the new system is definitely fairer in the sense that there's actual matchmaking and players who are lower ranked don't have to worry about playing a bunch of S and S+ players if they pick the "wrong" side. It also seems like it's more competitive than it was before now that there's a more meaningful way to measure individual contributions in a Splatfest and actual rankings and stuff. Whether it being more competitive is a good thing or bad thing kind of depends on your perspective, I think. I feel like it's great if you're somebody who really likes the high stakes of ranked and maybe not as good if you're somebody who doesn't want to worry about points or rankings or playing seriously the whole Splatfest. True, you can always just not care about that stuff, but if everybody else is playing seriously, I think it's a bit difficult to play more casually or try out new weapons or gear or whatever.

 

[Flareth]

There's always going to be some kinks in any system. From what I can tell, most of the issues are related to some players not being quite at the skill level that their rank indicates.

That's a problem that, as it stands, I don't think there's an easy fix for without evaluating every single player's stats on a case-by-case basis.

 

[Spiderface]

I'm liking this a whole lot better. As a pretty solid S rank player I've not enjoyed the previous few Splatfests because I feel bad versing and splatting new squids. It made me worry and I would just squid party if I felt the team was too lopsided.

Now though, I'm consistently up against people of my skill level. It's great. Although I'm not doing very well because I haven't played turf wars since the last Splatfest and my main weapon (Carbon Roller) isn't too awesome at inking so...

 

[stitchedwithlove]

I apologise for my pessimistic attitude, but I'm not having much fun this Splatfest. Initially I was finding games with no problem. Then I went out for a couple of hours, came back home and I'm now unable to find a single game - I kid you not. My Hoverboard Power at the moment is 1708 (I've lost quite a bit of points thanks to the stupid "connection issues"...) and for some reason nobody seems to match that power. It's likely that most people with that power is asleep as I'm from Australia and everyone else is from Europe. It's such a big issue though - I can't improve hoverboard's win rate nor can I increase my Hoverboard Power and try to maintain my position in the Top 100. I thought this whole new system would be amazing, but I'm afraid to say that it's not really "all there". I appreciate that Nintendo are trying, but unfortunately they're not fully considering the outcomes of what they're implementing. I just feel more stressed and salt-fuelled than ever before. :(

 

[Dessgeega]

This is balancing in a competitive game. Nintendo's doomed no matter what route they take, the subject will be different but the complaining will be the same.

For my part, I like the changes. I'd rather lose because my team got stomped into the ground than because I had allies who didn't know how to hold the controller.

 

[stitchedwithlove]

Well, at least they recognise the need for change and they act rather promptly on that need. It's just, I feel as though they don't consider their changes 100%. I can't progress in this Splatfest any further at the moment, so what can I do? I'm stuck twiddling my thumbs whilst waiting for the Splatfest to end or for the S+/S ranked Europeans to wake up.

I also can't see a difference between the transition from playstyle matchmaking to ranked matchmaking. Admittedly, the playstyle matchmaking was...a bit too easy at times. The new matchmaking system is pretty close to that, in that my teams generally outplay our opponents. I think I'm very used to the Japanese players and their way of playing. The Europeans have different methods and strategies, and I'm much acquainted to the Japanese playstyle. Maybe my team comps are just ideal? I don't know - it just feels like how it was before, and I'm not sure why.

Yes, Nintendo are rather new to the whole shooter genre, so understandably there will be issues. They can't please everyone, but they're certainly trying their best to achieve satisfaction from a large majority of players which I can appreciate. And it's only the first Splatfest for this new update after all, so there would likely be kinks and issues to attend to.

 

[Dessgeega]

Yep, they'll no doubt keep tweaking it. I'm just saying there's going to be threads like this no matter what they do, because competitive game fanbases are eternally unpleasable :P

Also, consider that this is a global game made by a Japanese company. I understand the problems you're having, but if this system works well enough in Japan, it'll stick. Japanese companies, or at least game companies, tend to put Japan first.

 

[Crimsoninkling]

The new system is fine.

 

[Sol64]

I've bad experiences with splatfest before this update and it was mainly due to the stage choices. Again, this had moray and mahi which didn't really mix well with my weapon choices, hell, the whole stage selection didn't work with 1 of any choices I made.

A lot of people were idling on my team from the start of the match for some dumb reason, it's a wonder how they didn't dc from the room. (Hoverboards).
It wasn't a pleasant experience either, a lot of "high-level" people disregard the most basic component of this game: spreading turf. Too many of them try to flank and kill and treat it as if this is some new ranked mode. I wasn't very happy with this for first impressions, if it happens again then I will say if I hate the new system.