The Valorant Team

Howdy friends, with 2020 almost behind us we wanted to take a moment to talk about our current, high level thoughts around Agents, and a bit about how we are thinking of the future.

When the game launched we were focused on getting all the extreme outliers into a reasonable place. Right now things are fairly stable, but there are still some Agents/Classes that need some deeper thought put into them.

CONTROLLER POWER, DUELISTS vs INITIATORS

In particular, we have some plans to address the total power of Controllers (Omen, Viper, Brimstone) and to better differentiate the roles of Duelists and Initiators. At a high level, we want to encourage people to play with their teammates as much as possible and we believe that giving our Initiator and Controller roles a bit more team-focused power will help achieve that end. We are aiming to have our first set of changes to Controllers launching with Episode 2 and additional changes to Initiators and Duelists thr...

Howdy VALORANT friends,

When a team releases anything they never truly know how players will embrace it; we all have hopes, but things never go as planned. Part of the joy in making Agents for VALORANT is that their identities will shift as y'all play them. The team can debate all day long what will happen when an Agent goes live, but within an hour, y'all play more games than we do in years of development. 

With all of that said, we cannot be more overjoyed with how you have helped to shape the VALORANT Agents so far. Your thoughts, your art, your videos—they’ve refined what the roster is in 2020, and will continue to affect what it will be in the future.

Going into Open Beta was a massive moment for the Character team. Our internal musings about the Agents didn't matter anymore, only how you played them. And you did more than that:

• Y'all streamed relentlessly (Some of us tried watching nine at the same time, trust me your brain can not handle it ;_...

Hey VALORANT community,

Thank you so much for your continued support and dedication to VALORANT! It’s been a rowdy year for the Modes team. You’ve been playing and experiencing Spike Rush, Free For All Deathmatch, and today, you’ll be shooting snowballs out of a Killjoy-enhanced molly launcher for Snowball Fight. 

We’re really proud of the modes we’ve been able to get out to you. Spike Rush and FFA DM continue to see very healthy engagement, and we’ve been able to update them over time to keep them fresh, as well as hit the major improvements you’ve asked for. We’re not done yet— Keep giving us feedback!

The modes team came into existence in the spring of this year. A very small ragtag group came together, from all different parts of the game, to see what could be done by launch and beyond. By game development definitions, we had an incredibly short timeline to bring up some core technology we needed, design and develop Spike Rush, and release it to you. In fact...

Greetings VALORANT players and fans,

We’re reaching out from the Competitive Play Area—which consists of three teams: Competitive, Social & Player Dynamics, and Core Services—with a sincere thank you for being an amazing community and to give a look ahead into some of our plans for 2021.

From chat, voice, friends list, your into-game flow, ranked, and managing a live service; our area aims to create a space where you can feel welcome in-game, whether you compete or just play. We can’t thank you enough for your continued support and feedback, which has been immensely helpful in us improving our game and service.

COMPETITIVE TEAM

Let’s talk about our ranked system! While we’ve built other features this year, we know that a lot of you are most passionate about being ...

Hi VALORANT Community,

First of all, we want to say thank you for going on VALORANT’s first year, from the beta releases to where we are today.

The Maps team has been on the long road of development the last few years. It’s a project that the team has had strong passion and excitement in during production, and we are glad to be able to finally talk about it and share with you in 2020. We started with the release of Bind and Haven during our closed beta period, which was soon followed by the release of a work in progress version of Split during open beta. Your feedback during this phase gave us valuable information and allowed us to make adjustments leading up to launch.

Greetings from the Foundations Area!

Like our name suggests, we’re the teams that make up the technical foundation of VALORANT covering things like gameplay performance, tools, engine development, core gameplay systems, and our data pipelines. Our teams in the area are: Game Systems, Content Support, Gameplay Integrity, and Data Operations.

One of the main goals for our area since it’s start has been to have you as players focus more on playing rather than if the game is working. We’ve come a long way since the early days of closed beta but we’ll admit, there have been a couple of bumps here and there (Looking at you patch 1.11 hitch on death!) Our work isn’t done but we want to thank you for joining us on this journey and are looking forward to sharing with you the system improvements we have in store for VALORANT in 2021!

—Steven Eldredge (Riot Roopkool), Kevin O’Brien (Riot Koalifer), James Beaumont-Field (BF Butterknife) and all of the Foundations Area...

Hey VALORANT,

Although poring over data is a big part of the Insights team’s job (either from talking to you, through surveys and playtests, or analyzing how you're interacting with the game through in-game data), much of what we do doesn't involve data at all!

A huge chunk of our time is spent working with teams across VALORANT to help them define their goals and figure out what success looks like. We invest that time so that we can have a crystal clear understanding of whether we're doing the right things for you.

The long and short of it is this: Thank you for the opportunities to learn about VALORANT.

One of our favorite examples goes all the way back to Feb. 2019, when we ran our first playtests with players outside of Riot. We’d been developing the game for quite a while, but couldn’t get a read on what was and wasn’t working for you -- the players who we’re making this game for. We spent months working with producers and designer...

Hi I’m Brian Chang, an analyst on VALORANT’s Insights team, here with Insights Researcher Coleman “Altombre” Palm. We’re here to talk to you about our approach to using data to help keep our game balanced and enjoyable for you.

In this article, we’ll first cover our general philosophy behind how we use data to help inform changes to our game. We’ll then walk you through an example that shows how past data was used to inform changes to an Agent.

DATA IN GAME BALANCE PHILOSOPHY

On the balance team, our primary goal is to make sure that the game is a fair experience for every player. You can read David “MILKCOW” Cole’s insightful post on game balance in VALORANT ...

'Twas the night before launch, when all through the studio
Not a PC was stirring, not even aglow;
The internet was hyped by the beta, you see,
In hopes that VALORANT soon would be free;
The artists were nestled all snug in their homes;
While visions of merry players danced in their domes...

Players,

What a year it has been. One for the books...you know, the ones we have in our meeting backgrounds.

No joke, the first half of the year was tough. So much work went into getting VALORANT ready for its big debut, and while there was definitely excitement and optimism, it was tempered with a healthy dose of anxiety. Late style changes, complex performance issues, and many other challenges faced the team, not to mention the transition to working from home. But we rallied behind the potential for the game, and came together for the final push to release.

Artists, musicians, and performers will converge in a sprawling exhibition space next month for a festival inspired by the taste of VALORANT.

Crown Channel—the Twitch channel merging gaming, pop-culture, and community—is making it all happen with wwFest: VALORANT, streaming live on January 15, 2021.

The show merges physical and digital worlds with distinctive musicians, artists, and dancers, who vibe on all things VALORANT. This includes ARMNHMR, Moore Kismet, Ookay, and Whipped Cream, with more on the way.

The festival’s live performances and active art installations will be captured by drones, filmed from the perspective of our Agents: Raze, Reyna, Phoenix, Killjoy, and Jett. Whether you main or flex, the drones let...

Hello from the VALORANT Expressions team, which consists of the Progression and Store teams, collected from our various home offices.

From the Battlepass, Missions, UI, and well, the Store, you’ve joined us on the VALORANT launch in some way or another and we are here to say thanks for the ride so far, as well as preview some of the 2021 goods.

PROGRESSION

For real, patch after patch your feedback has helped us deliver better systems little by little. Lots of small UI improvements go a long way to getting the word out on skin releases, patch notes, new Agents, as well as announcements for Acts and promotions.

Shout out to the most visible members of the community for helping us ship incognito mode. The Observer tool is a different beast since launch, thanks in part to the talented observers and viewers who wanted the best view of the competition (we <3 electronic sports). And the new Battlepass Epilogue is for those of you who mak...

Here’s to growing more as a team in 2021, making even cooler stuff, and maybe even exploring new types of cosmetics! See you on the other side of 2020!

Cheers and love all around,

—Sean Marino, Preeti Khanolkar, and the rest of the Premium Content team

Hey, we’re back with Patch 1.14, if you’re wondering what happened to Patch 1.13, we used it to roll out some Unreal upgrades. So there’s that.

This one’s light on the Agents, big on Icebox. This round of Icebox changes is focused on getting the A site and verticality just right.

To help combat smurfs/AFKers, you must now win 10 Unrated matches before you can unlock Competitive. Speaking of which, the slew of Observer additions should make it better to follow the competition. Rank distribution has also been adjusted to help those at lower levels in their climb.

The limited Snowball Fight mode arrives and the Night.Market is open.

...

Q

I would love to know what exactly are you going to do about the AFKs/throwers situation? Harsher punishment? Adding a “leaver rating”?

A

Getting an AFKer in your match is definitely tilting, and we're looking into ways to lessen this type of behavior in game. To start off, you'll notice that we are implementing an update in 1.14 that changes the requirements to unlock ranked mode to "games won" rather than "games played." We hope this will force players who are just spam farming matches to actually participate in play and strive for wins. Look for more details in the upcoming patch notes.

Second, we are working on better detection of this type of behavior that will lead to harsher punishment. We're looking into things like rank penalties, experience mitigations, longer queue time restrictions, and even bans if it comes down to it. We want to distinguish between disruptive behaviors that ste...

Inspired by the incredibly popular League of Legends x VALORANT crossover concept art created by @wandakunpls we’re gonna spotlight some other community-created VALORANT and League crossovers.

Love their art? Let them know.

First the original, which if you haven’t already seen, you should spend some time in this thread. Below is just one sample.

This Thursday, December 3 marks the beginning of VALORANT First Strike: North America, a four-day, cut-throat tournament featuring the region’s top eight teams, all vying for a piece of the $100,000 prize pool and title of North America’s first VALORANT champion.

Along with our region’s best VALORANT talent, First Strike: NA will bring together some of the most beloved personalities in and outside of VALORANT, including:

• Ninja and TSM Myth as the tournament’s exclusive co-streamers

• Special guest and actor/recording artist ...

First Strike is the first major VALORANT esports tournament organized by Riot Games and will showcase the best talent and the unique playstyle of each region within the esport community. First Strike will crown the first VALORANT champions via multiple regional finals taking place from December 3-6.

For those of you who’ll be watching the event, make sure to collect your in-game rewards courtesy of Prime Gaming. These rewards, such as the “Clip It” spray, can be claimed through the Prime Gaming portal by players who h...

Announcing the VALORANT CHAMPIONS TOUR

Today we are taking our next step to grow VALORANT into the next great, multi-generational esport with the reveal of the VALORANT Champions Tour. Next year, aspiring pro players from all over the world will have the opportunity to build their stardom through a brand new series that will feature both regional and international competitions.

The Champions Tour is our effort to grow VALORANT into a global esport worthy of your fandom. The expanded competition calendar will provide the framework for stars to rise and teams to make a name for themselves - on both the international and regional stages. Fans will get to see how their local talent stacks up against each other, and then how they measure up on the global stage. 

As we were planning the VALORANT Champions tour, we received a lot of great ideas on what you wanted to see in 2021. A calendar of events that was easy to follow. Open, merit based qualifiers where teams e...

Q

I’d really like to know how many hours my friends and I have spent in the game. Is it possible to add this feature?

A

We want players to have ways to show off their investment in VALORANT whether that's their ability to climb the ladder or to showcase how long they've been playing. We're still exploring the most exciting way to do so but rest assured there will be ways to display your dedication in the future.

—Miles Metzger, Revenue Strategist

Q

Will we ever be able to transfer account regions without losing hundreds of dollars of skins and hundreds of hours of progress?

A

This is something we definitely know is important, and it’s on our list behind a couple of other critical priorities for VALORANT. We'd like it to be sooner, but it's looking this option will be available towards the middle of 2021.

...