Topic: Splatoon 2

@Shamrock Yeah, I got it. It's awesome. But, if you never played Splatoon 1, and Splatoon 2 is your first Splatoon experience, I don't think you want the Octo Expansion dlc yet ($19.99 USD). Octo Expansion's difficulty is higher, because it's meant to be played after you beat the Splatoon 2 single player campaign. Just make sure you like Splatoon 2 before you buy the Octo dlc.

Octo expansion dlc came out a year after Splatoon 2 launched, and it's basically a second single player game. Getting it early doesn't give you any advantage. If you really just want to buy it, because you can, you can. There are a few pieces of gear exclusive to Octo,* but you have to beat Octo expansion to get them.*

@Shamrock @Tendo64 @Snatcher Just a heads up, if you get Splatoon 2, when you load the game there will always be an unskippable news intro that you have to advance through with some button presses. Nintendo added this to the game to discourage people disconnecting from online matches(which hurts your team), by making it take 3-4+ minutes to reload the game and re-enter online matches. So, the News may seem annoying, but it does effectively serve it's purpose. Otherwise, people could disconnect painlessly and instantly reload the game all the time. (it loads very fast otherwise).

Also, if you disconnect from matches two or more times within the same day, you will get a temporary 5 minute? ban from online matches. I can't remember if the ban time increases with repeat offenses. It might? But nobody, to my knowledge has ever gotten permanently banned.

I'm probably going to buy the game today. Is jumping straight into online recommended or is there a certain amount of time I should spend in the campaign first?

FWIW I've never played Splatoon at all.

@Tendo64 I think you can go right into Turf War at the start of the game. Salmon Run becomes available at xp level 10 or 15?(I forget which level) Single player will teach you game mechanics and how to use the weapons. There's also a training room available when you're shopping weapons, or looking at your weapon inventory, you can hit Y to "test" the weapon, and it puts you in a training room where you can practice & fool around. I still go in the training room to mess around to figure out what weapon I want to use next.

Motion control aiming is highly recommended. Give it a few hours to adjust to it. It totally worth it. When I first got the game, I thought it motion felt weird, but you'll get used to it (like everyone says), and you'll never want to go back to aiming with your analog sticks because it's motion aiming is so quick & accurate while playing the game.

@Tendo64 It's a good idea to play through a bit of the single player first just to get a feel for the game and mechanics. The whole thing is a bit like a tutorial. It's not a big deal if you do just want to jump into some turf war though as the game will try to pair you up with other low level players if it can.

Cheers guys.

I got the game this morning and have been playing it for a few hours. I'm only level 4 and still not overly good at the game, and I've played a mix of the single player campaign and a fair bit of online turf wars. I'm finding myself alternating between motion controls and analogue sticks, just can't seem to find which one is better for me. It's a bit frustrating in battles as a newbie, but have unlocked and bought a few weapons and I'm sure I'll get better at it.

@Tendo64 Playing without motion controls puts you at a huge disadvantage against those who are using it. You should play however is the most fun for you at the end of the day but I highly recommend giving the motion controls at least a really good go as it's the better option of the two competitively and they feel extremely intuitive and satisfying to use once you've got the hang of it.

Yeah that's a fair call. I've just gotta stick with it and get the hang of it.

@Tendo64 I recommend playing with a splat roller for a beginner too. For me it was much easier to master and play well with it... So much so that it remains my weapon of choice to this day actually (85 hours in) 😂 I'm pretty bad with the guns but win loads with the roller!

Yeah I've been using the roller! There's great satisfaction in either belting someone to death with it or rolling over them! 😂

@Tendo64 MAAAAAAAN I WANNA play it I really want to pick it up now but that may be the rest of my cash.

@Tendo64 Yeah, the single hit kill of a roller is pretty fun

@Tendo64 In case you hadn't learned yet, in turf war, only horizontal surfaces need covering. Painting walls doesn't count.

Hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense!

How long do you suggest I use the roller for? I'm only level 7 and there's obviously going to be better weapons available as I level up.

@Tendo64 The weapons in general are pretty balanced so the ones you unlock later aren't strictly better than the ones you already have available to you. It's just a matter of finding something that's fun and comfortable to you so just try different things and experiment until something clicks. Slosher Deco, Inkbrush and Splattershot Jr are my personal favourites.

@Tendo64 Use what you like. I agree with @BenAV. All the weapons have strengths and weaknesses, most can be very effective. You'll find people that seem unstoppable with weapons you thought weren't great.

You will unlock weapons all the way up to level 30. If you get drink or food tickets for Crusty Sean's, you can boost your xp gains to rank up faster (unlock weapons faster). Food & Drink tickets come from single player campaign and Salmon Run.

The Splattershot and N-Zap are good all-around guns. I don't know if you downloaded the Switch Online app for your phone? That Splatoon app inside that can show you the weapons and gear setups of everyone you battled in the last 25+ matches. And, over time you'll see what weapons people are using when they get lots of splats, wins, or most coverage.

If I keep getting crushed online, I often use the N-zap 89 (the orange gun) with the Autobombs and Tenta Missles. Autobombs are great if you keep getting sniped/shot from a distance, you can throw an autobomb at them from far away, and it will force them to come out, or move, or splat them. Tenta missles can let you see where your enemies are, and also target snipers. If I get fed up with snipers with charger guns, that's what I do.

List of the most recent weapons I've used:
Splattershot
Splattshot Pro
Splattershot Jr
Dualie Squelchers
N-Zap 89
Bloblobber (i think these are level 30)
Splat Dualies
Splat Roller
There are still another 12 or more weapons I tend to use. It's fun learning new weapons. And using different weapons changes things up, keeps the game fun.

Splatoween Splatfest started

Is it worth playing the Splatfest beyond achieving the King ranking? I got it a few hours in and apparently that's as high as you can go.

@Tendo64 Yeah, king rank yields max number is super sea snails, which is the main benefit of playing splafest. (Super sea snails are awarded 3-6 hours after splatfest ends and winning team is declared.)

The only advantage after that is getting extra ability chunks. After you've filled all three ability slots, you still keep earning extra ability chunks every 7000 points, which are given to you without having to scrub the shirt.

Before the end of splatfest, be sure to scrub that shirt for those 3 chunks, otherwise you lose them when splatfest ends. Scrubbing splatfest tshirt costs $2,000, which is cheap compared to $20,000 it normally costs to scrub gear for the ability chunks.

I have no idea what a lot of that means but I'm sure I can work it out 🤣
PS thank you!!