Valorant developer, Riot Games, has addressed competitive changes, issues with Escalation on Bind, and tactical voice communication in the first Patch of Episode two Act II. Since its official release in June, Valorant has received criticism for its current competitive system. Riot Games has attempted to fix these issues over the previous Acts, but these changes have only solved minor problems. Valorant Patch 2.04 now addresses the issues with Rank Rating distribution, Act rank visibility and how ranks transfer between new Acts.
Professional Valorant player, Josh “Steel” Nissan, recently brought up the issues with Rank Rating distribution on Twitter. In response, Riot Games made it so that the amount of average RR per win will be reduced by five later in the season. This change will refine the Matchmaking Rating given to players in competitive matches and make ranks more even.
Similarly, achieving Radiant will now be more challenging and require a player to be in the top 500 of their regions while maintaining a set RR. Ranks will no longer appear in Agent Select, meaning that allies won’t be able to tell what rank someone is. The only way to see an ally’s current rank will be to queue with them. Valorant will also allow lower rank players to queue with a wider selection of teammates without having a cutoff in Patch 2.04.
Valorant Patch 2.04 changes Bind for Escalation
Riot Games recently added a new gun-game mode to Valorant where players compete in teams to earn kills. Bind allowed players to hide in the teleporter while playing Escalation, which forced opponents to wait outside. Escalation didn’t have a timer for the game to end. This meant that players could hide in the Bind teleporter if they wanted. Bind’s teleporter doors will now remain open for Escalation to prevent this.
Valorant will be adding additional tactical voice commands for players who don’t have or don’t use a mic for communication. The current voice commands consist of simple yes/no and directional commands. These commands will now expand, depending on where it’s called out on the map. For example, if you see the Spike in A, you can now all out ‘Spike spotted A” for your teammates.
Valorant Patch 2.04 will release when Act II begins on March 2 and will feature these changes along with the new agent, Astra.
