Currently, players are complaining about the ranked system of the new shooter Valorant. They are having difficulties progressing even though they often win. One of the lead designers of the game has now admitted that there is actually a major problem.
What is the problem? The lead character designer Ryan “Morello” Scott talked about the ranked mode of Valorant in a stream on July 15. Specifically, about why currently no one can say anything about it.
Because apparently, at the moment, no one is really in charge. The one developer who designed the ranked system no longer works at Riot. Morello said:
“I want to be honest with you. The person who worked on the ranked system, from a design standpoint, has left the company. No one is currently leading the ranked system – that is a major problem.”
Players, however, have a strong desire to talk about the system and have questions about how certain things work. Riot, however, can do nothing about it – there is no one who could address such issues.
Players say: We win, but do not rank up
What players are complaining about: One of the things that players do not understand and that baffles them is the handling of promotion and demotion in the ranking. This seems to be more or less arbitrary for them at the moment.
In a rather small post, the player TheGaijin1987 on reddit shows his recent games. He often wins but does not rank up. Instead, he gets punished immediately after just a few losses and is demoted.
The user Towbeh joins the discussion and reports that he has only ranked up when he completely dominated his opponents – for instance, with a final score of 13-4. It would always be the one decisive game after a long series of close victories.
How can this be improved? The players wish for insight into the ranking points. If they could see where they stand and what is needed for a promotion, it would help.
Morello mentioned in the stream that Riot is currently trying to fix the problem. It sounds like they want to find a new person responsible first.
In the same stream, Morello also announced that the agent Sage would receive a nerf and how they generally deal with overpowered heroes: Crush them into the ground and rebuild.
Similarly, the agent Raze also faced this some time ago. She was regarded for a long time as a “noob killer” and then received nerfs. That hasn’t changed much about her status at first glance, at least for casual players, but in the ranking, Raze currently occupies the last place among agents.
