{"id":15815,"date":"2022-09-22T12:23:27","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T03:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=15815"},"modified":"2022-10-17T09:43:39","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T00:43:39","slug":"20220922-15815","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/","title":{"rendered":"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br>It\u2019s been about two weeks since the release of <em><strong>Splatoon 3<\/strong><\/em> and players seem to be getting their bearings and jumping into Anarchy Battles. However, there have been some changes from the previous title as to how Rank, the indicator of a player\u2019s skill level, works with players\u2019 Ranks not dropping even if they lose. As for how fans feel about the change, reactions seem mixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Splatoon 3 - Splatfest Announcement \u2013 Nintendo Switch\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P-xkS-csYhE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s start by reviewing how Rank works in <em>Splatoon 3<\/em>. The system itself is for calculating the skill level of players. Players earn Rank Points based on their performance in Anarchy Battles (previously called Ranked Battles), and after accumulating a set amount, they can attempt Promotion Battles. Getting a set number of wins in these matches will raise the player\u2019s Rank. As of this writing, there are 10 levels between C- and S, with Ranks continuing from S+1, S+2, all the way to S+50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the big change from <em>Splatoon 2<\/em> is that once your Rank increases a level, it doesn\u2019t drop back down. In the previous game, if you weren\u2019t securing good results, your Rank would decrease. Even if you did temporarily get promoted, your Rank would go up and down as you played, hovering around the whereabouts of your actual skill level. This made it difficult for a player\u2019s level and their Rank to diverge too much making it a good indicator for skill level. For players looking to improve, a Rank in the S+ range or the top-level X Rank became something to aspire to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With <em>Splatoon 3<\/em>, this was changed so that while the points received still correlate to performance, your rank doesn\u2019t decrease, even if you lose an Anarchy Battle. Players of all skill levels have been giving their thoughts on the change and we want to take a look at a small portion of them here. It\u2019s also important to keep in mind that there are a lot of opinions floating around both for and against the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To many <em>Splatoon 2 <\/em>players, the change seems to be seen as reducing Rank to nothing more than a formality. These players are likely of the view that even bad players can get their Rank up if they play long enough. However, there are still Promotion Battles and players won\u2019t accumulate points if they don\u2019t maintain a certain win percentage, so saying someone could lose their way to S+ might be extreme. There do appear to be players that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/warabareru\/status\/1569889725724655620?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">feel the current system doesn\u2019t reflect a player\u2019s skill<\/a> level the way the previous game did, though.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-header.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15820\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-header.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-header-600x338.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-header-380x214.jpeg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-header-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-header-150x84.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-header-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-header-696x392.jpeg 696w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-header-1068x601.jpeg 1068w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-header-747x420.jpeg 747w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>In addition to Rank, an individual power level was also used for matching players in <em>Splatoon 2<\/em>. You could check your opponent\u2019s and your team\u2019s average power level and it served as a separate indicator of skill besides Rank. However, these kinds of internal values like power level and even an opponent\u2019s Rank aren\u2019t made visible to the player in <em>Splatoon 3<\/em>. With Rank being seen as a formality and power levels not being displayed, some players have become suspicious and are concerned players at different skill levels are being matched together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, X Rank hasn\u2019t been implemented yet which is leading to distrust in the match making system. The X Rank was added to <em>Splatoon 2<\/em> 9 months after the game released and let top-level players battle it out in X Battles. At this level, players\u2019 skill levels are shown as numerical values instead of a Rank and served as a way to rate players who grew beyond the framework of the standard ranking system. However, X Battles are currently planned for a later update which means players who held the X Rank in the previous game are currently playing in the S+ tier. This could be leading to clear differences in skill level between players getting matched together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Series newcomers and casual fans have also been voicing their opinions on the system. Some players who have found themselves at high ranks that don\u2019t match their skill are worried about dragging down their teammates. The current system of not dropping a player\u2019s Rank seems to be adding extra pressure on players. On Twitter, we can see players celebrating their Ranks <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YU783389033\/status\/1571776209834606592\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">while humbly adding<\/a> that they hope to actually develop their skills to that level. Even among casual players, there seems to be a strong sense that Rank doesn\u2019t actually reflect one\u2019s skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, there are also players that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Bloblobber_bot\/status\/1572065355425804288\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">welcome the change<\/a>. For beginners that still have a lot to learn, they can play while still enjoying a sense of accomplishment. For those who played the previous titles, they now don\u2019t have to worry about their meter shattering as they play. As for what a game with competitive elements should prioritize? Well, that\u2019s basically the heart of the discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In previous games, Rank was used to show a player\u2019s actual skill level and served as goalposts for players to shoot for. While the new system retains the same name of \u201cRank,\u201d it invites confusion as players of different experience levels can be matched together. <em>Splatoon 3<\/em> sold 3.45 million units in Japan alone during its first three days on the market, and with the upcoming Splatfest on September 23, it\u2019s about to get even more lively. The development team is likely looking to make the game enjoyable for as many players as possible which includes listening to player feedback regarding Rank.<br><br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:12px\"><em>Written by. Nick Mosier based on the <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/articles\/newsjp\/20220921-220064\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">original Japanese article<\/a> (original article&#8217;s publication date: 2022-09-21 16:11<\/em> <em>JST)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike. In the previous game, if you weren\u2019t securing good results, your Rank would decrease. In Splatoon 3, however, your rank doesn&#8217;t decrease even if you continue to lose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":15819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33,68],"class_list":["post-15815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nintendo","tag-splatoon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike. In the previous game, if you weren\u2019t securing good results, your Rank would decrease. In Splatoon 3, however, your rank doesn&#039;t decrease even if you continue to lose.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike. In the previous game, if you weren\u2019t securing good results, your Rank would decrease. In Splatoon 3, however, your rank doesn&#039;t decrease even if you continue to lose.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-22T03:23:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-17T00:43:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-001.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aya Furukawa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Aya Furukawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike. In the previous game, if you weren\u2019t securing good results, your Rank would decrease. In Splatoon 3, however, your rank doesn't decrease even if you continue to lose.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike. In the previous game, if you weren\u2019t securing good results, your Rank would decrease. In Splatoon 3, however, your rank doesn't decrease even if you continue to lose.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2022-09-22T03:23:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-10-17T00:43:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-001.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Aya Furukawa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Aya Furukawa","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/"},"author":{"name":"Aya Furukawa","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4680bcc794e84146413fda2a1ed88cae"},"headline":"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike","datePublished":"2022-09-22T03:23:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-17T00:43:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/"},"wordCount":951,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-001.jpeg","keywords":["Nintendo","Splatoon"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/","name":"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-001.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-09-22T03:23:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-17T00:43:39+00:00","description":"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike. In the previous game, if you weren\u2019t securing good results, your Rank would decrease. In Splatoon 3, however, your rank doesn't decrease even if you continue to lose.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-001.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220921-220064-001.jpeg","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220922-15815\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Splatoon 3\u2019s new ranking system sparks a debate among longtime fans and newcomers alike"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4680bcc794e84146413fda2a1ed88cae","name":"Aya Furukawa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/ios__________-1-150x150-1-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/ios__________-1-150x150-1-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/ios__________-1-150x150-1-100x100.jpg","caption":"Aya Furukawa"},"description":"JP AUTOMATON writer","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/aya-furukawa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15815"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16230,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15815\/revisions\/16230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}