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Riot Games' tactical First-Person-Shooter title, Valorant, is one of the most popular multiplayer games in the world at the moment.
Its grueling gameplay, excellent characters, and level designs have led to its success. There are, however, certain key gameplay elements that are missing from the game for now.
With more than two successful years under its belt, in which it has hosted two seasons of the VCT, Riot Games, which has been prompt at listening to and acting on player feedback, should make an effort to add these features that players have been waiting a long time for.
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A replay system is at the top of the priority list. Some form of role queue system might also serve the game well. This article will delve into the expectations players have from the game in the upcoming year.
Note: This article reflects the subjective opinion of the writer.
Role queue and 4 other things Valorant players want to see in 2023
1) Replay system
The best players in the game agree that one of the most efficient ways of improving at Valorant is by looking at previous games to figure out what mistakes they were making.
This way, players can make sure that they don't keep on making the same mistake over and over again.
Currently, Valorant players who wish to see replays of their games need to use third-party applications to record their games. Although this serves the purpose, external recording software running in the background means compromised in-game performance.
This issue is particularly hampering for players who run the game on low to mid-end PCs. A replay system that runs along with Valorant will be helpful for the entire community.
2) Role queue system
Many players, especially those in the lower ranks, tend to instalock Duelists as soon as the Agent Select screen comes up.
These force teams to either play with skewed, imbalanced compositions, or some players have to play roles they aren't comfortable in. Both these situations are undesirable and can hamper the success of everyone on the team.
One way to counter this would be to introduce a role queue system like the one in Overwatch.
A possible combination of five Agents in each game could be one person in the queue for each class and one person in the queue for a flexible slot that could be filled by an Agent of any class as per the team's requirements.
There are concerns about such a system restricting the variety of agent compositions or increasing queue times greatly. There are ways to counter each of these, and the introduction of such a system might be beneficial for Valorant's gameplay standards.
3) Weapon updates
The main weapon meta in Valorant has remained constant since the earliest days of the game.
While there have been minor changes in the use and power levels of side arms and cheaper (and weaker) weapons, the Phantom, Vandal, and Operator have dominated buy rounds.
Although there is nothing inherently wrong with the way the current gunplay system in the game works, there is always scope for improvement.
Weapons like the Judge, Stinger, and Odin serve niche roles. There is scope to add more guns to the game. Since most of the guns in Valorant already follow a CS: GO model, it could be nice to look at some archetypes from there and adjust them per Valorant’s needs.
Some kinds of guns that can be brought into Valorant are:
- A high fire rate and high damage at close range SMG-Assault Rifle hybrid like the P90.
- A dual berettas equivalent that is like the Frenzy but more expensive.
4) Gifting system
The developers had talked about introducing a gifting system like there is in League of Legends as “a way of celebrating victories, holidays, or any occasion that calls for it” back in 2020. The plan to introduce it into the Valorant ecosystem fell off because of other pressing issues to address.
In May 2022, Riot confirmed that such a system was still on the cards and will be introduced in time. They did not have a timeline in mind for the same, though.
It would be a pleasant gift for the player base if such a mechanism was introduced into the game in 2023.
5) New Agents and Maps
Valorant had promised one new Agent each Act and a new Map every Episode, but over time that pattern did not end up being followed for various reasons.
Riot has maintained its promise of keeping the game fresh with new Agents, Maps, and changes to both at regular intervals. 2022 introduced three new Agents and one new Map.
In 2023, players can expect a new Map quite soon as Bind and Breeze are about to leave the pool to make space for Split and the new map.
A new Agent will follow soon enough, and players will be able to see brand-new metas and playstyles develop across the board in 2023.
In the two-and-a-half years of the game, Valorant has always felt fresh and fun. Riot has also meticulously ensured that the community stays happy and on its toes. It will be interesting to see how they keep up the air of novelty while maintaining its robust feedback system.
