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- Valorant is set to receive its biggest update yet with a new agent, new episode and massive changes to ranked.
- A demotion protection system is being added to the game to prevent players from de-ranking right after securing a promotion.
- A leaderboard is also being added to help players see the top players' list in real-time.
Episode 2 is right around the corner with Riot Games announcing the patch 2.0’s release for tonight. The new update will not only bring the game’s newest agent Yoru and a new battle pass, but we will also get some much-needed changes to the ranking system. While a lot of the changes that are being deployed are minor, they have been requested for months with more updates to come throughout the new Episode.
What Is Riot Changing With the New Ranking System?
Progression arrows have been removed from ranked play and players will now see a new progress bar. One of the biggest complaints in the current system was that players had no idea how close they were to a rank-up because Riot does not reveal your MMR in-game. There are “dozens of minor changes” that will make your ranked experience much easier.
A new demotion protection system has also been deployed to prevent you from de-ranking to a previous tier right after securing a promotion. This has been a frustrating problem for a sizeable portion of the playerbase as they find it difficult to maintain their new ranks after climbing up.
Riot revealed in their patch notes "Our current rank system doesn’t give you a great picture of where you stand in between ranks, how much you should generally expect to gain match to match, and why you are moving. With these changes, we hope the rank system is much easier to understand, more fair, and it's harder to quickly lose ranks for those days when your game is off."
Other Changes Coming To Patch 2.0
We are getting a new agent and a new season pass with the new update. But one of the best changes headed to Valorant is the new in-game leaderboard. Players will now be able to see who the top players are in each region. You can also see how you compare against the rest of your friend list. The leaderboard will be unique for each region, and the game will also put out a leaderboard that anyone can access from their browsers.
The leaderboard will be updated in real-time to ensure players have access to the latest insights on player rankings. Only Immortal and higher ranked players will be featured on the leaderboards. Riot is also working on how they want to deal with AFK players and throwers, and we should have another update to tackle throwers in the near future.
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