Valorant: Riot’s strategy to balance weapons, agents and anticheat

Riot Games continues to expose more details of Valorant. The developer's tactical FPS, which will be officially launched in the first half of 2020. This time, through a video released on the company's channel, the game's developers, Salvatore “Volcano” and Trevor “Classick”, explained how the system will work. future updates, with balance of agents and weapons. Apparently it will be different from the scheme used in League of Legends (LoL), MOBA from Riot Games itself.

Trevor “Classick” said the following words:

“I worked in League of Legends and balanced the game environment. I really like the LoL update cycle. Held every two weeks, because it is possible to make changes and adjustments as soon as something happens. But, in Valorant, we don't want to go out of our way to see comments on forums or on social media. We want to ensure that players have time to solve problems using all systems and content in the game. So, try to find out if something is really in need of modifications.”

Even with less emphasis on LoL, users will influence possible updates to Valorant. (Image: Riot)

The balance

In addition, the developers showed that it will be difficult to find a balance when introducing a new patch or allowing players to solve the problem on their own, with solutions within the content provided by the game.

Salvatore “Volcano” explained:

“It will probably be difficult to reach consensus when we need to act and release an update or leave things as they are and allow players to deal with the situation alone.”

Finally, the developers have revealed that they will be cautious and there is, to date, no method to follow. Measures will be taken over time, as players gain more knowledge. For example, a better muscular memory of the recoil control, firing and understanding of weapons. Thus, they will expose more accurate data that the developer, as a whole, can act more effectively.

Salvatore “Volcano” returns to say that:

“Players begin to create a muscle memory related to how they control the weapon's recoil and how they fire. We want to be very careful when making changes to these elements, if necessary.”

Trevor “Classick” ends with the following line:

“We want to respect the knowledge acquired over time and the muscle memory created by playing for many hours. We will find a good time to apply changes to these elements. But we intend to avoid and make changes only in extreme cases. We also want to respect the time that everyone invests in the game.”

Raze Balancing

The producer clarified the balance of Raze, a Brazilian agent who has drawn attention for the strength of the game. Valorant chief designer Trevor Romleski said:

“We are looking at possible adjustments to the balance of Raze's power in relation to other agents. This includes an analysis that will tell us if she has too many grenades or if her damage is too powerful or guaranteed. As always, we would like to hear what the community has to say about the changes and whether everyone’s experience in the game is improving.”

So far, Raze leads the players' requests for nerfs. (Image: Riot)

Trevor Romleski completes his speech by saying:

“Players should feel that they are well equipped with the correct information from the game mechanics. Thus, when they die due to a beautiful move by the opponent, they will know that it was due to carelessness. This is, without a doubt, an area that needs improvement, and we are already working on it. Let's look at an example: when a Raze equips the missile launcher or fires from a distance, the enemy must be able to hear the shot and identify the imminent threat.”

The professional said that Riot does not expect that lethal skills will always be used to take down enemies in the face. Especially in high-level matches, and that as players get used to it, how to react should be different. And he warned: it is necessary to feel how well equipped and with correct information on the game mechanics is to react to the skills.

Anticheat

Regarding the anticheat system, the official Paul Chamberlain said that the community has been very interested in the subject. Over time, it will be necessary to adapt defense strategies to the real needs of the public and to attacks by hackers, with a commitment to optimized and compatible activity.

Paul Chamberlain ended by saying:

“These developers attract people with the illusion that they are working on powerful hacks. Even if this type of hack is detected and banned quickly. I'll be very sincere: I don't think we'll ever be able to stop all hackers. But I believe that we can stop most of them and work hard to banish the rest quickly.”