In the most recent Valorant Dev Diary, design director Joe Ziegler and competitive design lead David Cole break down some upcoming changes to competitive in Act 3.

Ziegler begins the video by thanking players for their feedback on the current ranked system, and he acknowledges the flaws in the system. He introduces some of the changes coming to the game – specifically an improvement to matchmaking in the highest ranks and a potential new game mode with a greater focus on organized team play separate from competitive.

Competitive design lead, David “Milkcow” Cole, explains the specific changes coming to competitive in Act 3. First, the team wants to tighten the current ranked queue by limiting the ranked tier a player can queue with from six to three. For example, The lowest rank a Platinum three player can queue with is Gold three, and Diamond three being the highest. Cole explains the decision making behind the change by saying, “We want to bring back more competitive integrity to the queue and get you focused on what matters most: winning.” While this hurts lower-ranked players wanting to queue with their higher-ranked friends, the change should provide a tighter matchmaking experience with a more equal skill spread.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=AKdvJ59cbZk

Another planned feature will allow players to select their preferred server. Players on the east coast of the United States can choose to match exclusively with players in the same area. The change is an attempt to stabilize and improve ping. The chosen server is not guaranteed due to matchmaking reasons, but should provide a better experience for players experiencing consistent lag.

For players in the highest ranks, Immortal and up, rank increases or decreases will now be solely decided by a win or loss, and the decisiveness of the final score. Individual player performance no longer affects whether or not top players rank up. The team plans on testing this change with higher rank players and potentially add this to the entire competitive queue. Next year, the team plans on adding a leaderboard for top players and restricting the queue to solo/duo. The former is a long-requested feature and provides some extra competition for the very best players in Valorant. The latter is an attempt to shorten queue times and provide a better competitive experience for top players.

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