Previous Competitive Shooter Experience

[WaifuRaccoonBL]

While Splatoon is certainly a very unique IP from Nintendo, it is still a 3rd Person shooter at its core.

So who here has had previous competitive shooter experience? 3rd Person or 1st?

How much do you think it will matter?

I myself have only played TF2 a few times and not really to a competitive level. At the end of the day, I also don't think it will matter all the much since the rules of the game also doesn't revolve around getting kills.

 

[Icedise]

I think some skills from other shooters might very well carry over to Splatoon. Like situational awareness and ability to make really fast decisions will still be core skills in Splatoon, especially since its more about close combat with guns and controlling areas and objects. But I agree that Splatoon has so many new elements that every player will most likely have to start fresh until the game really clicks.

 

[Draayder]

I've played competitive TF2, but I was the medic on a 6 man team so it won't be a 1:1 carry over of skills. I think there's a lot of things that good fps players will carry over like Icedise said, also things like team balance if you can see what weapons everyone's bringing in or are able to swap weapons mid-battle. We don't need 4 splat chargers on a team.

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

I think that competetive shooter experience will help and that this game will require teamwork and coordination as well as strategy. Coming from TF2, ME3 and L4D; it will be important to form a squad that works well together and complements each others skills. Maybe I've been harping on it too much but I think balance within a squad will become very important in winning matches. While having the most firepower might win a match; teamwork and strategy will prove to be the deciding factor during a match.

1/3rd person shooting know-how will also help a lot at an individual level and I'm glad nintendo is finally getting a shooter that appeals to its fan base.i

 

[Kat]

I've played TF2 on ETF2L and at LAN, dabbled in CoD4, I've also played CS:S and CS:GO competitively on ESEA. I'm currently sponsored in a team playing Insurgency on ESL. Now surprisingly the game I'd compare this to the most believe it or not, is CoD4.

The movement seems like the element of the game that has the highest skill ceiling. Aim/Shooting in most first/third person shooters usually starts to level off in terms of how much better your aim will be the more skill you have. You find in CS:GO that the thing that separates the pros from the rest is team play and game sense, aim isn't a massive factor in who's going to win. I believe this is definitely the case for Splatoon. There isn't a big enough emphasis on class based gameplay for it to be comparable to TF2 in my opinion.

However CoD4, the movement in that game, while potentially unintended, was easily one of the most if not the most important factor in that game. There were so many minor quirks that affected your movements and deciding how to move to a location often decided the result of the round. A good spawn with the scope, good strafing and movement usually decided the opening kill and as a result the rest of the players would take advantage of that open space which is exactly how I think Splatoon will play out.

Getting to an advantageous position through the use of the movement mechanics is going to be so important, being able to surprise your opponent by being somewhere quicker than they expect will no doubt win you almost every firefight, coming out of squid form is going to put you at a massive disadvantage compared to a faster opponent who is waiting guns at the ready. The resulting kill is going to open up a portion of the map your team can take and hopefully maintain control of.

Personally I don't think Splatoon will really take much from most 1st/3rd person shooters, kills aren't nearly as important as most shooters, it's all about the map control and as far as I can tell movement and positioning is easily going to be the most important factor influencing how that pans out. And I absolutely adore that, I've been waiting for something that isn't twitch aim based and much more like the Quake days where movement and map control was key.

 

[FunkyLobster]

I've played TF2 on ETF2L and at LAN, dabbled in CoD4, I've also played CS:S and CS:GO competitively on ESEA. I'm currently sponsored in a team playing Insurgency on ESL. Now surprisingly the game I'd compare this to the most believe it or not, is CoD4.

The movement seems like the element of the game that has the highest skill ceiling. Aim/Shooting in most first/third person shooters usually starts to level off in terms of how much better your aim will be the more skill you have. You find in CS:GO that the thing that separates the pros from the rest is team play and game sense, aim isn't a massive factor in who's going to win. I believe this is definitely the case for Splatoon. There isn't a big enough emphasis on class based gameplay for it to be comparable to TF2 in my opinion.

However CoD4, the movement in that game, while potentially unintended, was easily one of the most if not the most important factor in that game. There were so many minor quirks that affected your movements and deciding how to move to a location often decided the result of the round. A good spawn with the scope, good strafing and movement usually decided the opening kill and as a result the rest of the players would take advantage of that open space which is exactly how I think Splatoon will play out.

Getting to an advantageous position through the use of the movement mechanics is going to be so important, being able to surprise your opponent by being somewhere quicker than they expect will no doubt win you almost every firefight, coming out of squid form is going to put you at a massive disadvantage compared to a faster opponent who is waiting guns at the ready. The resulting kill is going to open up a portion of the map your team can take and hopefully maintain control of.

Personally I don't think Splatoon will really take much from most 1st/3rd person shooters, kills aren't nearly as important as most shooters, it's all about the map control and as far as I can tell movement and positioning is easily going to be the most important factor influencing how that pans out. And I absolutely adore that, I've been waiting for something that isn't twitch aim based and much more like the Quake days where movement and map control was key.

i've only vaguely payed attention to the cod scene (and only recently picked cod4:mw up a few weeks ago) but i would have to agree, since splatoon has a short time to kill with small maps. this comparison isn't an insult to splatoon btw, competitive cod is actually pretty skillful from what i've seen of it

speaking as someone who loves quake and tf2, splatoon is really exciting for that reason as well :) i hope it lives up to expectations

anyway, since splatoon stands out a LOT from other shooters with the objective being coating the map with ink in every gamemode (at least revealed so far) i think only dm skill will carry over. it's going to have a completely unique meta that we can't even really begin to predict with accuracy

 

[FunkyLobster]

also speaking as a tf2 player, the only real comparison that can be made are in art style and possibly an emphasis on movement and projectiles (since technically ink isn't hitscan?)

tf2 is an arena shooter for sure, you can see its roots in quakes the second you watch a competitive VOD, but it has SUCH a strong emphasis on the dynamics between classes that it stands out from anything else. each class counters each other and there's no real overall functioning class (and no, the soldier and pyro are not jack of all trade classes, no matter what loadout you have.) this dynamic of checks and counters in classes creates a rock-papers-scissors kind of dynamic, with pretty much every class having a few counters and countering a few others

splatoon is team based as well, but has no classes. there are loadouts, yes, and there are perks that you can use to differentiate yourself from other inklings, but in the end every inkling has access to the same things as you with no restrictions. they can all buy the same things you can, if they have the money and are in the right store at the right time. some weapons are going to counter each other (such as rifles countering rollers) but in the end, the dynamic is on the loadout and not the character

i can see arena shooter, quake-y vibes in splatoon, such as the emphasis on movement and the techniques that are going to come from that (i.e. splatterhopping) but in the end, splatoon is really its own thing, much like tf2 is, so comparisons are brief and hard to make

 

[Copilot]

I've played a bit of competitive TF2 in my time, but I have to say that I question how far one can take the competitive scene for this game. I know in TF2 the absolute quintessential most important thing that you have to be able to do as a team is communicate, and if you don't have it on a level where every player knows what's going on with every player on the map at all times then you're going to fail (I exaggerate quite a bit, but you get my point). So I have to wonder how much communication would actually be required in this game. I could imagine, since the game will have different roles that players would play in a comp team, that maybe someone who spots something noteworthy, maybe an enemy player spraying ink alone, but can't do something about it based on their role could call out to another player of a more suitable role, maybe one meant for mobility, for example, to go clean up the mess so to speak. I don't know, just an example.

 

[FunkyLobster]

I've played a bit of competitive TF2 in my time, but I have to say that I question how far one can take the competitive scene for this game. I know in TF2 the absolute quintessential most important thing that you have to be able to do as a team is communicate, and if you don't have it on a level where every player knows what's going on with every player on the map at all times then you're going to fail (I exaggerate quite a bit, but you get my point). So I have to wonder how much communication would actually be required in this game. I could imagine, since the game will have different roles that players would play in a comp team, that maybe someone who spots something noteworthy, maybe an enemy player spraying ink alone, but can't do something about it based on their role could call out to another player of a more suitable role, maybe one meant for mobility, for example, to go clean up the mess so to speak. I don't know, just an example.

that's a good question, what roles will teammates have at a competitive level?

i think that everyone's going to try to do an equal part in coating the map with ink, but one player using a roller weapon behind lines where they're safe to cover a lot of the map with ink, and 3 players using more standard weapons (like splattershot variants): 2 on the front lines, cooperating together, and 1 on the back with the splat roller, watching out for other players on the flank and to scout ahead and flank the other team, like how the second scout works in 6v6

that's just what i think, and the game isn't out yet, so we don't have information on a meta to make informed decisions with... ultimately, how teams make use of their only 4 players is going to be interesting. since there's so few players, everyone has to try to make the most impact they can and focus on either being very broad with their potential or making the most of their niche

as for communication... mumble, teamspeak, ventrillo, and even friggin skype are there, dude :p

pubs will have d-pad pings and common sense for communicating, and that is more than enough for a casual setting

 

[Icedise]

I've played a bit of competitive TF2 in my time, but I have to say that I question how far one can take the competitive scene for this game. I know in TF2 the absolute quintessential most important thing that you have to be able to do as a team is communicate, and if you don't have it on a level where every player knows what's going on with every player on the map at all times then you're going to fail (I exaggerate quite a bit, but you get my point). So I have to wonder how much communication would actually be required in this game. I could imagine, since the game will have different roles that players would play in a comp team, that maybe someone who spots something noteworthy, maybe an enemy player spraying ink alone, but can't do something about it based on their role could call out to another player of a more suitable role, maybe one meant for mobility, for example, to go clean up the mess so to speak. I don't know, just an example.

I was actually thinking about that yesterday. Personally I believe that the meta will evolve mainly around the perks that the equipments provide and thus there will be certain "roles". For example a player that has gear focused on mobility (swimmer?) can easily rotate between the control points in Splat Zone map that has 2 zones to control. I also think that the "roles" will be quite versatile since not everybody needs to move super fast so other players can focus on other aspects of the combat and make their "build" around their personal play style.

 

[Copilot]

as for communication... mumble, teamspeak, ventrillo, and even friggin skype are there, dude :p

pubs will have d-pad pings and common sense for communicating, and that is more than enough for a casual setting

That's not what I mean, I was wondering how much communicating is actually required in the game. We've got the means, but how do we use it?

 

[FunkyLobster]

That's not what I mean, I was wondering how much communicating is actually required in the game. We've got the means, but how do we use it?

at a high level? probably quite a bit

not nearly as much as tf2 (honestly communication is the most skillful thing in that game) but in order to maintain as much control of the map, and by proxy, your ink coverage, you've got to tell everything to your teammates. such as if you see someone on the flank, or if someone fragged you, etc

 

[Copilot]

Sure, yeah, I suppose we'll see where all that goes.

 

[Lyn]

I've played CS, TF2, Halo, COD, and Battlefield competitively. It will likely affect how our aim is and general reaction times, but I don't see it affecting our skill. Splatoon is very unique and even the games I already listed are very different from each other. Going from one of them to Splatoon will be a fresh start, I think.

 

[HaDeeZ]

I've played CoD competitively for several years, played some Halo on H3 and have tried to dabble a bit in CS but going from console to mouse and keyboard takes time that I haven't really had to invest in CS. Not many skills will translate over since like @Kat kills aren't as important. Communication will be the biggest cross-over with possibly movement and map awareness.

 

[Regiruler]

Honestly? Very little genuine competitive experience.

Mostly, I've played casual TF2. I have a friend who does it more rigorously. I'm reasonably good enough to take charge in pubs, but I don't bother more than that.

On a different note, I'm a god in KIU multiplayer, but that plays much, much differently from a traditional shooter, or even splatoon for that matter.
However there wasn't exactly a competitive meta for it. I think there was one major tournament for it sponsored by nintendo, and that was it.

 

[Lyn]

Honestly? Very little genuine competitive experience.

Mostly, I've played casual TF2. I have a friend who does it more rigorously. I'm reasonably good enough to take charge in pubs, but I don't bother more than that.

TF2 is pretty great. I think that's enough experience since it's probably the most closely related game out there. :)

 

[jp4464]

I played Halo 2 with my friends years ago.

Since then, I've played various Call of Duty and Medal of Honor Games, as well as TF2, Halo 3, GTA 4 and 5, Warframe, among others.

 

[Rescue22]

I was pretty into Uncharted 3's online for awhile, but none compares to Goldeneye 007 for the Wii. That game had a fantastic community full of people who genuinely loved the 007 games. I kinda miss those times, but I've been out of the shooter game for awhile and now I think I'm ready to jump back in it! I'm hoping Splatoon becomes the next game I play nonstop and put a lot of time into. It's something Nintendo (and Nintendo fans alike) really needs right now, so I'll always be on board with something like that.

 

[TheRapture]

Before I got into competitive Smash with Brawl, I played Gears of War and Halo competitively for a few years. Was never very good at either of them, but always tried to improve. Became somewhat decent at Gears in tournament by the time Gears 2 came out, then kinda didn't stick around for 3, but still will always have love and respect for the game.

Honestly, Splatoon feels a lot like Gears of War than any other shooter, personally. Interesting how many of you seem to identify with TF2, but I really get a Gears feel from the game.