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

[the]

With regard to @_Koriko_ ’s question about Triggerfish and Piranha Pit:

It looks like there are ink rails on triggerfish now to give more routes for advancing/crossing the gap. Which I’m actually a fan of, because now a) it’ll be harder to spawncamp and b) shorter range weapons won’t have to wait until ranged stuff is distracted and/or until the gates go down to be able to do something.

As for piranha pit, i forget the exact layout of that stage in the first game, but it seems like they made some kind of change to the starting area. Also added sponges in front of the starting conveyor belts, so that’s interesting. I don’t remember piranha pit being a map with serious issues (except apparently in rainmaker which i never played it on) so idk how many changes are really necessary.

 

[Spaceswitchmars]

It’s very cool how tower control is out of the league rotation for at least 24 hours after the current rotation. What’s up with that?

 

[zzmorg82]

Why do we have to talk about something so serious and technical? Can we talk about puppies or kittens instead?

 

[Cyan]

It’s very cool how tower control is out of the league rotation for at least 24 hours after the current rotation. What’s up with that?

There's also Rainmaker disappearing from Ranked for 12 hours after its last rotation at 10PM UK time. This is going to be rather concerning if it goes hand in hand with the 8 maps in a mode thing from April onwards.

As for the online, I see it's pretty much been dropped but I still want to voice a quick word on it. Naturally everyone values money differently, and we all have our own opinions on how companies should handle online in gaming. The main issue is Microsoft did it first with the 360, then Sony cottoned on with PS4 and this brought Nintendo to join the party with Switch. It's a classic case of "They did it so it's perfectly okay for us to screw our consumers over too". It feeds into the flaws of capitalism (which we don't need to get into) and corporate greed. We don't know enough about the service to determine if it'll be worth the money.

Last time this was brought up I pointed out that Nintendo had a clear plan for integrating the online. Leave it free whilst they only have MK8D and ARMS, then introduce paid online a month or 2 after Splatoon 2, to also tie in with Pokken's launch. They had 4 games all with a larger emphasis on online gaming once you exhaust the offline content (3 of the 4 do have local multiplayer, but not everyone is in that position), and their plan was clearly to use Splatoon 2 as the ultimate bargaining chip to sell online. MK8D would most likely fall flat on its face to sell online due to it sharing most of the gameplay with the Wii U original and still maintaining free online, so short of killing the servers (and alienating more customers) they couldn't force people to pay for MK8D.

This is where Smash comes into it. This is one of their biggest online games, alongside Splatoon and Mario Kart, and they'll most likely do a deal of "If you buy Smash at launch we'll throw in a 'free' 3 month online pass for the Nintendo Switch Online service". This will get people hooked into the game and increase the likelihood of people biting for the privilege of online. I could see this coinciding with 1 final month of free online after Smash launches, then once that's up, the free online pass is removed from further prints of the game (they could very well keep it there) and those who got it at launch can get 4 months of free online, then decide whether they want to continue paying for Smash and other titles. Once the online switches, we'll also see "Online bundles" of Switch SKUs that will bundle Splatoon, Smash or MK8D (or 2 games) with a 3 month free pass to get new users into the online and wet their feet. It'll be a way to calm the crowds, come across as more friendly than Microsoft and PlayStation (who I believe only offer 1 week free online with new consoles, might be a full 30 days though) and get sales for online.

E3 is the one to watch, and that'll be when they have to finally announce ALL of the details for online. Will any games get swapped to dedicated servers (like that Splatoon 2 rumour from ages ago, could be a contributing reason for delaying the swap)? Will the price be cheaper? Will it stay the same for the lifespan of Switch? What will the discounts look like? etc. Pairing it up with Smash is an easy way to get people hyped for a competitive game with online whilst trying to hide the outburst and outrage of those who detest paid online (and they have good reasons too, but we've been through this multiple times for years with 360, PS4 and X1). Nintendo could very well have a few extra hidden surprises to bolster their first party online offerings, be it finally reviving F-Zero (lol that won't happen), making a Star Fox with full online or something new and random (or maybe just a teasing of a truly new MK for Switch).

Nintendo has one major issue with anything they try. So far the Switch is the ONLY console to launch with free online and then make a swap partway into its lifespan. Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One all turned around and said "when this launches you will need PlayStation+/Xbox Live Gold to play online: here is the price, here is what you get for the price". People obviously aren't happy about paying for P2P, but they accepted it was a part of the new system and new generation and just went with it. Naturally this is a thorn in Nintendo's side. Switch was going to swap to paid online in September 2017, and I was disappointed with the announcement that Nintendo was getting on that ship considering no price was announced (especially since they seem incapable of improving their online infrastructure, where's cloud saving backups?). From MK8D's launch to September the player base would have received around 5 months of free online then had to cough up to continue. Naturally this would have hurt Splatoon 2, because it would hack off a lot of people to buy a game and then have to pay after 1 month of free online. I ignored ARMS because whilst it has its fans, and is a decent enough game, it lacked substance, and a lot of people played for about 10 hours then moved on (I enjoyed it but got bored after 2-3hrs worth of Testpunch).

So if Smash is the game to get this hit, it's in Nintendo's best interests to bundle a free pass to give people extra time to play the games they've bought online with others whilst considering the cost of £20/€20/$20 a year. This price is what's making me behave more reasonably to this than I otherwise would have if they wanted to charge £30-£40 or more a year. My current plan is to buy into it for a year, finish Splatoon 2's Splatfests and content updates, then survey the situation at the end of those 12 months and determine whether it's worth paying for an additional year. I'm looking to get Mario Tennis Aces, which would be my 3rd game with a decent enough online offering, and I'm considering Smash for Switch to give the series another go, so 4 games I can hop online with from Nintendo equates to £5 a year online per game (even though not all games would get equal screen time). When it comes to time investments, I weigh that up to the price I paid for the game and figure out how much value and mileage I got out of said game. Regarding games with online, I've got the most mileage out of Mario Kart Wii, and that game must have well over 2000 hours by this point in time. I still play online from time to time, but nowhere near as much as I used to, and only Splatoon on Wii U started to take my time away from MKWii, which I clocked around 900 hours on in a little under 2 years. Splatoon 2 is now sitting at 340 hours, with MK8D on around 125, so the split is very heavily in Splatoon 2's favour. I can quite easily get my money's worth for the first year of online with Splatoon 2 alone, but we'll have to see what 2019 has to offer before I'll consider a 2nd subscription.

TL;DR:

1. People view money and value differently, especially pay to play online
2. Nintendo has to deal with "we gave you free online for 18 months, now hand us money for the same thing" versus Sony & Microsoft's "pay from the start" method, so there will be backlash from this
3. The original time span for paid online fits the Switch's launch, free with less online-orientated games, pay after Splatoon 2 (the biggest online game that year) and have Pokkén follow after
4. E3 will be the best time to reserve judgement for, NSO has to be mentioned there with Smash, maybe a free 3 month pass bundled with Smash to placate players
5. Price for online isn't bad, time investment versus price of game/online is a good way to judge value for money: cost of game vs amount of entertainment wrought from the product
6. My personal stance is pay one year for last Splatfests and other games, review the situation in 2019 and decide if a 2nd year is worth it for myself.

Basically just wait until we get closer (like almost everyone else has said) to the launch of online. We have a very busy year again with Switch, Mario Tennis Aces (I'll concede that's a much smaller game than others), Smash, a promised Pokémon game coming around the corner and any other surprises E3 throws at us. The online service could be VERY different in form than what we know about it currently, so PLEASE stop complaining or arguing about it until we have concrete information from Nintendo about the offerings, start date, and games that will support online play with others.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Dapple Dualies Nouveau are actually pretty good for CB IMO. Toxic Mist is good for defence, and Ink Storm is good for pushing.

To be fair, I was using the vanilla dapples on clam blitz Humpback, maybe not the best pick. But then again, like I said, I'm not the best at dapples, so I'm at fault for failing pretty hard.

But on the subject of paid online, for $20 a month, I personally don't find it to be a huge obstacle that impedes me from enjoying the game any less. Hell, I spent $300 for the switch, $60 for Splatoon 2, and another $70 for the pro controller. Even though I've spent over $400 just to play this game, I believe I have gotten the value out of the game. I've played 700+ hours of this game, and I'm still having loads of fun. Financially, $430 / 700 hours equates to me spending about 60 cents for one hour of gameplay. I'll take that over a movie theater ticket (about $5-$10) for only 2 hours of content. Compared to a game that I've played for only 15 - 25 hours, for the same price, I'm getting a lot more value out of splatoon.

And I say I get more value out of splatoon because I got the game to have fun. If I'm not having fun with splatoon, what's the point in me paying for it? I just see $20 for Octo Expansion and another $20 for paid online as nothing, just because I'll play more than enough to justify paying $40 for extra content + online play across multiple games.

Honestly, after buying a switch, the pro controller, and a copy of the game, all the expensive matters are bought out. $20 a year is nothing compared to what you just paid for to play the game, or what other gaming companies charge. For playstation, you can pay $24.99 for 3 months, or pay upfront $60 for the whole year. Xbox has the same price at $60 a year as well. And those two have been doing this for years now, and as a result, their networks (or what I've experienced and seen) are much more consistent and reliable compared to Nintendo's.

So, I put my $20 forth supporting Nintendo and what they might have in the future, and even if nothing changes, I'm still getting my money's worth from playing splatoon 2, because I enjoy it.

 

[Green Waffles]

But worse comes to worse I am sure we can help you out so you can keep playing with us

You don't have to, but thank you. It's nice to hear/read that.
I've already had a few close buds offer to pay, but it's the principle of it all that doesn't sit with me.

Anyways, I'm done discussing paid online here.
I'm tired of it.
We can dig this maggot infested carcess back up here, in this thread, after Nintendo's e3 presentation.
and with that said

Spoiler: And so the conversation tuuuurned!~

I get the feel that the splat devs will shift over to monthly weapon releases next month.
we'll still get one weapon each friday left in March, and then they'll switch over to the new model for the coming of version 3.0

 

[_Koriko_]

I agree. Having more weapons at the start of the month excites me, probably because I can never wait in between weapon releases.

Also, is it just me, or does the Sorella Brella look like a whole new brella?

 

[Ansible]

Also, is it just me, or does the Sorella Brella look like a whole new brella?

I think it might just be because they changed the design on the canopy. So you'll recognize it as a completely different splat brella.

 

[Green Waffles]

I wish, moar breella!
Naw, it's just the splat brella varient, same main weapon. xP
However, another weapon with (redacted, because weapon kit spoilers) is still cool!

Spoiler: Sorella's currently mined kit, as of version 2.3.2

autobomb and splat bomb rush!

I also like the polka dots and the fact that the entire brella changes color to match your ink!

 

[the]

I kinda wish the sorella brella still had the previously datamined toxic mist, I feel like TM has been treated pretty poorly by the devs in general like how it was underpowered and then got nerfed
Plus I’m just not rly a fan of its current datamined subweapon in general :p

Btw, is splatoon 2 undergoing maintenance or is my internet just bad? I’m gettin a “server error” message. what a wonderful occurrence right after we’ve declared paid online taboo

 

[_Koriko_]

@the I just went on and played some TW and I had a lot of disconnections, even if I changed the lobby, which usually works for me. Ehhhhhhhhhhhh

I like Autobomb, but I don't like splat bomb launcher that much. it's like a panic button that doesn't really work.

Wait, because Ink Mine is technically a bomb...

INK MINE LAUNCHER

 

[the]

When wil nintendo give us the sprinkler rush/launcher we truly deserve

 

[Maave]

I just realized that I can stand under the trees to hide from Tenta Missiles. Does anybody know if this affects grates as well?

 

[_Koriko_]

@Maave I'm pretty sure it does

 

[Sifu]

In other news. Octolings :v
Tweet doesn't say much. Just they look different, but play the same.

The octopus has a mustache

 

[Lonely_Dolphin]

Did they say how many weapons we're supposed to get at the start of each month? There'll be 15 left come April, so I would assume 5 per month.

 

[MINKUKEL]

Doesn't 3.0 hit in late April? That would make the first month with new-style weapon releases May.

And it'll be 7 a month apparentely.

 

[Mr.HawK]

3.0 comes out in may yea, and if i remember correctly the Camp triggerfish and Piranha Pit maps are coming out relatively soon as well

in terms of weapon releases there have been assumptions leading to end of June to beginning of July

Spoiler: Weapon info

There are talks of new weapons in the files of the game, atleast 2-3 but they are not a "new class" theyre additions to current weapon classes. Apparently something was said about a certain sub class weapon will gain a third member (take that with some pinch of salt) and that one of the names given to us from a well known dataminer was the name Serein.

 

[_Koriko_]

Weapons we know: (P.S: I'm not putting the sets here because the website has all the weapons but not the correct sets.)
Carbon Roller Deco
Zink Mini Splatling
Custom Range Blaster
Custom Dualie Squelchers
Splash-O-Matic Neo
Clash Blaster Neo
Tri-Slosher Nouveau
Bamboozler Mk 2
Glooga Dualies Deco
Rapid Blaster Pro Deco
Sorellla Brella
New Squiffer
Light Tetra Dualies
Custom Hyrda Splatling

There could still be more, but in total that's 14 new weapons

 

[Mr.HawK]

Weapons we know: (P.S: I'm not putting the sets here because the website has all the weapons but not the correct sets.)
Carbon Roller Deco
Zink Mini Splatling
Custom Range Blaster
Custom Dualie Squelchers
Splash-O-Matic Neo
Clash Blaster Neo
Tri-Slosher Nouveau
Bamboozler Mk 2
Glooga Dualies Deco
Rapid Blaster Pro Deco
Sorellla Brella
New Squiffer
Light Tetra Dualies
Custom Hyrda Splatling

There could still be more, but in total that's 14 new weapons

Tenta brella and undercover brella alts make that 16

Counting this week, and assuming they are going to still do the one weapon a week thing, we're looking at July 6th as the last day of weapon updates (for all the weapons that have accounted for atleast) and if there are new weapons we're looking at late july to august for final weapon releases.