According to the latest blog post by the Valorant dev team, players should expect even more changes coming to the game. The latter will include harsher penalties for AFK and behavior detection.
Valorant's patch 2.03 was supposed to be the chosen one but its job will be finished by the next one in line. Patch 2.04 will deliver a lot of necessary changes that will reduce the negative experience in matchmaking drastically. Here's what you can expect:
Coming in Valorant Patch 2.04
Improved detection of AFK-type behavior
Our old system had a few loopholes, and it sucked to see some players slipping through the cracks. Those loopholes will be patched, and in the future, we’ll broaden this detection to encompass other types of disruptive behavior and non-participatory play.
Completely revamped penalty structure for AFK offenses
Rather than apply generic penalties on an “as needed” basis, we’ll track the behavior of your account over time. This means that your occasional “what the heck happened to my internet” moment likely won’t be punished too harsh (if at all).On the other hand, if you’re a player who consistently drops out of games...the hammer will come down on you, friend. These penalties are varied, and they scale based on several different factors.
Riot will be adding brand-new penalties that'll punish anyone who's ruining the player experience:
- Warnings
- XP denial for the games in which you were AFK’d
- Small deductions from your ranked rating for pre-game dodges
- Deductions from your ranked rating for in-game AFKing (Patch 2.03)
- Increased queue restrictions
- Barred entry from ranked games
- VALORANT game bans
We see one potential problem here and that's a bad internet connection. What if you're just unlucky and drop from time to time? Otherwise, the deductions for game dodging and AFK should motivate players to actually play the game and not accept defeat when it's far from over.
The dev team went even a step further and revealed a feature that's coming in Patch 2.05 - Reporter Feedback. You'll be notified when a player you reported was punished, something that's common in many other multiplayer games. In addition, Riot is also adding something extra that'll allow you to invite players into your party directly with their Riot ID, in case you're not yet ready to call them a friend.
What do you think about all these changes? Will Valorant's competitive side become much better? Tell us on Facebook or Twitter!
- READ MORE: OG Enter the Valorant Scene
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