It’s been two weeks since the previous iteration of Ask Valorant. So, that means it’s time for another round of community questions answered by the numerous members of the Valorant team. The eighth edition of Ask Valorant dives into the option of left-hand view models, the possibility of updates to existing skins, the effect the map rotation changes will have on queue times, and one player’s feelings of inconsistency in their performance.
If you missed the previous edition, Riot Games revealed what exactly goes into your combat score after a match. It also talked about ways it wants to improve the system to include non-damage dealing contributions. Things like stalling opponents, blocking lines of sight, and spotting enemies. The previous Ask Valorant also talked a lot about skin variations. So, if you’re interested in those, make sure you check it out.
Southpaws
A left-hand view is an option used by many Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players. Naturally, players coming to Valorant from CS:GO want to keep their point of view consistent. Riot is aware that many players would like this option in-game, but it needs to validate some things first to ensure it’s done right.
There are two main factors that Riot is considering. The first is the impact on the artwork. Weapon skins, character models, and ability animations all need to be thoroughly checked to ensure they still look as intended. With abilities and bullets, Riot needs to be absolutely sure that these things still originate from the same place.
The second aspect is Valorant’s guiding principle, competitive integrity. The team needs to ensure there is no advantage or disadvantage to using a left-hand view. There is still a lot of rigorous testing to be done with both aspects, so left-hand view in Valorant has no arrival date yet.
New looks
Not all skins are created equal in Valorant. The different cosmetics have a grade that determines their price and standout appeal. The more expensive, higher quality skins include things like particle effects and audio changes. Likewise, the lesser ones simply reskin the base weapons.
When asked if they would ever go back and update existing skins, like adding particles to the Spline cosmetics, the reply from the Valorant team didn’t rule it out. It all depends on demand. The team wants to be working on the next cool thing. Updating old cosmetics takes time away from that.
However, minor updates have been made to older skins to improve their looks. These have largely gone unnoticed though.
The problem of inconsistency
A lot of Valorant players have complained about their inability to shoot consistently between games. This has led them to wonder if it’s them or the game. In this week’s Ask Valorant, Riot was asked if it is investigating why the game might feel different from match to match.
Riot admits that there have been some issues with hit registration and clarity, but a team is constantly working to improve these. It also revealed that it is constantly gathering feedback from players (ranging from Gold to Immortal+) to learn how they are feeling about the game and its performance. Mostly, they have said shooting feels reliable and consistent.
However, they have identified areas that can be improved. Namely, hitbox clarity, the readability and predictability of inaccuracy while moving, and minimizing the impact of ping on the feel of the game. So, the team is hard at work investigating these issues.
As for the impact the map rotation changes in patch 1.08 will have on queue times, there’s not much to say here. Ian Fielding, the Senior Producer on Valorant, clearly stated the queue times will not be affected at all by the update.
You can check out the full Ask Valorant answers to left-hand view and everything else on the game’s website.
