Tipping point

[Jayy]

Anyone feel themselves burning out from this game?

I just get so frustrated with the way this game seems to try to knock you down once it registers that you’re doing well.

The BS “matchmaking” and this hidden mystic power level BS?

Haven’t won more than like 3 TW games all day. So then I try ranked. Puts 4 A+ on the other team. My team? All A or A- and lower “level.” Couldn’t win 1 ranked game.

The worst part, is that I actually want to play, but every time I take a break and come back it happens all over.

Maybe I need a week long or longer break. I can’t not get frustrated playing it and constantly feeling helpless in victories regardless of stage, team comp, mode, even when I know that I’m doing well in my own level of skill.

Whatchu guys think?

 

[Либра]

I think the "Tipping Point" you're talking about may end up not being the matchmaker (at least not entirely), but tilt. Once frustration, or tilt, starts growing stronger, your personal performance and gamesense will start tanking, further contributing to lost matches. If there's any kind of power level measurement system going on (for turf, I know there's some dubious power level in ranked you won't see until the match starts) , then it's not really doing a good job of showing itself. But let's assume there is one, then it may very well be that you'll start to get matched against opponents of a similar power level, i.e. stronger opponents at some point, creating that image of the game setting you up for a loss. But that's just as much as I can tell from what the matchmaker has been giving me, it's an enigma really, and it's safe to say that there is less matchmaking going on than I want to believe because idk how to explain all these <20 lv players in my lobbies, aaaah!

But, I don't want to just randomly point fingers, I totally get it. I do. I have these moments where I get to the next freshness stage on my weapon and get the warm fuzzies from it only to lose the next four or five matches due to either carpy team comps, or that one DC, or that one aeromeme who refuses to do anything but ink and die every 30 seconds or so. And I'm that person who managed to get three cracks in the bar on Rainmaker before even reaching the OK line and got like s00per scared to hop back into ranked that day because it would've ended in another (yes, read that right) deranking, lmao. There's just bad sessions that will happen, for everyone, and the only way to break losing streaks is to take more breaks and check your blood pressure regularly. If you notice you're getting frustrated/tilted, stop. It won't end well for you, and it's not fun playing like that either. Then see if you can analyze if you might want to try a different approach, weapon or gear set and hop back into that mode/map again.

And one last piece of advice I can generally give is not to burn yourself out on the game. Don't try to reach that elusive S+ rank within a week. Don't try to improve in a crazy short amount of time. Play to win, but don't try to force that perfect 50-0 W/L ratio. Your motor skills will improve automatically, and if you don't turn off your head during matches entirely, you'll subconsciously learn to adapt to the most efficient approaches for each stage at some point. Don't sweat things too much and have fun. :D

 

[Gameboy224]

Not really on my end.

Turf Wars, I don't take too seriously. The thing is always decided in the last 30 seconds so unless you're on a team which is really good at suppressing the opponents or is playing an iron wall defense, the results are never absolute. Unless your team is on the receiving end of an iron wall defense, then I get a little annoyed, but more often than not I just play Turf Wars to mess around or play for splats.

Ranked, I'll be honestly, after I got all my modes except Clam Blitz to S, I haven't been playing the other ones. I've been trying to get Clam Blitz to S but Clam Blitz with randoms is a hot mess so I'm thinking of just calling quits and keeping it as A+. Might jump into other ranks again, just did a Splat Zones match and wiped the other team.

Other than that, I actually play a lot of Salmon Run, either trying to keep my Professional 400 on bad weapon rotations or shoot for 500 on good weapon rotations.

So, I'm still enjoying things. And with the Octo Expansion coming this summer, I've got that to look forwards to. With what seems to a lot of challenges with focus on a central gimmick, that's what I've been looking for in a Splatoon single player for quite a while.

 

[the]

Anyone feel themselves burning out from this game?

I just get so frustrated with the way this game seems to try to knock you down once it registers that you’re doing well.

The BS “matchmaking” and this hidden mystic power level BS?

Haven’t won more than like 3 TW games all day. So then I try ranked. Puts 4 A+ on the other team. My team? All A or A- and lower “level.” Couldn’t win 1 ranked game.

The worst part, is that I actually want to play, but every time I take a break and come back it happens all over.

Maybe I need a week long or longer break. I can’t not get frustrated playing it and constantly feeling helpless in victories regardless of stage, team comp, mode, even when I know that I’m doing well in my own level of skill.

Whatchu guys think?

Tbh I get pretty frustrated with this game after a while too. I’ve been doing a “few weeks on, few weeks off when I stop having fun” system and it’s been working for me. Plus I get to play some other games that I’ve been neglecting lol

 

[MINKUKEL]

It's only natural that a game can't hold your attention infinitely. But that doesn't mean there's some algorithm out to get you.

I play worse as well if I get burned out of the game a bit, and I also get more annoyed by losses.

And sometimes you just have bad luck. There are periods where I feel like I'm doing very well and my win/lose ration on Splatnet is below 25/25. Other days I'm just casually playing and I'm just winning match after match.

 

[_Koriko_]

Tilt is a real thing. It can effect your gameplay seriously. If you're feeling frustrated or mad at the game, then take a moment to step away from the game and do something else. Come back when you're ready to play again.

Taking a break can help a lot.

 

[Jayy]

But the thing is, I’ll come back to the game fresh and with optimism and have fun for a while. But in this last week or so no matter how well I do even before I get tilted, I cannot seem to pull many wins.

I haven’t had an equal w/l or losing ratio since the learning curve when I bought the game. Before this I always hover around 30/20. Now in this last stretch of over a week I’ve had my wins plummet. I can’t imwgine I’ve gotten worse. I feel my game sense improves and my movement improve, yet I can hardly get a win in ranked anymore and the TW wins are becoming less and less frequent.

Am I just raising in this so called power level to a place I cannot hold, to which I’ll eventually get lowered and back on a consistent w/l? If that’s what this game does, and keeps you in a spot that you can’t maintain and crushes you until you’re back “where you belong,” what kind of f ***** system is that?

I know it’s easy to chalk this up to getting tilted and frustrated and losing my cool and playing poorly. But before all that, if I’m still playing well and losing regardless, is that not a reason to think it could be something else?

 

[MeTaGross]

The biggest issue I personally have, and it sounds like you have, with the matchmaker is that the power level system, or whatever it is, changes too much too quickly. Whenever I really push chargers for an extended time my W/L plummets. When I tried to main goo tuber for a day I reached a point where I probably lost six or seven battles out of eight, but it turned around really quickly. I had a stretch of five battles with over 20 combined kills and only 2 deaths and I reached "raw" freshness and I thought I was improving, but then I went back to losing just as quickly. There should be a way to "lock" your power until you reach a point where you are winning/losing a significant number of battles consistently.

Never feel like you have to keep playing, you can always take a break and come back, the game will be waiting for you. And if you leave here, we'll never push you out. I take long breaks periodically, such as a three week break late in February. I personally find that I play better after an extended break.

 

[kunoichi squid]

Even though I won a fair number of matches yesterday, I too feel like I'm losing interest or burning out on this game. You could tell me to take a break, but the deal is I don't play that often as is. I work around 5 or some times 6 days a week rarely leaving time for me to play as is. I probably play around 2-3 hours a week at best. Matches I've been in are very lopsided (like B+s vs S+s or no ranks vs A+s or any combination thereof). When I lose I lose badly and find out that all the higher ranks (except me) were on one side while on the lower ranks are on the other. When I win it's because the other team lost at least one (or maybe two) teammates. I'm just losing interest all together. I almost now wish I hadn't purchased the DLC because I'm feeling like this game just is horrible or terribly unbalanced. I feel you big time!

 

[MINKUKEL]

Matches I've been in are very lopsided (like B+s vs S+s or no ranks vs A+s or any combination thereof). When I lose I lose badly and find out that all the higher ranks (except me) were on one side while on the lower ranks are on the other.

I take it you're talking about TW here, since you can't have S vs B matches in Ranked AFAIK. In TW, ranks don't say anything about the person. I'm C- in TC and RM because I don't play either of them. That doesn't make me bad at TW. And I've seen plenty of other people who were good at TW and had low Ranked ranks. I've also seen people with a high S+ rank where I really felt they were the worst player in the lobby. Not to mention there's tons of bad players in S+ and good players in A and below. Sometimes I get the feeling that your rank is determined more by how much you play the mode than by how good a player is.

 

[Jayy]

I feel like I’m starting to notice that there are too many inconsistencies + hidden variables that determine how the match will go.

I continuously feel like there is nothing I can do in so many matches despite my performance. The helpless feeling makes me give up halfway through a losing match I know there’s no hope of winning. It makes me stop playin when I know a losing streak is starting. It just sucks away my interest.

I think it’s time for a hiatus.

 

[techton]

I think it’s time for a hiatus.

Before you do that, please try one more thing that's been working wonders for a lot of players, including me.

Every time you lose, even once, take a break, even if you're not angry or frustrated. Go relax, watch your favorite show for a while, play some different calm, relaxing game, because anything besides playing more Splatoon and getting more and more frustrated is better.

I started doing this about 3 days ago and my win-rate in ranked has spiked up from ~20% to upwards of 70% and in TW, from ~55% to just under 80% in recent times.

It's quite amazing how frustration/anger can impact a gamer's skill level to such a degree. Well that, and cold hands. I hate having cold hands.

 

[kunoichi squid]

I take it you're talking about TW here, since you can't have S vs B matches in Ranked AFAIK. In TW, ranks don't say anything about the person. I'm C- in TC and RM because I don't play either of them. That doesn't make me bad at TW. And I've seen plenty of other people who were good at TW and had low Ranked ranks. I've also seen people with a high S+ rank where I really felt they were the worst player in the lobby. Not to mention there's tons of bad players in S+ and good players in A and below. Sometimes I get the feeling that your rank is determined more by how much you play the mode than by how good a player is.

Yes, I was talking about TW; sorry I didn't mention that. >_< Also I understand where you're coming from with rank being associated usually with how frequently you play the mode, but at the same time I feel your level and rank are at least somewhat telling of how good/bad one is at the game as a whole.

 

[Jayy]

Before you do that, please try one more thing that's been working wonders for a lot of players, including me.

Every time you lose, even once, take a break, even if you're not angry or frustrated. Go relax, watch your favorite show for a while, play some different calm, relaxing game, because anything besides playing more Splatoon and getting more and more frustrated is better.

I started doing this about 3 days ago and my win-rate in ranked has spiked up from ~20% to upwards of 70% and in TW, from ~55% to just under 80% in recent times.

It's quite amazing how frustration/anger can impact a gamer's skill level to such a degree. Well that, and cold hands. I hate having cold hands.

I Tried what you suggested after not having played all day today and a terrible day of frustrating losses yesterday.

Funny thing was I didn’t even want to play today because I had a feeling it would just be a rerun.

But I figured I’d try your advice. Hopped on tonight and first game the other team covered and held 75% of the map from start to finish.

My team was garbage. I gave up a minute in because it was clear my team could not pull it together. I stood there seething till clock ran. I’m done with this game.

I like to think I’m pretty good at it, but 8/10 times when nothing I do can actually help my team to victory and I get curb stomped into a frustrated inability to find enjoyment, even with my good performance in constantly losing games, it’s time to quit.

Luckily sea of thieves comes out tomorrow.