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[Video + Poll] "This Is Ruining Splatoon 3" by Chase247

Which update cycle for Splatoon do you prefer?


  • Total voters
    4

#8 regret

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Based on the subject matter of this video, I'm making a poll: How do you prefer Splatoon to be updated? I encourage discussion on both the video content and the poll question in this thread.

Personally, while I didn't stick to Splatoon 2 enough to really experience its update cycle, on paper it makes more sense. I understand Nintendo's desire to move to a seasonal/battle pass model for Splatoon 3, but as a consequence of that, it makes the game feel... stagnant, especially after your catalog for the season is done. Having consistent news to look forward to, rather than a huge shotgun of news at the end of the season, feels a lot more natural.
 

Cephalobro

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With how much there's already to do and grind, I think Splatoon 3 has a better approach, it gives time for players to get some of the rewards before overloading them. I haven't even got that far in terms of getting Salmon Run rewards yet, which some of the stuff will require a lot of grinding to get (why a banner costs 999 silver scales is beyond me). I almost forgot to mention Table Turf Battle, which will also take a long time to get all of its rewards.

While I wish they had more Splatfests (mainly because I don't want to spend so much cash at the Shell-Out Machine), trying to come up with 3 related concepts is actually harder than two. Now of course there are very easy options for Nintendo, but I think they save the easy ones for specific purposes, like how the Grass vs Water vs Fire Splatfest was saved to promote Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
 

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Ideally the approach should be somewhere in the middle, but overall I vastly prefer how they've approached it in 3. It's easy to forget that Splatoon 1 and 2 were shadows of what they would become when they launched, and people weren't very happy about 2 returning to a drip feed approach to new (or in some cases, "new") content. Brushes, sloshers, and splatlings were all post-launch weapons in 1, Then there's this list of weapons re-added to 2 as post-launch content...
Inkbrush
Dualie Squelchers
Sploosh-O-Matic
Classic Squiffer
Sloshing Machine
Rapid Blaster Pro
Bamboozler
Range Blaster
Hydra Splatling
And that's not even mentioning that the Splat Brella, a weapon you could already use in the single-player mode, was post-launch content!

Splatoon 3's launch, by comparison, felt feature complete from the start. Every weapon returned and the new weapon classes got two distinct weapons each right off the bat. The only area, content-wise, where 3 felt like a step back is in its number of maps.
I do think there's some merit to frequent content drops, but the type of content is key. New kits every week aren't good enough to excite the casual playerbase, and while they're occasionally nice for the hardcore fans, those fans are more likely to be the type to eat datamines up and thus be less impacted by kit releases in the first place. I specifically remember waiting months in Splatoon 2 for the Neo Splash-O-Matic to release and not really thinking about the stuff released in-between since I already knew what I wanted was just on the horizon. I do agree that there needs to be more variety in what weapons get new kits every season, though - having to wait for a new kit definitely hurts more if you're waiting a season rather than a week or so.
New maps, new specials, and new weapons, though? That sort of thing could move the needle without having to be a big event like Splatfest or Big Run. Maps, especially, could easily fill a gap and even give a reason to look forward to the mid-season patch. More frequent QOL/balance changes would do wonders for maintaining the hardcore crowd, too - if the idea behind getting frequent weapon kits is to continually shake up the meta, balance changes would be a good way to accomplish that while keeping the seasonal structure intact.
 

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