TL;DR: All of us have probably been here at some point. Don't get discouraged! There's so much to this game outside of aim, aim is just easy to notice and reflect on (and get discouraged by). You will get substantially better, just keep focusing and building on your fundamentals and you will absolutely get there.

This was me when I joined the team. I'd played a ton of shooters growing up, but the one shooter I had never really gotten into was CS (I'm a big exception from most folks on the team in that regard). The biggest thing I can say is that it's easy to focus on aim as an area of improvement because it's so salient, but every time I felt like I hit a wall where "I just can't aim as well as these players", there was actually something else holding me back. My game sense, my utility usage, my movement and peeking, my general strategy and approach, my crosshair placement, etc.

As I've learned more and more about the game, the more I've come to appreciate that aim is important, but...

Caminn

just wanted to reinforce that we do use a lot of data analysis to understand our game state at any point in time in order to make specific balance changes.

balance changes based on pure data analysis are useless and lead to bad design decisions like the whole of league of legends.

Sage's winrate is substantially higher than Reyna's, believe it or not!

Maybe sage is a free character and reyna came after almost everyone had their two free extras unlocked already and the grind to get tier 5 on reyna's contract wasn't reached yet by a majority of people? shrug

Oh, I don't mean to imply we just do pure data analysis, that's definitely not the case. We also field recurring surveys to understand how players feel about the state of balance by patch, what they find frustrating, etc. and also have a set of design principles and goals that we adhere to. There's a lot that goes into the process that isn't just raw numbers.

But, when it comes to raw numbers, we also have that covered. Just wanted to reinforce that Sage is getting nerfed again because she remains the strongest agent in the game and we're trying to bring her power in line with the rest of our lineup.

800813hunter

are there enough Sage vs non-sage games for there to be meaningful data? And isn't it likely the games without a sage are low elo ones where everyone is running around like a headless chicken anyways

There are enough, yeah! We also filter by MMR ranges, so we have an understanding of her relative power across the player skill spectrum - it's quite high. But also, Sentinels are intended to be more powerful at holding ground, not taking it - Sage's wall was often being cast as a sort of super-smoke or site blocker to enable aggressive plays, which not only contributes to her outsized power but also doesn't quite fit within her role. So we're looking to shave off some power there and try to get her kit's output to be a bit more appropriate.

pitcha2

Or until they have 3 more self-healers.. she's not overpowered at all, just necessary or a detriment to not have. That she keeps getting singled out for nerfs blows my mind. The wall is already trash, it takes so long to place the wall and they keep lowering its duration and hp. It could use a buff by removing the snap to terrain that makes it so miserable to use.

Meanwhile 50 kill reyna roams free at least another week, with 4 heal-to-150hp skills and two through-the-wall one-way blinds.. yikes!

We make balance changes based off of actual game data; every time we've nerfed Sage, it's because her power is too far above other agents in terms of actual game outcomes (match winrate, round winrate, etc.)

Sage's winrate is substantially higher than Reyna's, believe it or not! Obviously we're keeping an eye on everyone, just wanted to reinforce that we do use a lot of data analysis to understand our game state at any point in time in order to make specific balance changes.

EvilWhatever

Higher priority is one thing, Ascent being 80% of the map pool was just unnecessary imo.

It was 40% actually! But we've dialed it back down so now all the maps are evenly weighted (which was always the plan). This is something we're still experimenting with, so keep letting us know what feels appropriate or not here.

diyard

Hey i dont wanna disturbe you but are you aware of an HUD bug ? My games no longer have any ammo, abilities or anything like that anymore. I just wanna know if such a bug is known. Thanks

It’s known! But I personally don’t know anything more outside of that since I don’t interface with bugs at all

OHydroxide

Awesome, thanks for the response! Do you guys plan on communicating which skill levels agents are deserving nerfs in, in the future, similar to how it's going to be done in League? I know all about the 4 different skill levels that champs are looked at in League, figured it was similar in Valorant, just more behind the scenes.

Long term we'd like to communicate that kind of stuff for sure - right now, we're just still working on building our framework for what constitutes OP/UP in our game, building expectations, etc. Since the game's just been in beta we don't want to get too comfortable with the metrics we've been using; once we're confident it's pretty accurate for the long haul though, we'll probably share our philosophy with the playerbase so you all know how we're making decisions as well.

OHydroxide

Hey I just had a question about the Raze nerf if you're able to answer. I think it's a good way to nerf that ability especially with people using it as a second nade, but do you guys think Raze was too strong? I just didn't expect a nerf without a compensation buff. Her tournament pick rate is rising but still fairly low when compared to the top picks.

First just to set a bit of context: one of our commitments as a balance team is that we aim to create an enjoyable, balanced experience for players across all of our skill levels. With that in mind...

The tournament scene is still early on right now and the meta is adapting; our hope is that with some of the Sage/Cypher nerfs in the past patches, alongside some of the Omen/Phoenix/Jett buffs, that we'll see some more meta differentiation there. If Raze needs serious work to be a viable pick there, we'll look into that too.

Looking at the actual matchmaking playerbase though, yes - Raze was one of the stronger agents across a variety of skill ratings last patch, so she's deserving of a nerf. Compet-level changes will take more nuance and communication as the scene becomes a bit more solidified!

MoonDawg2

Hello I wanted to ask, are this all the changes for mid on Split? It feels a bit underwhelming since it's essentially the same lines of sight for the most part. Is there a small box to jump on to get on the small platform on mid?

I think split's real issue is that it's just too mid based. If you take mid control your chances of winning massively improve, but that's also a slippery slope that makes the map too atk sided since rotations are so extremely easy to shutdown and retakes are rather hard to do.

I can't wait to try it out though. There's a high probability that I'm missing something, but overall great changes all around.

You guys have a challenge on that map. Maybe changing entrances in the future will be the way to go, idk. Froggie hat

These are all the changes we have currently, but YES there is a small box to jump on to get to that small platform in mid. Hopefully, it should be easier for attackers to make bits of progress through mid with the ability to hop up to that ledge and isolate angles more easily. If this doesn't end up playing out the way we'd hoped, though, we will continue to make changes to the map to improve the experience.

Daiephir

I have a question regarding Sage, have you guys iterated with giving Sage's heal a 2 kill recharge like Phoenix/Raze?

Starting context: I'm not a designer, I'm insights on gameplay overall, so take my opinions with a grain of salt!

We haven't; currently that mechanic is only present on our Duelist class (Phoenix, Jett, Raze). That definitely doesn't mean Duelists will be the only agents to get 2 kill resets, but that tends to serve as a function to encourage those agents to get kills and optimize their uses, instead of trying to optimize net round value by using abilities off cooldown.

Purely my opinion, but personally, I find abilities like Sage's heal or Sova's recon dart more interesting on cooldown models because they challenge the user to debate between getting max value between cooldowns (using Sage heal as soon as anyone gets hurt, throwing Sova darts at round start) vs. trying to get the max value with a single use (but in doing so and waiting for the perfect moment, risking not getting additional casts before the round is over). The kill reset model shifts that decision making into "how ca...

SimplyFrankie

Gotcha, well thank you so much for responding notheless, I appreciate it!

Of course! We always appreciate your feedback on stuff like this.

SimplyFrankie

Any comment or insight?

/u/Altombre /u/Riot_Milkcow /u/RiotNu

It would be very much appreciated!

Unfortunately I don't have any insight here - there are tons of folks on the team like myself who just don't interface with bugs at all, so I can't speak to this. Sorry!

diyard

Hi, any info on battle pass?

Sorry, I work specifically on gameplay content (agents, maps, weapons, live balance) so I don't have much context on the battle pass specifically. /u/Riot_Preeti and u/RiotSWAGGERNAU7 may know more!

TheOnePercent44

They added Frog Hat.

That is all.

froggie hat

SyzbuH

Just curious, was there a reason you guys never had the snake bite slow implemented? Was it something that was tried before beta and wasn’t liked, and just never taken out of the description?

Just an out of date tooltip, Snakebite hasn't slowed for a very long time internally iirc. For clarity, that's not currently something we're looking at for future Viper changes either. Maybe that'll change, but as it stands now it seems unlikely that we'd add a slow to that ability anytime soon.

Ralouch

The changes you've made to raze and omen are so well thought out, so great job so far. Maybe if vipers identity was more apparent/powerful. She's so map reliant with her wall cheese that maybe some adjustments can be made to make her more well rounded.

Thanks! Game balance is always an ongoing lesson, so we'll continue to iterate as time goes on. And yeah, I'd agree with your assessment on Viper. Can't speak to any details yet, but we're on the same page.

TuffPeen

LETS GO

Edit: No viper buffs I cry

We've got lots of ideas for Viper, but nothing that we felt comfortable fitting into this specific patch window. We haven't forgotten you poison bae mains though, keep an eye out in the future!

stormcaller_op

This is potentially ok but I hope she cannot get above 150 if she already has armor.

I don’t want to spoil any fun speculation but I will say this - yeah she can’t go over 150.

Its_Vexe

Abloopdadooda made some good points in this post.

While I do agree with many of the issues they’ve pointed out as interfering with a competitive environment, bugs on release are acceptable and most players won’t mind, and some of the bugs you listed are already being addressed (hitreg issue)and they probably had to discuss Raze/Jett and Viper boosting so that’ll be addressed for sure. They took out sage wall heaven-peeking on Haven so they will surely take boosting out too. It’s just a beta, release without ranked and the rare chance you come across exploiters in lower elo (mostly new players will be here obviously) it just seems like they’ll have it at an acceptable state post June 2nd.

All I’m saying is, Riot games should know what they’re doing by now(LoL is 10+ years), and they must have some plan to tackle the issues that have been most glaring/prevalent in the community.

I see a minimum of like 2-3 rioters a day addressing/looking at posts and replying to things. These dudes are passionate, let’s see if they can continue to listen to feedback for a smooth launch.

Yeah, we're looking at all of the issues that get stated pretty often (FPS drops, hit reg, map exploits, etc.) and have solutions we're shipping for our launch patch. I know these things are frustrating (they're frustrating for me too, so I absolutely understand) but we're committed to fixing them and they're very solvable problems.

VALORANT is about to be a truly live game, and it will always have something to fix, add, or change - whether it's balance changes, improving performance, adding new content, etc. - and that'll never stop. I totally understand concerns around some of these issues coming into launch, but I also want to reinforce that we don't see launching VALORANT as the "finish line"; rather, it's the start of a marathon. We are committed to supporting this game for years to come, regardless of what issues crop up - so keep giving us feedback and we'll keep finding more things to fix, add, and change to make the game better.

-UnaBLe-

I think there is a few more issues which are realy important such as FPS drops and low fps, high ping and a few more but they can be fix fast because before 0.5 version we had a good fps.

We're looking at all of these for the launch patch (and have talked about a few in dev blog posts over the last few days). I don't work on any of the groups directly tackling these issues, so I can't give much more context than that, but rest assured we're aware of these and working hard on resolving them.