My perspective on losing my rank

[Leaf [LS]]

Am I the only one who doesn't get upset when I lose my rank? I view it as if I go down a rank I didn't deserve it in the first place and if I lose it due to "Bad internet" or "Bad teammates" it shouldn't take that long to get back to where I was and if I can't get back that means I didn't deserve my rank in the first place. The only reason I would get upset is when I kept playing very poorly I mean who doesn't get upset when that happens. Yet I'm starting to rant at this point so I'm just gonna finish this then. Let me know if you agree or disagree or you know you could just leave and not care it's really up to you.

 

[CknSalad]

I think the first few times especially when you de-rank from S rank are the hardest since you worked so hard to get there and now you have the A+ next to your name to remind you that you are not good enough or nearly consistent enough to hold your S rank. After the first few times, you kind of just play more relaxed or yolo style that you get it back within an hour or next rotation.

I think the main thing that bothers many others and I is how much skill variance there is in S rank and as well as even S+ rank. Sometimes, you will literally have a nice sizeable lead only to make one minor mistake or die with 30 secs left. Your team will then fall apart and start playing stupidly desperately defending by sacking one by one completely forgetting how to play as a team all of a sudden due to pressure.

S rank is annoying because I can easily tell who got carried through squads to get there vs. people that actually worked for it. This can cause lopsided victories or losses as a result. Lower S+ players have typically better aim and movement than S rank players, but can lose track of objectives and focus too much on fragging and spawn camping, while their teammate pushing objective died due to their recklessness and lack of respect to the enemy opposition.

The 2.6 update should hopefully mitigate these frustrations and for the most part, people will now feel that they belong to their respective ranks. Sorry for the long post. @_@

 

[Skoodge]

I play a lot of different weapons, and I am not that afraid to lose my rank, so in the past month I have gone from S+ to S and back, about 4 times, since I have been practicing other weapons. Once you are in the rank you fit into, you will stay in that rank, even if you de-rank occasionally. I think it is good too, since it forces me to get in gear and kick ***. The last time I was practicing E-Liter, and then de-ranked to S, then I changed to Custom Hydra, and won every game until I ranked up to S+.

I think the main thing that bothers many others and I is how much skill variance there is in S rank and as well as even S+ rank. Sometimes, you will literally have a nice sizeable lead only to make one minor mistake or die with 30 secs left. Your team will then fall apart and start playing stupidly desperately defending by sacking one by one completely forgetting how to play as a team all of a sudden due to pressure.

This update will be amazing, I hate being the only S+ in a lobby of S's, and have no idea if I am going to get good players, or those carried there. I think it is hard to learn from those matches where you lose at the end, since you can be playing amazing the whole match, and your team, including yourself screws up at the end, wipes, and then you lose. It is hard to learn anything from this, since you lost to few mistakes, you can only try to see exactly what lead to this, and prevent it next time.

Anyway, rank is just a letter that signifies how you play on average, I have seen A+ who could beat S+, but in general, this is not the case. Focus on particular matches more than ranks, improving upon mistakes in individual matches, will increase your rank, but trying to just increase your rank, may not help you in matches, and not help your rank.

 

[TacosConCarne]

I been hovering around A+ to S so far, my reaction to losing my rank is like eh
When i lose matches i can tell if it was due to my poor play or my teammates not having a good day
Sometimes i play well but as people have pointed out, easy to lose track of whats most important during the match
I play through all weapons so its basically me learning on the go

Honestly, there are certain salty situations but that comes with any competitive game
Losing cause you and your team made a mistake
Losing cause of a laggy opponent
Getting sniped left and right even tho i been zig zagging
Getting dynamoed or carboned cause i couldnt kill them in time
List goes on and on

Least i always have a goal to aim for
My only grievance is cash
Big difference between 4500 5500 and 6500

 

[binx]

I'm doing the same thing than Skoodge. I think "oh let's try this weapon!" and then I derank if needed. Funny thing is, the last time it was for E-Liter too, deranked all the way until S40 where I stood. Then I switched to the rapidblaster pro deco, went back to S+ with just a few losses, but couldn't stay either S+ nor S with this weapon (depending of the rotation).

Anyway I don't care much for my rank. But somehow, it depends of your point of view. For instance, if you are using only one weapon, are S+ for let's say one month, and suddenly fall back to S while you didn't try anything funny, I guess it must be frustrating. Though it means it's time to re-think your playstyle, I guess it's a bit painful.

But in most cases, the rank you actually are and the rank you actually have on your screen may be different at times, as you'll have some luck and unluck streak, some good and bad periods. But that doesn't change your level, only that letter, so it shouldn't matter much.

Edit:

Getting sniped left and right even tho i been zig zagging

Well maybe it's doable at some ranks, but if you consider the best snipers, the zig zag is just a bad idea. True, the best snipers are S+ so you're not fighting them. But I feel you should play in a way that works for any snipers, not picking a way that will work only against the bad ones. That's like rushing against a Tentatek saying "it's ok he will miss his shots". There are better options. You need to respect the longer range by taking another path, especially with snipers. They are absolute, as you're dead instantly if they don't miss. Wait for them to reload, or find another path (normal way to deal with them).

 

[TacosConCarne]

Problem is rotation atm is kelp/moray, they just always find me
If i try taking a super long way, they start pushing and we lose faster
And one other thing i didnt mention in my previous post, sometimes i really wanna just lose my S rank so i can actually start getting wins instead of always losing

 

[binx]

Well, don't take your rank into account when you're playing. At the moment the game starts, there is no way to know what will happen. You can guess, you can foresee a bit, but the game isn't won at the start. So just fight without thinking about the last one, without thinking about your rank, without thinking about the next one. When the game starts, everything else disappears, and anyway these other things wouldn't help you.

Well, I can't really give you much advice, that's off topic. But it depends of your weapon and lots of things, but even if the sniper sees you, just stay hidden. When you have a chance (because he is looking away, reloading, or if he just made a shot, or...), then go from your spot to another safe one, until you can kill him. If you have no range, then maybe it's not your job, too. Anyway, my only point is: don't base your thinking on the fact that your opponent will miss. Zigzaging to a sniper is basically saying "you can't hit me!", you're daring him. But that's not true, they totally can hit you, so you'll pay for that, because they can't miss everytime you'll try it. Be creative and patient! ^^

 

[Angel1010]

It is ok to lose if the other team/player is better, but if we lose because of me(playing poorly, making obvious mistakes etc) I feel really bad. I didn't contribute to the team and I let my whole team down. I deserve to lose rank because I shouldn't have played so poorly.
But if I was playing well and we still lose, I'd feel upset because I've done my best. I won't complain if the other team is strong, they deserve to win. However if it's because of bad teammates or dc, I'd feel really bad.

 

[Peaches]

I regularly hover between S and A+, I used to get somewhat upset over it because I worked hard for my rank, but now I've just accepted it because of how easy it is to get back up and because of how much I learn every time it happens. The only reason I get upset now is because I feel like I don't belong on the main team for my competitive squad if I'm doing badly, but I must admit I feel like the only reason I rank down a lot of the time is because of people who were carried up to S rank. It's way too obvious when they are or if they're using a weapon they've never used before and it's veeeery irritating, especially since I'm a charger main. I'm not an aggressive sniper and I can't just barge in and carry the game for everyone, unless it's my favourite maps/mode. I have to rely on my team to get the objective and hope they don't run off without me so I can protect them from afar. I do feel very bad though when I miss multiple shots when the enemy is advancing and they end up getting the lead because I was the only one there and couldn't do my job right - I take all blame when that happens.

 

[yokokazuo]

My rank isn't too much of an issue for me anymore. I used to be stuck at B+ and A- for a while and hated constantly moving up and down in my rank. I eventually got tired with that and didn't really care anymore about it and I've come to view rank as a measurement of around one's skill. I continued to play Splatoon and managed to make my way up through A- into A and then A+ and eventually S with little problems.
Once I got into S though I had some troubles and ended up ranking down to A+, but I was able to get back to S with few problems. This happened a few times and on one occasion I did have troubles getting back up for awhile and got close to ranking down.
Eventually though I was able to hold my own in S rank and even got kind of close to S+. I worked on practicing more and trying to learn new techniques and recently was able to make it into S+. Although I would consider myself somewhat in between the ranks as I am on the low side and may possibly rank down. However looking back I can definitely tell that I have improved quite a bit since I was in B+/A- ranks.

 

[GirlyMii]

I used to get bummed when I would lose my S rank but it doesn't bother me anymore. Ive been up and down so many times I've lost count lol I know I will always get it back so it only helps me improve my game play.

 

[ϛ(°³°)/`]

Getting sniped left and right even tho i been zig zagging

I've been playing the standard Rapid Blaster a lot recently, and the way I usually deal with them is to park myself nearby, move slowly until you're more or less under them, wait until they just barely start charging, and then smack them a few times. One time there was an ELitre and (for some reason) a camping Bamboozler on Mahi Mahi's usual sniper perch. They both submerged to recover ink and I took them both out by shooting directly between them when they were vulnerable.
The best advice I can give you is to avoid their line of sight. Trying to avoid their shot while shooting back is usually not smart, because any level headed charger will know to keep their cool and make their shot count before you launch your last pellet - they can always regenerate health after. Do your best to wait until they just barely start charging, that way if they actually CAN swing around and hit you, they won't have enough charge built up to KO. This works even better with the scope, because they gain a massive blind spot.

 

[Meow ShadE]

I think you have a very nice outlook on this OP, if you dersnk it is no big deal. Just work harder to get there! And the key is to be consistent as much as possible.

 

[Skepticpunk]

Honestly, I have roughly the same opinion on ranks as OP. Your rank shouldn't be as important as simply learning to play the game, learning the maps, and learning how to play against other weapons with your own. If you're able to learn those things, and play consistently well, your rank will go up.

I do like using Turf War as a stress-free way to learn maps and weapons, though. There's way less pressure due to winning and losing not mattering at all, as well as how the matchmaking isn't skill-based. It's much easier to focus on simply learning how people tend to move around the map and how your weapon works as a result.