VALORANT News: Random Sauce
Fri, Jun 12, 2020
VALORANT API has Launched! Read our API Launch post for more details.
Update 06/12/2020
No ETA just yet. We're working on it. Want to have it ASAP. My hope is that we're in the weeks range, but it's too early still to commit to anything. Once we can commit, you'll likely see a post about upcoming VALORANT apis and what they'll look like.
Riot has said publicly that they working on the API but no specifics. They plan to launch the API during the "launch/kickoff period" they have said "around 2 weeks after release."
In other words, soon™. June 16th is that 2 week mark, but don't hold your breath.
However, Riot Games has opened up API applications to VALORANT. You can submit your request at developer.riotgames.com. No documentation or official features have been announced yet, but Riot Gene has been actively promoting the features on Twitter and Reddit.
We hope to provide robust APIs for VALORANT similar to the the LoL/TFT/LoR APIs where people will be able pull data in the future.
This is nothing but good news for players, streamers, pros, and fans. With Riot's commitment to robust statistic APIs, it is exciting to think about what the community will come up with. Following kill/death ratio per character, win rate by map, round, agent, accuracy, headshot accuracy, play time -- The options are virtually endless.
We have enabled submissions for @PlayVALORANT products on http://developer.riotgames.com.
If you are interested in developing for VALORANT, please submit your ideas/products and I'll get back to you.
We at VALORANT Haven will be keeping a close eye on this. We have applied to get access to the API and plan to take full advantage of it as soon as we possibly can.
Mon, Jun 1, 2020
What is Spike Rush?
Spike Rush is a fast paced, quicker game mode in VALORANT. Every player on offense has a spike and there are pickupable powerups like hyper speed, crippling decay, and damage amp. Buy phase has been replaced with a barrier phase, and you use what ever weapon you get.
Players: 10 (5v5)
Round length: 1 min 20 seconds
Barrier phase: 25 seconds
Game length: First to 4 (switch sides after 3)
Exp: 1,000
First look at Spike Rush gameplay:
Original post 6/1/2020 4:38 PM
The new game mode's name was announced on ESPN Esports va Joe Ziegler (@riotziegler). Spike Rush.
What we know, per Ziegler, is that it is similar to the core game place of VALORANT but a much shorter game length. It is designed to be quick fun and something you can play in about 10 minutes. It is meant to be a fun experience for inbetween games, or a quick warmup, or cool down / cool off.
From the v1 patch notes: "Spike Rush (beta) also arrives to deliver a fresh and more hectic flavor of VALORANT."
Spike Rush game icon pictured above leaked by famed data miner @floxay.
Fri, May 29, 2020
Get a first look at the new Agent!
In a promo video posted by the VALORANT Brazil Twitter account, we get our first look at what the finalized new Agent looks like.
What a teaser! We can’t wait to play as her during the game’s launch on Tuesday, June 2nd!
What do you think her abilities and ultimate will be? Let us know your guesses in the comments.
Find out more about the game’s launch here»
Tue, May 19, 2020
Phillip Koskinas, anti-cheat engineer at Riot Games, tweeted today that an additional 1600 accounts were banned yesterday for cheating. Add on the 8800 banned last week, it is amazing that nearly 10,000 accounts have been banned on a game in closed beta!
Sun, May 10, 2020
I was lucky enough to get an invite to the VALORANT closed beta, but after playing through the training map and my first game, my ping was averaging in the 200s.
I asked the people I was playing with where they were from, lo and behold, they were all in Brazil. I also noticed that my payment options were in the wrong currency. There seems to be a moderately common issue of being put into the wrong region. I am located in the Central U.S. I immediately looked into changing my region in VALORANT, but could not find the option anywhere.
Good news/bad news there. The good news is, that it can be changed. The bad news: it can only be changed by Riot through a support ticket. Based on Twitter and Reddit reports, it could take a little while for Riot to respond to support tickets.
First, check out what region your account is bound to at account.riotgames.com. To update this, you must create a support ticket with Riot. Submit a request with Riot here
While you are waiting for Riot to make the change, you can queue with a party in your region and play on local servers that way. Having trouble finding your friends from a different region? Try to download and install League of Legends and make friends through the LoL client.
Fri, May 8, 2020
On Tuesday, May 5th, Phase 2 of the VALORANT Closed Beta began with rollout to the new regions. Data Centers went online in: Seoul, South Korea, Santiago, Chile and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
VALORANT Executive Producer, Anna Donlon mentioned that the team has had a majority of infrastructure delays in getting their Mexico City, Mexico Data Center online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She mentioned they hope to have that Data Center online at a later date.
Regions such as: Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Greater Middle East are not yet able to join the Closed Beta. Riot’s teams continue work to build out infrastructure in these regions to allow access in the future, but no time frame has been set due to the pandemic.
Localized voiceover work has also been affected by the pandemic, causing mixed language Agent VO to be used for the time, until complete voiceover work in each language can be recorded.
Anna Donlon also noted latency issues have affected areas where the Closed Beta is online due to high internet usage globally and ISP routing issues. Riot Games is working to improve ping by troubleshooting with ISPs and continuing buildout of infrastructure.
The only way to join the Closed Beta is by Drops. Link your Riot account to the streaming platform while watching VALORANT streams on Twitch in LATAM and Brazil or on Twitch or Afreecatv in Korea.
Did you get put into the wrong Closed Beta server region? Here’s our guide on how to get it solved.
Mon, Apr 27, 2020
It seems that developers have been churning out FPS games at a staggering pace over the last decade or so. However, only a handful have stayed relevant over the years. The one game that comes to mind is Counter Strike and all of its variants. From CS 1.6 as far back as 2000 to CS:GO now, CS has been a staple in the team based competitive shooter scene and is considered the gold standard for this genre. It is essentially what games such as Valorant and Rainbow 6 Siege are striving to become.
How has CS stayed on top?
- Skill. All players, regardless of experience, have the same weapons/controls and there is no pay to win advantage. There is always a bit of RNG as with all games, but skill is still by far the determining factor in winning/losing.
- Team Dynamics. CS was one of the first games that emphasized team play and different roles. It is important to have superstar play makers but rarely does one player outweigh the importance of proper team play.
- Round Lengths. Battle Royale style games are all the rage still but there is a large segment of gamers that prefers the shorter round matches. This keeps things fresh and engaging. 20-30 minute games just aren’t for everyone.
- Maps. Balanced maps and map design are extremely important. CS has had the benefit of 20+ years of trial and error and millions of hours of playtime to perfect its most popular maps. You don’t want a map that heavily favors one side or another or that is complicated to figure out.
- Skins. Cosmetics and visual addons has fueled CS:GO. It has been instrumental and extremely important from a profitability standpoint as well helping players stay engaged with the game.
- Computer Requirements. CS has always been a computer friendly game. Most PCs can probably run CS in some playable fashion assuming you have a semi decent video card.
- Free to Play. This has kept CS:GO popular since...who doesn’t like free?
Valorant is trying to duplicate the CS franchise but they want to go a step further. From just looking at the gameplay without the special abilities, it seems very similar to CS and you would be right. Each gun has its own special pros and cons, rounds are fairly short, and there is a period that allows you to purchase weapons/abilities at the start of every round. It even seems that the majority of CS pros have found success playing Valorant during this beta run and that should not be surprising to anyone. However, the addition of special abilities, further game development, and the promise of faster servers and seamless gameplay have made Valorant one of the most anticipated games of the year.
In Valorant, you can control an agent of your choice and each agent has a special role and abilities that hopefully complements the rest of your team. From resurrecting and healing allies, to shooting wall hack arrows that reveal enemies, the possibilities are endless. These agent classes give a bit of spice to the typical CS:GO team where all players are exactly identical except for different cosmetics. The gameplay and shooting is fairly similar, but the agent classes adds another layer of tactical skill and specialization skill that CS doesn’t offer. It allows for more team composition varieties and tactical exploration.
Valorant also is hoping to provide the fastest servers and most seamless gaming experience. Short wait times and low pings are what most gamers look for and Riot is hoping to deliver. It is rare when a developer emphasizes exemplary coding as a main. There is nothing more frustrating than shots that don’t register or long wait queues to play.
By making this game free to play, Riot is trying to get as many players as possible and this is also apparent by looking at the graphics and hardware requirements. Minimum requirements are Intel i3-370M and Intel HD 3000. That means that most $300 laptops should be able to run this or even 5 year old desktops. While you may not get 240FPS, the game will be playable and the more players that play, the better for Riot. One of the reasons CS:GO has stuck around is the cosmetics and Riot is trying to capitalize on the exact same thing with their new in-game store. Large amounts of players with optional in-game cosmetic purchases has proven to be a printing press for money.
Riot has also emphasized anti-cheat and development as important cornerstones of the game. Cheating is self explanatory. While it is frustrating getting stomped on by a team of good players, nothing grinds my gears more than cheaters. Cheaters ruin the experience for players on both teams and are in essence wasting everyone’s precious time. Valorant has run into cheaters already during this Beta test (Shroud documented a cheater in one of his games on youtube). This is a beta run so we’ll let it slide for now. Hopefully, Riot can clean it up a bit by the time the game officially launches.
Constant improvements and updates will also be a breath of fresh air. One major issue with CS:GO is that it has seemed stagnant for the last decade or so besides the cosmetics store. The most popular maps are played over and over again and there hasn’t been anything groundbreaking new development/official gameplay. You don’t fix what’s not broken but we hope Riot treats their first entry into the FPS world seriously and gives players, new and old reason, to be excited going forward.
Is Valorant a subtle rip off of CS? Probably a bit. The weapons, maps, objectives, and overall style is very similar. But the new feature abilities and promise of optimization/development will hopefully push this game to the next echelon of not only casual, but competitive gaming. Riot has been able to sit back and see what works and take cues from games such as CS and Overwatch to improve their product. With a strong development team, an overall positive response to the beta so far, and the deep pockets of Riot, we expect this game to be not only polished, but extremely fun to play. We look forward to the official launch.
Sun, Apr 26, 2020
Grammy winning DJ, record producer, and songwriter, Zedd, played VALORANT in his first ever gaming stream on Twitch.
After the DJ’s broadcast of a September stop of his Orbit tour in San Francisco, Zedd played VALORANT with the stream peaking at 41,000 viewers!
Squadding up with former Overwatch pro, emongg and a crew of others, Zedd streamed for several hours while in a Discord voice chat with teammates.
Despite it being his first stream, he was miraculously able to keep answering questions and read comments from his chat while playing.
Surprisingly, Zedd is a very good VALORANT player with excellent aim, positioning, and use of abilities. He has played Overwatch in the past, and mentioned playing a lot of Counter-Strike: Source when he was younger.
After being asked if he ever considered playing professionally, Zedd revealed he actually played on a CS: Source team representing his state many years ago. His ease in sniping, callouts to teammates, peeking, and use of the pistol definitely back up his claims.
Zedd played a number of games as Jett. When asked if he’s a Jett main, Zedd said he thinks Jett and Viper are the weakest characters in the game. He believes Jett’s ability to get out of situations is nice and that’s why he continues to play as her. Zedd’s favorite Agent is Omen, but he hasn’t had a chance to play as Omen yet.
After hitting some nice headshots, Zedd yelled, “OOOH BABY!” Seems like he’s got a new tagline there!
A number of streamers and other celebs dropped by in chat including Dillion Francis and Overwatch League pro Linkzr. Dillion apparently plays VALORANT too, so it seems like he and Zedd may play together one day. When asked, Zedd said he’d be open to playing VALORANT with Twitch streamer, XQC, too.
After saying thanks and goodbye to his audience for the night, Zedd and his viewers raided streamer and Overwatch League coach CurryShot who was celebrating a birthday. A celebratory end to an amazing first stream of music and VALORANT on Twitch.
Check out Zedd’s Twitch channel for his next stream, here.
Wed, Apr 15, 2020
Famed Quake champion Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel has been dabbling in VALORANT this week. Fatal1ty is a 90s competitive gaming / eSports legend. The professional gamer before professional gaming existed.
Fatal1ty started by adjusting all of his settings live on stream as he first started trying the game out. Watch Fatal1ty go through his process of adjusting sensitivity and other in game features on Twitch. He then walks us through his process for learning new maps, “I just go left hard every time. Pushing very hard left and learning where the choke points are.” His initial comments about the game compare it to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. “A lighter CS:GO with abilities.” Describing the abilities as interesting, but likes that the gun play is still the hero of the game and that the abilities are not the main focus.
Check out Fatal1ty on Twitch for more VALORANT game play.
Wed, Apr 15, 2020
Riot released a series of Desktop and Mobile wallpapers for VALORANT fans!
Some fans may not know about their availability as they were posted on the VALORANT Brasil Facebook page.
They’re a great way to spruce up your desktop or phone and offer great closeups of some of the VALORANT Agents.
Download them from Riot Brasil’s imgur galleries:
VALORANT Desktop Wallpapers VALORANT Mobile/Phone Wallpapers
Sat, Apr 11, 2020
Before VALORANT, I never had the desire to watch Twitch on the go. This morning I woke up, installed the Twitch app on Android and started watching fatal1ty play some VALORANT only to have the chat take up one quarter of my screen in landscape mode. I checked every setting, I tried swiping every direction, and I tried tapping every single thing on the screen before resigning myself to having to have to deal with the chat stream forever. It wasn't until I got an email notification and I doubled tapped the video to exit full screen mode and the chat screen went away! OK boomer?
Hide Twitch chat on mobile:
- Double tap the video
- Enjoy full screen Twitch video
Lo and behold, it really is that easy.
