Tilting: What Do You Do?

[briank913]

Another mad tilter here, when I'm trying to seriously 5-star a weapon, it seems that the game will go out of its way to bring the the worst possible matchup for my team every single match. I'm trying to finish 5-starring the Splatana Wiper so that I can move on to playing one of my other games so that I can treat Splatoon 3 as the secondary game again..

This is true for me for 4 starring weapons oddly enough. I'm close to 4 starring Neo Splash and this is happening right now ugh.

A rule I try to follow as religiously as possible - as soon as I lose 3 games in a row, I hop off and do something else.

Ideally something generally productive like doing dishes, laundry, cleaning mh room up, etc, cause thats an easy way to reset your mental state back into a more neutral/positive one, and on the plus side, you did something productive too!

You mean there are things to do in life outside of Splatoon? Horrors! But haha that's true. One thing people always recommend is making your bed when you wake up so you start the day with some kind of accomplishment!"

 

[Aiko.Octo]

• If you have any bad habits with when and how much you eat or sleep, improving those can help. Even if you get your 8 hours of sleep you can still be far enough off from your body's intended circadian rhythm to the point where it still causes problems.
• I technically can't prove this but for me it's felt like being more optimistic outside of the game has helped me be more understanding when things go wrong ingame, either from my end or from my team's. If I miss an easy shot it's way easier to remind myself that even top players miss easy shots. Try complimenting what you do more often even if it's hard to and try giving the people you play with the benefit of the doubt no matter how little they contribute. The state of your mental being better everywhere else in your life can help a lot.

These two are so real. I joke a lot about how this game forces me to actually take care of myself/get my life in order but it really is such a thing. Anything that improves your mental health (or physical heath which in turn affects your mental health) can help you be more mentally and emotionally resilient to everything. Plus then you get to feel better in general, so, win-win. also DRINK WATER!!!!

Also, this reminded me about another thing: if you're a self-faulting tilter the nice thing about watching replays as a means to take a break is that you can watch from other players' POV and see all the things they do wrong too. It can sometimes be really grounding to see that actually, we're all screwing up quite a bit. Watching comp tournament streams can achieve the same effect-- it's validating that yes, even much more skilled players still accidentally fall off the map or do all sorts of other silly things at times (and they even do those silly things with lord knows how many eyes on them and they're fine, so like, you'll be fine!)

 

[briank913]

(one of these days I will break my lifetime streak of always being the weakest player in all my gaming circles aaaaaaaaa), and that leads me to focus pretty exclusively on what I'm doing wrong rather than what other players are doing.

Sometimes when and if you look at the result screen, it really isn't you. The number of times I've had people who got amazing KDRs yet we lost makes me think some people are playing Call of Duty and not Clam Blitz, etc. You're definitely not the weakest player: you have talents I don't (I dodge rolled off stages more times than I'd like to admit lol). It's a matter of putting everything to make a unique dynamic that *maybe* we still haven't discovered yet :)

The second most likely trigger is getting into one too many situations where I feel helpless, like sometimes those long drawn out games where you're just fighting tooth and nail (beak and tentacle?) just to barely stop the other team from KOing and it feels like nothing that you're trying is working and you can't even find time to take a breath and make a plan because they're throwing bombs and strikes at your spawn. While cognitively I know that it's just a flaw of matchmaking, I guess when my lizard brain feels constantly under attack it reacts regardless of circumstance.

This really is a fast paced game, especially compared to the previous two. Making a quick plan on the fly isn't easy and I think it doesn't get easier just by doing. Even if you do form a plan for next time, the stress of the moment can make us forget. It's not your fault if you have a hard time with this. But there's only so much you can do in SoloQ

Anyway, at least when I'm playing in a group it's different, because while my self-consciousness/self-doubt is magnified x10 (x100 if other people in the group are audibly unhappy but at least that's relatively uncommon), it also takes a lot more of it before it starts to bother me. I think a large part of it is just that when I'm focused on interacting with others I'm less in my own head and my emotions don't have any time to really spiral in on themselves; I can shake them off more easily. That's not to say spiraling doesn't happen, but I'm more armored against it in general. Sometimes, especially during high-stress sessions or playing sets with stakes, I'll experience a sort of delayed effect where I don't feel any self-judgement/frustration about how poorly I did until long after the play session. (I guess this is the same thing that happens in any sort of crisis situation that requires immediate attention; I'm too busy dealing with the situation to have any feelings about it until after it's over, hah). So at least that's kind of convenient, and means I can generally play a lot longer in a single stretch with a group than I can play alone, provided the vibes are good.

It's also who you're with that I think matters. Anyone you can laugh with, laugh at, and get laughed by makes the sessions more fun despite results. Of course I'm not always 100% as you know (still feel bad about it) but you are that to me.
I think I brought up in our chat about whether people think SoloQ is draining compared to a group sesh. I still find that to be true unless there's some godly rotation I want to take full advantage of or when I'm in a way different time zone. But I think playing with friends just makes the game way more enjoyable, and that you can only go so far solo.
Remember our chill post-Luti sessions where it was just a stupid comp session? I laughed hard failing to Explo (how do people use this thing?) thinking I could cook with this (when I couldn't cook). Then I discovered Long Drapid :D I still think we need more of these silly comp sessions.

 

[Tinybitt]

Oh? Where did you hear this from? Like the game prioritizes grinding as a means of matchmaking?

I think the new “Anarchy battle points” system is a lot more “useless” (Couldn’t think of a better adjective) than the one in previous games/X battles. Like yes, you have points that you pay to enter a series and you can win some of them back. However, you’re still matched against and with people that have the same hidden rank as you. Hence seeing an S+ badge player in A rank or X-rank badge player in S. So in theory, if your hidden rating is low enough, you can easily get to S+ from S without suffering in matchmaking hell. If it’s high enough, you’ll just lose forever until you get into rank debt and at a level you can win again. Also the fact that the game doesn’t really demote you if you lose too much means in theory, that no matter what you do, you will get a higher rank one day, just by probability and grinding.

This turned more into a rant but I hope it’s a bit more clear. Honestly I just want the X-Rank MMR points as the main statistic you see when you play ranked instead of “Anarchy points” or a bar from Splatoon 2

 

[neonscreenlight]

i have two different kinds of tilting. in soloq it's more on the angry side during the game, yelling at my teammates who cannot hear me, but after the game it becomes more like. grief? especially after i do bad in a series or smth. i've genuinely cried after a particularly bad series. multiple times. especially since my biggest trigger for tilt is when a game has actual stakes behind it

if i'm playing with other people though, it turns into more of a quiet frustration from feeling like i'm constantly throwing myself at a wall and going nowhere.

as for what i do... idk i'm still trying to figure that out. i don't really have a good gauge for when i should stop and calm down so it's easier if someone notices i'm tilting first and like, forces me to take a break lol

 

[briank913]

I think the new “Anarchy battle points” system is a lot more “useless” (Couldn’t think of a better adjective) than the one in previous games/X battles. Like yes, you have points that you pay to enter a series and you can win some of them back. However, you’re still matched against and with people that have the same hidden rank as you. Hence seeing an S+ badge player in A rank or X-rank badge player in S. So in theory, if your hidden rating is low enough, you can easily get to S+ from S without suffering in matchmaking hell. If it’s high enough, you’ll just lose forever until you get into rank debt and at a level you can win again. Also the fact that the game doesn’t really demote you if you lose too much means in theory, that no matter what you do, you will get a higher rank one day, just by probability and grinding.

This turned more into a rant but I hope it’s a bit more clear. Honestly I just want the X-Rank MMR points as the main statistic you see when you play ranked instead of “Anarchy points” or a bar from Splatoon 2

I see what you mean and I can totally agree with this. One thing I really want is for de-ranking, but not rank decay, to come back to some degree. I want the base matchmaking system to be one used in X Battles while X Battles have a better and more refined system of matchmaking. I want the game to reward those who didn't get DC'd and the game to stop assigning fault to those who got DCd. All this and more doesn't reflect your skill as a player and it really is as useless as you say it is. It doesn't matter if you carried the team and yet still lost, you lose as much point as you normally would. This rudimentary system of reward and punishment really further illustrates just how moronic this system is.

 

[briank913]

i have two different kinds of tilting. in soloq it's more on the angry side during the game, yelling at my teammates who cannot hear me, but after the game it becomes more like. grief? especially after i do bad in a series or smth. i've genuinely cried after a particularly bad series. multiple times. especially since my biggest trigger for tilt is when a game has actual stakes behind it

if i'm playing with other people though, it turns into more of a quiet frustration from feeling like i'm constantly throwing myself at a wall and going nowhere.

as for what i do... idk i'm still trying to figure that out. i don't really have a good gauge for when i should stop and calm down so it's easier if someone notices i'm tilting first and like, forces me to take a break lol

I'm sorry to hear you cried from Series Neon *hug* I know setbacks suck but I bet you're a stronger person from that than before.

I had a horrifying Series just now where I got paired against 3 people who have a Series streak, including a 6 Series streak and it was demoralizing. My team stood no chance. Like, why doesn't my team have someone with a Streak, why only the enemy? And this happened almost every match in that Series (even with a break). I sometimes think this game was designed to pick a few people to laugh at and punish them for daring to go into Series. I want to play against better players so I can learn from them too but this was maddening. Wouldn't it been great if it was on a more even playing field so one can truly accept defeat with humility or embrace a well-earned victory instead of a slaughterfest? I tried to go in with optimism and some sense of positivity only for matchmaking to crush all that. Sorry for making it this long but I'm still upset from all this and just had to let it out.

A lot of people shared great answers about when to stop so I hope you read their answers too. But if it makes you feel any better, when I played with you that one time, you were a fun person to have games with! Remember the "How do I get more QR" talk we had? XD Hope we can do it again!

 

[Tinybitt]

i have two different kinds of tilting. in soloq it's more on the angry side during the game, yelling at my teammates who cannot hear me, but after the game it becomes more like. grief? especially after i do bad in a series or smth. i've genuinely cried after a particularly bad series. multiple times. especially since my biggest trigger for tilt is when a game has actual stakes behind it

if i'm playing with other people though, it turns into more of a quiet frustration from feeling like i'm constantly throwing myself at a wall and going nowhere.

Dude, This.
While I can’t say that I’ve cried from grief, I can say that I got incredibly angry and frustrated in soloQ because of teammates, map balance, matchmaking etc.

But, when I played with friends in full competitive environment (It wasn’t splat but we still played as competitively as possible) when I got tilted, I’d just keep it all inside me, on one hand not wanting to disrupt the game but on the other hand not wanting to be angry at my friends, while others were audibly angry.
The dynamic is kind of interesting.

I see what you mean and I can totally agree with this. One thing I really want is for de-ranking, but not rank decay, to come back to some degree. I want the base matchmaking system to be one used in X Battles while X Battles have a better and more refined system of matchmaking. I want the game to reward those who didn't get DC'd and the game to stop assigning fault to those who got DCd. All this and more doesn't reflect your skill as a player and it really is as useless as you say it is. It doesn't matter if you carried the team and yet still lost, you lose as much point as you normally would. This rudimentary system of reward and punishment really further illustrates just how moronic this system is.

I know I’m probably beating a dead horse, but I think the main driving force behind this decision (Re: the points system) is that it can be too stressful to play ranked and you can actually lose your rank due to being put in a bad team. However, the point system doesn’t really make it better since firstly, you can still be stuck in debt and secondly, if you keep losing at S rank, you’ll be playing with A rank, while still technically being an S rank. You don’t get to experience the “act” of demoting to A.
Just like… let us see our MMR just like X battles or challenges. That is much better IMO than anarchy points and a vague letter.

Also maybe for splat 4, we can have all ranked modes use MMR for rating with ranges of MMR representing a letter (i.e. mmr of 100-500 being C rank or something like that) and for X-battles we could pick and ban maps. That will set X-battles apart from regular ranked. Although I feel like the chances of this happening are virtually zero.