So here come my knee-jerk reactions, focusing on Goby Arena, Dark Tetra Dualies and a quick analysis on the L3 Nozzlenose post-buff.
Goby Arena:
What a fantastic map. At first I was rather sceptical at the sight because it looked to be one another Starfish Mainstage with all the corridors but it’s so much better than that. Nice and spacious mid, works wonders on Splat Zones, being in control gives you good vantage points, but there are still plenty of routes to get back and take control, works really nicely together. Rainmaker is phenomenal, about 4 different ways to push (they lead to 2 main options anyway), and matches are hotly contested throughout with some pretty exciting pushes and tactics. Clam Blitz is... disappointing to say the least. As with a number of maps (Shellendorf is a huge one), this mode is bad, the barrier/goal is in a stupid position, clam spawning is ridiculous on all maps, and as is the norm the match is either no-one scores for ages, one time destroys the other or there's an occasional back and forth scoring going on with plenty of stalemates in between. Mode has a good concept, but ultimately let down by many issues and just isn't fun. Tower Control is the one mode I haven't played, but the route looks good and 3 checkpoints is nice, so that should be just as good. All in all, another solid addition to the map lineup, most of the new maps that have been unlocked are great and more interesting than the launch selection.
Dark Tetra Dualies:
Too early to give a true viability rating (much like Bubble Blower), but I'm not impressed with this weapon. The mess around in recon and the testing range gives off the impression of a weapon with much better ink efficiency than it actually has. Trying to use the dodge slides and fight simultaneously led to too many circumstances where I ran out of ink and died. Obviously time and experience will eradicate those problems but the camera jolts during slides throw your aim off so that gimmick is a huge waste. As much as everyone loves Autobombs I only use them regularly on weapons that are close range or aren't shooters otherwise they waste ink for nothing, and there are far better Splashdown weapons out there already. I'm not feeling this weapon at all, but I did get cheese-killed a few times when I switched to L3 because their constant sliding meant my burst shots weren't lining up with their end lag.
L3 Nozzlenose:
I fell in love with this weapon near launch, but dropped it a few weeks later due to the never ending N-ZAP/Tri-Slosher Ink Armor meta game, most of the maps back then weren't friendly towards a weapon that needs good spacing to kill and out-manoeuvre enemies. Baller wasn't great either before the 1.3.0 superbuff, and Curlings were nice but not helpful in engaging fights. It had a very good kit, but the maps and meta were working against it the entire time. Fast forward to now and I'm rather impressed with the new buff. The L3 (and its D brother) is very much a sleeper weapon, it has a lot of potential, a lot of reward payoff but yet no-one uses it to the "super easy" weapons currently residing in the meta state. Landing shots is a breeze and getting kills is so much easier and quicker, which is everything in this game's faster paced environment. L3D can step in where the vanilla struggles, taking the burst bombs and lending burst cancel to engage in close ranged fights, a blessing when map rotations are on the short ranged side's favour. The L3 has great range, decent mobility, astounding turfing power (I was consistently in top 4 for turf painted out of all 8 players, and more often top or 2nd) and 2 really decent kits, and is a great choice for support and front-line contributions. I got a couple of cool little triples last night, and I need to push those out to Twitter (all my account is used for, never been a real user :P). Sure it's niche evidence, but I'm rather proud of this game I had last night in League:
So now onto the topic that has happened since starting this post yesterday (stopped due to attempting to write on a tablet): the new Splatfest. Interestingly this is the 4th shared theme between America and Europe, and the 2nd to have cross-play and results shared without Japan's involvement. As for the theme itself, I like the concept, but seriously, of all the philosophical-style questions they could have used, they went for one with the obvious (and proven) answer? And again, another issue lies in the fact that Splatfests were supposed to be debates, "Do you like this thing more than this other thing?", not a "Hey what do you think is correct, and if you pick this people will call you stupid". I've sided with Team Chicken, not for the answer, but for the exclusive ink colour (always a perk to play in a colour not available in normal play), the artwork I prefer, and the fact I'm still heavily scarred from the Front Roll vs Back Roll Splatfest. I picked Back Roll on the day to avoid the slow queue times I'd heard about on Front Roll (despite that being the correct answer), and instead I got rewarded with rapid matchmaking where my teammates never had a clue how to play the game. So yeah, not considering joining Marina for a while unless her team is what I agree with (hasn't happened yet) :P
As a final aside, I think Team Chicken is going to have a huge advantage over Egg. Remember people complaining about Dark Blue in Splatoon 1 Ranked and how you couldn't see swim trail well? Based on the fact Chicken's shirt is pure white (versus Mayo's yellow-tinged white) we'll be seeing bright white ink, which could very well mask all swim trails and give the illusion of Ninja Squid, so just be on the lookout for that. Who knows who'll win, but in the end I chose the colour/artwork rather than the correct answer, because Splatfests are usually forgotten about (the experience anyway) and I think making it more memorable being in different colours is worth it :P