I’d be speaking for all when I say VALORANT’s Episode Seven, Act Two has been the worst ranked experience yet. While the downturn in quality was quite apparent, it wasn’t until a player did the math that I realized how badly the system needs Riot’s attention.
In a Reddit post dated Oct. 29, a player named hllhvnd shared their disheartening encounters with throwers and disconnected players throughout their games in Episode Seven, Act Two.
It’s common for players to rant about their negative experiences on the VALORANT subreddit, but this player included numbers supporting their claim, giving insight on the exact fraction of “negatively altered” games they had to deal with this Act. And honestly, you know a game is screaming for help if nearly 35 percent of your ranked matches are plagued with throwers, AFK players, and stream snipers.
“The idea that more than 1/3rd of the time queueing you may have a negative experience, needs to be addressed. I think the only way we can do that is with harsher punishments for those who actively throw, leave, etc,” the player said, calling for Riot to add more stringent measures against offenders. They also highlighted the rise in AFKs and throwing offenses that happen near the end of an Act or Episode.
While it’d mean harsher, possibly unfair, punishments for those who have a good reason to go AFK, adding more strictness for AFK offenses is absolutely crucial to improve VALORANT’s ranked experience immediately.
Of course, the player’s math could be less than accurate. But I, along with several others in the community, don’t really find it hard to believe. “This game is infested with AFKs. It’s actually a real problem now,” one player wrote. Players also took the chance to highlight the ever-existing problem of smurfing that Riot hasn’t been able to practically address so far.
I don’t even get the kind of matchmaking Riot uses for my high Platinum-low Diamond matches, where I am matched against players with starkly lower or higher ranks who either play way too good or way too bad for their Elos. My matches have seen an unprecedented rise in AFK players who use auto-keys to avoid AFK penalties. I’ve had players block me in a cubby with a Sage wall, just because I politely asked them not to do something wrong.
So yes, there’s definitely something wrong with VALORANT’s Episode Seven, Act Two’s ranked system and Riot needs to fix it before players drift away.
