Nintendo Direct Delivers Fresh News - Another Splatoon Update!



Today's Nintendo Direct made it all worthwhile with some unexpected Splatoon news. Despite announcing that Splatoon would no longer receive waves of free DLC (and potentially little else otherwise), Nintendo bounced back with new information outlining major updates hitting the eShop this Spring.

According to the Direct, the first update -- which will be available next week on March 8th -- will include:

-Improvements to certain gear abilities
-Adjustments to Ranked Battle matchmaking
-New Splatfest elements
The gameplay balance changes notes for this update are already available online. A version translated into English was posted on Reddit and can be found here.

The rest of the 2.6 update changes include the following:

Stage Adjustments:

  • Object placement in Regular Battle for the following stages will be changed to match that in Splat Zones.
    • Arowana Mall
    • Moray Towers
Matchmaking and Team Assignment Adjustments:

  • Until now, team assignments in Ranked Battle were completely random, but some consideration will now be given to equipped weapons when assigning teams.
  • Ranked Battle Matchmaking will be changed so that players of the following ranks are not matched together.
    • S+ and S
    • S and A+
    • A- and B+
    • B- and C+
    • This change may be subject to further adjustment depending on changes to matchmaking times that occur as a result.
Changes to Rank Points:

  • During Ranked Battles, when a team plays at a disadvantage due to unavoidable issues such as teammates being disconnected, and then loses, the winning team’s points will be decreased by an amount proportional to the time they benefited from the above conditions.

Splatfest Changes:

  • During Splatfests what was previously the Vibe Meter will now display your Splatfest Power.
    • Initial Splatfest Power level depends upon your current Ranked Battle rank.
    • Splatfest Power level will change depending on wins or losses during Splatfest Battles.
    • The player with the highest Splatfest Power on the winning team will receive a slightly larger boost to their Splatfest Power than their teammates after the match.
  • Until now, Splatfest matchmaking favored grouping players with similar play styles. Players will now be more likely to play with those of similar Splatfest Power level.
  • The higher a team’s average Splatfest Power level, the more Splatfest Points they will earn after winning.



The second update will not only include balance changes to some weapons already available in the game, but also new weapon sets known as "Sheldon's Picks." These sets will include new weapon variations, like the "Wasabi Splattershot," as well as new weapon combinations. This update will be released in two parts, the first of which slated for April 2016.

Leave us a comment below on your thoughts on all the freshness heading to Splatoon real soon!
 
Last edited:
TheRapture

Comments

It's about time they buffed some of these abilities. I'm also glad that they decided to focus on buffing the weaker, more exotic abilities rather than just nerfing everything else.
 
Seems like they're addressing the disconnect in Rank Issues somewhat? I wonder how bad the point decrease is if the other team lost a player right at the start.

I'm gonna have to read the Splatfest stuff. I might be too tired but I don't get the changes at all. Does Nintendo just want to shake things up, or do they know that the popular team almost always loses?
 
Seems like they're addressing the disconnect in Rank Issues somewhat? I wonder how bad the point decrease is if the other team lost a player right at the start.

I'm gonna have to read the Splatfest stuff. I might be too tired but I don't get the changes at all. Does Nintendo just want to shake things up, or do they know that the popular team almost always loses?
tdlr:
will try put like skilled people together, high skilled people (or high rank meter thing) will get more points on win
 
So now that the initial excitement of just knowing we're going to get new stuff has worn off, a thought has occurred to me... Exactly how much are these new weapons going to cost? I really hope we're not going to be looking at 50K per weapon or something ridiculous like that.
 
During Ranked Battles, when a team plays at a disadvantage due to unavoidable issues such as teammates being disconnected, and then loses, the winning team’s points will be decreased by an amount proportional to the time they benefited from the above conditions.
Wasn't this already added in? Because a few days ago this happened to me and I only lost 1 rank point.
Edit: o my bad I read this wrong. Good thing they added this!
 
Wasn't this already added in? Because a few days ago this happened to me and I only lost 1 rank point.
Edit: o my bad I read this wrong. Good thing they added this!
no, it only does that if the disconnect happens before the game starts
 
Really looking forward to when this update hits on 9th March, it looks like they're addressing the final niggles with the game. The most significant part is that they will now organise teams in Solo Ranked based on weapons. This is a huge bonus as we'll no longer end up with matches where one team has all short range weapons and the other has mid-long range weapons, thereby ending disadvantages like this occuring as much. I'm also happy to see the changes to points in Solo when people DC midmatch, since it was unfair that a point compensation only occurred when someone dcd before the match started.

As for the ability changes, these are going to have a significant impact on the frequency of those abilities. I for one cannot wait to use Last Ditch Effort when the update hits, as it finally gets the boost it so desperately needed. The fact it'll kick in once the enemy team's score hits 30 or less really boosts the usefulness of this ability, as well as the fact it'll decrease respawn time and stay in effect even when Extra Time/Overtime starts. Bomb Sniffer looks interesting now it'll act like Defence Up towards bombs and their splash damage. The fact Comeback is having Special Charge Up thrown in and the Run/Swim Speed being boosted to that of 3 mains is incredible and will no doubt have more use as a result. I'm still unsure of Haunt, since it doesn't have a clear explanation of how the Damage and Run speed stat kicks in. Special Duration is also iffy, since it only got a slight boost, though it'll be interesting to see how it negates the cooldown of Inkstrikes and Killer Wails. I think Recon will be seen more in Squads/scrims and possibly tournaments, since it enables a teammate to call out all of the weapons on the enemy team and where they're situated, so it'll be interesting to see how that works out.

Splatfest Power seems like a neat idea, as it means people who are high ranked and skilled will face others of similar skill more often, allowing for matches similar to those in regular Turf. I also approve of the fact it'll speed up ranking up your Splatfest title, since those who aren't crazy about 24hrs of Turf can finish their involvement a lot quicker and do other things whilst they wait for regular servers to return.

I think that the most exciting part of the announcement is the new weapon variants, it may not be new weapons, but it's the next best thing and should encourage more variety within Splatoon, which is always a good thing. Fun fact about the Wasabi Splattershot, its sub and special is that of the gun used in the E3 Build of the game. The Fresh Squiffer has Suction Bombs & Kraken which is a new sub & special loadout and I'm interested to see how this weapon plays out. The Berry Splattershot Pro, whilst it looks great, gets the short end of the stick, it's a very ink intensive weapon and Suction Bombs will not work for it, as they are also very draining on your ink tank as a sub weapon. Add to that it's bomb rush special, and it really will struggle to survive against other weapons. Outside of that, I spotted a brown coloured Bamboozler and a Slosher (regular) on that Sheldon's Picks box, meaning those 2 are getting new loadouts as well. There are also 3 ? present, possibly hinting at the other weapons coming in April, so there's at least 8 new variants coming next month. I have a feeling that this variants will have unlock requirements over Level 20 (unlike all the current weapons) since they are special versions and as such will be harder to access (although most of us are already Level 50 at this point in time). I cannot wait to see how these changes shake up the game, because we are clearly in for interesting times now. I just hope it helps freshen the game up enough, because this will push it onto another level if it does.
 
The Berry Splattershot Pro, whilst it looks great, gets the short end of the stick, it's a very ink intensive weapon and Suction Bombs will not work for it, as they are also very draining on your ink tank as a sub weapon. Add to that it's bomb rush special, and it really will struggle to survive against other weapons.
I guess you'd have to stock up on Ink Savers to make it work, especially the Subs. And of course it's going to be just as difficult to master as the others of its kind.

That said, I still think the Suction Bomb Rush is pretty handy for mass turf coverage and zoning enemies away from critical areas. All I need to know is how long it'd take to get a special with the S-Pros we already have, but otherwise the Berry Pro sounds like a Splash-O-Matic Pro. (Also, there's that whole Inkfinite Ammo thing with Bomb Rushes. That's always nice in a pinch.)
 
Wow, I just went in a full rank about the problem with people DC during a Rank Match and now they're fixing it! I'm so freakin happy! Also, those buffed up gear abilities seem super interesting. Just when I though that they were done updating Splatoon, they do this. They just keep making my favorite WiiU game better and better. I need it to hurry up and be March 8th! X3
 
D
Really excited for the ability improvements and Sheldon's Picks.
 

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