Improvement-Ideas for Splatoon 2 (Opinion Alert!!!)
This game is amazing, just like the first.
And it definitely deserves all the praise and love it gets.
However, I still believe this game has plenty of problems, that could be improved on.
Because as fun as it can be, it can just as well be frustrating and morale crushing...
Depending on what people you end up playing with and against...
So first up, here is my list of problems I have with the game.
Problems with Regular Mode (Turf War)
Since Turf Wars is described as a casual mode, that anyone can pick up and play, it should also be the easiest to get into.
And in a way it is, with an objective that is very easy to grasp. Just paint as much as you can and you win...
But unfortunately, it's not as simple as that...
- Turf Wars IMO is the hardest mode of them all!
That may sound surprising, but in my experience, I had by far the hardest time with Turf Wars.
While I had a much easier and fairer time with Ranked.
Why is that?
Well the biggest reason is that Ranked Modes focus on one of two areas on the map (Clam Blitz kinda being an exception, with clams being scattered everywhere).
But Turf Wars in universal: The entire map is the objective, rather than a few select parts of it.
You have to stay vigilant at all times, since the opposition can be literally anywhere.
With Ranked you can make a pretty good guess where the opposition is headed. But not in Turf Wars...
Secondly, the tides can turn at the last minute, even if your team was ahead the entire time.
(And most of the time, that's exactly what happens, at least in my experience)
And thirdly, kills are effective. Perhaps even too effective.
Giving players with superior skills an undeniable edge over beginners and other not quite as skilled players...
And that's why a lot of people go for kills and try to completely lock the other team down.
Which is incredibly infuriating when you're at the receiving end of it.
And the maps don't really offer much in terms of sneaking around. Which sucks...
So if you're up against godlike players and they completely lock you down, you might as well throw the game...
It's not fun, believe me...
- Matchmaking is random
What Nintendo (and a whole lot of other people) sees as a good thing, ends up being a dealbreaker for me and many other people...
And it's easily my biggest gripe with this mode.
What players you're matched with and against, is all just a roll of the dice.
Aka completely luck-based.
And as such, winning or even your team just doing well enough, become mostly luck-based as well.
And if you're having real bad luck (like yours truly), you lose most of the time and question your life choices...
Either because the matchmaking decided to match you with teammates that are far less skilled than you or you are straight thrown into arctic water, by matching you against players that are so far above your skill level, that you stand no chance against...
Sometimes even the two combined...
It's really aggravating, when the dice roll results are so unbalanced.
- Turf Wars is a little too winning-oriented
I still remember the days of early Splatoon 1, where you simply had to get as many Turf Points as possible, to do well.
Losing didn't matter, since winning only net you 300 extra points back then. The bulk of the points (and thus your money and EXP) came from your Turf Score.
And I believe this is how Turf Wars worked best and it truly was a casual mode, where losing really didn't matter all that much.
Unfortunately, with the update that added the New Level Up System post level 20 and now with the adoption of the same system in Splatoon 2, that is a thing of the past.
You only need to reach 500 Turf Points to get the most points possible from the Turf Score. And you get the most EXP points for winning.
And I believe that is why Turf Wars became so frustrating to play.
After that update, you could see nothing but E-Liters in Splatoon 1 Turf Wars. And since E-liters were completely broken in that game, Turf Wars became impossible to play and enjoy, if you used any other weapon than that.
And even in Splatoon 2, people became really aggressive and focus mostly on kills and base invading. Since that wins the game.
And I am pretty sure, if Nintendo wouldn't have changed the Level Up System like that and stuck with the original all the way, people wouldn't be so tryhard in that mode.
- Toxicity
I made a whole Tumblr-Post about it once.
Link: https://paragon-yoshi.tumblr.com/post/175961272304/toxicity-in-splatfest-revised
But to summarize:
I believe Marina and Pearl act way too toxic during Splatfests (at least in the localization, since in the original japanese version they apparently don't act nearly as obnoxious).
And it mirrors the toxicity coming from the players, as far as I have seen.
Not to mention it makes the Splatfest a much more serious deal, than it needs to be...
- Same problems as normal Turf Wars
All the same problems from normal Turf Wars can be found here.
You may think matchmaking would be the only exception, with the "Splatfest Power" system.
Though even with it, it seemed just as random, which is a shame...
Because the concept of Splatfest Power definitely goes into the right direction.
- Not available at all times.<
Okay, this is something nearly everyone complains about.
So enough said here...
- Being unable to use your normal clothes
I HATE the working attire that Salmon Run forces on you.
It's UGLY! I'd much rather use my preferred clothes from normal PvP.
- The game doesn't let you play with more or less than 8 players in a match
Looking at other online shooters, pretty much all of them let you play with different amounts of players, rather than forcing a set number on you.
(Let alone being able to enter and exit mid-game)
I get that Nintendo wants to be original and likes to do things their own way.
But in this case, I really wish they would've done it the same way other online shooters did.
I believe we wouldn't be stuck in "Waiting Room Hell" nearly as much, if the game was more flexible with the number of people that can play at a time...
- Abilities being locked to Clothes
Clothes should be cosmetics first, period!
And I don't believe it was a good idea to lock Abilities behind clothes.
And it very often creates a dilemma to me.
Since the clothes I really like, often have abilities I have no use for.
While clothes with good abilities for me, often look ugly AF.
So yeah, enough said here...
How Splatoon 2 could be improved
Let's tackle the small fry first...
Improving Cosmetics and Abilities
- Separate Clothing and Abilities
I'd make Clothing completely cosmetic, while Abilities have their own slot-system.
It could work the very same way as they work now, just without the clothes.
And instead of buying clothes for abilities, you would buy...
Let's say, Badges or something like that.
- Add more Clothing categories
Like this:
- Head (Hats, Caps, Headbands, Bandanas...)
- Face (Glasses, Masks, Facepaint...)
- Body (Shirts, Coats, Sweaters, Jackets...)
- Wrists (Bracelets, Watches, Sweatbands...)
- Hands (Gloves)
- Legs (Pants, Dresses, Skirts...)
- Feet (Shoes, Boots, Sandals...)
- Accessories (Necklaces, Rings, Vests, Wigs...)
Obviously that would mean, for example, Gloves are seperate from Body Gear now.
As well as allowing you to wear Hats and Glasses at the same time.
- Adding new customization options for your Inkling/Octoling
Adding the following options would really perfect the character creation in my eyes:
- Face (not just the eyes)
- Voice
- Height
- Body Type (Skinny, Fat, Muscular, etc.)
So people would be able to re-create their Inksona's much more accurately in-game... :3
- Unlockables: Normal PvP Clothes for Salmon Run and Salmon Run Work Clothes for PvP
Unlock the Work Clothes as equippable cosmetics for other modes.
And at the same time, from the moment you unlock them, you will always play Salmon Run with the clothes you have equipped.
If you want your Work Clothes back, simply equip them to play the old-fashioned way.
Both unlock after you reach a certain Rank in Salmon Run!
- Make Salmon Run playable online, even when main shifts are closed.
The logic behind this is: When Grizzco is closed, Inklings and Octolings can still work on their own and sell the Eggs they collect.
This'd be a great way to make Salmon Run playable at all times, even when Grizzco is not available.
However, it'd play a little differently...
- You'd be able to freely pick your weapon. And it wouldn't change in-between waves.
- Difficulty is still dependant on your rank. But it won't change. If you win, it won't increase. If you lose, it won't go down.
- Players vote for stages and the game then randomly picks the stage from the voted options (Like Mario Kart 8 online picks tracks)
- You only get cash at the end. Nothing else!
- Since Mr. Grizz isn't around when you work on your own, there'll be no one to order you around or give you advice!
So basicly, when Grizzco is open (which right now is the only time you can play Salmon run) it'd play as usual.
But when Grizzco is closed, the above mentioned changes are in effect, until they open again.
- Make Ranked Mode available from the start
Aka, no longer having to unlock Ranked by reaching level 10.
You can jump straight into competitive, if you want.
This actually goes hand in hand with the more drastic changes I suggest, further down.
- Ability to play with more or less than 8 players
AT THE VERY LEAST FOR REGULAR MATCHES!
Like I said, being able to play with different amounts of players would greatly cut the time we spend waiting for a lobby to fill up.
It works well for all other online games of this kind. So why shouldn't it in Splatoon as well?
And the ability to enter a match mid-battle, could easily fix uneven teams in a match.
Plus, if teams are uneven, I'd like to have some "handicap effect" in place, giving the outnumbered team a boost in some way, until it's even again.
The greater the difference in numbers between teams, the higher the boost.
- Allow players to create "Custom Lobbies" with their own rules
Essentially this would revise the current "Private Battle", give it more options to customize your game, as well as the choice to either make it public or friends only.
Obviously you could join any open lobby from a list of available lobbies, if you want to join a custom game, rather than create one.
The host of the lobby would set the rules. Like choosing maps and Game Mode.
In this regard it'd work exactly like Private Battle does now.
But it'd offer far more options for the host to customize their game:
- Time Limit (so you can play Turf Wars for longer or less than 3 minutes of you want. Same with Ranked and their 5 minutes)
- Maximum Number of Players
- Respawn Time
- Ink Capacity
- Damage/Life
- Abilities On/Off
- Items On/Off
etc.
This would allow for some much needed diversity, allowing you to play the familiar modes in very different ways...
Lastly, I'd still allow EXP and Money to be obtained from this (at least if it's a public lobby).
One possible concern some of you might have, is that if the Time Limit is ridiculously high (like 30 minutes for example), you'd have to sit through the whole thing.
Well no, you wouldn't. Since other online games of this nature allow you to enter and exit mid-game.
So that very same option would allow you to leave at any time.
Of course, the downside is that you won't receive any EXP or Money, if you don't play the match until the end.
And now we're getting to the changes for Regular Mode (and Splatfests)
As far as I can see, there are two ways to improve it.
One very simple way and one drastic way, that changes Regular Mode in some significant ways...
The simple way is:
- Make "Splatfest Power" a feature for normal Turf Wars
This would be the easiest way to fix the issue of unbalanced match-up's in Turf Wars.
Since, if it works as intended, there'd at least be some sort of balance between players and their skills.
It wouldn't be perfect, but IMO it's better than nothing.
But like I said, there is another, more drastic way to go about it.
And I am sure some people will lose their mind and want to see me on a chopping block for coming up with these ideas.
(If there's anything I learned, it's that people don't like big changes. Especially if it's a game changer!)
I'll be blunt: I believe Splatoon would be better, and appeal to much more people, if it were half Party-Game and half Competitive Game!
The key to this lies in the "Regular/Ranked Split"
Make "Regular" the "Party Side" of Splatoon, for casual players who want to have good old fun.
While "Ranked" would be the fully "Competitive Side" of Splatoon, where you need to have superior skills to come out on top.
While the, above mentioned, "Custom Lobby" feature would allow players to customize their games, and give their matches the best of both worlds maybe.
Or turn their games into something different...
If you wonder why I would do it like this...
Well, have a look at this informative reddit post, that talks about Party Games and Competitive Games.
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/281eja/why_smash_is_a_party_game_and_what_the_melee/
It's about Smash Bros (and quite a lengthy read), but a lot of the points there should apply to any game!
And you might understand why I'd vouch for the following changes...
- Add items to Regular!
Let me stress this one more time: REGULAR MODE ONLY! ITEMS WOULD NOT BE IN ANY RANKED MODES!!!
This system isn't even new, since the Battle Dojo from the first game, actually had items!
Items from Single Player and Octo Expansion (adjusted for Multiplayer) would appear here.
And they would appear all over the stage.
It'd have items such as "Battle Armor", along with the ability to stack armors for more durability...
"Ink Tanks" that refill your ink, as well as temporarily increase your Ink Capacity...
"Canned Subs" to swap out your Sub Weapons, until you get splatted...
"Canned Specials" giving you instant access to the depicted Special Weapon...
The "Full Power Up" from the first game's Battle Dojo, increasing all of your stats for a short time...
On top of that, I could imagine some specials from the previous game returning in item-form.
And maybe some original items. Such as temporary upgrades like "Spread Shot", "Rebound Shots" or "Homing Shots".
Items would mostly appear randomly.
But when a team is at a disadvantage or player imbalances are detected, items would spawn more closely to the players/teams at a disadvantage.
Again, I stress: ONLY REGULAR MODES WOULD HAVE ITEMS!
Ranked on the other hand wouldn't have them.
So if you loathe items and random chance in games, just play Ranked and be happy.
Or make your own "Custom Lobby" and turn them off!
And since I mentioned the Battle Dojo from the first game so many times...
- Revise Battle Dojo from the first game and make it a new Regular mode
I really believe "Balloon Battle" from the first game would make a really good new Regular mode.
Just like it was in the first game, the objective would be to pop as many balloons as possible and rack up points.
You lose points if you get splatted and whoever has the most points, wins!
But of course, there'd be some changes:
- Obviously, it'd be a team mode now.
So now the points of every team member are added up for the Team Score.
And the team with the higher Team Score wins.
If there's a draw, there'd be overtime, until one team takes the lead.
- Add balloons with multiple colors that are worth more points
The normal balloons would earn you 1 point for every one you pop.
However, this game would also have balloons with multiple colors, which are worth more points.
Of course, the more points a balloon is worth, the less often it appears.
- Balloons would spawn more frequently and in multiple areas all over the map
If you are one of the few people, who ever got to play the Battle Dojo in the first game, I think you might remember how it works.
There is an area marked on the map and balloons will spawn there after some time.
But in this mode, the balloons would spawn much faster, instead of having to wait for like 10 to 20 seconds for them to spawn.
Also, balloons would also now appear in multiple areas all over the map, instead of just one area.
And also in different intervals. So it'd be much more chaotic now.
Turf Wars is all alone in the Regular mode.
It's time to add a new Regular mode for once, instead of giving all the new modes to Ranked only.
Of course, since it would be a new Regular mode, it'd also have items.
- Splatfest Ranking and Scoring
The way you'd rank up and thus earn Sea Snails, I'd do a little differently.
Again, I think it is too winning-oriented.
Instead, while winning is one way to earn points for your title, I'd add more things that can earn you points.
Like helping out a teammate, splatting enemies that fire at your teammate, assisting in a splat, Booyahing together in the first 10 seconds of a match.
These things would net you more points towards your title.
So ultimately it's not so much about winning during Splatfest, as it is about sticking together and working as a team.
Performing teamwork actions would actually reward you more, than just winning the match.
And it'd perfectly work with the team-mentality of Splatfest.
An "Alternate Way" to handle this would be to ditch the Splatfest leveling altogether and instead collect "Splatfest Tokens".
You earn Splatfest Tokens after every match, depending on how much turf you inked, whether or not your team won and by performing various teamwork actions during the game, like the aforementioned examples.
Again, you would get the most rewards out of working well as a team and not for winning.
You could spend Splatfest Tokens at a vending machine for Sea Snails, Ability Chunks, unique gear or Food/Drink Tickets (which you could freely pick even).
You know funfair's in real life, where you can win tokens and exchange them for various rewards?
Yep, that was my main inspiration for this alternate idea for Splatfests.
And it's very fitting in my eyes. ;)
And that's it!
That's all the ideas I have that could really make Splatoon 2 better.
Or maybe even a possible sequel.
If you want a polite discussion, I'm all for it.
But I won't be talking with people that obviously want to troll, completely trash me for my ideas or performing any inconsiderate, disrespectful or hostile action against me.
That's all.
See you.
