So basically, the wait for Ranked Battle was meaningless...

[Cuddlefish]

It only took two days for enough players to reach level 10 in Splatoon for Nintendo to release Ranked Battle; at that rate, Nintendo should've just had Ranked Battle available from the start. The question is, with Ranked Battle being unlocked so quickly, do you think Nintendo will get the message that it's pointless to hold content back? Do you think they'll finally start taking us seriously? Or do you think they'll just try to sweep it under the rug that they ever held content back in the first place?

 

[SalsaSavant]

I think the idea was that people who get their Day 1 would have to deal with dead servers because not many people would be there.
This way, they can avoid that problem.


I think it was also partially part of their plans to have it be the first bit of content, to showcase how they plan to regularly release new stuff.

 

[Cuddlefish]

I think the idea was that people who get their Day 1 would have to deal with dead servers because not many people would be there.
This way, they can avoid that problem.


I think it was also partially part of their plans to have it be the first bit of content, to showcase how they plan to regularly release new stuff.

That's still an underhanded thing to do. Regardless of their intention, their execution basically told us players they'd hold back our content until they'd arbitrarily deemed us worthy of it.

It's detrimental to Turf Wars too; people are already getting burnt out playing half of a game when they're supposed to be able to switch back and forth to keep both modes fresh.

There's no way they needed a measly two days to get Splat Zones functionally working; there's no good reason the mode shouldn't have been available at launch.

 

[Z1zzor]

I think the idea was that people who get their Day 1 would have to deal with dead servers because not many people would be there.
This way, they can avoid that problem.


I think it was also partially part of their plans to have it be the first bit of content, to showcase how they plan to regularly release new stuff.

I agree.

 

[Z1zzor]

That's still an underhanded thing to do. Regardless of their intention, their execution basically told us players they'd hold back our content until they'd arbitrarily deemed us worthy of it.

It's detrimental to Turf Wars too; people are already getting burnt out playing half of a game when they're supposed to be able to switch back and forth to keep both modes fresh.

There's no way they needed a measly two days to get Splat Zones functionally working; there's no good reason the mode shouldn't have been available at launch.

They have their reasons.

 

[ZeroParadox]

It also seems really apparent that Nintendo wanted to make sure people got used to the game before letting them roam free. There has been a huge difference in the level of play with randoms from the Testfire up until this point. Not to mention plenty of people who have gotten to or past level 10 have been spending all this time on unlocking weapons or grinding the unlocks on their clothes, while finding their niche in terms of being on a team - all of which is pretty valuable to playing in a ranked match, especially for King of the Hill/Splat Zone.

 

[dustmyte]

That makes perfect sense to me. Players are much, much better than they were a couple days ago... we will all be better prepared for ranked combat this way. Would you really want hordes of newbies in your ranked games? What happens if they all end up on your team?

I think Nintendo has been making the right choices in spite of naysayers and game journalists.

 

[Cuddlefish]

That makes perfect sense to me. Players are much, much better than they were a couple days ago... we will all be better prepared for ranked combat this way. Would you really want hordes of newbies in your ranked games? What happens if they all end up on your team?

I think Nintendo has been making the right choices in spite of naysayers and game journalists.

Newbies? It's been 2 days; we're all still newbies; you can pick up the game now and still have a fighting chance against anyone else; you can pick up the game in August and the meta still won't be advanced enough that you'll have to grind hard to catch up to everyone. If reaching level 10 meant anything so many people wouldn't have reached it by now and unlocked Ranked Battle so quickly. Players will still have to grow to get better at Splat Zones; the skills learnt from Turf Wars won't necessarily transfer over. Matchmaking is all you need to keep lower leveled players from weighing down your team, and supposedly Ranked Battle already has that, so the delay holds no purpose other than to show that the developers feel they need to hold back their content from an unworthy audience. It's ridiculous.

 

[Emlee]

I truly think delaying the ranked battles was completely fine. You may be able to enter them at level 10 but I am unsure if that means an individual is prepared for them. I am almost positive that when testing the game they realized someone playing for a day straight could easily reach level 10. I don't think it is personal or that they think the majority of people would take a long time to reach level 10. There would have been reasons for delaying it and I think empty servers is one of them, which would give a few people a chance to do well in rankings before others caught up or even purchased the game.

 

[Cuddlefish]

I truly think delaying the ranked battles was completely fine. You may be able to enter them at level 10 but I am unsure if that means an individual is prepared for them. I am almost positive that when testing the game they realized someone playing for a day straight could easily reach level 10. I don't think it is personal or that they think the majority of people would take a long time to reach level 10. There would have been reasons for delaying it and I think empty servers is one of them, which would give a few people a chance to do well in rankings before others caught up or even purchased the game.

Why would the Ranked Battle servers be more empty than the Turf War ones? Why would players need to get to level 10 if it's no true indicator of skill?

 

[fenrir vii]

This entire rollout schedule of a new map per week, ranked battle rollout, etc. is set up to get people talking about this game. period.
They want you and the media to have a reason to get excited about playing and talking about the game... and that's simply going to lead to more people playing, more media covering, and then more people buying and playing the game. That's not a negative thing, and it's smart marketing, imo.

The added benefit of now knowing that ranked servers are going to have enough players who don't just stand around try to figure out the controls is a huge plus. Either way you slice it, the lvl 10 barrier forces people to spend a couple hours with the game before entering the big leagues, and the wait guarantees that enough people will be playing (and aspiring to play) ranked battles.

Overall I think this is a great move by Ninty.

 

[Emlee]

Why would the Ranked Battle servers be more empty than the Turf War ones? Why would players need to get to level 10 if it's no true indicator of skill?

In terms of the Ranked Battle servers being empty at first that would be based on the fact that people need to be level 10. The delay wouldn't be huge but still the game just came out, not everyone who wants it owns it.

If people entered Ranked Battles at level 1 and (depending on the system, I am unsure how it's done exactly) ended up low in the ranks very quickly then that is pretty discouraging. Just like Smash there are younger people playing this and they have to keep the game fun for them (and those of us who are older and hate getting stomped at comp haha).

That's my opinion anyway!

 

[Cuddlefish]

This entire rollout schedule of a new map per week, ranked battle rollout, etc. is set up to get people talking about this game. period.
They want you and the media to have a reason to get excited about playing and talking about the game... and that's simply going to lead to more people playing, more media covering, and then more people buying and playing the game. That's not a negative thing, and it's smart marketing, imo.

The added benefit of now knowing that ranked servers are going to have enough players who don't just stand around try to figure out the controls is a huge plus. Either way you slice it, the lvl 10 barrier forces people to spend a couple hours with the game before entering the big leagues, and the wait guarantees that enough people will be playing (and aspiring to play) ranked battles.

Overall I think this is a great move by Ninty.

The hype for Splatoon wasn't in danger after a measly 2 days. If anything would kill the hype it would be being limited to a single mode at launch, making the game stale. Fortunately, that shouldn't happen since Ranked Battle was unlocked so quickly, but that just makes the whole thing meaningless; all it achieved was the insult of having your game locked behind arbitrary measures.

 

[SalsaSavant]

Has anyone here played TF2?

When it came out, it had a tiny bit of content. They used that tiny bit to assess the game, then added free DLC...then more...then more. The way they did it ensured a long game life and also allowed them to make more dynamic changes to match the playerbase. I'm pretty sure that's what they're doing here, and why they're giving out content slowly. And because of these playerbase based changes, they made the game GREAT for years and years. It's only now, when people finally got burned out on it, that it began to become less good (though still good)

Well, that, and maybe it needed more polish or something.

 

[Emlee]

The hype for Splatoon wasn't in danger after a measly 2 days. If anything would kill the hype it would be being limited to a single mode at launch, making the game stale. Fortunately, that shouldn't happen since Ranked Battle was unlocked so quickly, but that just makes the whole thing meaningless; all it achieved was the insult of having your game locked behind arbitrary measures.

You misunderstand, I don't think the hype was going to go down but Nintendo caters towards older gamers (like many of us here I am sure) and also the younger audience, hence why Splatoon is so child friendly looking. I do think there is a risk with discouragement for children. I personally want to be level 20 and comfortable with the my weapon of choice before I jump into Ranked but that is different from person to person. I don't think the game is stale because it took under a week to get the Ranked Battles out.

As another person stated, it keeps the audience talking. :)

 

[Cuddlefish]

In terms of the Ranked Battle servers being empty at first that would be based on the fact that people need to be level 10. The delay wouldn't be huge but still the game just came out, not everyone who wants it owns it.

If people entered Ranked Battles at level 1 and (depending on the system, I am unsure how it's done exactly) ended up low in the ranks very quickly then that is pretty discouraging. Just like Smash there are younger people playing this and they have to keep the game fun for them (and those of us who are older and hate getting stomped at comp haha).

That's my opinion anyway!

I used to constantly get stomped at Melee by my friend when I was younger, that didn't keep the game from being fun. I think you're doing Splatoon a disservice by claiming it could so easily become unenjoyable. Besides, the problem you just described isn't solved by players reaching level 10 because reaching level 10 means nothing if it's so easily reached by such a significant portion of people in such a small amount of time. There will still be unskilled players ending up matched with people much better than them, even at level 10, since someone naturally attuned to the game can buy it, grind to level 10 and immediately switch over to Splat Zones and begin dominating quickly.

 

[Emlee]

I used to constantly get stomped at Melee by my friend when I was younger, that didn't keep the game from being fun. I think you're doing Splatoon a disservice by claiming it could so easily become unenjoyable. Besides, the problem you just described isn't solved by players reaching level 10 because reaching level 10 means nothing if it's so easily reached by such a significant portion of people in such a small amount of time. There will still be unskilled players ending up matched with people much better than them, even at level 10, since someone naturally attuned to the game can buy it, grind to level 10 and immediately switch over to Splat Zones and begin dominating quickly.

I am not trying to insult you by disagreeing with your opinion and I'm actually pretty in love with the game and am not trying to insult it either lol. Happy to hear that as a child you were a tough cookie.

Let's agree to disagree, shall we?

 

[SalsaSavant]

I used to constantly get stomped at Melee by my friend when I was younger, that didn't keep the game from being fun. I think you're doing Splatoon a disservice by claiming it could so easily become unenjoyable. Besides, the problem you just described isn't solved by players reaching level 10 because reaching level 10 means nothing if it's so easily reached by such a significant portion of people in such a small amount of time. There will still be unskilled players ending up matched with people much better than them, even at level 10, since someone naturally attuned to the game can buy it, grind to level 10 and immediately switch over to Splat Zones and begin dominating quickly.

To be fair, they will be mostly matched with other Level 10s...because of how matchmaking works. Might not work that way the first few days due to it just coming out and there being less players, but it will soon.

And level 10 at least ensures that you know how to play the game, which a Level 1 might not.

 

[FiveSevenThree]

... all it achieved was the insult of having your game locked behind arbitrary measures.

It's not a personal attack on you or any other part of the player base. Take it easy. Making sure a) there's enough people to actually play full ranked games and b) there's a big enough player pool of ranked mode players early on to level-set both rankings and matchmaking are two great reasons, really. There's nothing meaningless about it.

 

[fenrir vii]

If Ranked battle was an option from the start, and half the players tried that, while half the players tried normal battle, they would have risked having the Ranked Battle servers empty for early adopters, which would instantly sour people on the game. By rolling it out the way they did, they confirmed that enough players would be around. It's great that we only had to wait 3 days for that, but complaining about content being restricted is a bit silly imo...