[2021] VALORANT Episode 2 Act I Competitive Changes

There will be roughly the same amount of players in immortal/diamond as it was before, and slight shifts in other ranks(but still very small). The biggest change is there are going to be less Irons overall. We had way to many players in Iron anyways so it's not a huge deal. This is also why you've also probably seen posts where people are like "dang there are irons that are insane" or "I've won X game and I'm still Iron". Iron shouldn't be something you sit in, especially if you are dedicated and can improve your skills above that of a brand new FPS/Valorant played(this comment might bite me later).

Also remember that your MMR is what finds you a match. You will be matched with similar skilled opponents. So your matches will probably feel very similar to what they were last season, with more ranked granularity and probably more smooth movement up(and unfortunately down) rank.

I think that this has two issues. Skill Difference/Distribution and Rank Perception.

If you make too many ranks, then it's hard for players to quantify what each rank of skill is like. For example lets say we made a wood tier, and a emerald tier, and another tier, etc.

The skill difference between iron and wood, would be so small that players wouldn't be able to tell what skill level of player are in those ranks. Ultimately it wouldn't be "I can tell that is a silver player" it would be "That player is somewhere in Bronze, Silver, Wood etc.". It works both ways, yes you can put too many players in a rank, but you can also spread them too thin and the skill difference between ranks becomes less meaningful.

I also think there is a perception that just because "I out-slay/overperform compared to my teammates at my rank, they must be bad(or in the wrong rank)". Our MMR system is, in my opinion, extremely well made and is one of the best I've encountered. You have to remember that people have bad games, at all ranks. A reason people are in silver is because they may only do well on Haven, or only play well on Jett, so when it isn't Haven or they don't get Jett they struggle. Being consistent is usually a sign of a high-skilled player, which is something that gets muddied at lower ranks. I get to play against Immortal and Radiant players that are on the dev team, almost every day, and sometimes I am near the top of the leader board and sometimes I'm at the bottom(even tho I only got Plat last season).

Remember ranked is about YOUR journey and how you improve and where you belong. If you focus on improving, and getting better, and set goals that is how you will climb. We are constantly monitoring, and watching, how many players are in each rank to make sure we don't have too many players in that rank.

There are lots of posts, pre-todays ranked changes, where players would say "I only had a few bad games and got demoted twice, the system is too punishing!" - Which is counter to your point in terms of feedback; Is the system too punishing and good players are being held down, or are bad players over inflated and too high of a rank? A lot of it is perception of how skilled you are compared to your teammates.

I'm constantly watching not only by the numbers, but also how the system feels. I can only do that by playing ranked, talking to devs that play ranked, and of course talking to players that also play ranked. Thank you for the feedback, I definitely understand this is how you feel. The system is not perfect, the ranked distribution is not perfect, we will never be done trying to make it better(and would be fools to think it can be perfect). Changes take time, maybe at some point we really want to have more ranked tiers. We would love tons of things to be added to the game, but we can only work so fast. So keep the feedback coming and hopefully you enjoy the new ranked changes!

Wanted to clarify this - The number of Immortal players will remain roughly the same for Episode 2 that it was for Episode 1: A3 (roughly ~1% of rank players per region) as EvrMoar mentioned above. Essentially 'folding,' the ranks into one rank as BrokenAshes called out. You will still be able to distinguish how you stack up against other Immortal players in E2 via comparing your Leaderboard Rank standing and current amount of Rank Rating.

The rank distribution for Immortal is roughly the same as E1: A3, so it shouldn't feel a lot harder to get into.

Every single season of ranked players improve, and the community as a whole gets better. This is true of most games, season 1 of league is very different in terms of average skill compared to season 5. These soft resets are how people prove they belong in a rank. Just because you got a rank once does not mean you deserve it forever, especially if you can't earn it again.

It's also better to have you go down slightly, proving you belong in your rank and climbing a little. Instead of accidently putting you to high and you end up being not at that level and end up chain losing to correct your rank. I'd rather, personally, have a player do well and climb instead of have them not belong in a rank and lose.

Again, you did it once you can do it again. If you can't get back to that rank do you really deserve it in the current season? Good luck, and you are in the same boat just like everyone else(even me).