Splatoon 3is a hit game, not only for the franchise but for Nintendo as a whole. The innovative gameplay and improvements over the first two installments make it an amazing multiplayer experience - undoubtedly why it won Best Multiplayer Game at the Game Awards last year. The experience continues to grow with each season adding new modes, maps, gear, and weapons. However, the weapons being added to the latest season this month, as part of the “Fresh Season”, spells a trend that’s dangerous for the health of the game.
RELATED:Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass Available Today, Wave 1 DLC Releases This Spring
The Fresh Season update for Splatoon 3 will bring forth 11 new main weapons - technically 12 if you count the new scope charger as a separate weapon. Of those 11 main weapons, six of them fall under the same shooter category, with the rest of the main weapon types either receiving one or two new weapons this season, or none at all. This is fueling the belief that the developers of Splatoon 3 are operating on favoritism for the shooter weapon class, which the community has taken to calling “shooter privilege.”
Putting it into perspective, a main weapon is your primary source of spreading ink and dealing damage. There are 11 categories of main weapons in Splatoon 3. Within those categories are various weapons that differ in either their stats, their sub and special weapons (which makes up their kit), or both. However, they’re used in generally the same manner. For example, the Splattershot Jr. shoots with a lot less accuracy and range than the Squeezer, but both weapons simply have you aim and shoot ink, which has them fall under the “shooter” category. Differences like this extend across the other main weapon types as well, like the brushes, rollers, blasters, chargers, and more.
The problem begins when you look at how many of each weapon is in each category. Currently, Splatoon 3 has 66 different weapons, and out of those 66 weapons, 19 of them are shooters. The main weapon category with the second-most amount, the Blasters, only reaches seven different main weapons. There are other weapon types that only have two or three different main weapons, some of them being the Splatana and Stringer weapon types that are new to the franchise.
When Fresh Season comes around, there will be 25 shooter weapons out of the 77 weapons in total. That will be a third of the overall weapons pool going to one out of the 11 main weapon types. This is already problematic, but it becomes even worse when you look at the weapons that were added inSplatoon 3’s Chill Season. Out of the 13 weapons, five of them were shooters. While the shooter weapons didn’t outweigh the other weapon types, that would still be eight new weapons having to be shared among 10 different weapon types; needless to say, some weapon types simply didn’t get a new main weapon. This is a continuing problem that’s only getting worse, giving way to the discussion revolving around shooter privilege.
Shooter privilege, is the idea that the game favors more traditional competitive shooter weapons over other types. This can be in the sense of game design and balance from the developers, as well as discussions from the Splatoon 3 player base revolving around the state of the game. Shooter privilege also spans across the other Splatoon games, such as the amount of new weapons that shooters would get in Splatoon 2. This all isn’t to say that shooter privilege shouldn’t exist, though.
RELATED:Splatoon Could Be Coming To Super Nintendo World
As the name implies, you simply aim and shoot to spread ink or deal damage. Even when looking at the most complex of the shooters, like the Squeezer or the Nozzlenose weapons, their fundamental use remains the same. When compared to weapon classes like Chargers or Splatlings that have charge times, or Rollers which function differently depending on how long you hold the button (as well as whether you’re on the ground or in the air), they’re definitely the simplest weapon class that beginners will most likely gravitate to. When looking at it that way, shooter privilege definitely has a purpose.
The issue lies in howmuchshooter privilege there is. When one weapon type makes up a third of the overall weapons pool, it’s hard to pretend that doesn’t look biased. This means that shooter weapons will usually be the best option due to them outclassing other weapon types in terms of quantity. If you want a specific kit, a shooter weapon will most likely have it due to their sheer numbers while others might not. Even for the other weapon types that do have the same kit, shooter weapons will often invalidate them on account of those weapons being either more inconsistent, esoteric, or flat-out worse than the shooters.
This can lead to the current meta being dominated by the shooter class. This only worsens matters if you don’t use a shooter, as the other weapons typically don’t have the same versatility. It’s because of this that shooter weapons will often be seen in team compositions. While you’ll be hard-pressed to find a team using any other weapon class exclusively, shooters can make up a whole team with little to no drawbacks. It makes the game rather stale - in fact, this became the meta throughout the rest of Splatoon 2’s lifecycle. This is most obvious when you look at the Brella class.
The brellas are an infamous class because of them maintaining the many nerfs from the end of Splatoon 2 without any compensation for the game’s changes in Splatoon 3. They have a very hefty special requirement while not being able to ink or deal damage as well as other weapons. This means that their specials will be seen less when compared to other weapons, which can ink much faster.
They also aren’t properly coded into the game, leading to many janky interactions from other weapons as well as their shields oftentimes not working as intended. Along with the previously mentioned inability to deal sufficient damage, brellas also have to deal with the game’s new movement options and the weaker netcode. Their main functionality, which is to offer defense against the attacks of other weapons (namely the shooters), can’t be fulfilled properly or as consistently under these conditions.
ALSO READ:Smash Bros Community Calling For Steve Ban Following Discovery Of New Technique
The issues with the brellas are bad enough as they are. What makes them worse is the fact that we’re nearly six months into the game’s lifespan. Improvements have been attempted to fix the weapons, but they don’t do much. On the other hand, several of the shooter weapons have received better treatment. They were already a very strong weapon class, but buffs to the weapons with the patches made them even stronger, with inking efficiency, points for the special weapons, and other buffs beside. This only encourages players to ignore ten classes worth of weapons.
The shooter privilege that the game has can be fixed by just giving the other weapons similar treatment. Nerfing the shooters wouldn’t be a good choice because that just makes them as bad as the other weapons are, which doesn’t help add variety to the game. Buffing the other weapons gives them a fighting chance and offers use cases for different weapons that could show up in the meta. There also just needs to be more weapons for other classes; some weapon types having only two to three weapons this late into the game’s life is inexcusable. Shooter weapons should still be prevalent since they’re still the most beginner-friendly class, but not to the ludicrous degree that they currently are.
Despite these issues plaguing the game, Splatoon 3 continues to be great fun,for now. However, the future of the game, especially the more competitive side, isn’t looking very bright. If the developers continue the design philosophy of heavily favoring one class over the other 10, they could draw many players away from the more interesting aspects of the game. The whole point of Splatoon is it’s not like any other multiplayer shooter on the market - why try and undo that? Hopefully the developers will address these issues and give the other weapons the same amount of love and attention that they deserve.
NEXT:Splatoon 3’s Next Big Run Event Will Feature A Giant Flying Serpent Called “Horrorboros”
