Why X Rank in Splatoon 3 is AWFUL 

PLEASE feel free to start conversations in the comments about if you agree or not, im curious to see some different opinions than mine. also i’d like to make sure everyone understands this: i did NOT make this video to say i am better than everyone nor am i calling out individual players. if i used you as an example, it was nothing personal, nor do i dislike you. tbh, i don’t typically read or remember names. but also, i am not better than everyone. i still have tons to learn on my comp journey, so please don’t think that’s what this video is trying to say. hope you enjoy it! also SUBSCRIBE im close to 10k!!!

One of the weirdest things about matchmaking is the fact that explo and RANGE BLASTER can be matched as “similar weapons”

The matchmaking isn't terrible in theory (could use some tweaks however), but the low player count in tentatek just makes it abysmal.

My anger is my worst enemy, when it comes to this game especially and its not even just X-rank, its also series and open as well, cause once that anger switch in my brain flips, I perform so much worse in general, but that's something I've been working as of recently.

I’m a low level comp player with a peak of 2400. I completely agree with everything you said here, the poor matchmaking IS overall the main decider in how matches go and it can just be a slugfest to go through. It’s more evident in the current season, with a lot more skilled players from the tentatek division moving to takoroka.

Something to also note is that after the 1st season, several players from the Tentatek division transferred over to the Takoroka division because they couldn’t find matches & the points they were getting were minimal. So, then our division starts to lose players, and it adds onto the waiting time to Q in a match. Back in S2, you could play Turf, Ranked (X), and League. Now you can play Turf, Series, Open, and X. One additional mode where people can pick that mode instead. If you were in X rank in S2, & wanted to play ranked modes, you had to play it. I’m S3, you don’t have to.

Honestly games with these kind of match making really make it look like you need a close group to play with just to not have to deal with problems like this...

Splat is like fast food. It seems fun at first but you almost always come away feeling worse than when you started.

This is also a slight problem in anarchy. When sizzle season started, I played a game of TC on MakoMart, with a brand new weapon, and sweated my absolute balls off, getting multiple solo wipes. But each time I did, my teammates refused to get on tower, missing out on multiple, potentially game winning pushes. Keep in mind, the enemy team was okay, I did die a few times, but every time I countered a push that got to 70 remaining, my teammates let the tower wait 5 seconds, start moving very slowly back to mid, and stop. They never got on the tower once

Thanks for this video, it definitely makes me feel less alone in all of it. Like you said it genuinely feels like either my team gets completely curb stomped or I'm playing against actual bots that we curb stomp, with little to no in between and it really sucks. Also congrats on 10k let's GOOOOO.

Translated by Google: It is truly very unfair that when you do feats like being #1 in combat, #1 painting your own territory, #1 painting your opponent's territory and others to no avail. Because the system doesn't pay attention to you, it pays too much attention to the team causing you to lose and not receive points unfairly.

I 100% agree with this because X doesn't feel like a prestigious rank anymore and it sucks. Not to mention how easy it is to get S+0 because you only have to play one mode if you really wanted to. I don't know how I'd feel about grinding for S+10 to gain access to X as the rank reset would be annoying but I think it'd be much better than only requiring S+0.

You have no idea how much i can relate to my teammates being passive, so many times i found myself in a situation where we can push and they are just not comming, doing heck knows what, i keep pressing "this way" but they keep fighting the wind so i get splatted and we lose. The cherry on top is that i can't even be bothered to play X rank so i just stay in S+ and it happens so often!!

I have to agree with the matchmaking. I'm a C- player because I'm not that great at anarchy, I usually play in open, and I don't play it often,But this morning I was playing some rainmaker only to get matched with someone in the top 3000 in X rank. Worst part was that someone in my team was afk the whole time until the rainmaker made it right in front of the goal. The match was over in 35 seconds. Gotta love splatoon

The most fun I've had in x rank is finding myself in lobbys where I go against top 500 players. The matches are usually intense but exciting, especially when if I can preform well. The problem is that rarely happens and I'm usually getting stuck in unbalanced lobbies where I can go 2/3 and lose 100+ points. I'm hard stuck in 2200-2300 and I have given up because x rank is not worth the constant frustration

Splatoon 2 X rank 👍 Splatoon 3 x rank 👎

Theoretically, if someone playing X is competent, they gave three chances to have a poor player on their team while their opponents have four. Obviously you can end up with throwers, but over time competent players should move up no matter how many matches end up with poor teammates.

I’ve never gotten higher than 2100 because of all the reasons you said. I’m not kidding when I say this a Tenta Sorella Brella was jumping around doing NOTHING the entire game! And went 2 and 17 😡

Its kinda hard to have a good mindset when you dodge an e liter shot but somehow it still hit you but i agree, when i got a good mindset i was able to do something that i previously can't

I agree that match making feels off. Even in turf war, the teams feel unbalanced more often than not.

This is... too true. Teammates matter too much in X rank, and I wish I could ever have a consistent team that played well. In Anarchy I play up to S+13 and win consistently, but then I step into X, go 37/4 with a Tri-Stringer, and still lose. I'm at 1500 X power and S+15 right now. That shouldn't be happening In fact, very recently I played a game with deco wiper, and killed two enemies in the last moment of a game where we were ahead, and I drew with a third one. Just to have two of my teammates blow specials on the rainmaker, and not even kill it. Then all three of my teammates targeted the rainmaker. The rainmaker somehow slipped past all three of them in OUR BASE, and I lost. Moral of the Story: X Rank sucks, just play series, the matchmaking is better in series than in X

Nintendo really needs to just fix matchmaking overall. Even in anarchy open I get put with people that are either really good or really bad.

I feel you. I got to 2200 power on Rainmaker, my favorite mode. And got so many bad teams that I went down to 1500!

A few contexts about Splatoon that we must keep in mind -Splatoon matches are not Stable, it can snowfall fast, mostly in turf war; Rank modes happen too. -Turf war is the most popular mode -Japan has more active players than NA+EU combined (key word here is active, not sold units) -Japan has not only more better players than NA+EU, but also has just as much more bad players than NA+EU. This can be proven by using simple statistics (e.g. look up bell curve). -Glicko2 is the award pointing system for Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3, while in Splatoon it was a little bit more simpler and only depended on your ability to climb high, e.g. at S+ 70, you would win 2 points and lose 5, but at S+ 20 you would win 4 points but lose 5. Check the wiki for more detail on S1 Rank system -Max Ranks were introduced all later on its games life. S didnt have rank at all, then it added a max of rank S, and then later S+. S2 didnt have Rank X until 3.0, and S3 didnt have rank X until chill season. -Complaining about bad players is a tale as old as time, Kiver and other competitive players(and many more rank X players) complained about bad teammates in S2 too. -Twitter is not a base for generalization. Yes it helps to show things exist in game but they dont prove it is either majority or minority of cases. It is a plataform that feeds on people's extreme feelings, e.g. anger or frustration (proven by twitter`s engineers behind the current algorithm). It can be used to craft theories, but not to prove them. Glicko2 It is the same mathematical equation in both S2 and S3, it is a point system in which 8 players having a power, after the match ends it take points or give points(ignoring the match will count as a tie here) The matches points for both cases are already determined before the it changes to the map, It wont take your kills, deaths, turf, special or how many points you scored. In S3 the same thing can be said(Source: Oatmeal). However, it is better in S3 because a bad match can be completely ignored if you still manage to win 3 matches before you lose 3. That -157 in 1:15 is a combination of 3 matches combined. In Splatoon 2, 3 loses could have easily given players -60, mathematically speaking it is no different; Just more heartbreaking since the number you seen on your screen is much scarier. Overall S3 is better than S2 since a match you had no control that felt unfair, can be easily ignored by having a good win rate and getting a +10; Reminder than in S2 you could win +0. Now explaining the peak of 4000 we see in game, that is a combination of 2 factors. More points and more players. -More points, S3 introduced the minimal points you can win as +10(or 3.3 per match), compared to S2 players that could go matches just getting +0, it is a huge boost for players to reach higher powers much faster than S2. - In order to get to higher powers you need to win against opponents that are higher in X rank(that is simple and intuitive), but to get players with higher power you need to HAVE more players in that mode. It is no coincidence that more players(JP>>>EU+NA) reach every single time highest peaks(IT IS MATH), the ones that reach those numbers are good players, but they need a large amount of people bellow them to push them up. You can not compare X Rank Takoroka, Tentatek and S2 because they are not the same under the curtain. Lag: People outside of Japan are fighting a battle heavily against them compared to JP players. Just the tentatek division, has more percentage of players spread through the entire American continent is massive. Players from Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and USA are so far away and so few compared to JP base players; Even California players vs New York players are far away compared to people in JP too. There isnt much you can do since not many can change their ISP or ask their ISP to be better. Now remember that you have to reach back S+ every season since the game kicks you out from Rank X, while S2 didnt. 2:22 That graph is legit since according to people that hack switches, you can get a similar to an API Call from the S3 servers(responsible for managing data and content, not matchmaking) and get the percentile of players. the problem i see with most people discussing ideas to improve the game, is that they fail to see that everything is required to be converted to numbers. What is "skill"? Can you measure "skill" consistently? Splatoon devs didnt come up with the Glicko2 system, but they had to choose something for the rank system. If a person can come up with something better, by all means do so; That is a free PhD thesis in mathematics right there. now, since i am a backliner i do understand the quote e-liter better than squiffer feeling (Specially in metalworks), but the objective of the matchmaking is to pair people as best as possible while letting everyone play the game. Under no circumstance the game should not let people play because of their weapon, that is the same for any other online multiplayer game. 8:35 I hate saying "anyone can get in rank X" because it is extremely hard to put yourself in someone else`s shoes to feel why they play like that. Go to @asasasa98765 and @Coxxs to see some cool data regarding the amount of active players for Big Run challenge and Rank X. They posted about takoroka numbers, and given that splatoon 3 passed 10 million players back in the end of 2022, and only around 450k players played rank X last season(4.5% of players) it is not a high number, but definitely not high enough to prove or disprove it is easy to get in for new players. Data in this game is extremely hidden from us players and getting the perfect conclusion for it is hard, really hard. I feel the best we can do is to improve ourselves and teach people when you can, i thank all youtubers for providing such an amazing content for people to learn. 9:44 I would have to dwell more and more on this concept to have a proper opinion of being a good or bad idea to implement such Rank system. But since my intention was to give more data context for most people reading this and yourself Zorconic. If you want to get some help for getting your name out there for Competitive i can give you some help My qualifications: highest div 3, experience in 3 Splatoon LANS (1 winner of silver bracket) Commentator during S2 and now Working on Splatoon 3D art.

There seems to be weird skill level balances between a lot of the game modes. Salmon run has a very similar curve because of how small the levels are. If you get carried into profreshinal +2 and your team leaves you of course you are going to bring down the next team you are on. I’m just below eggecutive vp and the passive vs active play problem is 80% of it. More because players go in aggressive and get cornered, or allow the basket to be cornered with three stingers and 2 flyfish.

Disclaimer, min 7:28 I don't think Anarchy series is for fun, I got to rank S+ and everything goes downwards from there, bad teamates, no offensive position, playing splatoon like 100hrs in total (you know if you got to rank with that minimum investment you either have been totally carried or splatoon 3 just lie straightforward on the rank of the other team members), and you can only really on luck to go through this. I'm a veteran splatoon 2 player for more that 800 hours and this just piss me ofd that the artificial difficulty is that you have to carry the team, instead of playing with equal balanced level players. Matchmaking in its worst so far.

Hey, Zorconic! This video had a good point to make but there are some flaws that I really think need to be addressed. Excuse the long read, hopefully you can find it in you to get through it all. I’ll start with the things I agree with. Firstly, I agree that Splatoon 3’s X-rank fails to be a competitive mode and that it is a downgrade from Splatoon 2’s. Climbing the S+ ladder in S2 took a lot of time and genuine effort, and it was thus more likely that everyone in an X lobby was of similar skill. Secondly, I think the solution you provide at the end is pretty good. Removing regional divisions and to instead separate players by power would help both finding matches and having said matches be balanced (queue times are by far my biggest issue with X-rank personally, and I don’t even have it as bad as some higher ranked players). I’m not sure if having a rank up battle between divisions would be necessary, but overall I like the idea. So, you made some good points at the beginning and end where you criticize Nintendo’s system as well as provide a solution. But this is where the big problem with the video comes up: What comes in between is not much more than a rant that doesn’t contribute to anything. First you mention that the difference between top level players and high level players is a good mindset (and consistency, though I would argue that consistency comes from a good mindset), this is true! but you then blame having a bad mood on the bad matchmaking and then performing worse because of it. Indeed, X-rank matchmaking can be bullsh*t, but resilience to bullsh*t is a skill to learn like any other. It’s not the game’s fault that you let it negatively affect your mood. Then comes the part of the video that I have the biggest issue with by far. Especially from 5:54, you begin to criticize the people who play X-rank instead of X-rank itself and nearly* all you do for the 66 following seconds is blame your teammates while defending your own actions: 5:58 - You take this moment to defend something you said on twitter, I’m not going to agree with you more just because people got mad at you on twitter. Also, falling of the stage is excusable, it happens to the best of us and in the grand scheme of a five minute game falling off at the beginning barely means anything. Sidenote: You stopped moving when that teammate fell off the stage, it's not fair to blame teammates/matchmaking when you're deliberately not making inputs. 5:59 - Here is why I said *nearly earlier. You show a clip of yourself making a misplay, and while it’s good to show that you're not perfect (like you said in your pinned comment, you are not trying to seem better than everyone else) it just makes it confusing who you are trying to criticize in this part. 6:06 - You could’ve made your point here without plugging your own video. 6:36 - “Then they see the KD at the end and determine that I threw because I went eight and ten”. If you are making assumptions about what your teammates think of you then, again, it’s not the game’s fault that you let it negatively affect your mood. 6:40 - Indeed! KD is not a good representation of a player's skill. This is a good take but it gets undermined by the fact that you showed several screenshots of twitter users getting upset at their teammates based on KDs to prove a point earlier. Big sidenote (this is more a criticism of the whole competitive community, not just your vid): Why do competitive players put so much value and prestige in the four digit number that is X-power while simultaneously saying that X-rank is unfair and unbalanced? You (Zorconic) say that a high X-power will help you grow in the competitive scene, but why should it when most of us agree that X-battles are skewed? If X-battles are skewed that would mean X-power is not a good representation of skill and we should thus not value players based on it. Basically, don’t pressure yourself to get a good power because that will only make the game less fun. I personally care way more about your actual content than your in-game stats. And that’s everything worth mentioning. Again, sorry for the long read but I found some takes in this video to honestly be harmful for the community and thus important to discuss. The system is the problem, not the players. Things like the division change suggestion you gave in the end however are helpful for the improvement of the game, so keep up that sort of stuff! If anyone reading this has their own takes on what I wrote, feel free to let me know. Congratulations on 10K subs, by the way!

One also issue that I have with X ranks is the point system. Like it very frustrating if you lose a set and lost like 90 points and then when you win a set you only gang around 10 points in return

0:02 I’m watching puss in boots in the background 😭

Hi! Little Timmy here. X power 1800. Trying really hard & always stay positive. I know I’m going to lose but the only way for me to get better is to play against stronger players. That’s how I got to X rank to begin with. New Season is here so I’ll soon de-rank but I’ll continue to improve & become a better X player 🤗

maybe the mindset of "my teammates are so bad i average 1800-2000 x power" is whats holding you back

one reason why players who just got to S+0 play X battles is because often times anarchy puts them against players way better than they are, which isnt fun. X battles do a better job, even if its not nearly the best.

There is a similar situation with salmon run. Like whenever theres those all grizzco weapon things that makes the ppl who arent as good in grizzco rank up to where i am and then i cant rank up because its hard to cooperate with them

And this is why X rank is considered the most rage inducing mode in the entire series

It sucks bc you people switching regions just to play with Japanese players and then you end up having the most laggy game ever. Besides your more likely to get a Japanese player in anarchy which is the funniest bit.

I got into X rank in the fresh season only to be kicked out in the sizzle season

My theory on X rank in splatoon 3 is that it isn't meant to be this extremely high level mode only for the top 5% or so, its more just to be an actual ranked mode compared to anarchy. other theories state that anarchy isn't trying to be ranked (no deranking, detached mmr and power/points) but instead a more relaxed, less serious, and ego friendly.

Bro it makes it frustrating playing certain weapons that rely on other teammates to push.

i feel like ranked kinda sucks now in general... like, why do the ranks reset to S at the start of the season??? It sucks to not be able to play for a while because you might get put up against players that are WAY better than you are:(

Im a support main, but nearly every match, i keep getting paired with slayers that play too passive. Nobody tries to push and often i feel like im the only one trying to at least gain some map control.

im always against teams full of shooters. when match starts if i see one team has 3 shooters n mine has none i sometimes just throw and sit in spawn to point where i just dont want to play and switch off and play something else. the fact you cant derank means garbage players are stuck in s+ for 3 months. and lobbies will be bad.

I've started to play brella and can see a similar problem with passiveness, I've learnt that splat brella thrives on pushing in next to a teammate and constantly taking 2v2's or even 3v2's, the only thing holding me back is when my teammates keep dying to bombs while also refusing to use specials effectively or to stop staggering.

I’m peak 2700 and I always just try to think about how I could get better even if my remark sold. It really helps. Also just stay calm

Man there was one time I was playing Rain at Barnacle and Dime. I pushed 1st checkpoint without dying, our team got the pop after, and then me and a jr painted all the way ahead for whoever was gonna carry. The teammate who carried got scared of a carbon roller that wasnt really threatening him and continually tried to shoot him w the rainmaker instead of push ahead almost literally for free. I swear I never spammed, "THIS WAY" so hard lmao

X rank is just another excuse to not play clam blitz

X rank has also infested anarchy in terms of skill level. One time, I got into a match with 2 top ten players and got steam rolled hard. When I don't even play X rank due to the dogshit mode, it is. I don't even have an X power because I haven't, and I never will touch it. Obviously, these players were playing relevant weapons that had some synergy, but my team at the time was, the comp was horrible. Hell, even turf itself can be demotivated when having a high rank.

Are we just not gonna talk about how he did that scene in the beginning PERFECTLY

I was in S+ for all modes in Splatoon 2. I played two anarchy rotations in Splatoon 3, got up to C+, and now the game just cannot find a lobby for me anymore. I've waited 240+ seconds multiple times in a row. 😴

people always say they want "skill based matchmaking" as if we have a 100% accurate and reliable way to measure "skill". there are a variety of options out there for zero-sum games (if one side wins, the other loses) like splatoon, some big ones being ELO and Glicko-2. they each have their own unique characteristics, with Glicko-2 being designed to reward consistent play and not being affected as much by one-off wins or losses. thats a pretty decent system for measuring "skill". oh but whats that i hear? splatoon *uses* Glicko-2? its literally just renamed to "X Power"? and its a major factor that drives matchmaking in all modes, even if the number is hidden? wow! its almost like people complain about bad matchmaking without having a clue as to how that matchmaking works!

i honestly agree with every word spoken. Also, the CoC reference was so good.

As someone who lost 64 points from a 2-3 In rainmaker I agree

I lost so many points because this one guy thought it was a good idea to reset the rainmaker during overtime...

4:31 The game has pissed me off to a point where I call my self now, "ZWursPlayer" because I have yet to advance beyond S+0. I'm not even touching X rank because of my own incompetence against all 7 players. It's no longer 4 v 4. It's 7 v 1 and I can only look out for myself.

I'm not even a high X rank player but 7 out of 10 tries of playing a match I'm waiting and waiting until I get the "Not enough players" message. I'm usually around 1900-2300.

As a backline, it’s also frustrating when your team doesn’t move up making it so I also can’t move up without frontlining a backline weapon. Then again it’s also stressful to backline when your team is overly aggressive and feeds so hard that I’m consistently being rushed down by multiple opponents. This game would benefit from “move up” and “stay back” commands instead of just “this way” and “booyah”.

I think ranks for each mode make more sense. Splatoon 2 did it best, because especially if you're a one trick, you and/or your weapon may be amazing for one rank type, but not another. I got to X rank in Zones, but now am stuck at 1600 Zones in Splatoon 3. I would say remove X rank and make people get to S+10 again

I like how the game is always pairing me with the team that loses and in rainmaker they barely follow or stick by my side and it pisses me off

I overall gave up, it’s so frustrating playing X when you lose 75 points from a 2-3 set, then win a set and gain 10, just giving the feeling that reaching top500 is impossible unless you play consistently from the very start. I like playing x rank and winning a single match feels great, but then I feel like my efforts aren’t paying off at all when I see my number keep going down and down, feeling like it’s even impossible to get back to where I started 💀

Hiya! VERY new player to Splatoon here (this is my first Splatoon game I've played seriously, around 500+ hours). Also gave ya a sub, hope you reach 10k soon :) Anyways, I agree mostly with everything you said. As a very new player to Splatoon that's learned the game pretty quickly it's quite surprising to see basic mistakes or opportunities not being considered/taken at this high of a level of play. X Rank in this game feels a LOT like Elite Smash in SSBU, I can say as a former (around mid-level) competitive SSBU player that it was very similar to this; you could find either the best players in the world or little Timmys there and it led a lot of people to avoid the mode; it was very unbalanced and not that fun. I can imagine how awesome it must have felt for X rank players in S2 just to be there since it was so much of a grind. One thing I do disagree with though is saying it's "easy" to get to X rank. It's still not *easy* per say to get into X rank in S3, consider that it still requires you to go through rank-up battles, have at least some knowledge of the game or at the VERY least require a ton of grinding. I don't think we should just dismiss people's accomplishments of getting into S+. And that's the thing, *getting into S+*. Honestly a TON of the time playing X battles I feel like I shouldn't be there. I just don't feel ready, given that I've never made it above S+0. I'm not trying to self-deprecate, just trying to consider what's best for everyone. My peak X power was only about 1900 myself. At the end of the day, it's just 1 part of a bigger problem with Splatoon 3 I feel: it tries to be a lot "nicer" and more "welcoming" with many of its design choices (lack of losing animations, losing music being much less dour, lack of a way to rank down naturally, X rank being WAY easier to get to, etc.) Really wish they'd buckle down on making things tougher & more competitive tbh. Will it hurt more sensitive players? Maybe, but the best players are gonna be the ones that push past that hurt, get that good mindset like you said and use it to better themselves. And there's still plenty to enjoy in this game for the casual crowd.

I agree, for some context i am NOT that good at the game, but i really feel like matchmaking screws me over. Yesterday i was playing anarchy zones and got paired with a brella, and two blobs (i use vwiper) the brella played like backline and the blobs thought aggressively was the play. I am not kidding when i say that each time i died the zone flipped and the other team got control. Same scenario happend at 3 more of the 10 matches i played, why

I only play X battles when I get S+10. Not only so I can keep it next season but also so I feel comfortable and ready playing.

smells like skill issu-

See, I would like to sympathize with my only first experience with X rank. If progressing in S rank wasn't such a hellish experience, ESPECIALLY in Anarchy Series. I can barely win consistently and I'm stuck at -2000 points. Never to reach S+0 this season.

All I have done as of late is normally X rank when it comes to non salmon run or competitive play. My peak is 2772, and my god, this rank is so stupidly unforgiving. I will say, the +10 minimum after a series win is nice… but being matched with or against low level players can be so demanding. Ever since 2018, my biggest gripe with soloq tends to be the matchmaking. I despise this game’s matchmaking, some comps that players are put up against are truly unwinnable. 100% agreed with mindset being important, with competitive players being consistent and bearing a fresh mindset. If you have an unconfident mindset, the plays you make branch off of your negativity and chances are you’re more honed in to lose. This was a really good video, highlights my thoughts very well, it’s just so difficult for me to put it into words.

What was said in this video between 5:45 and 7:25 is straight from the heart and I appreciate you for saying it. Nothing is more disappointing when playing to win than seeing during a match that your teammates either do not know how to, or are not trying to win like you are. In a few minutes you gave viewers the playbook for success in Splatoon in all game modes.

You're telling me I could've been doing x battles this entire time, man I'm kinda less motivated to even rank up

I usually don’t play X after placement matches because I’m too scared of losing points.

I played on an account where I got to s rank, and after struggling through emotional roller coasters of wins and losses through anarchy series, I would get to my s plus rank up battle. I have never achieved the s plus rank across any of the splatoon games. My first s plus rank up battle I lost 3 games in a row and didn't rank up. What's crazy is people is my s rank anarchy series battles had s plus badges in their splashtag, yet they were hardly any better at the game then me. Anyways, I've done maybe 1 or 2 s plus rank up battles every week since maybe a week or two since launch and I have never won more than 1 battle per rank up thing. 90% of the time I'd get absolutely clapped 3 times in a row, and those other 10 percent of games id win just one and then lose 3 games in a row again. To say the least, my rank up battles and series battles were really stacked with people with s plus badges and even silver/gold x battle badges. I love this game, but it feels unfair that my rank up battles are impossible to win. After nearly ten months I think I still haven't been able to get s plus. Like dude, it's the only thing, THE ONLY THING, I want and yet I get absolutely crushed when lose the most unfair match ups. I main junior and the nozzlenose d but neither of my favourite weapons are good for shit in these stupid rank up battles. I even use 'brain dead' or 'no skill' weapons like 52 gal, splashomatic and tri slosher but no luck. I genuinely think I deserve the s plus rank and the badge but every single person i play against in my rank up battles is the sweatiest person ever who is literally parallel universes ahead of me in terms of skill level. I do like this game, but ffs give me easier lobbies

For the ranking system i think they should just undo the change so that you must get to S+10 before accessing X rank. So you don't get players like 5:15 who don't get enough oxygen to their brains

Exactly, I’d much rather have cracks in my rank meter causing me to de-rank because I lost too much than this rubbish.

“your mindset is important” proceeds to make an entire video of depressing, toxic mentality

Another issue is that what the meaning of anarchy serious existence after s+0. No serious player anymore. Does it provide for people who practice new weapons? But there's single open mode. To sum up, after s+0, Nintendo provide two modes(serious, open) for people to be familiar with weapons, and x match for those want to play seriously.

I was thinking of making a video talking about exactly this! X is a terrible mode in 3. Like you said, the matchmaking alone kills it entirely but there are so many issues that drive it into the ground. Though I think this matchmaking is made way worse via placement matches. Since placement matches can drop players hundreds of X power in just a match or two, luck plays even more of a factor in it than normal. I've seen so many placements matches start with a top 500 match where the player in question loses through fair means (you can't win every game), but the match was close and they're clearly good enough to be playing here. Then match 2 has significantly worse players who don't know what they're doing and cause a loss due to a number of reasons. This just keeps continuing to the point where a player who could clearly hold their own in the 2400+ area is put in the 1900s or 2000s due to something as small as 2 to 3 losses. While skill does matter for getting a higher power, that clip with Ice shows it all. For as much skill as you possess you need twice as much luck.

This made me realize I never will want to do X battles, thank you very much! I already find it competitive when I play turf wars. I find it helpful to booyah every-so-often to keep a good mindset, or when someone gets a triple kill (it was wild seeing a new player do that last night)

Thank you so much for making this video, I share the exact same feelings toward this mode as you, and the solutions you bring up are a fantastic idea. X rank has gaslit me into believing I'm terrible at the game, when that is objectively false. I'm hardstuck 1800-1900 XP despite climbing above S+10 every single season, meanwhile players who are S+(-1000) have free access to the mode as well, and can't derank from it. I also learned that if you are anywhere below 2000 XP, you will be getting matched with players as low as 1500 (I know this because I was matched with someone on my friends list with a power of 1500, while mine was above 2000); this implies that they're losing enough to have gotten booted from X rank in splatoon 2, and you with the higher power are expected to carry them. The placement system is also never in my favor: I consistently win 4/5 of my placement matches, but still get placed in the 1900s every time because RNG didn't want to match me against players with higher power. So, if you're unfortunate enough to be placed in the 1900s, you're never going to climb out of it. Can't expect to get competent teammates until you reach the 2300s, but if you're unlucky as I am, that's a number you're never going to see.

I got splatoon 2 last year and I ended up getting to s+0 before splstoon 3 came out.. I was really excited to continue playing ranked and to reach x rank just for it to already be available to me when I really didn’t do anything to prove I was ready for it.. not to mention the matchmaking like you said, I get matched with players who are way above my skill level. I’m either in a spot where it’s too easy, or in a spot where it’s way too hard and I can’t keep up. Its hard to improve like this. I hope Nintendo fixes it, but seeing how they handle a lot of other aspects of the game that were heavily criticized, I doubt it..Good video 🤞

i really myself hate the new rank up mechanic in splatoon 3, it stresses me out to play rank up battles every new season to get from s to s+, when i even don't like the whole X battle system at all, i really wish they would let the game mode be played at least with a full stack and have an full communication available. That's why im playing with my buddies in open, which is really boring tbh.

"One of my biggest drawbacks as a player and something I have to work on is CONSISTENCY" >Gem has entered the chat

Its so disappointing that X rank is just handed to anyone once they reach S+0. As someone who never made it past S+7 in splatoon 2, i was really looking forward to hopefully achieving X rank in splatoon 3. But getting it the second i hit S+ really took all the excitement out of it :(

Open anarchy has so many issues as well. I wanted to at least rank up once to S rank but man, the amount of players with the S and S+ rank badges that were thrown at me was just insane. So trying to get to S+ rank is a definite no go for me. And somehow, pro anarchy refuses to match me up with players around my level that when it came time to rank up, i had to do it twice because the first time it threw X rank players at me! How was i supposed to fight back against players that have the X rank badge and have been playing nothing but competitive since the game came out?

Finally, someone understands me Edit: these are the exact reasons why i quit this dogshit game… never felt so much better quitting, i was barely enjoying the game, got 1800 im both Rain and tc because of lil timmy’s, i was just not having it. Kids are making me lose my mind

Why i' in B+ and i fight against people that can't be of that rank; these drives me insane 💀

I struggle so much to reach a single point in ranked Anarchy open. Currently Im c-, but I have to wait 2min to play a match that lasts 15 to 20 seconds in a terrible loss. Im an average player not amazing or really bad. I have no idea how that happens almost every time.

my favorite part of matchmaking in this game is when me a brush player is paired up with a roller player and one of us is suffering because the other members don't have the tools to support both of our antics

I’m a casual player, and I don’t play X rank often when I’ve had access to it, but even in regular ranked matches or TURF WAR I’m put against people who take the game too seriously and it ruins it for me as a casual. I’d say I’m mid leveled, but i’m put against high level players and sweats in basic modes, but in X rank I was somehow against other casuals?? I want to get better, but I swear, i’m starting to hate playing in general because my teammates are terrible or the other team is extremely sweaty.. What is wrong with the matchmaking in this game…

As an AU player I hate regional matchmaking with a passion. I have played on part with some friends who got to S+ quickly after the game came out and they say that I'm probably around their skill level and they don't know how I don't have X battles unlocked yet. But the random, regional matchmaking of anarchy now that most people have unlocked X is literal hell. I'm almost always the only non JP player in the lobby and I just feel like I am a disadvantage for being so. I can rarely ever progress in anarchy series because it is just simply impossible to consistently win with the anarchy matchmaking as it is, especially in series.

I am an American player who has about 2k hours in both Splatoon 2 and 3 combined. My peak power in each mode is around 2600. I have been Top 500 a bit in this game. I feel that the maps aren't great for all weapons, the matchmaking sucks and is unbalanced in TWO main ways, Comp and Rank. Some players I play with are ranked top 10 in the US lobby while others aren't even top 500. It's annoying the amount of points lost when you lose a set and if I see another +10 I am going to freak. There are many issues that are fixable, just hoping Nintendo fixes them.

You had me till you antagonized people for choosing X rank. You don’t get to determine whether someone who has access to a mode can play it

I have these problems too, pretty much every X match I get I have teammates who can't do objective and/or can't splat anybody, resulting in my horrendous power of 1800 - 2000 MAXIMUM. Nintendo really needs to fix matchmaking and the whole system really.

so what i got out of this - you should only start x rank at S+10 - if youre under 1800 power then you should be booted off until you gain another 5-10 s+ ranks - nintendo need to make a new matchmaking system to pair you with better players - nintendo needs to make another comp system -a low level competitive player that has only reached S rank

X Rank isn’t just bad, it’s discriminatory. Your performance doesn’t decide your power, your power is decided for you. You can sit in a skill bracket you are several years of practice better than, and not move no matter how much you go 15-2 while being hyper aggressive and playing the objective the most of your team. It’s become to a point I believe the law needs to get involved.

Everything you said Is true, personally I use weapons that can carry like nautlis or tetras and nintendo will probably never fix the games hilariously awful matchmaking

I think the best summary of X rank was my very first placement match last season where it matched me against a top 500 player right from the start. I had NEVER played the mode before and this was my very first placement match so there's practically no data to suggest that I'm remotely at that level, plus it was clam blitz which is my worst mode as well. And what a surprise we got completely stomped, who could've guessed that the top 500 player was better than the player who just entered X rank for the first time.

I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks this. I used to watch chara all the time in splatoon 2 and wanted to become x rank but it was to late cause the game ended, everyone moved to 3, so did I, and I saw the x battle. I was happy to be able to try it and when I did… it was hell. My team would hardly do anything and I don’t mean to call out other players and say there bad but, to put it politely they weren’t x rank. I don’t know much about x rank but I do know I got to 2200 power and I hope that’s good ;-; I just wish x battles worked and didn’t have terrible matchmaking. I like to play back line a lot but I keep getting teams of like 4 to 3 back lines and if one person enters our spawn we’re screwed. I’m able to kill them off cause I know how to play explo really well, but if I die for a second there’s always a wipeout. I agree with everything you said in this video. I think there’s even problems in challenges to, cause I would get paired with teams that where hundreds of points higher then my points and it was ridiculous. If skill based matchmaking existed it would be amazing. And I wish I had friends I could play with and learn to play as a team better ;-; I don’t like solo queue but it’s all I can do cause I’m lonely ;-; I always dreamed of having people similar skill level to me that I could be friends with and have a team together so I could actually experience half the fun in splatoon. Like getting higher results in big run, challenges, anarchy open, splatfest or just anything. Sorry if I worded any of this badly, I’m just happy to see someone go through the exact same problem as me so I can relate and talk to. I don’t mean that in a way like I’m happy your suffering, I’m not meaning that at all, I mean it like I’m glad I’m not alone out there. I hope this does get fixed sometime

I know this was a year ago, but I NEED to vent. I am a newer Splatoon player. I was having fun with Splatoon 2. When I found out you could get better and play competitively, I was EXTREMELY excited to try to get X rank in Splatoon 3. I'm not sweaty (I don't play every day, but I always fill out my catalogue), but I am not a 'bad' player. I am a good player with potential that just needs a little more guidance. HOWEVER, anarchy is effing dog water. I have been on S rank for 2 WHOLE YEARS. Not S+ not S+1...just S...WHY!? I do everything right. I practice. I play as much as possible. I try to learn from watching my videos back and spotting my missteps, and yet, my team loses to a flingza CAMPING on my base, or a cheater using a glitch, or my team won't move because they're scared. Or I'm being targeted by the other team for being obviously the biggest threat to them seeing as I'm always playing a 1 v 3 (even though my ENTIRE team is on the floor). Or my personal favorite, a rage quitter who wet their dipper too hard and the match doesn't get counted. (One time it reset my whole anarchy rank, and I had to start all over again.) And when I finally do almost make it out of S, they set me back to A. This made me quit for a whole 7 months. "You're just not skilled-" NO because I am always getting every gold medal in every match. I am CARRYING my teammates. I am always HELPING them because they make basic mistakes. I don't know why they play like this if they want to get into X... I've never played it, but I'm pretty sure there's no camping, greifing, and or cheap tricks being pulled like that. And I'm sure they check the maps for beacons. I guess I don't know. I've never played X rank. PS. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CHECK YOUR MAPS WHEN YOU PLAY! THEY LAY BEACONS DOWN AND I'M THE ONLY ONE THAT CATCHES THEM!!! you're overwhelmed because you don't see that they laid a beacon right on us. Also, when a teammate comes to back you up, stop running away. This isn't a tag team. I'm trying to pull a 2 v 1, and when my teammates see me pull up, they flee!?!?!?! Where are you going, we need to finish the job!?

Honestly I feel like a good fix would be to just fix the matchmaking and go back to the glico2 system as well as making a cutoff for x for example I recently got into splatoon 3 and made it to X with 300 hours in splatoon total for example I only played my qualifying rounds and got lucky with the matchmaking getting to over 2K power which is not right for me lmao I really think that Nintendo should just use the power instead of their arbitrary matchmaking system I agree with your division idea and I think that it would be a healthy change hey you got to the end good job also sorry I can't be bothered to use proper grammar or any punctuation

As a squiffer player I completely agree about the matchmaking problem. It isn't fun to be up against e-liters in these hallway-ass stages since it means I'd have to play in between spawn and mid if I don't want to get my ass handed to me because of my range. I've had plenty of matches where my entire team would just be outranged by an e-liter or a hydra splatling.

So now I have a video that proves that me having a negative k/d isn't a bad thing when I play qr stamper

Completely agree, I personally like to play backline/support and both of those things don’t work if my teammates just do some kinda shit, like how am I supposed to support someone if all my teammates are dead, and what am I supposed to to if I get pushed by everyone cuz my teammates die ? And if I get Teammates that know how to play at least decently. Then… Yeah, then Nintendo completely destroyes all my hopes and dreams cuz somebody disconnects… That’s what I would recommend: Make X-Rank harder to achieve and fix the stupid online service!!!!!!! (And yes, I know I‘m also making mistakes, but nobody is perfect and that’s why we are playing the game, to get better. BUT there is a difference between playing as good as possible and making as less mistakes as possible and just dying the entire time…)

7:40 while its valid criticism to say "the matchmaker fails to create matches where weapon comps and player skill are even on both teams", this isn't whats stopping you from ranking up every player is playing the same ranked for every game where you get a teammate who feeds their brains out and makes the match unwinnable, there will be a match where a player on the enemy team plays that way thats not to say all your frustrations are invalid; there are problems with the matchmaking, but the only common factor in all of your games is you, and the only thing you can control in every game is you. its not holding you back from ranking up