SplatStats Season 2 Final Report
Part 3: Corrections, Final Thoughts, and Support
Corrections
This part of the Report will be used to comment on any mistakes that were made in the process that are unfortunately too late to fix but do not have a large effect on the rankings. Stay tuned for future updates just in case a glitch occurs. Minor mistakes will also be fixed in the future as well.
- The Leaderboard points for FRST 6 was recorded incorrectly, so some players’ top scores are different than what is currently written. The Ratings for these events are recorded correctly.
- Xiller’s TomChasi mispelled as Chase
- Team S4’s additional members include Andro (TTek/SShot/Roller) and Minh (SScope/ELScope), Emil is from Austria
- Shomona vs STDx matchups were shown (2–0 for Shomona), but the matchups were calculated in the Ratings correctly
Final Thoughts
There’s something magical about how hardworking and talented the Splatoon community is. My trip to Genesis 5 opened my eyes to how close the Splatoon community was. This in turn had tripled my drive to create the best statistical recordings possible and support the scene in any way possible. My dream one day is to help bridge the gap between players from around world, where every player can learn about anyone no matter the region they come from. And by facilitating the flow of information between the scenes, the better our scene will become.
The East vs West Power Gap
In short, it’s there still.
In long, we are seeing some trends in the scene on both sides that make this gap a little complicated.
For one thing, the Western scene has a pattern of following the Japanese meta, whether on purpose or just due to the nature of constant balance patching. From Double/Triple Ink Armor comps to Double Blaster to Double Slosher Decos, the Western scene has weirdly mirrored the Japanese scene at a lagged pace. This is most likely because of a result of the Western scene being strongly meta-dependent, often trying to follow trends. But from what I’ve personally seen in Japanese scrims and tournament matches, many of their top players are not afraid to experiment. Sure, the near-monthly balance patches upset the meta regularly, even causing some teams to have weapon crises. But in some way, top Japanese players are quick to develop new and interesting compositions each time.
The other thing possibly contributing to the gap is a simple case of practice mentality. In short, the Japanese scene scrims very, very often. But this ethic extends even to the audience, whom I have seen diligently recording scores in stream chats and are quick to answer questions asked in chat. Whereas, the Western scene often has trouble getting scrimmages scheduled or even done, instead often using tournaments as a way to practice instead. At the same time, there just isn’t enough readily-available resources for new players to find, making the barrier to entry.
Of course, there are several things contributing to this. One is that the Japanese scene is simply much larger than the Western scenes combined. This makes finding scrims and practicing much more efficient. Another reason is the West’s immediate dismissal of Turf War as a valid competitive mode, a thought that I personally am guilty of. There are some things about the mode that I do not like compared to the Ranked modes, but Turf War has certain benefits in practice. For one, the simple act of painting the ground as the objective allows players to focus on fundamentals in the game. Second, because Turf War is the immediate and available mode for new players, it is the perfect mode for new players to break into the competitive scene.
So, what can the Western scene do to bridge this power gap? Simply, there should be more of a focus on improving the scene as a whole rather than your own team’s prestige. Practice and communication should be a default state of mind, but I believe one way to help facilitate practice is to create an environment where players feel practice is worth it. This means that allowing people to stream sets and record matches is important to helping teams look back on their own matches and learn what to improve on. Events should also focus on lowering the barrier to events, such as hosting single-mode events (including Turf Wars).
In the end, the biggest differing factor between the two worlds just comes down to practice.
Future plans
What’s in store for SplatStats’ future?
Thankfully, I have been fortunate to make friends with a team who is just as dedicated to recording stats. Thusly, we are coming up with new ways to record matches and provide even more statistical data for players to peruse.
One of the first things we did was remake the Glicko2 program. Adjustments made to it should make the process of Rating tournaments much easier. Before, it was a tedious job of having to go through each tournament and check on aliases. Thanks to WrongShoe’s efforts, the new version of the calculator should make Rankings updates occur much sooner. We are also working with Earth22 and Elengale to help improve the usefulness of our current stats and the way that they are stored and displayed.
Meanwhile, we are always on the lookout for more people to help collect and record data. Chaotic and Apollo are new recruits who will be tasked with these jobs, including finding roster/team information as well as any other tournaments we may have missed in the past.
Toadsili and Ganbawoomy will be increasing their efforts on coverage of the Japanese scene. This includes tournament coverage, VOD reviews, and translations of documents and articles. Our partnership with Dimi will also continue to help ensure our coverage of the French region is as complete as possible.
Patreon
Speaking of which, we are planning to launch a Patreon to help cover the costs of the tools that we currently use. Through this, we hope to be able to better serve the community knowing what the community would like and need. Any and all contributions to this will be appreciated.
With Patreon support, we are looking to expand the amount of projects we work on, from the creation of Commentary Guides for select events to funding travel costs to help bring SplatStats to a live venue.
Our usual activities will proceed with or without the support, as we love the game way too much to stop otherwise. But if you do happen to contribute, we will make sure to include you in the process and help us improve SplatStats and the competitive Splatoon scene as a whole.
Once again, thank you very much for your support, and we look forward to continuing our efforts for Splatoon.
Part 1 — General Information, Leaderboards, and Regional Rankings
Part 2 — Top 50
