Cover-Credits:
- Valorant will address its smurfing problem in the upcoming 1.13 patch next month.
- Riot team member npcSara revealed some changes are being made to how new accounts access ranked matchmaking.
- Players will now have to win 10 matches instead of playing 10 matches to unlock ranked.
Smurfing has been an issue in Valorant since its release and Riot Games is addressing the topic. With patch 1.13, smurfing is set to get lower-skilled. There has been a lot of heated discussion over the topic recently, and Riot team member npcSara responded to a community thread on Reddit claiming that things are set to change next patch.
How Valorant Seeks to Deal With Smurfs in Patch 1.13
Whenever a player makes a smurf account on Valorant, they usually sign up for the game with a fresh id and play for a few hours until they can queue ranked. It takes only 10 Unrated games of experience to be allowed to play ranked, which is exactly what players abuse. By intentionally throwing 10 matches, it makes the game think that the players are lower-skilled than they actually are. And they move on to playing ranked and ruining other people’s experiences in-game. The change coming in patch 1.13 will essentially ask you to win 10 matches instead of simply playing them. While it will not directly deal with the smurfing problem, it will slow it down.
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Why Do Some Valorant Players Smurf?
While there are a lot of players who smurf just to get easier lobbies, some players do so to play on other servers. As of now, there is no way to transfer your account to a different region while also retaining all of your progress and in-game purchases.
Valorant is currently working on a change that will allow players to move their in-game stats and items to a different server next year. It will help players use their main accounts to play ranked in any region. another issue at hand is the low player population at the highest ranks. It is an issue that plagues almost every game, and there is no real way to solve it. Some games choose to add players from lower ranks in matches which is detrimental to the gameplay experience for everyone. Valorant on the other hand keeps players in queue until a suitable lobby is found. It has led to not only good players but also streamers and professionals to create smurf accounts to play at lower ranks.
While players in the Reddit thread were generally happy with the change, others pointed out that the change should have been a hotfix instead of having Riot announce the change ahead of time. Players may create smurf accounts in advance before patch 1.13 goes live to have access to low-tier ids to play on.
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