Valorant Dev Tracker

We're not currently talking about full ability reworks like that, and would like to avoid that if possible. I agree with your points around stall + heal uniqueness on Sage being an issue due to lack of choice competition - I spoke to that a little bit in another one of my replies here. We want to approach this methodically so we can shave off power in the right areas, but want to avoid full reworks like that if we can!

Choice competition is something that's definitely an issue, both with her healing and her hard stall. We tend to find that healing is more valued in lower MMRs, and her hard stall power is more valued in higher MMRs, although obviously both outputs are useful across the spectrum.

I think having low choice competition definitely makes the risk of a character being imbalanced higher, but doesn't mean that she's doomed to be high pick rate/win rate. For example, Sova is the only character who can reveal enemies from long distances round to round with his Sonar Dart and Drone, but he's not near Sage's pick or win rates. Cypher is the only character who can adequately watch flanks without his actual gun via his Trapwires, but he's not near Sage's pick or win rates.

Long term, we definitely want better choice competition for both of Sage's outputs - her stalling and her healing - and recognize that's an issue. We feel we can work towards resolving her balance issues befor...

This is something we talk about a lot. I’m seeing a lot of misconceptions around that we’re nerfing Sage because of her pickrate, and that’s not true! She does have a very high pickrate, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s overpowered, just popular.

The problem is she also has a very high winrate, and has consistently been the strongest agent in the game, even through several nerfs. We want to take our time and ensure that we’re bringing her power level in line with other agents while not ruining how it feels to play Sage and the value she provides to the game. We don’t want to butcher the kit, but we also have an obligation to our players to have balanced content.

There are some great ideas in this thread, but this one takes the cake. Bringing it up in our balance meeting on Monday

Depends on if you're closer or further from the angle in relation to your opponent.

If you're closer to the angle, you're at a disadvantage so quickly wide peeking is the best way to negate this advantage because your opponent will see you before you see them. This is the suggestion in the video.

If you're further from the angle, slowly peeking means you'll see your opponent before they see you. This is the example I gave.

Allow me to clarify; what I said *is true*, but that doesn't mean "maybe their philosophy on ranked will change!" What Drevarius and co said is the philosophy for the team as it stands, and that outlives a single person's time.

It was more a comment in why we're not able to comment on the next steps (QoL fixes or specific asks that might be aligned with the goals) - because we have to sally up the efforts first.

Never heard of them but I'll check them out. Thanks for the reco!

I'm so happy that others have found this to be helpful. I remember when I first realized this, it figuratively blew my mind. I've played differently ever since. Now if I could only get good at clicking heads.

^ this is one of the big issues. It's kind of a conundrum in terms of how you store the replay file itself - i.e. if it's stored as a literal video, that's a MASSIVE amount of space. If the data is stored as references that the game engine uses to 're-create' the game, you run into big issues with backwards compatibility. We patch so often and frequently that running a replay from weeks back becomes a pretty significant technical hurdle to overcome.