Why all the Clam Blitz Hate?

[_Koriko_]

After exploring these forums for a bit, I've seen that quite a few people dislike Clam blitz, some to a higher extent then others. So, why? I understand Clam Blitz can be miserable at times, but most of my games go pretty well. Now, to be fair, I win more than I lose, but even if I lose, I feel like I played well and I can improve my gameplay based on the mistakes in that game.

So is it saltiness over feeling like you can never win, or is there an issue with gameplay/strategy?

 

[Reila]

It requires a level of coordination you won't find in ranked battles. That is the issue for me. In League, it is a different story entirely, but I would still rather play any other mode over Clam Blitz.

 

[Green Waffles]

It's a fun an interesting mode
But it can be tricky coordinating RM solo as it is. CB is RM but the RM is fragmented all over the map, and you can pass the RM around.

It can be fun though, when you get a little coordination. I've had great solo CB matches, they're just few and far between. WHich leads me to where I can't help but see where I think the bad matches could have been played to be good ones, and I get salty.

 

[The Salamander King]

Yeah, it basically stems from the lack of communication most people have with their teammates. In league and Privates, people will be a lot more open to playing CB than in normal ranked.

 

[_Koriko_]

That's true. I'm usually defending, and at some point during the game, I push. The rest of time, I'm sitting at our basket, picking off enemies and defending. One defender can mean the difference between losing or winning a CB match for me.

Because I have one role, the entire team knows where I am. Though I'm still in B+ for CB, probably cus I haven't played it a lot.

I just think people need to start giving themselves roles in a CB match so they're not all over the place, which can cause the chaos usually found in CB.

 

[Jayy]

That's true. I'm usually defending, and at some point during the game, I push. The rest of time, I'm sitting at our basket, picking off enemies and defending. One defender can mean the difference between losing or winning a CB match for me.

Because I have one role, the entire team knows where I am. Though I'm still in B+ for CB, probably cus I haven't played it a lot.

I just think people need to start giving themselves roles in a CB match so they're not all over the place, which can cause the chaos usually found in CB.

I’m in B and I find the role thing to never work. As much as I’d like to think that having a dedicated “goalie” would work, as soon as you need to push their barrier you’re 3v4. And even if the “goalie” pushes up to help, that’s the equivalent to trickling in and by the time you’ve reached their end your team has lost someone so now it’s 2v4.

Wherever I am I just try to hustle back if they have a football. But this mode is so unreliable with having teammates it’s rarely enough. I only ever play CB if I accidentally hit ranked while it’s on rotation.

And I hate every minute of it.

 

[_Koriko_]

I’m in B and I find the role thing to never work. As much as I’d like to think that having a dedicated “goalie” would work, as soon as you need to push their barrier you’re 3v4. And even if the “goalie” pushes up to help, that’s the equivalent to trickling in and by the time you’ve reached their end your team has lost someone so now it’s 2v4.

Wherever I am I just try to hustle back if they have a football. But this mode is so unreliable with having teammates it’s rarely enough. I only ever play CB if I accidentally hit ranked while it’s on rotation.

And I hate every minute of it.

Then switch roles during the battle. I'm not only goalie with my octobrush, I'm a pusher and a supporter. But when there's an enemy power clam out there, my main priority becomes watching that basket.

You change roles and adapt your play. You just might, MIGHT, want to have a main role that you prioritize.

 

[6thChance]

I'm still new, but for me, it's just not fun. Most likely due to what others have said.

 

[LiX]

There's multiple reasons why Clam Blitz is disliked. It is mostly disliked by the veteran players who've played Splatoon 1 and are used to their three awesome modes (SZ, RM, TC).

At first I thought it was just disliked because it was something new and the vets were annoyed 'cause they were as new to a mode as any other newb and it would be a long time to get good at it and define the meta etc. etc. But it wasn't that, to my knowledge. Most of the people I know, including myself, don't enjoy ranked Clam Blitz because CB, in itself, is a game mode that requires high team coordination and synergy by nature. More than can be achieved in a team of random strangers with no means of making contact with each other. It goes beyond what is likely to work well without voice chat team coordination. And since you have no means of making contact except for "Booyah!" and "This Way", attempted order and coordination in strategy are most oftenly killed in their very begining.
This is what really stops me from enjoying this mode a lot. Others may feel differently of course.

Why you feel different right now is simple though. You are, as you said, B+. In that area, there are a lot of newcomer players so it is significantly easier to make a difference and pull a whole team to victory. At B, there isn't much of any coordination going on. But since you seem to be decent at the mode, as you said that you win most of your CB games, you may quickly advance upwards and notice what I am talking about. At S+, skill levels are way higher and even the slightest plus in coordination can decide over victory. That can be quite exhausting. I feel that is what a lot of players agree on...

 

[Gameboy224]

As people have said, mainly due to the high amount of the coordination required to excel in the mode combined with Ranked Battle's lack of communication.

I've had matches were I've placed beakon in prime positions behind enemy lines right next to their basket against teams who seem to have ignored them. Nobody on my team took advantage of them, and there were people on my team who got Power Clams within that time.

The only person who did take advantage of it was me, later in the match. And my plan worked perfectly fine, I got a Power Clam, super jumped to my beakon, broke their barrier from the back.

While other matches I get a good group and we are able to do a cooperative push while all of use are just under 10 clams, we get to the basket, I toss a couple clams and we start scoring.

Out of all the Ranked Modes, Clam Blitz is by far the most inconsistent in terms of playing with randoms. It's the reason why out of all the ranked modes, it's the only one I haven't gotten to S rank just yet. Have a A+.

 

[Dessgeega]

There's the matter of the mode's speed. Team wipes can either be inconsequential (if one team wipes the other while their basket is broken), or instant game winners. A team with 20-30 clams that manages to wipe the other can achieve a 60-80 point lead in less time than it takes for a rainmaker carrier to swim across the stage unopposed. It creates an environment that is both tense and a slog, because a match can drag on for the entire duration without anyone scoring, or one team can take a huge lead in the first 30 seconds that the opponents then spend the entire match recovering from. Ragequits in CB are more common than other modes for a reason.

Also, it's just ill-designed. Thanks to the wonders of tickrate, people can throw clams for a split-second after dying, and you can break a basket with the power clam after the GAME! tape flies across the screen. Then there's the fact that ink armor works on power clam carriers and that you can super jump with power clams... that's barred in Rainmaker, why's that allowed here?

I and many others will probably never get rank X in this particular mode, and I am okay with that. More than any other mode you basically have to pray that your allies are on the ball.

 

[_Koriko_]

I guess I'm in the small minority that likes CB. I do understand however, how hard it can be to work together if you can't talk to the person.

 

[Zero Meddler]

Clam Blitz is sort of like Rainmaker. How? I'll paraphrase a post I read when I complained about Rainmaker. They're similar in the sense that there isn't a static path or area of focus like there is in Tower Control and Splat Zones, therefore making it a bit unpredictable. and THAT is the most difficult part about both modes. Players are free to take what ever paths they want and in Clam Blitz you can have multiple "rainmakers" (or super clams in this case) come at you from different directions making it more of a chore to deal with. SZ, and TC don't have the same situations that CB and RM. I'd imagine many are used to playing the first two and developed habits that are more focused around more predictable games.

What makes things more complicated is how you have to score. It's not just, grab clams and throw in them in the enemy basket. There's the extra step of getting the power clam which some may see as a convoluted step. Getting the power clam can be an annoying endeavor since you have to search the map to find some. Then there's the matter of the penalty which is confusing to figure out how it works and therefore can cause a bit of frustration.

My point of all this is detractors of CB may find a lot of seemingly little things annoying with the mode that cause this hatred of the mode.