If/when Splatoon 4 is released these are the things I would like to see added/changed to salmon run
1. New Modes
1. New Modes
Way back in 2022 OatmealDome and LeanYoshi found 3 new modes through datamining. "Contest" ended up becoming Eggstra Work, but nothing ever came of the other two.
Underground: I would be most excited for this mode. From what little info there is, it would be like normal SR with some added difficulty. Higher quotas, tougher & faster salmonids, but also the occasional bonus egg worth 5. I'm always a fan of adding extra difficulty for those who want it. I like adding 5x eggs to offset the added difficulty. Even in regular SR I lose games sometimes not for lack of eggs near basket, but because we can't collect/deposit eggs fast enough in the final seconds. Big opportunity for clutch throws amidst the chaos. If the 5x eggs were too common though, I think that would really take away from the difficulty. They should occur maybe once a wave or every other wave. Too many and I think it would be less about reaching quota, and more about surviving and splatting salmonids. ETA: I didn't fully read the tweet. It says there would be 2 5x eggs per wave. I think that would work ok. The more I think about it that's a good amount and I think my earlier statement of one every other wave would be too little. No way to tell for sure without playing the mode tho.
Pair: I could see this one happening before underground. A lot of players play solo or with just a couple friends. Think of how they quickly added soloQ to Eggstra after so many people were without a team. If I remember correctly, nothing other than the name "pair" and the separate job meter was ever found about this one. I'm not really sure what I would want from this one. I think it could be fun to have two baskets and two pairs compete to get the most golden eggs in their basket. Winner determined either by total eggs or best of 3 waves. I think friendly fire would be too much, but the other team's ink should still give passive damage. Also add an auto-respawn like in PvP to avoid one team being totally unable to play.
Endless: There's no indication of this but I think it would be really fun. I want to see how far I can get before a wipeout and how many eggs I can get. Think of the crazy high egg counts high level players could get. Honestly not sure if such a mode should be a set hazard level throughout or steadily increase as time goes on.
2. Practice ModeI would like a proper practice/recon mode similar to PvP maps. Of course right now you can use job codes as well as private jobs but that leaves a lot to be desired. My biggest issue is that private jobs only go up to 200% hazard. Out of 333%. 200% is barely into EVP. Kinda sucks that you have to play for real first before you can practice a given hazard level. Or find one from someone else. It would be nice to practice HLM without having to get set codes to do so.
Recon definitely isn't as needed for SR as it is PvP but it would still be fun to run around the maps with no threats around. Or to practice some moves like precise bomb placements. Being able to spawn salmonids to practice on at will would be cool too but I don't have high hopes of that happening.
3. AbilitiesI often find myself missing the abilities that gear gives you in PvP. Especially run speed when a splatling is in rotation. I think being able to equip one or two main abilities would add to SR. Nothing crazy but just a little bit to elevate whatever the current rotation is. It might make the difference between a wipeout and barely scraping by. I could see the meta revolving around reducing sub ink usage for bombs and egg throws especially. I would only want this if it were to be balanced, which might be a difficult task without new SR specific perks or altering the abilities for SR.
4. QoL ChangesMy biggest issue with Eggstra is the first wave. I'm glad it's set where it's at to allow players of all skill levels to participate. However, it's a 100 second speed bump for everyone way above that level. It's especially annoying when playing with a full group of 4. If you get all eggs enough times you should start on wave 2 and be automatically awarded the 21 (48 from this last EW haha) eggs for wave 1.
Struggling to think of another one lol. I already like the checkpoint system that was added based on badges.
ETA: Especially if there's a new map, I would like two stages to be in rotation at a time. It already takes almost two weeks for a given map to be back in rotation as it is now. You would get to choose which stage to queue for as opposed to it being random like the map rotations in PvP.
I think it goes without saying there should be at least one new map too :)
Let me know what you think or if you have anything that you want added or changed!
Last edited: