Topic: Splatoon 2

@Ralizah They did the Mario Kart approach to retro stages, adding features to the stages to make them feel fresh. The big one with Moray Towers was the inkrails, no longer are chargers OP on that map.

@Grumblevolcano INKRAILS! Thank you. I knew shortcut ropes sounded weird.

Yeah, I'm excited to see how they improve other stages.

I tend to disagree. The only specials that granted invulnerability were the bubbler and the Kraken. And their duration was lowered several times up to the point where they barely could be used to turn the tides anymore . That's actually when I first started using the Kraken, when the duration was considerably shorter. It was arguably weaker than the other specials at that point because with the low duration you could mostly only splat enemies that hadn't noticed you present anway (and you had to use a lot of Special Duration Up to counter that , which adds another weakness because you couldnt use your gear slots for other abilities anymore). Additionally, the Kraken was also nerfed so that you could easily push it back with weapons that have a mid-to-high fire rate.

Similarly, the duration of the echolocator (something I used a lot before it was nerfed) could be reduced with cold-blooded, which was already available when the original game was released (many people just didn't use it).
In this case the the echolocator and point sensor got nerfed by reducing their duration even more when cold blooded was used. But because of balancing reasons, the duration of the echolocator was reduced more (by cold-blooded) than the point sensor duration was.
After that, I didn't use echolocator that often anymore but rather sensors. This was actually a great change because up to that moment point sensors were barely used by the majority of the players.

tldr; What you wrote might have applied to Splatoon 1.0.0, but surely not to Splatoon 2.12.0.
I'm not sure you are aware of all the massive changes that have taken place in between, it definitely changed the whole meta of the game several times.

Besides, in Splatoon 2 you also have the special weapon called 'Baller', which doesn't grant full invulnerability but shields you from a certain amount of damage.

Yesterday, I could barely find Team Cake players to play against. I guess now we know why. Team Ice Cream slaughtered Team Cake in votes.

The Splatfest was fun. I finally felt at ease playing the game after all the Testfire sessions I spent struggling to adapt, though I still instinctively look down at my Joy-Con when the match ends even though there's no map.

I exclusively played the Splat Dualies during the Splatfest, and it seems that so did everyone else. I really do love the roll mechanic. It's so versatile for escaping from tough scenarios and the Dualies have a pretty good fire rate and power to boot.

The stages in Spla2n are worse than Splatoon's stages, in my opinion at least. When I look at a screenshot of a Splatoon stage, I can immediately name it, but I'm having trouble identifying one Spla2n stage from another. It doesn't help that the stages feel claustrophobic and way more dreary than the first game's. It could just be me, but I just don't like them as much.

@shani The Baller also seemingly takes disarms you, makes you even an larger target and possesses a rather notable charge up time to use it's attack so there's a large price for that extra defense. At least more so than any of the other previous invulnerability weapons.

I imagine its main advantage would be to try to get away from battle similar to how the Kraken can be used.

Edit: I find the new stages to be roughly the same in feel to Splatoon 1 for me. The least interesting for me was Ink Blot. I'd rank them as Humpback>Main Stage>Ink Blot.

@Luke64 No, you're right. They changed jump to B so X could be used to bring up the map (since the Switch has no 2nd screen).

@shani I never said those specials were broken in the end or anything, just that the immediate effect of 2's specials are not anywhere near those of the first. Patches may have made retaliatory splats with the kraken and bubbler more difficult, but they still force a temporary retreat, and the inkzooka's high speed almost always ensures at least one sudden splat. You don't get anything like that in this game.

It is worth noting that nothing remotely resembling the echolocator is in 2. Instead sensors are buffed with a lingering effect, mines mark enemies as well and there's also that infra-ink skill.

@Nintendoer Dualies are actually pretty weak in per-shot damage. It's the rate of fire and ability to laser-focus the shots that give it such a potentially short time-to-splat.

The stages only look dreary because they're splatfest nighttime versions (or dusk in some cases). Inkblot seems to be the Walleye Warehouse of this game, basic and fairly small which makes it a good starter stage. I like the ability to snake around the walls on Starfish Mainstage for sneak attacks and vantage points, even including slightly tricky walls over gaps to swim on. Humpback is a fun tug-of-war for control of the outer tracks in order to better manage the center. I had lots of fun whether I was running hog-wild as a roller or being a mobile overwatch as a charger. The only map I didn't like was Moray, which to me still has a problem of momentum being very difficult to stop due to the very, very long paths to chase enemies in. That was a bigger issue to me than any amount of charger lockdown.

@-Green- Ah didn't know that about the Baller, I thought there was little information about it.
That said, it never occured to me to use the Kraken for defensive reasons. What benefit does it give you over just swimming away as a squid? I mean, it's not like you can use the Kraken while holding the Rainmaker.

@meleebrawler I'm not saying you're wrong (how could I? there's nothing out yet), but I wouldn't be so sure about that. The is no complete list of special weapons for Splatoon 2 yet.
But Cold-Blooded definitely exists in Splatoon 2. It would be kind of odd to have it only to counter Point Sensors and the Haunt ability...

I never regarded the Inkzooka as a dangerous weapon though. It's mostly good for lucky strikes since the enemies you're targeting are far away (otherwise you would be too vulnerable if they're near) and therefore can be easily missed.
I'd say dodging an Inkzooka is even easier than evading a Kraken...

And what about the Splatbrella? Doesn't it basically give you invulnerability when you use it to shield yourself?

As mentioned before I haven't played with all the new specials yet, but from what I've seen, I wouldn't say specials have been weakened. E.g. yesterday I made splats with the Inkjet quite regularly and once even a triple-splat. But it's still early days and most players seemed to be beginners, so I guess we'll have to wait and see how things turn out once the players have adapted to the weapons and forged their own strategies.
And then it'll probably be time for the devs to nerf and buff them again.

I'm really curious whether the dodge jump of the Dualies will continue to exist in its current form. It kinda feels unfair because it doesn't seem to have any downsides. Maybe it will be introduced for more (or all) weapons one day?

@Ralizah When in doubt, it has the word ink, splash, or splat in it.

If you're reckless like me, you'll plan suicide missions and get yourself surrounded constantly, and running away won't work unless you can special or squid jump out of there. If Kraken is loaded, its the obvious no-risk split-second option.

@shani There WAS a list of Splatoon 2 subs and specials, at least while the splatfest was active. And even though we haven't seen half of them in action, they seem just as situational as the rest.

Splat brella... have shield Octarians taught you nothing? It only protects from the front, leaving you vulnerable to bombs flying past you. And you can't hold the shield forever lest it launch off and leave you exposed for a bit.

The downside to rolling is that it drains your ink, and you're rooted in place if you try to fire back after the first roll, and definitely after the second. Players who react quickly and take evasive maneuvers likely won't end up splatted by concentrated fire.

@-Green- Baller doesn't seem good for fleeing, it looks too slow for that since you can't swim during it's use (and most specials except for the Inkjet). It's probably more of a distraction when fighting alongside teammates, or a way to force people off of vantage points with it's climbing ability.

@meleebrawler Haha the Shielded Octotroopers. Well they were quite slow and non-human, so I think a human Splatbrella-wielder would be more careful and agile. That said, you're right of course, hadn't thought about that possibility.
Regardless, I'm sure the devs while find a way to balance the Splatbrella. Didn't know it was temporary though, so that might be enough to balance it actually.

Really, rolling drains your ink? Didn't notice it. But I was actually able to roll several times in a row, so you're not totally rooted in place. Maybe you're just prevented from shooting directly after a roll. Gotta admit that I haven't tried them out that often yesterday.
I really wish the shooting range had been included in the demo...

So a question to all of you who played the recent Splatfest — does Splatoon 2 allow you to change your weapons while waiting for enough players for another match? I loved Splatoon on Wii U, but one of my few gripes (aside from lack of split-screen multiplayer) was that you couldn't switch weapons while waiting for more players for another match; to switch weapons you'd have to exit out of the mode completely, switch weapons, and then enter that mode again, an overall needlessly cumbersome process. Did Splatoon 2 fix this?

@Dev Yeah it's there in the first game, although I never used it because by the time I noticed it I was already acquainted with most of the maps.

@shadow-wolf Nope no change weapon while waiting.

@shani You can only roll twice in a row with dualies. And, if you look closely at the animation, you notice a burst of ink propelling your Inkling which is where the cost comes from. You may also have a point about the time it takes for the roll to finish and be able to start firing; doing so quickly at the cost of distance is the hat of Dapple Dualies. But their true limiting factor is simply mediocre range.

@meleebrawler Ah interesting, I'll definitely have to take a look at that in the final game.
If it only allows you to do two rolls in a row, maybe there was a short pause between the second and third roll, I don't remember exactly. ^^
Yeah I think the Dapple Dualies wouldn't be for me because of their lack of range. The Dualies are still interesting because of the roll but I'm mostly looking forward to using Squelchers again.

@Dev Lol, seriously? Of course there was a recon function in the first game. It was there from day one...

@shadow-wolf Yes you can change your weapon while waiting.

Uh ... one of you must be right. @shani how does changing your weapon while waiting work?

@shadow-wolf Well if you can change your weapon I didn't see it. Maybe solo splatfest you can't change weapon and in team splatfest you can.

@shadow-wolf: Technically, they're both right. When in a squad, you can change your weapon while waiting. But, in a regular turf or ranked match, you can't change your weapon while waiting.

I hope the Splatbrella comes soon after launch, it's my most anticipated weapon, seems good for pushing the offensive in tight spaces. In the first one my favourite sub was the Splash Wall, but I wonder if it'll be paired with the Splatbrella for an ultimate defensive set.

Don't forget for Splatfests that all the stages turn to night time but the normal game will have the stages in day time. At least that's how it worked in the original so I assume it's the same.