Thoughts on the new Roller Changes?

[Dragonuto]

Now that everyone has sat down and had some time to play the new weapons in the Splatoon 2 Testfire I would LOVE to hear some feedback on the new roller! Any is welcome!

Personally I like the change, it makes you unpredictable and can scare more cautious players. The second swing type leaves you wide open to attack, which I believe helps balance the weapon out as if the attack took fewer frames to charge up it would dominate the opposing team. Of course the return of the original swing is great since it's pure coverage is awesome.

I want to hear more thoughts though! Please feel free to weigh in on the conversation!

-Dragonuto

 

[Maave]

I'm loving the vertical swing. Damage seems to fall off at distance but the additional mobility is bonkers.

 

[Dragonuto]

I'm loving the vertical swing. Damage seems to fall off at distance but the additional mobility is bonkers.

As it should be. The vertical swing has awesome painting as well. Very useful at the start of the game for paths!

 

[Dessgeega]

No longer will rollers rage because their teammates won't paint walls for them :D This is exactly the sort of boost they needed. As risky as that vertical ink toss is, I can see plenty of scenarios where the reach will help in team fights.

 

[Maave]

No longer will rollers rage because their teammates won't paint walls for them :D This is exactly the sort of boost they needed. As risky as that vertical ink toss is, I can see plenty of scenarios where the reach will help in team fights.

hooooly crap I didn't even think of that. I wonder if blasters will get some wall-climbing tweak as well.

 

[nopeman]

The vertical swing is a nice touch, now we are more able to ink up the walls and get enemies from a further distance. Personally I think that most new players can adapt to the new playstyle that they have given us, there is still some real indepth skill that the older players from splatoon should be able to pick up on and that should bring in some interesting gameplay once the game comes out.

 

[Windows95]

I loved it! Never was truly a Roller, but during testfire I was smokin' with it.

 

[Green Waffles]

Fells like they're just making rollers more like shooters >=[
This could be better/nessesary but, as if now, I don't much care for it.

The mental jury is still out until I can test effective damage ranges in the test-range, but the horizontal flick felt quite a bit weaker than it's current Splatoon1 counterpart. And the vertical flick, which honestly feels quite a bit like a nozzlenose burst, except slower and a little less range, obviously requires more aim, which nerfs the hell out of jump flicking =/

Why I like playing roller in Splatoon is that it's a nice contrast to the spacing and aim game that many other weapons employ:
The roller is about getting in their face and smashing. Little worry about aim, your concern is managing to get close enough to actually hit them, and I'm a little upset if they've nerfed this main, little accuracy required, attack.
I guess I'll just play the full game and git gud again ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Not to mention all the times in testfire where I slammed them within carbon roller range, they took NO DAMAGE instead of dying, and proceeded to shot my face in. Did I mention how confident I am in paying for online play and getting reliable connection?

Needless to say, my viewpoint is incerdibly biased, but the bias of a squid steeped in Splatoon 1 roller play, throughout all the roller tweaks.
Thank You = ^)

 

[Big Boss]

I can't wait to try it when I get my switch, even thought it has some more shooter-like mechanics now, I only feel it makes even more viable of a weapon than it already is in Splatoon 1 and the fact that it's still possible to do the old-school flick really means you haven't lost anything and have only gain abilities. The idea of the roller speeding up as you continue to run is a pretty cool idea too as it'll probably make it easier for you to chase down opponents. (Not that some rollers needed any help with that...)

 

[Katastrphik]

Fells like they're just making rollers more like shooters >=[
This could be better/nessesary but, as if now, I don't much care for it.

The mental jury is still out until I can test effective damage ranges in the test-range, but the horizontal flick felt quite a bit weaker than it's current Splatoon1 counterpart. And the vertical flick, which honestly feels quite a bit like a nozzlenose burst, except slower and a little less range, obviously requires more aim, which nerfs the hell out of jump flicking =/

Why I like playing roller in Splatoon is that it's a nice contrast to the spacing and aim game that many other weapons employ:
The roller is about getting in their face and smashing. Little worry about aim, your concern is managing to get close enough to actually hit them, and I'm a little upset if they've nerfed this main, little accuracy required, attack.
I guess I'll just play the full game and git gud again ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Not to mention all the times in testfire where I slammed them within carbon roller range, they took NO DAMAGE instead of dying, and proceeded to shot my face in. Did I mention how confident I am in paying for online play and getting reliable connection?

Needless to say, my viewpoint is incerdibly biased, but the bias of a squid steeped in Splatoon 1 roller play, throughout all the roller tweaks.
Thank You = ^)

I think I'm mostly in the same camp as you, but am sitting on the more optimistic side of the fence.

The way I see it, they went back to the drawing board on some of the unique weapons, and thought of ways to add versatility to make up for their weaknesses. I'd much rather this approach compared to just turning down the range or damage on shooters or something like that.

As for the vertical flick itself, I was loving it. It is obviously not your main means of attacking, but it is a good option for holding squidkids back, or making quick paths in and out of places. The low damage + range dropoff seems fitting if you still want to encourage close up encounters. I also love that is entirely optional. Even if you played Splatoon 1 and are used to jump attacking on every swing, you can just initiate your attack on the ground and then jump after to get the horizontal flick in the air.

It will be easier to hammer down the perfect situations for it after we can see damage numbers. As for low damage with the horizontal flick, I think that is just a product of them using the patched version of rollers where you need to sweet spot for a 1HKO.

The extra run speed while rolling seems cool too, although I'll probably just be sticking to the vertical flick + swim loop for quick movement.

All in all I'm excited that there are new things in store for rollers in 2. If you want to see my full thoughts, I wrote a lengthy article about this here.
https://allidactyl.tumblr.com/post/159212816662/splatoon-2s-roller-changes

 

[Slurmp]

I think I'm mostly in the same camp as you, but am sitting on the more optimistic side of the fence.

The way I see it, they went back to the drawing board on some of the unique weapons, and thought of ways to add versatility to make up for their weaknesses. I'd much rather this approach compared to just turning down the range or damage on shooters or something like that.

As for the vertical flick itself, I was loving it. It is obviously not your main means of attacking, but it is a good option for holding squidkids back, or making quick paths in and out of places. The low damage + range dropoff seems fitting if you still want to encourage close up encounters. I also love that is entirely optional. Even if you played Splatoon 1 and are used to jump attacking on every swing, you can just initiate your attack on the ground and then jump after to get the horizontal flick in the air.

It will be easier to hammer down the perfect situations for it after we can see damage numbers. As for low damage with the horizontal flick, I think that is just a product of them using the patched version of rollers where you need to sweet spot for a 1HKO.

The extra run speed while rolling seems cool too, although I'll probably just be sticking to the vertical flick + swim loop for quick movement.

All in all I'm excited that there are new things in store for rollers in 2. If you want to see my full thoughts, I wrote a lengthy article about this here.
https://allidactyl.tumblr.com/post/159212816662/splatoon-2s-roller-changes

If they're mixing up some of the more unusual weapons I'm looking forward to what they do with the slosher.

On topic, the roller looks much more versatile and oh so fun! Especially with the curling bombs letting it attack from multiple angles. I'm looking forward to trying it out when I get a switch and spla2n. :D

 

[Lyn]

The new rollers are a lot more fun, they definitely gave more depth to this weapon. Competitive Splatoon 2 could turn out to be a real treat!

 

[Afrohawk]

I like it so far! Being able to paint walls and use the vertical flick to flank very easily is really strong. I'm definitely looking forward to how these mobility options will make rollers a much greater threat in the future.

I think my only worry is the mental gymnastics between the flick and the regular jump shot. I need to try and avoid jumping all the time because there were frequent times where I'd jump out of panic if someone was close quarters and lose out on an easier kill if I just flicked it normally. It's a similar issue w/ the Dualies but less of a big deal in my opinion.

I'm sure it'll be fine, just gotta practice quite a bit if I want to git gud w/ them in the future.

 

[Sicky]

The change to the roller's core mechanics in Spla2n is the perfect kind of change. It doesn't break the weapon (allows roller to paint walls better, provides longer stream of ink to swim in etc.) and simultaneously changes a low-skill exploit (jumping then flicking) to make it harder to abuse but still available for smarter players (press ZR just before jumping, it's much less intuitive but roller mains won't have much issue adjusting).

A change that both mitigates a weapon's weaknesses, nerfs an exploit and provides more depth to the use of the weapon. Ya done good Nintendo, ya done good.

P.s. Just make sure you do the same with any blaster changes, or don't bother touching them

 

[ZEROrevive]

I like the change, but I'm only slightly concerned for its use with a Carbon Roller. After all that's one of the weakest rollers that makes up for it in quick flicks. BUT especially direct hits with the roller itself, from my experience. I wonder how much reach the roller itself has now that a air flick is vertical? How fast would a carbon be with the air flick? Can people get out of the way much easier now that there's less of a horizontal hit?

Many, Many questions...but I remain optimistic. This can bring some new strategies into the mix.