The excellent F2P titles Fortnite and Paladins have both launched on the Nintendo Switch recently, bringing two different flavours of online shootery to the platform, minus any price tag. This would all be excellent news if it wasn't for the fact that I haven't touched Splatoon 2 since. Before you reach for your pitchfork, I'm not saying that they're better games than Splatoon 2. While all three have their merits, if I had to choose a favourite, I'd almost certainly choose Nintendo's own. It's slicker, prettier, and entirely its own beast – which is more than can be said for the other two 'copycats'.
But the area in which Splatoon 2 falters just so happens to be right where Fortnite and Paladins hit their stride, and that's in giving you a reason to return each day. Both have smart levelling systems that drip-feed rewards, alongside an optional Battle Pass that gives you a ton more for a small fee.
These are games that rely on IAPs (in-app purchases) to survive, so it only makes sense that they'd find clever ways to encourage you to return. Then, they have to try and entice you to spend money, so they dangle the cosmetics on a stick just like a carrot. It's a system that works without harming the balance of the game.
Splatoon 2 doesn't have to resort to this psychological warfare. You buy it and, aside from a purely optional expansion pack, you're set to go. Nintendo even regularly releases new maps, weapons, and clothing items too, and for free. So why do I still feel so unsatisfied with Splatoon 2? Well, I still think it's down to simple psychology.
Don't get me wrong; I don't want Splatoon 2 to go freemium and resort to underhand tactics to get you to part with your cash. Instead, I think Splatoon 2 could just learn from Fortnite and Paladins and incorporate some of the ideas to give you a more solid reason to return.
Right now, the only real reason to play is purely for fun (although you could argue that's the best reason to return to a game). Levelling takes an insane amount of time and doesn't really offer much besides new gun unlocks, and most of those are just the same guns again with different abilities attached to them.
The same goes for Salmon Run. It almost had a Battle Pass-like system but, again, progression is just so damned slow that you wonder what the point in even bothering is.
Then there's the clothing, which is where Splatoon 2 gets it mostly right. The items change periodically, which does a great job of tempting you to come back, just in case you miss a cool pair of sneakers or an amazing shirt. The problem is, aside from the first perk slot, the other two slots are selected randomly. You can change them, but only if you grind arbitrarily for an insane amount of time and then spend an equally insane amount of gold to do it. It's just all so ludicrous in 2018, and you really do get the feeling that Nintendo hasn't played a shooter in the last 20 years.
So the first lesson Splatoon 2 should learn from Fortnite and Paragons: faster levelling and gold drops. Let us feel like we're making meaningful progression, even in smaller playing sessions. Provide us with regular challenges to complete that encourage us to use different weapons or perform actions we wouldn't normally do. The same goes for the different modes, like Salmon Run. Encourage us to see more of the game – that rewards both of us and Nintendo, ultimately.
Next up is to sort out the perk system which, let's face it, has sucked since the original Splatoon. Let clothing be purely cosmetic, and let us just pick the perks in each slot. Better still, let us literally see the effects of stacking perks so we can decide if it's worth it. This in itself can provide us with a reason to return.
Take Paladins for example. I've already spent hours testing out new loadouts with various different characters to perfect my own play style, and I find it super addictive. It's nice to put your own spin on your character so it feels more your own, and picking an outfit based on cosmetics, not perks, then selecting the perks ourselves would just be a much better system.
Finally, tie it all together with a ranking or tier system that both Fortnite and Splatoon 2 have. Let our character level, rewards from challenges, and various other features all combine together to provide us with unique rewards that you can only get through playing often. These could include unique weapon skins, items of clothing, and XP and gold boosters.
Keep it free, and keep it fair. Don't let freemium pay to win mechanics come into it. Just do it the Splatoon 2 way, and keep the drip-feed of new cosmetic rewards coming, so we keep coming back for more.
Oh, and one last thing – let us skip that intro. If I have to hear Pearl and Marina say "Don't get cooked, stay off the hook" one last time I might just trade in my copy of Splatoon 2 and never touch it again. Nintendo, you've been warned.
Conversely, I think Splatoon 2 can teach Paladins and Fortnite a bunch of neat tricks, too. For example, an area in which Splatoon 2 absolutely nails it is in its variety of game modes. There are so many, and they're all super fun. It's nice to boot up the game and question what you'd like to play next – perhaps the single player or expansion? A bit of Salmon Run? Or just the bread-and-butter Turf War?
Fortnite and Paladins do have a couple of different modes, but they're a far cry away from Splatoon 2's offerings, and don't actually vary up the gameplay very much. They could learn a thing or two and introduce a few new modes to bring them up to par with Nintendo's shooter.
Secondly, they could both do with improving their gyro controls. Fortnite has tried and failed, providing gyro controls that most of us have turned off already, and are waiting for a patch to bring them up to speed with Splatoon's. Paladins doesn't even have this feature yet, though it's apparently coming. Let's hope both of them can get it right, like Splatoon 2 does.
Finally, both games could really learn a lot from Splatoon 2's world design – they feel kind of lifeless when compared to Nintendo's ink splatter. Fortnite has a nice meta-plot full of rifts, meteors, and rockets, but what does it really mean? What world does it take place in? Where are the characters we should care about? It could do with just a bit more.
Paladins, on the other hand, has a rich selection of heroes complete with backstories, cosmetics, and different play styles. But who are they really? Why are they fighting? What brings them all together? It could do with a single player or PvE component that could shed some light on this and bring a bit of background to proceedings. Splatoon 2 takes place during the war between the Squidlings and Octolings, and the world is vibrant and full of life. Fortnite and Paladins could really learn from that.
Ultimately, the online shooter scene is absolutely bustling on Nintendo Switch right now, and it's only going to get better with the likes of Warframe arriving hopefully soon. I'm sure we all agree that variety is the spice of life, and this holy trinity provides that with aplomb. But I don't want to ignore Nintendo's exclusive shooter over Paladins and Fortnite because it doesn't have such simple features that we take for a given right now.
I want these three games to push each other to be even better, and then for Warframe to come along and teach them all a thing or two. The Switch is a unique ecosystem in that we can play multiple different games at the same time, because we can play no matter where we are. Our time isn't quite as limited as it is with other consoles - but every game still has to give us a reason to play.
Your move, Splatoon 2.
Comments 58
Cool stuff
I agree, the levelling up in Splatoon 2 is slow, but there are boosters mainly for x1.5 the XP / cash, but then you do have to work to obtain those. The intro detailing the current level playlist is a bit annoying & hopefully something they will address in the next game or at least give you an option to speed up by pressing 'ZR' like in the weapon shop.
Although I agree levelling up takes way too long, I think Splatoon 2 is near perfection. If Splatoon 3 is free with microtransactions and season passes, it would put me off buying the game until acomplete edition is released for actual money.
I play Splatoon daily but I don’t care about anything but the gameplay. Accumulation doesn’t often appeal to me in gaming.
Splatoon 2 is near perfect; but it does need a great emphasis on community. Miiverse scribbles are funny, and that’s about it. If the levelling system was more attuned and your character could be more expressive in-game (yes, I would approve of some Fortnight-esque dance moves), then that would make it a lot more attractive to a wider demographic.
The biggest things Splatoon can learn is voice chat from Fortnite and playing/grouping up with friends like Paladins.
In Splatoon you can only voice chat if you're playing with friends and all of you are using the cell phone app, in Fortnite you can actually talk by hooking up your headset directly into the system. It would also help if they had a character/quick chat feature like Overwatch to help coordinate with your team because having just "booyah" "booooo" and "this way" doesn't leave alot of options especially since its easy to misinterpret what they mean.
In Splatoon you can only play League mode with 1 or 3 friends, you can't playing with 2 friends and a random fill nor can you play turf war and be on the same team every match where as in Paladins you can play any mode at any time with any combination of friends and randoms.
With Splatoon the big one for me is rotating game modes. I've wanted to play but salmon run or or the game mode I want to play isn't in rotation. Another thing that's bother me is I've gotten on a roll and the modes change. It's frustrating and has made me play less.
With Paladins and fortnite I'm not paying money for cosmetic pieces. Except maybe Paladins I'd be willing to pay full game price and get a chance to unlock everything. They do seem to do free to play alright other than that.
Splatoon 2 reminds me of the hardcore fast-paced shooters we used to play in the 1990’s (Quake 2, Unreal Tournament) where reactions and ping counts were where it counted.
Back then we only played for the fun of it, the only reason to return each day were bragging rights and the chance you might catch Q2 world champion ‘Thresh’ on your server.
I don't really need any of this in Splatoon 2... What I do need, though, is the ability to always be on the same team as my friends. That's all I'm asking for. Let me turf war with my friends, not against them.
Though the "clothing being purely cosmetic" and us being able to just choose the perks ourselves would be a nice change of pace. I hate being limited to certain gear, and atm I play ranked in Marina's amiibo clothes with Pearl's crown xD
Dedicated servers and Anti-cheat.
So to summarise: You want to unlock stuff faster in splatoon and don't want have to grind for better abilities that other players have earned the right to use through playing more and/or having better luck with RNG?
The levelling up process from 1-30 (where you stop unlocking items to purchase) doesn't take that long at all and is designed in such a way that you get to pick up new weapons along the way to test out, while you make your way through the early ranks or just in turf.
Beyond 30, it starts to get a bit grindy but a sikthvash said, there are boosters available from playing either salmon run or the solo modes. Plus, the only benefit to gaining a level beyond 30 is being granted 1 whole sea snail - the only currency that you can use to add slots to lower level gear OR re-roll your abilities. Even in Splatoon 1 you unlocked a couple of bits of clothing and the octoshot as rewards for level progression, I was disappointed to see that be dropped. There's very little incentive to level up deliberately rather than just accumulating XP from playing beyond 30.
On the subject of cash, They could really do with re-implementing the ability to use 30K cash to do re-rolling (and ideally adding slots) because the cash ultimately becomes useless for anything other than just scrubbing clothes for ability chunks. Again, that's more about having an incentive to play for the rewards offered by the game currently outside of fun.
On the subject of abilities on gear: I agree that it would be good to be shown what effect the abilities actually have, especially when stacking. That sort of thing seems minor but tha level of knowledge actually makes a ton of difference and the devs know this.
I do not agree that gear should be purely cosmetic with the option to add whatever abilities you want to them. As it stands, most gear is available with multiple different main abilities through Splatnet 2. You're free to order them if you see a combination you like. Or, if you miss them when they're on splatnet 2, you can order them from another player who did grab them. There's actually a social/community aspect to gear swapping to find the right look combined with abilities and/or branding and helps to engage the player base with eachother for more than just battling. The only gear with main abilities that are static are the amiibo gear and those unlocked in solo modes. I wouldn't mind those having the option to choose the main ability as you've paid extra for them in most cases. Every other aspect of the gear is customisable, it just takes time and effort.
You want 3x swim speed up on those Crazy Arrows shoes? You've either got to keep scrubbing and hoping for RNG as you play, rerolling with those snails you've earned from levelling up/splatfest, earn ability chunks to fill in the slots yourself, or find someone who has already done it, order it from them and hope that Murch delivers the whole set (but be prepared to pay 100K for it!) I don't think that's a bad system - it's the very rewards you're looking for, and provides a great sense of achievement when you finally get that gear you wanted, it's just not tied to a level system.
Daily Challenges that earn you ability chunks or gear with MAs you'd usually only find on the App would be interesting.
Voice Chat less so. 1. I do not like it and have it muted in other online multiplayer games. 2. Splatoon ain't really a game that needs as strict coordination like League of Legends or Overwatch does.
"The problem is, aside from the first perk slot, the other two slots are selected randomly. You can change them, but only if you grind arbitrarily for an insane amount of time and then spend an equally insane amount of gold to do it."
I've never reallly found this to be an issue. Firstly on a technical point, there are anywhere between one and three extra slots along with the main ability (although they can all be upgraded to three). Secondly, I don't think it takes all that long - especially with one of the boosters from Crusty Sean. I find myself painlessly filling the slots on the Splatfest Tee every time one comes around, and every reset or reroll stockpiles ability chunks which gives you more control over the exact abilities you ultimately want.
I'd be lying if I said I played the game for its levelling system - I've got to the point where levelling up is just a peripheral thing that happens in the background. But really, I don't want to play the game for its levelling system; I want to play the game because I like the game and enjoy improving at it. I'd much rather be rewarded for getting better at the game rather than simply sinking time into it. Ranked mode is satisfying (and/or mortifying) for this reason; it rewards your improvement rather than just your playtime.
Maybe receiving goodies when you reach a certain rank would be one way of incentivising play without inserting patronising chores or rewarding playtime alone. But then, the thought of people lauding their ranks over others in the plaza doesn't seem like it would really improve the atmosphere of the game, so I don't know.
I haven't tried Paladins yet, but as for Fortnite, it's so slow and clunky I couldn't give up Splatoon for it. Splatoon is just way more fun to play. Levelling and gear are nice-to-haves but in the end gameplay is king and Splatoon beats Fortnite hands down.
"Right now, the only real reason to play is purely for fun"
I stopped reading after this. How on earth are you trying to paint non-predatory tactics as a bad thing? I'll play a game if I think it's fun and I want to, not because of some focus-tested skinner box construct designed to keep me hooked against my own will.
I don't want to call this a disgusting article because I didn't read the whole thing, but that one line really put me off. It seems irresponsible.
I prefer Splatoon 2 by far, because it feels sooo much better to play (personal opinion, of course)!
I downloaded Fortnite and Paladins and played them for about an hour, but couldn't get the hang of it. Later on I tried it again, but again: No real fun. Just isn't for me, it seems. 😕
Splatoon is fine the way it is. Not every game needs the F2P model that has cropped up recently.
@tjhiphop I know, right? This game is simply fun to play... Oh the horror! I did keep reading, and his ideas weren't atrocious, but it was easy for me to think, "no, we don't need that." Honestly, I think the whole purpose of this article was to jam Splatoon, Fortnight and Paladins into one headline... And that's it. The rest of it is just looking for a way to justify the headline.
The only real point you made that I agree with is doing away with the Splatoon Intro. A skip option is all the QOL upgrade needed here. Get me to the gameplay faster, it’s all I ask.
I don’t much care for online games that allow you to have some better stats or gear based on playing more. I prefer Overwatch or Fortnite to Splatoon, Paladins, SW Battlefront, etc... it feels like it penalizes people who got into the game later than everyone else. I don’t love the gyro aiming in Fortnite, I play it with a pro controller, and I didn’t like the aiming in Splatoon 2 when I had the chance to play it. So I think both need to be somewhat reworked to be more like Doom or Wolfenstein 2 on Switch for gyro aiming.
@dorkeybubblehead Well, I'm interested to find a person who likes all that enough to justify it! For me, it just sounds like an arbitrary way to force you to play for much longer than is necessary.
Though I respect your opinion, you haven't convinced me at all. If its bragging rights you want, Fortnite has that with the skins that require genuine effort to unlock via earning XP and ranking up in tiers. You know exactly what you have to do to unlock them, because it says on the challenges page itself, so the rest is just you putting in the hard work.
Meanwhile, in Splatoon 2, it's an incredibly complex system of gathering snails and ordering gear from other players you MIGHT come across? In what world does that system sound better to anyone? I get that people like to play devil's advocate but COME ON! Surely we can all agree that RNG sucks, and is just there to force us to play for longer.
Also, yep, I've used the boosters, which are a nightmare to get hold of, and they still don't make that levelling system bearable. It just takes too long for anyone other than those with a TON of time on their hands to level up – regardless if you need to or not. Those of us with limited time to play would like to see some progress even in smaller playing sessions.
I'm not exaggerating when I say the only reason I stopped playing, and will refuse to buy the next Splatoon (If they don't fix it), is that stupid intro. I'm short on game time as it is. I know it only takes a minute or so, but it puts me in an irritated mood right from the start. I share a switch with my Wife, and tend to play in very short bursts, which resulted in me going through the intro multiple times a day. Bizarre decision, and even more bizarre that they did it a second time.
@tjhiphop You should have read on tbh, because I did clarify that I definitely don't want predatory F2P systems in Splatoon 2 – just something that rewards the player for their time spent in it. Fun for fun's sake is all well and good, but it's not good for the health of Splatoon 2 itself. You need to entice players to play to keep a healthy community, and rewards don't have to be seen as predatory and negative.
Splatoon should have daily missions with rewards, so you switch it up more often than just using your optimal play style.
So stuff like: make X kills with weapon Y
Or carry the rainmaker
Or simply GET ON THE EFFING TOWER
I wished you could see how often somebody actually carried the rainmaker until the end and how many miles somebody made on the tower.
And they need to implement a feature to slap who on your team who chose to pick a charger in splatzones. That's like playing 3 vs 4.
Remove the opening and give us every map in rotation. There it's fixed.
@TheFox What a ridiculous notion! I explained why I wrote this article in the opening paragraph: "The excellent F2P titles Fortnite and Paladins have both launched on the Nintendo Switch recently, bringing two different flavours of online shootery to the platform, minus any price tag. This would all be excellent news if it wasn't for the fact that I haven't touched Splatoon 2 since."
The article is an exploration of how we can make Splatoon 2 as compelling to play as Paladins and Fortnite, and I had a bunch of different ideas in there.
I don't expect everyone to agree, but claiming this article was only written for keywords is a bit of a stretch. There are much easier ways we could go about doing something as cynical as that.
Online gaming just needs to be fixed with anti-cheat. I find little incentive to play a game where people could be cheating and winning against me. Mariokart 8 on the Wii U has already fallen to this and hackers are everywhere and now I can't play one of my favorite games on the Wii U in Online. ;(
Splatoon 2 for the win. Aside from a few minor issues (which are mostly personal), the fast gameplay will keep having players come back for more. Paladin's and Fortnie can keep their freemium progression system.
I got Splatoon on a whim and I am so glad I did and Splatoon 2 all I can say is what a phenomenal surprise such a great game. I have not tried out Paladins yet and I don't think I will it just don't grab my attention, Fortnite on the other hand I have tried and I tried to like it but I don't I deleted it from my system it just feels like a mobile game that is mediocre at best .
Sorry but without reading the article (because I have no interest in doing so) Splatoon doesn't need to learn one thing from those other games. While no game is perfect Splatoon is pretty darn close imo.
"Right now, the only real reason to play is purely for fun"
Really? Are you not playing ranked mode to try and break into the elusive S and even X ranks? Sure its not unlocking more stuff like fortnite or paladins, but its a global rank to show how good you are and how much more you can improve, something to chase.
"Let us feel like we're making meaningful progression."
It's very depressing to see people to the point that they actually actively seek to be abused by the psychological warfare of the gambling industry and both expect and enjoy it now, going as far as to be disappointed not to be abused!
The summary here is that society as a whole is now so accustomed to mind games and manipulation that manipulative content intent on forming habits and addictions is now fun, and pay for content that is already addictive enough on its own without really trying is now blase.
Splatoon's own mechanisms are already addicting. You either want to challenge a rank or not. Ultimately in Splatoon the "addictive" hook is keeping your rank or chancing to try to get it higher. You stop because you're either bored of the game after enough play, or because you've achieved a rank you don't wish to risk losing. In that regard, the fix would be ladder resets like CoD so your rank expires anyway and you have to keep playing to keep trying to get it up.
splatoon is perfect other than needing some sort of achievement system.
I think Splatoon’s clothes system is perfect the way it is. I use the clothes I find cool or I want to level up in Turf War, but conversely, I use an outfit I’ve carefully curated to be not only super fresh but have amazing abilities in Ranked.
Anybody complaining about the ranking system git gud
You guys at Nintendo Life are focusing on the wrong elements, not to mention comparing apples to oranges.
Minus Splatoon 2's technical issues (namely, its peer-to-peer model and especially its tick rate), it's a great game. Where the game absolutely shines is in its local LAN play (where you can actually communicate with your teammates) and Salmon Run. The game literally screams, "PLAY ME AT A LAN PARTY OR GET-TOGETHER!" (You'll note this is no different from the other multiplayer offerings like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or even Overcooked.)
There's a reason why Nintendo decided not to have voice chat with strangers. You'd have to be a simpleton to not figure out why.
I haven't even bothered with Fortnite or Paladins. I just have no interest.
@NEStalgia: They do the reset with Rank X, don't they? I don't know offhand; the highest I've maintained is S+. (Oh, the trials and tribulations of a charger main...)
What Splatoon REALLY need is SPLIT-SCREEN MULTIPLAYER. Being unable to play along with my brother is such a bad thing. And with friends? I need 4 consoles and 4 games to play with my friends...?? I'd understand 2 consoles for the 4, of us but one console and one game per person...? (We can't even share the game, like in the 3DS)
It's a fantastic game Splatoon 2, but that thing is a very disappointing thing they should have fixed in the second entry...
@FoxyGlen Are you suggesting that it isn't more arbitrary to extend that playtime by being rewarded for playing by giving meaningless skins that literally add nothing to the game? I think you're placing value on the most arbitrary of factors and then making an assumption that should be the draw for playing in Splatoon, a game that sells itself on it's gameplay.
Unlike the skins and emotes in fortnite, the gear (and weapons) you work for in splatoon aren't meaningless. It's about carefully refining your optimal setup. There's no bragging rights involved. It exists to help further your own performance in the game. The reason it becomes complicated to achieve the very maximum (if you want to go that far) is so that you have actually earned something tangible by the time you're done.
And that's just the rewards, the challenges themselves in fortnite to a large extent require very little skill at all outside of the elimination-based ones. So far this season we have seen repeated use of "open X number of chests in location Y" which boils down to landing there first and hoping that RNG is on your side (yes, that same RNG you decried) then lather rinse repeat, perform action X (usually some form of emote) in various fixed locations and even the infamous week 1 challenge of looting a supply llama - the very definition of a reward based on RNG!
But as you've already stated, putting prolonged time and effort into the game to be rewarded isn't what you're looking for. So, onto your issue where you are seeking instant gratification for a short play session.
The answer here is simple, something others in the comments have highlighted (and something that fortnite lacks): Ranked and/or league mode. If you want a barometer for having achieved something in a session regardless of length, well there's literally no better way to mark that than by progression/placement of you own rank. And the turnaround on that is actually faster than in Fortnite (assuming you're playing to win and not just dieing in the first minute) as each game is no more than 6 minutes in length, including potential overtime.
I'm assuming that you chose to focus on Splatoon's levelling system in your article because could translate this to Fortnite's own system, but the real meat of Splatoon comes from playing for rank (a levelling system in it's own right, but not the base one) and - once you're good enough to get there - getting involved in X-Rank and achieving new personal bests with your power level. And how do you progress? By playing more, developing your own skills and - yes - putting effort into gaining optimal gear. There's also the knock on effect to your level. The higher you push into the ranks, the more XP and cash you earn for your wins, the quicker you level up, fill up those ability slots etc.
But in order to do that, you kind of have to want to play the game for the enjoyment factor and gradually improving your own skills and the challenges that come with that. Will that draw you back every single day? Only if that competitive fire starts to burn brightly.
Would a system of simple daily challenges really improve that? To a certain degree, but the types of rewards that would likely be involved would inevitably cater to those who are already hooked (you'd be looking at the same type of rewards as you get in salmon run) so i can't see it substanitally increasing user activity beyond what is already there.
It seems to me though that you aren't likely to be convinced by any amount of words on this matter though - my take from both your article and your reply (rightly or wrongly) is that you're looking for something from your gaming sessions that Splatoon isn't going to provide: a quick injection of "well done you!" so you can move on to something else. All I can say is that if you invest the time into Splatoon, you will be rewarded with one of the richest gaming experiences currently on offer and that itself will be what draws you back day after day.
@the_beaver I think it's beyond the capabilities of the switch to monitor and display two sets of inputs/outputs with an ever-changing map condition. No other split screen multiplayer on the system has anywhere near that level of information to manage that i'm aware of.
This is exactly my opinion.
@dorkeybubblehead Skins don't have to be meaningless – particularly if they show off your time investment like the Fortnite and Paladins skins. I also think it's a fairer system than Splatoon's, which locks the best equipment behind a massive pay/timewall.
I'd argue that perks, abilities, and weapons should be relatively easy to obtain so that those of us who can't play for 10 hours each day can still compete with those who can, and that cosmetics should be the reward for players that have more time on their hands. That way it's a fair playing field, no?
While I don't think we're going to agree, I do want to thank you for taking the time to challenge my opinion. Your thoughts have been enlightening, and I do agree with you that Ranked Battles do offer more than I suggested in the article. That could definitely be defined as a carrot.
I also want to stress that I do really like Splatoon 2 and enjoy it a lot. I just find it difficult to invest time in when I feel like I can achieve more and have more fun in other games. I like that Paladins lets me pick my loadout as soon as I unlock a character, and then I can play it a bunch to unlock new cosmetics which show off that time investment. That way I can compete immediately, and show off that investment later.
Also, whether you like the Fortnite challenges or not – I actually think a few of them are pretty decent and provide a challenge – they do give you a reason to return on a weekly basis, which improves the health of the community. More players can only be a good thing!
@BigKing The two best Splat Zones players in the world last month would probably take issue with your dismissal of chargers.
@FoxyGlen Are you crazy?
These changes that you're suggesting would be truly awful!
But first of all, you don't seem to know Splatoon very well, because your article contains several false statements:
a) There are plenty reasons to return each day. They differ for each player. Some want to improve their rank, others want to maintain or improve their skills, some want to level up, some want to exclusively play SR, some want to get new gear and modify it to their wishes, some want to try out new weapons etc.
It already has a smart levelling system with drip-feed rewards.
b) 'Right now, the only real reason to play is purely for fun'
You couldn't be more wrong! I already mentioned the reasons in a).
c) Levelling doesn't take an insane amount of time and each level unlock offers you a snail. Which you would know if you had played the game long enough. But since you only know about the weapon unlocks, it's obvious that you haven't even played it till level30, where the weapons stop and the snails begin.
d) You're focussing way too much on levelling anyway. Ranks are far more important. Going higher up the rank ladder is the ultimate reason to play Splatoon.
e) 'the other two slots are selected randomly' Wrong again! It's not purely random, each brand has its own probable and improbable sub-ability. But how would you know, you haven't even really spent time with the game or researched it.
f) Yes, there's grinding involved with getting the desired sub abilities, but it's far less time-consuming and arbitrary than you or I thought in the beginning. It gets easier the higher your rank goes, because you get more gold, up to the point where you don't even have to think about it anymore. There are also a couple of 'shortcuts' to grinding, but again, you would know that if you actually had spent enough time with it or googled it.
g) The game already makes you feel like you're making meaningful progression. But for that, you'd actually would have to play it.
h) Every rotation - or rather its map/mode combinations - encourages you to use different weapons, gear and strategy.
i) 'Let clothing be purely cosmetic, and let us just pick the perks in each slot'
That is a terrible idea! How lazy can you be? Or is the game too hard for you? If we could pick the subslots, it would eliminate the challenge. That would take away one reason to play the game regularly. Think before you suggest such nonsense.
j) You can literally see the effects of stacking perks on https://splatoonwiki.org
It's nice for you that you enjoy Paladins and Fortnite so much, but there are actually a lot of people who don't enjoy them that much but rather enjoy Splatoon2 in its current form.
Is it perfect? No, of course not. But every aspect of the game exists for a reason, most if not all mechanics were constantly polished and adjusted from the first game till today. Most of the annoying issues of the first game were fixed with the second game.
TL;DR: All the things you want to change or remove from Splatoon2 are actually things people like about the game.
PS: Please refrain from making such uneducated and nonsensical suggestions that would ruin the whole game. Your post rather resembles and unfounded reddit post than a journalistic article with proper research.
If you really want to participate in the general discussion about improving Splatoon, do some proper research first, but most of all, play the game damn game for a sufficient amount of time, until you've seen and understood everything it has to offer.
Your article painfully reveals that you haven't.
I think it's to Splatoon credit that we're still here, over a year later past launch, discussing it in the same breath as two of the Switch's newest, hottest shooters - one of which of which is currently the biggest game in the world.
Despite owning the game for 12+ months, it seems like for many commentators it's still winning their time over newer, bigger titles.
For practically any other game released around the same period, it's no surprise that major new releases are taking precedence over year-old games. It's not newsworthy that Octopath is being played over Xenoblade or Breath of the Wild, because people are expected to have had their fill of the older titles. But here we are 12 months down the line with Splatoon, pitching it against two of the biggest new releases for the system. And for a lot of people, it seems to still be winning out against the odds.
@shani I'm not going to take the time to respond to comments that are just plain offensive and full of hyperbole. I understand this is the internet, but being on the other side of a computer doesn't excuse behaviour like this.
When you're ready to discuss your feelings about Splatoon 2 in a friendly and adult manner, I'll more than happily explain to you why I disagree with you.
@Iacobus Yeah, X resets, but that's certainly not most of the player base, and it's definitely not the people that need to be subtly coaxed into playing more
"(Oh, the trials and tribulations of a charger main...)"
I feel ya' , man. I miss Japanese players
I haven't gone back to Spla2oon in a long time, but It's not because Paladins is better. In fact I think Splatoon is superior. But Paladins is different, and I think I just needed a change. I actually think Splatoon 2 is one of the best games of this type, and its reward system is just about perfect. Paladins is a very cool game, but honestly I think I'll get tired of it faster than I did with Splatoon 2.
Are we playing the same game?
Mode and map rotations, daily cosmetics in game and in app, salmon run hours, perk upgrading, "MemeVerse", monthly weapons and maps, Splatfest...
Splatoon quietly pioneered premium GaaS hooks, and Splatoon 2 doubled down.
Being more susceptible to the percieved value of free currency in a game with IAP just makes you a sucker. Keep that frontloaded storefront garbage out of premium games.
@FoxyGlen I'm sorry if it came across as offensive, that's certainly not what I intended. It was just meant as constructive criticism for your next article, because this one contained several basic flaws and statements that were outright wrong.
But how is it full of hyperbole? I was just sticking to the facts...
In my book the one key thing to fix is voice chat native style with your whole (4) random team
@FoxyGlen
"Skins don't have to be meaningless – particularly if they show off your time investment like the Fortnite and Paladins skins. I also think it's a fairer system than Splatoon's, which locks the best equipment behind a massive pay/timewall."
Most Fortnite skins are inside the v-buck shop which means that they are bought with microtransactions. This doesn't really show how much time you put into the game. Same can be said about the battle pass since you can actually buy yourself into the higher tiers to unlock the skins by using real money. In Paladins it is the same, most skins are in the RNG chests you buy with crystals and you can also buy levels of the battle pass to unlock everything without any effort. For the matter about the massive pay/timewall. Isn't the exp you require for the battle pass not the same as a timewall?
BTW I have to agree that being able to skip the intro and being able to have the clothes as cosmetics in Splatoon would be a nice addition. XD
"Right now, the only real reason to play is purely for fun".
Maybe I misunderstood, I thought that was the whole pointing of playing games? If its fun and addicting, the game has successfully met its purpose.
"Levelling takes an insane amount of time and doesn't really offer much besides new gun unlocks, and most of those are just the same guns again with different abilities attached to them."
You could say the same for JRPGs. It gets harder and time consuming to to level after half way of a game. Not really main purpose of any game either.
"The items change periodically, which does a great job of tempting you to come back, just in case you miss a cool pair of sneakers or an amazing shirt. The problem is, aside from the first perk slot, the other two slots are selected randomly. You can change them, but only if you grind arbitrarily...."
Grinding isn't really a problem in the game, more so if you are playing in ranked.
@FoxyGlen I think SPlatoon is far more compelling to play than FTNITE and PALADINS - (which have both been downloaded, tried and then promptly deleted form my switch) - yet 1 year on - I am still playing Splatoon daily.
Last week - I went in to a GAME store here in the UK and saw their 'BELONG' gaming area - which was basically full of 12 year olds playing Fortnite - meanwhile - at the Nintendo UKVS event this weekend - I saw players 20-40 playing Splatoon in very dedicated teams. Very very socaiblean nice scene indeed.
I just want Splatoon to just have more multiplayer modes, in and out of Ranked, and to get rid of those stupid Stage Timers, or at least make them only like 35 minutes.
Don't care how late this comment is but I still feel the need to say this. Splatoon 2 is far less grindy than the likes of Paladins.
In paladins you gain far less gold for winning or losing a match. I played a game of TDM to test how much gold I earned - 430. This doesn't seem bad but then you realize many characters cost 60,000 gold with the cheapest being 15,000. Another thing I like to note is that you can't play ranked mode until you own at least 14 champions while you start with 5.
Also champions themselves have to be leveled up to unlock certain talents. Mastery levels 11-12 take up to 800,000 exp.
Experience however isn't that much of a big deal considering how easy it is to obtain and that they're actually boosters for it that can easily earned from the battle pass just by playing.
But gold is a hustle
In Splatoon 2 levels are irrelevant after 30, where you receive all weapons, after that you're just flexing.
Gold is practically thrown at you in Salmon run and unlike Paladins Splatoon 2 actually has gold boosters.
Yes Splatoon 2 could learn from Paladins like having quick voice options, "This way!" and "Ouch" aren't exactly that useful in ranked
But thats all what my rant on what this terrible article had to say. Everything else is pretty much covered in the other comments.
@iLikeUrAttitude If you play Paladins for free, it will take you a fair while to earn characters, but you can pay like £12 for the Battle Pass and it's a LOT faster. Also, most characters are around 15k gold – it's only really a few that are 60k.
You can also pay to get ranked right away by unlocking all characters, and that's still cheaper than Splatoon 2.
Also, it's not a terrible article – you just disagree with it. That's okay. No need to be a jerk about it though.
@FoxyGlen I would prefer not to pay just to make the grinding experience faster, also it kind of takes the fun out of it.
Those of us who don't pay for the battle pass or the founder's pack are left with no coin boosters, and quests that don't reward that well, at most they give 700 coins and once you're done you have to wait a whole day to start your next one. At least exp isn't that hard to get.
I also took the liberty of counting the price of every single champion because I have nothing else better to do. The champions that costed:
60k - 12
30k - 16
15k - 5
So most characters cost 30k but a large amount still cost 60k and that is a lot grinding for the people who don't buy the founder packs or battle pass. Not to mention that you need at least 14 characters to unlock ranked mode.
Splatoon 2 on the other hand is very generous with gold and experience boosters being thrown at you by salmon run and even in the campaign. I do a few rounds of salmon run a day with my friends and I have over 600k coins cause of it, I'm not spending any cause I been preoccupied with paladins and plan to invest even more time into it once gyro controls are added. The weapons are also cheaper by a fair amount the highest prices being around 30k I believe.
Sure if you wanted to get every single weapon that would be expensive but are you honestly going to go out of your way to buy every single weapon when you'll most likely only main a couple? I would only do that if I was done farming gear and didn't need to scrub gear.
You're right. This wasn't a terrible article, I shouldn't have let my feelings conflict with my opinion and make a fool of myself.
I apologize for that, you took a lot of effort to make this article just like I am making this comment and I just insult it.
However I do believe there are some things you got wrong here hence why I posted my thoughts in the comments even if it was in an unprofreshional. I'll try to make my next comment more constructive the next time I read one of your articles.
@iLikeUrAttitude thank you - I really appreciate that! It does hurt when you pour your heart into an article and you get a comment claiming it sucks 😅
Your thoughts have been eye-opening though, and I appreciate them. While I still do think that the levelling is too slow in Splatoon 2 (I know it doesn’t mean anything but it’s still nice to feel like you’re making progress) you’re right in that it is way more generous with the gold.
Having said that, I do think it’s a bit unfair to criticise the devs of Paladins for making gold a bit of a squeeze for free players. You’re right - it does take ages to unlock characters without a Battle Pass, but it’s honestly not that much to either get a Battle Pass or pay to unlock them all. I’d say Battle Pass is the better option, cos it’s a lot cheaper and like you I enjoy a bit of a grind to unlock characters. I quite like having time to dedicate to them too before I unlock a new one.
I just really wish Splatoon had some of this allure! I’m super glad that loads of you guys are finding a reason to come back to it each day, but I’m struggling. I feel like I’ve done everything achievable already and that grinding for the best gear is just inaccessible for me. I’m sure there are plenty of people that feel the same way, and plenty that don’t.
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