I wasn’t expecting to write an entry about this, but I received a question on Ask.fm asking and due to their character limit, I couldn’t fit it all so…
But yes, to answer the question… I’m sadly not enjoying the update as much as I wish I was :( I had gotten excited for new gear, but yet again there was only one new dress (and besides that, I honestly only like one other top and not as much as the dress) and yet again, Ninja Squid continues to just not be on anything I really like ;~;
Similarly, I only like one or two new hats–but neither more than the hairpin which also just… god, if we could just pick our abilities or something I’d already be enjoying the update so much more.
I was excited about the idea of the level increase with rewards for Judd, but the fact that it’s now done like Splatfest has made it awful. I have mixed feelings on how Splatfest title leveling works, but felt it was okay for the event as it’s not that much you need to earn. For leveling though, that isn’t the case. This method essentially means if you don’t care enough, you can earn your 400 points and just stop bothering. Sure, you can an extra 3 points if you win, but that is nothing compared to how you could get 1,000+ points before even adding on a bonus 300 for winning. There’s nothing that really encourages you to try your best. That doesn’t mean I don’t plan to try my best, but I don’t feel as motivated anymore. Even if I had a bad team, if I still did well I could be proud. Now? I lose more than half of the points I could have had to go towards leveling. That’s absolutely awful. Even Ranked experience had gone down a lot because of it. But the fact that you can earn more just by playing the Ranked mode and lasting (I know not all games last the full time, but I feel more do than though) even if you lose makes me feel that Ranked is even more encouraged and that makes me sad as it’s easily more kill-encouraged in that mode too.
I do like the idea of Private Matches, but since you can’t earn experience through them for your items or level, I don’t see myself using it much. I’d rather just gamble with the play with friends mode and hope we all get in eventually. I think it’d be fun to use later, but right now, I just don’t see the point beyond testing things out.
Squad Battles is something I don’t think I will ever use. I feel that’s essentially forced microphone mode and ignoring that for various reasons I don’t talk much–let alone on a microphone, I have a hard time talking about what I am playing. I’m just not good at it. It’s just not a mode for me. And as I can only use one weapon well and only when not having to aim it, I’m as useless as can be so I don’t want to waste a slot on someone’s Squad and be the reason for the loss.
As for Urchin Underpass, it’s not that I dislike it… I do like it, but I also really liked the original Urchin Underpass and I feel this is so different, it could’ve been its own level option. The original Urchin Underpass is still in single player and the local mode (which sadly still gets no updates :/ I’m still so upset about everything involving local play in this game).
Splatfest starts tonight though (at midnight but) so I’ll still be playing, but I just feel so discouraged with all of it. I’m not entirely sure why these changes were made, but I’d be lying if I said I enjoyed them.
As for the highlights in the update for me:
-Super happy we got the Squid Girl Outfit and the Sushi Chef outfits. It does seem like there won’t be any outfit exclusives per region (beyond Splatfests which don’t stick around) and that’s just really awesome.
-The Squid Girl blue/new light blue color is amazing. I really want a nice pastel pink color to go with it. The pastel green and this shade are now tied for 3rd in my top three favorite colors (First is the Pink that goes up against the turquoise, second is the Milk Tea color in Japan & the turquoise that goes up against the pink)
-The new music is awesome. I especially really like “Shellfie” (even if I wish it’s name was better :P)
I really hope they will continue to add more colors. That’s definitely something I’d like to see more often beyond just weapon/map updates. I do wish we could permanently select a color match-up though that would show up only on the user’s end if they have it selected.