The Inkwell: A Social Thread for Competitive Inklings

[Pivi]

What about this game do you think will make it competitively viable? I personally think it is the team work and coordination that it takes to win a match.

Multiple things

1. How fast a match goes
2. The level of variety in weapons and playstyles
3. Built in, required teamwork, no one person can totally run a match
4. A mode just for high level play

I'm really glad the developers didn't pull a Sakurai where they not only ignored but also tried to stub competitive play in the toe (see: tripping in Brawl) and instead gave it room to flourish while also letting people who play for fun have their space. It seems kind of weird to say, but separation is key when it comes to something like this, I personally want to enjoy both modes of Splatoon since it just looks so fun.

 

[SuperMii3D]

I came here for the competitive. I wanna use that Paint Brush, seems like a cool weapon, but after what Ive seen the Roller might be my thing for the Competitive Community. Not a fan of the sniper, Im a short-range, quick-fire type of guy. Im also glad the made Turf Wars for Everyone and Splat Zone for the competition. Itll be interesting to see how it plays out. Too bad its gonna take a while before Splat Zone comes out.

 

[Pivi]

Too bad its gonna take a while before Splat Zone comes out.

I've been watching a bunch of people play early access Splatoon at Nintendo HQ and there are multiple accounts saying Splat Zone will be open pppreeety quickly, like day 2 or day 3 after launch. You need to be lv.10 to get in anyways so I feel it's a pretty reasonable time frame for you to get a real good grip on how to play and working on a loadout and grinding for gear.

We should expect to get into the grit of the Splatoon meta REALLY soon after launch.

 

[Flying_Tortoise]

Yah a recent interview. Corey was with these two ppl (you never saw anyone's faces, just gameplay) and Corey explained it could just take like 2-3 days

 

[SuperMii3D]

I've been watching a bunch of people play early access Splatoon at Nintendo HQ and there are multiple accounts saying Splat Zone will be open pppreeety quickly, like day 2 or day 3 after launch. You need to be lv.10 to get in anyways so I feel it's a pretty reasonable time frame for you to get a real good grip on how to play and working on a loadout and grinding for gear.

We should expect to get into the grit of the Splatoon meta REALLY soon after launch.

Hmm, I thought I read that it would take a while, but 1-2 days would be cool. Ill definitely be into the online multiplayer by then

 

[Niliks]

I have to say, I am not often a ranking type of player, but Splatoon may be an exception. As for the Brush, I think it looks quite useful. You run almost (entirely?) as fast as someone who is swimming it looks like, so I can imagine someone running with the brush with an ally with another type of weapon swimming right behind them.

 

[SuperMii3D]

I have to say, I am not often a ranking type of player, but Splatoon may be an exception. As for the Brush, I think it looks quite useful. You run almost (entirely?) as fast as someone who is swimming it looks like, so I can imagine someone running with the brush with an ally with another type of weapon swimming right behind them.

Whoa, wait. Are you serious? Id love that kind of weapon. Im usually more about the speed than the power....

 

[Niliks]

Haha, you have my tastes then. Speed all the way! That and support like tech, at least for me :)

In any case, yes, I think it may be that fast. On the official website, in the Main Weapons video, the tail end shows someone doing the full run with the Brush like you can do while rolling the Roller. He's on the skate park map and runs along a half-pipe like pathway. Its the same spot shown in the Tree-house Live video where they play Battle Dojo. Look at the little half walls he passes and how fast he gets down that path, it's a little nuts.

 

[Pivi]

Haha, you have my tastes then. Speed all the way! That and support like tech, at least for me :)

In any case, yes, I think it may be that fast. On the official website, in the Main Weapons video, the tail end shows someone doing the full run with the Brush like you can do while rolling the Roller. He's on the skate park map and runs along a half-pipe like pathway. Its the same spot shown in the Tree-house Live video where they play Battle Dojo. Look at the little half walls he passes and how fast he gets down that path, it's a little nuts.

I've seen that weapon too, it's been seen a LOT but there's still no video featuring it, let alone a blog post on the Splatoon Tumblr (although they're a little behind the JP team)
But like he said, you really DO go just about as fast as you would in squid form while also leaving behind a trail of ink which your team could very quickly follow you through
It also has an alt attack where you swish the brush in front of you VERY fast. I'm guessing this weapon excels in speed but has no range in front of it, also the hitbox on the brush while you're running is small so you'd need really good accuracy to actually splat someone. It'd probably get hard countered by that one gun with the slow rate of fire but wide range, or the Splattershot Jr. You could also straight up run into Ink Walls people throw out...hm...
That being said, it's unmatched in terms of getting into the battle, I'd imagine this would be the early game blitz machine, I'd personally try to skate past enemy lines and make it to their spawn and have my allies set up shop by preventing the other team from advancing via cutting off the ink road that leads them to the rest of the turf!

 

[Bottlecapn]

I've seen that weapon too, it's been seen a LOT but there's still no video featuring it, let alone a blog post on the Splatoon Tumblr (although they're a little behind the JP team)
But like he said, you really DO go just about as fast as you would in squid form while also leaving behind a trail of ink which your team could very quickly follow you through
It also has an alt attack where you swish the brush in front of you VERY fast. I'm guessing this weapon excels in speed but has no range in front of it, also the hitbox on the brush while you're running is small so you'd need really good accuracy to actually splat someone. It'd probably get hard countered by that one gun with the slow rate of fire but wide range, or the Splattershot Jr. You could also straight up run into Ink Walls people throw out...hm...
That being said, it's unmatched in terms of getting into the battle, I'd imagine this would be the early game blitz machine, I'd personally try to skate past enemy lines and make it to their spawn and have my allies set up shop by preventing the other team from advancing via cutting off the ink road that leads them to the rest of the turf!

I think of the Brush as more of a distraction/assassin weapon. It's ability to move so quickly gives you the upper hand in the first ~30 seconds of the match, allowing you to get to the enemy quickly and splat them, allowing for your team to gain more ground. Afterwards, the Brush's usefulness kind of falls off. It's still one of my favorite weapons. :)

I really want to know how the Airbrush works (look on the official website for it), and what this weapon is...

Skip to 2:24. Strange looking red pistol like weapon... It seemed to take out the guy in one hit though.

 

[SuperMii3D]

I think of the Brush as more of a distraction/assassin weapon. It's ability to move so quickly gives you the upper hand in the first ~30 seconds of the match, allowing you to get to the enemy quickly and splat them, allowing for your team to gain more ground. Afterwards, the Brush's usefulness kind of falls off. It's still one of my favorite weapons. :)

I really want to know how the Airbrush works (look on the official website for it), and what this weapon is...

Skip to 2:24. Strange looking red pistol like weapon... It seemed to take out the guy in one hit though.

Its a possibility that the guy had already taken damage, and he just finished the job.

I hope the Brush is a good melee weapon, if not I may stick to the roller and its wide range.

 

[zmop]

The paint brush as I saw in some video, had an inkling boy running REALLY fast with the brush. Reminiscent of the paint roller but you have the ability to swing it wildly with the projectile speed of you basic blaster if not the more rapid one(s.) Didn't look like the brush covered a lot of ground though, but the trade off is speed or it's a clothing modifier. Who knows!

 

[SuperMii3D]

The paint brush as I saw in some video, had an inkling boy running REALLY fast with the brush. Reminiscent of the paint roller but you have the ability to swing it wildly with the projectile speed of you basic blaster if not the more rapid one(s.) Didn't look like the brush covered a lot of ground though, but the trade off is speed or it's a clothing modifier. Who knows!

Im probably going to use the roller, since it covers more ground, has a decent melee attack, and allows me to support just as well as the brush.

 

[Platypudding]

With gear, we definitely need to try it out for a while to see whether or not it's good for high level play. We are, of course, going to be seeing some sets of gear looking dominant over others, and i'm pretty interested to see what buffs are considered better than others. The biggest question we're gonna have to ask is: does gear improve the depth of play in a positive way? Even if one set is considered THE one to take, we should consider keeping it if it make the game more interesting. Ideally and hopefully, we'd be looking at a rather diverse set of choices for gear, with different buffs and bonuses likely being considered useful based on the loadout you're using.

Other questions: how long does it take to get high level gear, and how does obtaining it even work in the game? Are buffs/stats on gear randomized? Do you get a random set of choices to buy from daily? If things like this happen to be the case, gear is going to be really hard to standardize into a competitive meta, sad as it may be.

And this is honestly just considering online league type competition. Unless there's a relatively small amount of high level gear, and unless it's easy to obtain pretty quickly, offline tourneys just aren't going to be able to have gear legal. Which raises a final question: is it a good idea for online and offline play have different rules?

These are questions i'm excited to have answered!

 

[zmop]

Im probably going to use the roller, since it covers more ground, has a decent melee attack, and allows me to support just as well as the brush.

the roller esp if we can use the amiibo unlock online is more appealing to me too. but i will use everything though because options are always fun!

 

[SuperMii3D]

the roller esp if we can use the amiibo unlock online is more appealing to me too. but i will use everything though because options are always fun!

Thats true. Im not automatically assuming that the Roller is my main weapon, but by the looks of it, its good.

 

[FlareHabanero]

Well the thing with gear is not every set up is going to be ideal for every role. For example sniping duties aren't going to take advantage of speed much.

 

[SuperMii3D]

Well the thing with gear is not every set up is going to be ideal for every role. For example sniping duties aren't going to take advantage of speed much.

Well, that really depends. The point isnt to take out your opponents, its to cover the field. Constant movement is going to be crucial in this game if you dont want your territory to be taken over.

 

[Niliks]

. I'm guessing this weapon excels in speed but has no range in front of it,

Not quite! On the official site we see an orange Inkboy sling a few ink splats with that swinging attack. They don't go very far and it's only a few at once but they do exist. You can see the effect of these more clearly in the sub-weapons video funnily enough. When they show the sprinkler, a pink Inkboy throws it out and has the brush. After a moment of watching the sprinkler in the distance he starts swinging the brush and we can see some paint fly off. If you look below him you can see the teal ground on the floor below because he is standing on a raised platform, and the splats do land on the ground providing some more coverage so they are certainly real.

 

[FlareHabanero]

Well, that really depends. The point isnt to take out your opponents, its to cover the field. Constant movement is going to be crucial in this game if you dont want your territory to be taken over.

Keep in mind killing also should have priorities too, since you slow down the opponents progress and every kill causes ink to splatter everywhere. It's also important for the sake of creating breathing room so you can actually cover territory in peace. This is why explosives and sniping weapons are even a thing.