maybe i'm just not that good anymore, but i feel like splatoon 3 has been a lot harder to basically win anything these days? in splatoon 2, i was advancing levels so quickly, winning every splat zone match i played, and i wasn't even very far in the game! but now, even with all my experience from its predecessor, i can't seem to win anything in splatoon 3. anyone have any tips or ideas on why this may be happening? or maybe i just lost all my beginners' luck??? T_T
Splatoon is anyone finding splat 3 a lot harder than splat 2?
- Thread starter mouthrat
- Start date
FraudulentDimetrodon
Mae govannen!
Since you said you wanted tips, this might get a bit more Real™ than what you're looking for and it's also ludicrously long (so long that I'm putting it in a spoiler), so if you just wanted to vent/commiserate, feel free to ignore this, haha.
TL;DR (understandable): There's infinite reasons why you or anyone may be finding S3 more difficult. Some are fair, others aren't, and it never feels good to lose constantly and feel discouraged. But regardless of what you want to get out of the game, focusing on things you can control like your mindset and accepting the things you can't control can help take the sting out of losing, even just a little bit. And a better mindset leads to learning and more wins! Not sure if this "helps," (again, I really do hope this doesn't come off as, "Just think positive!") but maybe it'll give you something to think about, and I hope that things get better!
There's infinite reasons why you or anyone may be finding S3 more difficult. There's a larger player base, which widens the skill level range/increases the number of players within any given range. It's easy to blame stuff like the maps being bad (which are admittedly questionable in design and can contribute to matches feeling unbalanced/un-fun) or the matchmaking broken (but let's be honest, the matchmaking in S2 had issues as well), and some of these criticisms have merit.
I'm not sure how long you've played/what rank you are, but since you mentioned having an easier time earlier on in S2, it's possible you had a much higher mechanical skill than players who were also lower ranked, so you could win despite making mistakes in positioning/decision-making, but now that you're in higher ranks, that skill gap is gone. Everyone hits a wall at some point, so maybe it's just your time. You can even think of facing harder opponents that you can't beat as a good thing; it means you've come a long way and that you still have more to learn if you want to.
On that note, I can't give tips since I haven't seen your gameplay, and I don't know what issues you might be having there, but I think that one thing you're having trouble with is your mindset. Losing is discouraging/frustrating, but it's important to not focus too much on the results of any given match. Being worried about results leads to not focusing on your current gameplay and learning in general, which leads to losses, losing leads to a worse mindset, a worse mindset leads to even worse play, and so it repeats and just becomes un-fun. You're losing and you're questioning if you're "good" at the game, but what even is "good," really?
You say that you feel like you "should" be winning ("even with all my experience from its predecessor, i can't seem to win anything in splatoon 3"). But why is that? Saying that you "should" do something adds so much pressure and stress, and it makes you feel worse if you don't live up to expectations that don't have to be there. Say, if you've played 500 hours, and you 1v1 with someone who has played 200 hours, do you think that you "should" win and would it feel worse if you did lose? Some new players learn faster. Some new players have prior experience with shooters/multiplayer games in general. Some players play thousands of hours, but they're still at a lower skill level because they just want to play casually and not worry about improving because that's what they find most fun.
Changing your mindset is easier said than done, of course! I don't want this to come across as, "Just be positive!" Because, yeah, that's not helpful and actually goes against what I'm saying. It's more so that this is something within your control that can be worked on in measurable ways instead of just saying you're "good" or you're "bad," even if the maps are bad, even if the matchmaking is trash, even if you're not looking to be tryhard at the game and work on improving (and that's totally fine! If you want to play casually and maybe just work on not focusing on the results and having fun regardless, that's great too). A good rule of thumb is if you lose 3 matches in a row (i.e. a Series goes completely wrong), you might want to take a short break. Or if you're really feeling frustrated, take a longer break from the game. Or even just play a different mode, or try some new weapons in TW, or play with friends instead of randos.
If you're wanting to try and proactively improve at the game, have you tried reviewing your replays? Replays are great for seeing what things you did well and can continue to do and what things you can work on improving. They're also helpful because it's easy to fall into the trap of blaming your teammates or thinking that your opponents got a cheap splat against you, and seeing your play from the other players' perspectives can contextualize things.
In battle, it's easy to say, "Ugh, my teammate rushed in and died. It's their fault we lost," or, "How did that E-Liter hit that shot?! They can see me from that angle?!" but watching replays with a calm mind can change that to, "Actually, I rushed in earlier and left my teammate in a bad spot where time was running out, and they didn't have much of a choice except to do the same. I should be more patient and wait for my teammate first," or, "Actually, that snipe was super sick. That was a difficult shot, and that E-Liter nailed it." Complimenting the other players and also laughing at your mistakes instead of worrying about being "bad" just helps in general with keeping a positive mindset.
Asking others to review replays is also great! I'd offer to help with that, but I'm pretty new to the game myself (only started playing 2 earlier this year), so I'm not sure that I'd be the best person to ask.
I'm not sure how long you've played/what rank you are, but since you mentioned having an easier time earlier on in S2, it's possible you had a much higher mechanical skill than players who were also lower ranked, so you could win despite making mistakes in positioning/decision-making, but now that you're in higher ranks, that skill gap is gone. Everyone hits a wall at some point, so maybe it's just your time. You can even think of facing harder opponents that you can't beat as a good thing; it means you've come a long way and that you still have more to learn if you want to.
On that note, I can't give tips since I haven't seen your gameplay, and I don't know what issues you might be having there, but I think that one thing you're having trouble with is your mindset. Losing is discouraging/frustrating, but it's important to not focus too much on the results of any given match. Being worried about results leads to not focusing on your current gameplay and learning in general, which leads to losses, losing leads to a worse mindset, a worse mindset leads to even worse play, and so it repeats and just becomes un-fun. You're losing and you're questioning if you're "good" at the game, but what even is "good," really?
You say that you feel like you "should" be winning ("even with all my experience from its predecessor, i can't seem to win anything in splatoon 3"). But why is that? Saying that you "should" do something adds so much pressure and stress, and it makes you feel worse if you don't live up to expectations that don't have to be there. Say, if you've played 500 hours, and you 1v1 with someone who has played 200 hours, do you think that you "should" win and would it feel worse if you did lose? Some new players learn faster. Some new players have prior experience with shooters/multiplayer games in general. Some players play thousands of hours, but they're still at a lower skill level because they just want to play casually and not worry about improving because that's what they find most fun.
Changing your mindset is easier said than done, of course! I don't want this to come across as, "Just be positive!" Because, yeah, that's not helpful and actually goes against what I'm saying. It's more so that this is something within your control that can be worked on in measurable ways instead of just saying you're "good" or you're "bad," even if the maps are bad, even if the matchmaking is trash, even if you're not looking to be tryhard at the game and work on improving (and that's totally fine! If you want to play casually and maybe just work on not focusing on the results and having fun regardless, that's great too). A good rule of thumb is if you lose 3 matches in a row (i.e. a Series goes completely wrong), you might want to take a short break. Or if you're really feeling frustrated, take a longer break from the game. Or even just play a different mode, or try some new weapons in TW, or play with friends instead of randos.
If you're wanting to try and proactively improve at the game, have you tried reviewing your replays? Replays are great for seeing what things you did well and can continue to do and what things you can work on improving. They're also helpful because it's easy to fall into the trap of blaming your teammates or thinking that your opponents got a cheap splat against you, and seeing your play from the other players' perspectives can contextualize things.
In battle, it's easy to say, "Ugh, my teammate rushed in and died. It's their fault we lost," or, "How did that E-Liter hit that shot?! They can see me from that angle?!" but watching replays with a calm mind can change that to, "Actually, I rushed in earlier and left my teammate in a bad spot where time was running out, and they didn't have much of a choice except to do the same. I should be more patient and wait for my teammate first," or, "Actually, that snipe was super sick. That was a difficult shot, and that E-Liter nailed it." Complimenting the other players and also laughing at your mistakes instead of worrying about being "bad" just helps in general with keeping a positive mindset.
Asking others to review replays is also great! I'd offer to help with that, but I'm pretty new to the game myself (only started playing 2 earlier this year), so I'm not sure that I'd be the best person to ask.
TL;DR (understandable): There's infinite reasons why you or anyone may be finding S3 more difficult. Some are fair, others aren't, and it never feels good to lose constantly and feel discouraged. But regardless of what you want to get out of the game, focusing on things you can control like your mindset and accepting the things you can't control can help take the sting out of losing, even just a little bit. And a better mindset leads to learning and more wins! Not sure if this "helps," (again, I really do hope this doesn't come off as, "Just think positive!") but maybe it'll give you something to think about, and I hope that things get better!
Last edited:
wheatsquares33
Junior Member
Oh, I feel you for sure. I only put 55 hours or so into Splat2 and took a 5 year break in between playing it at launch & randomly picking it back up this year, but like I always did pretty good at it? Then when I started playing 3 I would constantly stay in a bad mood because of how often I lost turf war. Like, I'd come out of a session with 2 wins to 11 losses or something lol.
I have kind of gotten that behind me though. Like the person above me says, it does have a lot to do with the mindset. Doing something like playing a ton of matches and looking at your win history for the day when waiting in the lobby just counting your wins vs. losses just makes you get into a worse headspace. I think that feature in general is another reason that it feels like I lose more in 3 than I did in 2, I didn't count my losses in 2, so it was just always moving forward instead of looking back and dwelling on what went wrong.
Also, it took me a bit to find out what weapon worked best for me in this one, I thought I knew what I liked from 2, but that didn't really transfer over to the new game entirely. But once I found out what works best for me, it upped my confidence a lot. Not only was I actually doing better, but when I did lose I could at least understand why and didn't feel like it was for no reason.
I mainly play turf war in 3, have only done anarchy battles a few time (and have surprisingly had better luck with those), so I'm not sure if you find this helpful at all, but I have been in this same place before and have overcome it. Try not to dwell on your losses, play around with different weapons, maybe take a week or two break from the game and then keep plugging on, and I think it'll turn out ok
I have kind of gotten that behind me though. Like the person above me says, it does have a lot to do with the mindset. Doing something like playing a ton of matches and looking at your win history for the day when waiting in the lobby just counting your wins vs. losses just makes you get into a worse headspace. I think that feature in general is another reason that it feels like I lose more in 3 than I did in 2, I didn't count my losses in 2, so it was just always moving forward instead of looking back and dwelling on what went wrong.
Also, it took me a bit to find out what weapon worked best for me in this one, I thought I knew what I liked from 2, but that didn't really transfer over to the new game entirely. But once I found out what works best for me, it upped my confidence a lot. Not only was I actually doing better, but when I did lose I could at least understand why and didn't feel like it was for no reason.
I mainly play turf war in 3, have only done anarchy battles a few time (and have surprisingly had better luck with those), so I'm not sure if you find this helpful at all, but I have been in this same place before and have overcome it. Try not to dwell on your losses, play around with different weapons, maybe take a week or two break from the game and then keep plugging on, and I think it'll turn out ok
AuroraFox
Late-Night Wanderer
I definitely feel the same. In splat 2 I was at least able to win more often, but in splat 3 I hardly win at all. I think that my problem is, in splat 3, I'm not used to the new specials and what worked for me in splat 2 is not working the same for me in splat 3 so I probably need to see what works best for me in splat 3 with the new specials
I mean the single-player campaign is definitely harder for me at least. I never bothered completing that in 2 and probably won't in 3 either. And the matchmaking is pretty much the same that I've noticed, though yeah some weapon/skills combo are pretty off, that was defo better and easier to handle in 2 for sure.
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