https://www.cybersport.ru/valorant/articles/pochti-gotovyi-konkurent-cs-go-obzor-valorant-posle-reliza

Less lags, more frames

Prior to completing the closed testing, Valorant developers promised to fix many technical problems and seem to have successfully dealt with it. In the last weeks of the test, I felt like a deceived Siberian (although I live much closer to Moscow) with a ping for a hundred and rubber bullets that painlessly bounced off rivals. I am not the most accurate shooter in the Wild West, but at some points it was impossible to blame myself for mistakes.

To my surprise, after the release, Valorant became much more compliant and began to confidently record hits. Ping also bounced back and ran into the usual 70 ms ceiling for me. In addition to this, the frame rate has risen significantly – before it did not give reasons to be upset, so this is rather a pleasant bonus.

At the same time, Riot Games has yet to work on the technical side of Valorant. On the day of the release, I was able to complete only one of the four games in the new blitz mode, while the one that ended in complete disconnect for all participants also got into the history of matches. This, as well as the fall of servers a couple of hours later, can be attributed to the influx of people who want to try out the shooter, but the creators of the game themselves admit that they have not figured out all the bugs and errors.

At the same time, Valorant sometimes continues to report network problems and refuse packets, as if at the box office in Pyaterochka. Whether this is due to Riot Games servers or problems with my hardware could not be determined.

New Content – Map, Agent, and Battle Pass

Of course, Riot Games could not release the game from a closed test without additional content. With the release of Valorant, four innovations appeared at once – the Ascent card, the Reyna agent, the accelerated mode and the combat pass. After a beta with three locations and without any alternatives, this seriously adds variety.

The new card is especially pleasing, this time the most standard for a 5v5 shooter. Prior to this, the developers tried to come up with something unusual – to add teleporters, elevations in front of the points and even the third plant, but now they have created a location focused on the constant struggle for the mid. But the most important thing is that Ascent became the fourth in the Valorant maplet – it remains to add a full-fledged filter of cards, and we will live.

The new Reyna agent is a real duelist who should not be taken by overly neat players. The Mexican begins to create serious problems for rivals only with aggressive actions, since without frags, half of her abilities lose their meaning. This hero has great potential for cool highlights, but for this you need to not only shoot accurately, but also read the actions of opponents.

Other innovations are designed to diversify the everyday life of Valorant. The accelerated mode is more suitable for training players unfamiliar with skills and weapons, or for waiting for the fifth stack member before a serious match. The combat pass gives a sense of progress, and also allows you to accumulate expensive currency Radianite points with a good discount. True, the latter will be interesting only to those who are going to buy skins with special animations and effects.

Riot Games brought your favorite “suitcases” – they turned out to be exclusively in-game currency and skins for Valorant. Frankly, an ax instead of a knife, like the entire Prime set, surprised me very much.

Problems

Technical and content updates are great, but Valorant still needs a bit more. First of all, the shooter lacks simple functions to improve the “quality of life” of ordinary hard workers. Yes, it’s all about the same separate matchmaking and card filter.

Riot Games refuses to introduce separate lines, following the example of League of Legends, because of a reluctance to divide the audience and increase the time it takes to search for matches. But some players already complain about the constant struggle with pre-assembled groups, while others will soon begin to create additional accounts to just play in the stack with friends because of the difference in ranks. Both problems are solved by one additional mode – for teams of five people with lower rating restrictions.

A map filter is also needed right now. It is clear that in Valorant there are only four cards and developers want to receive feedback on each of them. But no one is interested in playing at the same locations three times in a row. In the end, if the majority refuses to start matches on the conditional Bind, this will already make Riot Games think about the changes.

Another reason to criticize Valorant is the anti-cheat. Perhaps there would be no complaints against him if he had not worked against the background even after the client closed. Many users refuse to install a shooter just because of a third-party program, as they are afraid that their data will go to third parties. Cheaters, meanwhile, are still the same actual problem – the game is free.

“A mixture of CS: GO and Overwatch”

After the release, Valorant was flooded with negative reviews on Metacritic, so much so that it seemed as if even Warcraft III: Reforged could not resist its anti-record. There was a lot of criticism during the beta too – first of all, the shooter was scolded by opponents of the “cartoony” style, simplified design of cards, replacing grenades with spells and repeating the ideas of other games.