To be clear, I HATE Music Park because of a mix of how often it comes up due to the whole room voting for it, and the fact that it really isn't that cool of a stage. It'd be more "ok" if it didn't end up with the whole room voting for it and nearly guaranteeing we'll race it.
Alternatively, I love me some Neo Bowser City, Cloudtop Cruise, Bone-Dry Dunes, Piranha Plant Slide, and Grumble Volcano, but most of the time I'm the only person picking it, so I'll have a 1/12 chance at actually getting them.
@Zach777 Honestly after having played Splatoon enough: No, that is a terrible idea. As far as I am aware, other shooters do use the vote system. At least, CS:GO uses it for example. Now, what happens when the vote comes up, is that certain maps become really popular, while other maps become extremely unpopular. So you'll have to be really lucky to see those unpopular maps.
The same thing happens in Mario Kart 8. I HATE Music Park, and it's a very common pick for nearly the entire room to select and maybe 1 out of 10 times when this happens I'll get my selection. Similar story with Baby Park, I find Baby Park to be very "meh" unenjoyable, but when nearly the entire room voted for it, I had no option but to back out if I didn't want to play it. This continues for so many examples with Mario Kart 8, most of the DLC stages are instant-vote for people to want, while base stages are ignored. I like most of the DLC stages, but I don't want to go to AC then Big Blue followed by Mute City followed by AC followed by Hyrule followed by Big Blue followed by Baby Park followed by AC followed by Mute City, etc. I love the courses, but I want variety, and people voting RARELY provide variety.
I certainly prefer the 2-3 map rotation that Splatoon has every 4hrs. If I am seeing a map I don't care much for in the current rotation too often I can go and play Ranked, which likely will have a map I like to play on. If neither rotation has a map I enjoy, then damn, I'd be being really picky and not enjoying much of the game at all, so I probably shouldn't be playing, lol.
@Cherkov Of course in their initial announcement of it they said it was free, because otherwise people would have been going insane asking Nintendo "Well small orange tyrannosaurus how much is all that going to cost, how much is all this DLC you have planned for the game?!" They had to say that it'd be at no cost, otherwise it'd look as if they were trying to sell it.
@Cherkov Again though, how is that different than Capcom giving Free DLC for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate? Which is content that is already completed, just like Splatoon content.
Nintendo has basically said: We're going to unlock content as players get accustomed to the game. Nogami himself said: "We’ll be adding more stages and weapons as we see how the community matures. We’ll also do something similar with further game modes too."
News reports of it have been the ones really expressing the point of how the content is free. Look at the way Nintendo announced this map being unlocked:
Tumblr: A new stage, Kelp Dome, will be added to Splatoon today at 7 PM PT! Viewed from above, this stage takes the shape of a nearly perfect square. You can either make your way to the center by circling around the perimeter of the dome, or you can take the high road on the grated catwalks to get straight into the action. The boundaries of the dome and the inner, maze-like structure of the facility are covered in ink-resistant glass.
Inkbrush Twitter: The Inkbrush comes to #Splatoon today at 7 PM PT. It's similar to rollers, & comes with Sprinklers and Inkstrikes.
Inkbrush Tumblr: Holy Smokes, Splatfans! The Squid Research Lab just received an anonymous tip that a new weapon called the Inkbrush has been discovered. It’s apparently similar to a paint roller, but a bit quicker to use. It’s not the strongest offensive weapon but it comes with Sprinklers and Inkstrikes to maximize inking. And to think I JUST mastered the art of the N-ZAP ‘85. Oh well, I’ll still be giving the Inkbrush a try when it comes to Inkopolis tonight at 7 PM PT.
@Cherkov Well it's not as if you can get free content to a game without having bought the game in the first place. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's free monthly content updates for example are free content which also happen to already be completed (previously released in Japan), and it's not like you can play them without owning the game. Yes, they have to be downloaded, but they COULD have been included on the cartridge at release if they wanted to do that. Does that make it better or worse? Because it's all content that already exists, just like these updates for Splatoon.
You can't play "Free content" of a game until you've already bought it, so NO content is really "Free content". The focus on news sites mentioning that these content updates are all free is so that there's no ambiguity for people reading it in terms of price tags. There is no price tag, so it's free, if it weren't mentioned then people might ask how much all this stuff costs.
Yes, it's already on the disc, but non-paid on-disc dlc is NOT an evil thing. This is also content that will ALWAYS continue to be free. This isn't an on-disc free unlock to the person who buys the game new and puts in the on-disc dlc unlock code provided, this content will always be available to whoever buys the game.
@akaDv8R This stage, as well as other stages, are currently in the game in the single player campaign where you play vs Octolings. There are slight changes between the campaign and multiplayer maps, but most of that comes down to blocking you out of areas you didn't need to go to in the single player version of the map.
@Zach777 Have to disagree. I love how the content is coming it, and it makes a lot of sense in terms of keeping people interested in the game. Currently maps for example are 2 maps per 4hrs with a total of 6 maps. If we had a total of 20 maps right now at launch it'd take 10 or more rotations to see certain maps again, this'd be every 2 days or so between seeing maps you really enjoy, and 2 days or so between your opportunity to learn and enjoy those maps.
Let's say someone plays between 4pm-8pm every day for 3 days in a row with 20 maps on this system. They see 2 maps from the 2-6pm rotation and 2 maps from the 6-10pm rotation. Let's say they don't see any duplicates, after 3 days they'll have seen 12 maps out of the 20 maps in the game. Takes 5 days of playing the game 4hrs a day with 4 maps per day in this rotation time frame to see all 20 maps available. Meaning to have seen these maps 3 times in rotation, again assuming no duplicates too many times, it'd be 2 weeks to even see every map in a rotation 3 times.
Now yes, plenty of us are plenty far more than 4hrs a day and more than 1 or 2 rotations per day, but there are also plenty of people who aren't.
Eventually we'll have X amount of maps, and it'll be 3 maps per 4hr rotation. That 3rd slot isn't even unlocked yet in rotations because it allows people to learn the maps, however you can see in all spots where it shows current stages that there's space for a 3rd stage, and I'm guessing we'll see 3 maps per rotation when we reach around 12 maps total.
The dripping of content that we already own is meant to encourage people owning and playing the game as it develops rather than selling it back as used and having people buy used copies rather than new copies. Absolutely prefer this over some system that'd make you unable to sell back the game and allow others to buy as used. The side effect is as I mentioned above about allowing people to learn the maps and develop strategies on those maps, as we get much more play time on released maps than we would if we had a bunch of maps available since the start of release.
Comments 6
Re: Get Messy in Splatoon's Latest Free Stage, Kelp Dome
To be clear, I HATE Music Park because of a mix of how often it comes up due to the whole room voting for it, and the fact that it really isn't that cool of a stage. It'd be more "ok" if it didn't end up with the whole room voting for it and nearly guaranteeing we'll race it.
Alternatively, I love me some Neo Bowser City, Cloudtop Cruise, Bone-Dry Dunes, Piranha Plant Slide, and Grumble Volcano, but most of the time I'm the only person picking it, so I'll have a 1/12 chance at actually getting them.
Re: Get Messy in Splatoon's Latest Free Stage, Kelp Dome
@Zach777 Honestly after having played Splatoon enough: No, that is a terrible idea. As far as I am aware, other shooters do use the vote system. At least, CS:GO uses it for example. Now, what happens when the vote comes up, is that certain maps become really popular, while other maps become extremely unpopular. So you'll have to be really lucky to see those unpopular maps.
The same thing happens in Mario Kart 8. I HATE Music Park, and it's a very common pick for nearly the entire room to select and maybe 1 out of 10 times when this happens I'll get my selection. Similar story with Baby Park, I find Baby Park to be very "meh" unenjoyable, but when nearly the entire room voted for it, I had no option but to back out if I didn't want to play it. This continues for so many examples with Mario Kart 8, most of the DLC stages are instant-vote for people to want, while base stages are ignored. I like most of the DLC stages, but I don't want to go to AC then Big Blue followed by Mute City followed by AC followed by Hyrule followed by Big Blue followed by Baby Park followed by AC followed by Mute City, etc. I love the courses, but I want variety, and people voting RARELY provide variety.
I certainly prefer the 2-3 map rotation that Splatoon has every 4hrs. If I am seeing a map I don't care much for in the current rotation too often I can go and play Ranked, which likely will have a map I like to play on. If neither rotation has a map I enjoy, then damn, I'd be being really picky and not enjoying much of the game at all, so I probably shouldn't be playing, lol.
Re: Get Messy in Splatoon's Latest Free Stage, Kelp Dome
@Cherkov Of course in their initial announcement of it they said it was free, because otherwise people would have been going insane asking Nintendo "Well small orange tyrannosaurus how much is all that going to cost, how much is all this DLC you have planned for the game?!" They had to say that it'd be at no cost, otherwise it'd look as if they were trying to sell it.
Re: Get Messy in Splatoon's Latest Free Stage, Kelp Dome
@Cherkov Again though, how is that different than Capcom giving Free DLC for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate? Which is content that is already completed, just like Splatoon content.
Nintendo has basically said: We're going to unlock content as players get accustomed to the game. Nogami himself said: "We’ll be adding more stages and weapons as we see how the community matures. We’ll also do something similar with further game modes too."
News reports of it have been the ones really expressing the point of how the content is free. Look at the way Nintendo announced this map being unlocked:
Twitter: Kelp Dome is coming to #Splatoon tonight at 7 PM PT! Learn more: http://splatoonus.tumblr.com
Tumblr: A new stage, Kelp Dome, will be added to Splatoon today at 7 PM PT! Viewed from above, this stage takes the shape of a nearly perfect square. You can either make your way to the center by circling around the perimeter of the dome, or you can take the high road on the grated catwalks to get straight into the action. The boundaries of the dome and the inner, maze-like structure of the facility are covered in ink-resistant glass.
Inkbrush Twitter: The Inkbrush comes to #Splatoon today at 7 PM PT. It's similar to rollers, & comes with Sprinklers and Inkstrikes.
Inkbrush Tumblr: Holy Smokes, Splatfans! The Squid Research Lab just received an anonymous tip that a new weapon called the Inkbrush has been discovered. It’s apparently similar to a paint roller, but a bit quicker to use. It’s not the strongest offensive weapon but it comes with Sprinklers and Inkstrikes to maximize inking.
And to think I JUST mastered the art of the N-ZAP ‘85. Oh well, I’ll still be giving the Inkbrush a try when it comes to Inkopolis tonight at 7 PM PT.
Re: Get Messy in Splatoon's Latest Free Stage, Kelp Dome, Tomorrow
@Cherkov Well it's not as if you can get free content to a game without having bought the game in the first place. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's free monthly content updates for example are free content which also happen to already be completed (previously released in Japan), and it's not like you can play them without owning the game. Yes, they have to be downloaded, but they COULD have been included on the cartridge at release if they wanted to do that. Does that make it better or worse? Because it's all content that already exists, just like these updates for Splatoon.
You can't play "Free content" of a game until you've already bought it, so NO content is really "Free content". The focus on news sites mentioning that these content updates are all free is so that there's no ambiguity for people reading it in terms of price tags. There is no price tag, so it's free, if it weren't mentioned then people might ask how much all this stuff costs.
Yes, it's already on the disc, but non-paid on-disc dlc is NOT an evil thing. This is also content that will ALWAYS continue to be free. This isn't an on-disc free unlock to the person who buys the game new and puts in the on-disc dlc unlock code provided, this content will always be available to whoever buys the game.
@akaDv8R This stage, as well as other stages, are currently in the game in the single player campaign where you play vs Octolings. There are slight changes between the campaign and multiplayer maps, but most of that comes down to blocking you out of areas you didn't need to go to in the single player version of the map.
Re: Get Messy in Splatoon's Latest Free Stage, Kelp Dome, Tomorrow
@Zach777 Have to disagree. I love how the content is coming it, and it makes a lot of sense in terms of keeping people interested in the game. Currently maps for example are 2 maps per 4hrs with a total of 6 maps. If we had a total of 20 maps right now at launch it'd take 10 or more rotations to see certain maps again, this'd be every 2 days or so between seeing maps you really enjoy, and 2 days or so between your opportunity to learn and enjoy those maps.
Let's say someone plays between 4pm-8pm every day for 3 days in a row with 20 maps on this system. They see 2 maps from the 2-6pm rotation and 2 maps from the 6-10pm rotation. Let's say they don't see any duplicates, after 3 days they'll have seen 12 maps out of the 20 maps in the game. Takes 5 days of playing the game 4hrs a day with 4 maps per day in this rotation time frame to see all 20 maps available. Meaning to have seen these maps 3 times in rotation, again assuming no duplicates too many times, it'd be 2 weeks to even see every map in a rotation 3 times.
Now yes, plenty of us are plenty far more than 4hrs a day and more than 1 or 2 rotations per day, but there are also plenty of people who aren't.
Eventually we'll have X amount of maps, and it'll be 3 maps per 4hr rotation. That 3rd slot isn't even unlocked yet in rotations because it allows people to learn the maps, however you can see in all spots where it shows current stages that there's space for a 3rd stage, and I'm guessing we'll see 3 maps per rotation when we reach around 12 maps total.
The dripping of content that we already own is meant to encourage people owning and playing the game as it develops rather than selling it back as used and having people buy used copies rather than new copies. Absolutely prefer this over some system that'd make you unable to sell back the game and allow others to buy as used. The side effect is as I mentioned above about allowing people to learn the maps and develop strategies on those maps, as we get much more play time on released maps than we would if we had a bunch of maps available since the start of release.