As a game,Valorantis still in its infancy. Despite the prominence of hero shooters,Valorantis unquestionably new territory for Riot. As such, tweaks to gameplay to and bug fixes for things liketheValorantstutter exploitare constantly needed.
For all that,Valoranthas been doing very well since it hit the scene earlier this year. Modeled afterCS:GOwith the addition of characters having their own powers, it has drawn a lot of praise. Many professional gamers are leaving their trademark games to giveValoranta try. Some have even decided to switch to streamingValorantpermanently over other titles. It definitely has the potential to blow up big, if it receives constant maintenance.
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That said, there are still some things that need serious changes. One major sticking point for players is the current character meta. While most of the agents sound viable in theory, in practice there is a major discrepancy in power level. ThestrongestValorantagentscan dominate lower tier ones when controlled by someone with skill, and at the top of the tier list is Sage. In a recent Q&A held on Twitch, Ryan “Morello” Scott indicated this may be changing soon with changes coming to Sage, along with Viper and Breach.
Thenews of Sage’s future nerfis not surprising; in fact players knew it’s been coming for a while. What is a little surprising is that it looks like Sage will not be getting a full nerf. Instead, she will be “sidegraded.” Some of her abilities will be nerfed, but others will be buffed to compensate. This is often done when a game’s developers want to emphasize part of a character’s gameplay over a part that has been over-performing. In the most extreme cases, the functionality of some abilities are changed altogether. It’s entirely possible that Sage may not play the same very soon.
While Sage is being sidelined, Breach and Viper are both undergoing testing for upcoming buffs. Viper has already been buffed recently, but apparently those buffs didn’t do enough for the agent. Meanwhile Breach’s buffs will focus on making him more useful to his teammates. Add to this the fact thatKilljoy is officially joining the roster soonand the agent meta will no doubt change drastically.
At the moment, the agent meta ofValoranthas had the biggest impact on the game, but that may not always be true. Thebest weapons ofValorantare pretty much set right now, but future changes could shake up that weapon meta. With two metas running side by side, it will be a tightrope act for Riot to keep them both balanced.
