Valorant Outlines Current And Upcoming Changes To Competitive Play

For a competitive game like Valorant, getting the competitive ranking system right is paramount. Riot Games knows this, and is continually tweaking the system to provide the best experience for ladder-climbers and would-be pro-level players. Yesterday's Patch 2.02 made significant changes to the system, and there are more to come, all of which Riot's Jon "EvrMoar" Walker laid out in detail in an blog post accompanying the update.

The Convergence multiplier for Rank Rating has been changed, granting greater increases in RR gains for matches below your MMR; you'll also lose less RR in losses in those situations. The idea is that you should feel less "hardstuck" when you're in matches higher than your actual rank.

Players can no longer five-stack all the way to the top ranks, with Diamond 3 and above now limited to solo players and duos. You'll also get an exceptional performance bonus to RR in Iron to Diamond matches when your play well exceeds your average.

Going forward, Walker expects Patch 2.03 will make it so your end-of-Act rewards match up with your leaderboard standings, or highest rank achieved, and there are greater penalties planned for AFK-ers. For Episode II, Act 2, Riot plans to make it easier to maintain ranks between Acts, while loosening group restrictions at low ranks for players who want to be competitive but also want to enjoy a semi-casual experience with friends.

Another subtle improvement that's in the works is the hiding of rank from the pre-match screen. It will still be displayed after a match, but Riot thinks that displaying it at the start of a match "can lead to an increased amount of unhealthy pressure from other players."

Yesterday's patch also included some tweaks to running accuracy for the game's four rifles, and fixed a number of bugs, including an insidious one that allowed players to silently plant the spike. You can read the complete patch notes for 2.02 on the Valorant site.