Splatoon 2: Find Out What's Fresh! (General Discussion)

[Cyan]

I have reason to believe we have our final 3 maps for the game. Take a look at this:



The Bing translation on the Twitter app was rather useless, but from what I can gather we’ll be seeing Camp Triggerfish (which is largely unchanged bar 2 ink rails, flood gates and a wider rope bridge) at the end of this month/start of April. Piranha Pit will follow in May with Wahoo World joining in June.

This is interesting to me for multiple reasons, one they’ve broken the tradition of new map > old map > new map > old map. Secondly they (mostly) followed the original game’s release order, it was wrong with Kelp, Port and Moray being back first but then we got Blackbelly, Walleye and Arowana as original stages before shifting to Triggerfish (the last map on Splatoon 1’s disc) and heading to Piranha Pit (the 2nd to last map released). Obviously we know nothing of Wahoo World (or whatever it’s called), but these all seem like maps with gimmicks.

Triggerfish has the map split in half, Piranha has conveyor belts and Wahoo is a theme park so could take inspiration from the gimmick Mahi Mahi used. This takes us to June, the last month prior to this game’s launch, so we could have 1 final surprise, but I wouldn’t be amazed if this is the final map. Sheldon’s Picks seem likely with the new delivery of weapons, and the devs may extend the content updates a little further but the game seems to have more than enough maps once these 3 drop. Urchin, Saltspray and Bluefin probably are gone for good, and Wahoo with Shellendorf take the themes Museum and Mahi had, which leaves Ancho-V, a map with too many issues to justify bringing back.

I like the new changes coming to Ranked, it looks like the end of S+10-S+50 (everyone being automatically promoted to X, dropping out of X takes you to S+9, ranking up from S+9 brings you back to X) and I loved the idea of bringing a seasons style ranked system to Splatoon. It takes away the salt of rank progress being halted, is encouraging players to use all weapons to stand out on the list, is concentrating map and modes each month so you can get your flaws under control and fine-tune your skill. If you don’t like the maps then you can always grab a friend and head into a Twin League Battle (or Quad if you have 3 friends) as they’ll remain unchanged.

The devs are trying to give Splatoon focus, which is a welcome change, as they have a point: there really are too many map and mode combinations and people will miss out on their favourite maps on their strongest modes (Blackbelly is great on Tower, struggles on Rainmaker for argument’s sake). Top 500 in a month is more realistic to shoot for than Top 100 in 24hrs, especially splitting Top 500 into Top 2000 by having separate boards for all 4 modes. Just don’t expect to reach Top 500 in Zones, Japan will have that on lockdown :P

Overall I’m excited for these changes, sucks about weapons as it makes the wait feel longer but then you get more things to mess around and swap with. I’m just even more hyped that Triggerfish is looking to be the first map joining the roster.

 

[MINKUKEL]

people will miss out on their favourite maps on their strongest modes

That's exactly what's going to happen in 3.0.

 

[Sifu]

That rank breakdown is quite interesting. Roughly a third of players made it to the A ranks and beyond, and around 13% got to S/S+, and only 8% ever got to S+

While the ranked system did/does have its flaws, I think this highlights just how much of a challenge it is to actually get to S+ if you aren't a skilled player. And only 1% of players will actually get to X rank, so that should be lots of fun for those who get there.

 

[Saber]

@MINKUKEL

Yeah i have to admit I am not a fan of that, this feeling like cailbrating in a ranked mode in a similar feel to Overwatch.

But limiting the maps each month will force certain player to become really good in 1 map or mode on that map, while terrible in other maps due to their infrequent use in the rotation.

I do however apporove of the 7 weapon release, unlike a single weapon release in which people test it, say it's goo-d/ bad, and move on it give the player more time to work with the weapon and find out for themselves.
A lot of the upcoming kits we will receive are going to be variants as well so not as much risk releasing them in large quantity.
Lastly, if they are releasing all these weapons likely this and considering how long they will likely be supporting the game for, it is highly likely there are a whole bunch of other weapons they plan on releasing in further patches (like a Sheldon's Pick version of each weapon)

 

[MINKUKEL]

7 Weapons? How did you get to that number?

 

[Dessgeega]

Well... color me disappointed. I don't think that leaderboards are what rank needs. On paper, this does nothing to change the odd matchmaking disparity in every mode below X, and there's the aforementioned issues with restricting the stage count. I'll reserve judgement until we hear more though, there could be additional changes under the hood.

 

[Ansible]

So ends my dream of Mahi Mahi's return. T_T

I'm not liking the idea of set stages for an entire month. I understand why and it's only limited to solo ranked, but it still upsets me.

At least, hopefully, with the changes and additions due to Rank X we'll get a better idea of our personal power levels that'll no longer be secret, better personal statistics in the Splatnet app, a retooling of the entire ranked population, and better matchmaking for everyone... or maybe I should go back to sleep because that'll still be a dream?

But the release of multiple weapons at once sounds good. I'm not expecting any truly new weapons, just variants, so it'd be torture to some in just dragging on the weapon-of-the-weekend game further.

 

[_Koriko_]

I wish I could say I'f get to Rank X, but I'm not so sure about that.

Multiple weapons in a single update sounds nice, and it makes sense cus they still have some variants to release.

 

[zzmorg82]

I'm lowkey going to miss getting a new weapon every week; a few of them might've been mediorce, but they were still something to look forward to at the end of the week.

 

[Saber]

7 Weapons? How did you get to that number?

The reddit post from the previous page mentioned that we will be getting 7 weapons at the start of each month instead of the regular weekly weapon release

 

[_Koriko_]

I'm lowkey going to miss getting a new weapon every week; a few of them might've been mediorce, but they were still something to look forward to at the end of the week.

\

Yeah, me too.

Someone correct if I'm wrong, but the usual update schedule was a new weapon every Saturday and new stage (and weapon) every third Saturday. If they ahd kept that schedule but just added two new weapons per update, there still would be something to look forward at the end of the week.

Eh.

 

[Drew Sebastino]

I'm lowkey going to miss getting a new weapon every week; a few of them might've been mediorce, but they were still something to look forward to at the end of the week.

On the bright side, we are getting three extra weapon (variants) each month.

 

[Cyan]

That rank breakdown is quite interesting. Roughly a third of players made it to the A ranks and beyond, and around 13% got to S/S+, and only 8% ever got to S+

While the ranked system did/does have its flaws, I think this highlights just how much of a challenge it is to actually get to S+ if you aren't a skilled player. And only 1% of players will actually get to X rank, so that should be lots of fun for those who get there.

Well we don't exactly know what numbers these are coming from. The data from Nintendo's website states this is the % of people who played the game in the week running up to the 4th of March, but doesn't specify if this is just the Japanese players or a Worldwide thing. If it's a Japanese thing, then only 20'000 people are S+10 and higher, which doesn't seem entirely correct (then again being the better players they probably make it harder against each other to rank up and get higher, especially when they usually only play Splat Zones and Turf War).

If this is Worldwide, then we have 50'000 players who played that are S+10 and higher, as we have around 5 million sales of Splatoon 2 worldwide. Again it seems low, but I can see how this is the case. We have many players here who got to B- in any ranked mode and then went to play League and never returned, we have players who only like Turf Wars and Splatfests (can bump this number up if you include people who prefer Salmon Run and Turf over everything else), and there are those who might just play casual Private Battles with Turf and the occasional League.

Then you have the remaining players, the competitive players (who have teams and take part in weekly tournaments and scrims) and the players who like Ranked but either don't have the means to or don't play League. Yes I can see how adding more leaderboards to Ranked won't address underlying issues with matchmaking, team balancing and rewards vs punishments, but I'm much more interested in the idea of having Seasons like the other competitive games. It might not be much, and might only be bragging rights vs optional show off extras (as seen in other games by exclusive skins and other harmless content), but the idea of having something to work towards and being encouraged to use other weapons and seeing how others fare with your weapon choices is going to be a good thing, and can encourage the players who struggle more with the weapon to see how it is possible to improve more, even if it'll largely boil down to luck of the draw matchmaking results.

What I'm concerned about is how the Rank X players will be completely isolated from the rest of the S+ players. 6.6% of players in this data (which can be taken as an estimated 325'000 players) will no longer help fill up the lobbies for top players, which will result in even more name repeats and bloodbath matches (will be a much larger issue in Europe than the US and Japan). I'm hopeful these changes will be for the better, but we'll have to wait and see exactly how matches will change. Chances are most people who want to brag about being Top 10 in the list will carry on spamming easy win weapons like N-ZAP and anything else residing in the meta, but I like the incentive to be listed separately if you're an L3 Nozzlenose main, or maining Chargers, Carbon Roller, Dynamo, Flingza and anything else that is overlooked or just not as good as the best weapons out there currently.

That's exactly what's going to happen in 3.0.

This issue has been around forever, and this is a halfway attempt to improve things. At the end of the day it lists we'll get 8 maps per mode per month, that's 32 combinations total. We have 17 maps currently, rising to 18-19 by the time of the first 3.0.0 monthly map restriction. That'll be 72-80 map combinations in total (which isn't even throwing in all the possible combinations by using one map with another). How do you ever expect to find the rotation you're looking for in a reasonable time span? Let alone taking into account the times the rotations appear. I'm already struggling to play on certain maps as it is with rotation times and when people can hop on the game for a session.

With all 4 modes getting 8 designated maps for a month you'll most likely still see all 20 maps appearing, granted they may appear on the mode you find them bad for, but they can just as easily create the best month ever for the mode in question. I mean look at this quote from the translation on Reddit regarding rotations and how many potential ways maps and modes can appear:

"On one hand, this creates a rich variety of stage and mode combinations, but on the other hand it causes the gap in between appearances of specific stage/mode combinations to be very long"

Do you want to wait 2 weeks for that perfect rotation to surface once and then never again for another 6 weeks? Imagine if the way the map lineup turned out meant you never got to have a single enjoyable session for a fortnight or longer (I've barely seen Goby in Ranked since it launched, or at least a time I can play)? Yes this is exaggerating the point a bit, but it very well could become a possibility, especially in the instance that more maps continue to launch post July (I hope not, 20 is the limit in my opinion). And the thing is, it's limited to Ranked, if they were doing this for Turf Wars and League, giving Turf 8 maps for a month and 8 different maps per mode in League then there's an issue.

The way I see it the devs are trying to make Ranked a focused and competitive mode, and by minimising how many maps you can play will make the data for X Power more accurate and have more weight to its meaning than Splatfest Power. It could even work nicely with competitive players, they see what maps are available in what modes and base their tournaments around said data, then teams can use solo Ranked to practice with the randomness and inconsistencies you only see in matches there, then take what they learn and use it to create strategies that play to the weapon strengths in scrims to prepare for tournaments. It could easily boost interest into competitive if that community chooses to exploit these changes as a way to streamline how tournaments are handled.

Sure it's not perfect by any means, but in the era of programs like Discord and TeamSpeak, and how easily accessible the internet is you can easily hook up with other players for League and heated Private Battles to play the maps that have been missed out in Ranked that month.

@MINKUKEL

Yeah i have to admit I am not a fan of that, this feeling like cailbrating in a ranked mode in a similar feel to Overwatch.

But limiting the maps each month will force certain player to become really good in 1 map or mode on that map, while terrible in other maps due to their infrequent use in the rotation.

I do however apporove of the 7 weapon release, unlike a single weapon release in which people test it, say it's goo-d/ bad, and move on it give the player more time to work with the weapon and find out for themselves.
A lot of the upcoming kits we will receive are going to be variants as well so not as much risk releasing them in large quantity.
Lastly, if they are releasing all these weapons likely this and considering how long they will likely be supporting the game for, it is highly likely there are a whole bunch of other weapons they plan on releasing in further patches (like a Sheldon's Pick version of each weapon)

I've already said most of this above, but I'm interested in bringing seasons to Splatoon 2 via Rank X. I don't think limiting the map rotations count will do anything major to player's skill levels. If I see Clam Blitz in League or Starfish in either Ranked or League I refuse to play. I tolerate Clam Blitz in solo but that mode has a lot of cheese with tactics, is rather random, has too many stalemates that last minutes and is otherwise rather unenjoyable. People often go out of their way to avoid the things they dislike, and it's the case with Splatoon, some people hate Rainmaker and won't play, others hate Tower, others hate Zones, and everyone has their own preferences on maps. Some maps have frustrating issues and questionable matches (Humpback says hi), but for the most part I can play and enjoy most maps, but Starfish has to be one of the worst map designs to come out of the Splatoon team (Saltspray had issues, but this map bumps issues up to an 11).

I'd love them to give custom skins for weapons if you placed in the top 5 with that weapon itself, and you could apply them to the weapon to change its appearance slightly. It wouldn't be much, but a nice incentive to play different weapons and become proficient with others when the time calls to play other strategies due to maps or modes. How about giving the L3 a red skin, or giving the rollers an orange handle, things like that where there are multiple skin types for each weapon that get given to the user and they can choose what colour they want after they've been rewarded with them. That's a better way of showing off "hey I'm good with this weapon" rather than making your weapon shine/sparkle in Ranked after enough wins.

I think we'll probably see 3-4 volumes worth of Sheldon's Picks, with even more weapons in the fray it only seems right. I'd just love an extra kit for Splash that utilises Ink Armor or Baller with a Splat Bomb. Only time will tell, and we'll be finding out soon enough. I'd like to remain optimistic but it appears that the current announcements are not going down so well :P

 

[MINKUKEL]

How do you ever expect to find the rotation you're looking for in a reasonable time span?

If I want to play SZ in, say, Snapper, I can do so every week. Likely twice a week. With the amount of stages that will soon be in the game, in 3.0 at some point there will be TWO ENTIRE ****ING MONTHS between Snapper SZ possibilities. So, sure, for the month after that, you can play it more often than average, but variety matters, and they're completely throwing that out of the window right now.

I'm going to be busy with a paper some time this year, so any good stages that are available then I won't get to play for forever.
Then, during the summer break, when I have a month off and plenty of time to play, I only get to play one certain maps. Yay, I got to play Blackbelly and Starfish. But whoops, next month, when my study starts again and I have a very busy period I won't get to play much, so no Snapper and Humpback for me!

And the thing is, it's limited to Ranked, if they were doing this for Turf Wars and League, giving Turf 8 maps for a month and 8 different maps per mode in League then there's an issue.

It's just as bad in SZ, RM, TC and CB as it is in TW. Variety is important in those modes as well.

Sure it's not perfect by any means, but in the era of programs like Discord and TeamSpeak, and how easily accessible the internet is you can easily hook up with other players for League and heated Private Battles to play the maps that have been missed out in Ranked that month.

Ah yes, finding 7 other people to play with is just as easy as just booting up the game and playing with some randoms.

Ultimately this is a change that caters entirely to those who are super anal about the meaning of 'Ranked' in the Ranked modes, and those who care about playing the game competitively. All the other ones, who just want to play the game whenever they have time and have fun, are getting screwed over. Most people don't have to practice on one stage for an entire month. Besides, those who are more serious about things and care about the new rank X and stuff are going to be the ones who will more easily get together with others to play in League and whatnot.

This update isn't going to change the availability of the stages. It's still only 25% of the time that you can play a certain mode. All it does is distribute it differently in a way that you have to, again, WAIT FOR TWO. ****ING. MONTHS in order to play on your favorite stage. And forget for a second that these modes are filed under 'ranked'. This 'ranked' BS is the only way to experience these modes, so it doesn't affect only those hardcore players, it affects anyone with an interest in these modes, which is pretty much everyone.

Try seeing it from the eyes of just the average Splatoon player who just plays the game to have a good time. They're getting ****ed over.

I'm sorry if I sound pissed off, but I AM pissed off.

 

[Spaceswitchmars]

Ultimately this is a change that caters entirely to those who are super anal about the meaning of 'Ranked' in the Ranked modes, and those who care about playing the game competitively. All the other ones, who just want to play the game whenever they have time and have fun, are getting screwed over. Most people don't have to practice on one stage for an entire month. Besides, those who are more serious about things and care about the new rank X and stuff are going to be the ones who will more easily get together with others to play in League and whatnot.

This update isn't going to change the availability of the stages. It's still only 25% of the time that you can play a certain mode. All it does is distribute it differently in a way that you have to, again, WAIT FOR TWO. ****ING. MONTHS in order to play on your favorite stage. And forget for a second that these modes are filed under 'ranked'. This 'ranked' BS is the only way to experience these modes, so it doesn't affect only those hardcore players, it affects anyone with an interest in these modes, which is pretty much everyone.

Try seeing it from the eyes of just the average Splatoon player who just plays the game to have a good time. They're getting ****ed over.

I'm sorry if I sound pissed off, but I AM pissed off.

This is fair, although I think it comes out to a wash either way. There are certain map/modes I don't see for months in ranked because of my work schedule already. So this change in ranked feels like a side step instead of a step forward.

It's weird they didn't do this for league instead. It almost makes sense for league. Like you said, this is a change that helps the most hardcore players only, so keep it to the most hardcore mode, right?

 

[MINKUKEL]

League they could **** up all they want, I don't play that :p
But yeah, everybody plays the other modes besides TW, not just hardcore players. These aren't some kind of expert-only hardcore game types, these make up 4 out of 6 multiplayer modes for chrissake.

What they should've done is have two ranked modes in rotation at the same time. There's no reason why they couldn't have done that instead.

 

[Spaceswitchmars]

League they could **** up all they want, I don't play that :p
But yeah, everybody plays the other modes besides TW, not just hardcore players. These aren't some kind of expert-only hardcore game types, these make up 4 out of 6 multiplayer modes for chrissake.

What they should've done is have two ranked modes in rotation at the same time. There's no reason why they couldn't have done that instead.

This is only somewhat related, but I don't understand why ranked gametypes don't rotate into "regular" mode. They can still have turf be in the regular rotation half the time, but this could be a way for people to try out ranked games they'd be afraid to try otherwise and weapons in those games they wouldn't try in ranked otherwise. It could also allow them to make ranked even more brutal in terms of how hard it is to rank up.

That would solve a lot of these issues.

 

[MINKUKEL]

I don't think people are that afraid to try them per se, nor do I think it's a good idea to have the most 'basic' mode (TW) not permanently in rotation. But I think that Nintendo and the Splatoon fanbase should stop pretending the other modes are that much more hardcore or whatever. Yes, TW is every so slightly less balanced. But it doesn't take friggin' rocket scientist to figure out the other modes.

 

[Saber]

I just realized something watching Dude video, the noteworthy players of certain weapons will also be recognized among the top 500 in rank X

Now there is a reason to be in rank X
:D:D:D

Top ten rank X gootube, flingza, tenta, (and hopefully squiffer) behind 7 other japanese player whoose names I can't pronounce @Goolloom and @Award

Though in all seriousness I do hope there is more of a reward for getting in the top 500 other than having a name on splatapp 2
Whether it be a recolor of your weapon, a wallpaper or theme for your switch, some kind of in game reward like a shirt (...maybe a dancing emote???)

 

[Cyan]

Got an English confirmation for Camp Triggerfish and Piranha Pit. Both of them are returning at the end of April which would be a first in Splatoon history to have a double map drop. It's probably to help the devs "justify" the changes to Ranked as it'll automatically jump the map count to 19 as the 3.0.0 update hits. It's cool to see both return together (or within a week of each other), and I'm looking forward to Piranha Pit, which has some rather radical map changes for placement. I'll leave the link to the Japanese tweet from earlier as it has 2 pictures for each map here: