Valorant Episode 8 Gets a Rocky Start

Episode 8 Placements and the New Outlaw are Causing Chaos in Valorant

Valorant Episode 8, Act 1, just started, and everyone’s rushing to complete their placement matches. However, Radiant players are ending their placements in super low gold, and the Valorant community, most of whom are below Immortal, doesn’t know what this means for their own rank.

Every Act, Riot soft resets everyone’s ranks, meaning that players have to complete a new batch of placement matches with other players of their approximate rank to start out the ranked season. Players’ performance during the placement matches can boost their starting rank right to where they used to be or force them to start the Act at a much lower rank.

This time, however, Valorant players are faced with a bizarre scenario that no one expected.

While Platinum used to be the highest rank you could reach after completing your Valorant Placements, this year it seems like Riot really tightened their siege around players, with some Radiants dropping all the way to low Gold. There are a lot of problems with this, starting with Diamond and Radiant players being put in the same division after completing their placements.

No matter how much you grind to boost your Valorant rank, you’re going to have a very hard time against players who should be three or four ranks above you, let alone players who are at the top of the ranked ladder when you’re still in Diamond!

In the end, we have to admit that it is kind of fun watching players from the Valorant Pro scene get placed in Silver, but the reactions from the community are already heated, as the larger, more casual player base doesn’t want to face esports professionals in their gaming time after work.

Riot Games hasn’t commented on the situation yet, but they recently made changes to the ranking system in Valorant and announced they would be shifting to a whole new system, not only in Valorant but also in League of Legends and TFT, before the end of the year, implementing the TrueSkill 2 ranking system.

The Outlaw is Already Causing Damage

Meanwhile, as the first Premier stage of 2024 begins, platers are completely losing it over the Outlaw, branding the new Sniper Rifle as “broken” and “unhealthy for the game.”

Essentially, when a team wins the first round and gets enough to buy an Outlaw, they get such a big power boost that, most of the time, they end up snowballing and winning the game. Valorant players are upset about the fact that, with a sniper that’s a lot more affordable than the Marshal, you can take out anyone without a shield in one shot. On the other hand, there has been a persistent “half-armor” meta reigning supreme in high-ranking Valorant matches as well as in Valorant Esports, which the Outlaw counters effectively.

Most pro-players agree that the new sniper needs to be adjusted, but they also know that releasing a new weapon in an FPS game will always have this effect, so they’re not too worried.

Riot is gathering tons of feedback and, most importantly, match statistics, and without a doubt, once they have enough information, they will balance the Outlaw accordingly. Until then, stay tuned for more Valorant news!

 

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