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Valorant received a new Public Beta Environment (7.08) recently and there is a smoke visual update and players are not happy with how the developers adjusted smokes in the game. Astra, Brimstone, and Omen’s smokes play an audio and visual cue 1.5 seconds before they are about to fade which sounds like a useful change but there are too many issues with it. There are also some store updates and bug fixes in the new beta that should arrive to the live version of the game very soon.
There are multiple issues with Astra and the new smoke audio
There are multiple issues with Astra wall and the new smoke audio. The first may be working as intended - it seems the audio source is the center of the smoke, so the audio will be cut off even if the smoke is visible through the Astra wall. The second is that if the Astra wall falls before the smoke dissipates but after the animation starts to play, the remainder of the dissipation audio cue fails to play despite not being blocked by anything.
This issue occurs when you place a smoke with the center past an active Astra wall but with part of the smoke on the player’s side of the wall. It can be replicated very consistently and causes the smoke audio cue to resume after it dissipates which is confusing players. Many feel that these smoke changes were unnecessary and did not need to be added to the game. The issues are likely to be addressed by Riot Games before the changes are moved from the beta to the live version of the game.
Other changes in Valorant 7.08 PBE
PREMIER UPDATES
Premier Playoffs Tournament Queue Changes
The Playoffs Tournament Queue is now only 15 minutes instead of 1 hour. If you don’t queue up and stay queued within the 15 minute window, your team will not be able to play in the Tournament.
At the end of the waiting period, all teams that are still in the queue will be matched at one time into evenly distributed brackets seeded by Premier Score.
This change ensures that having a better regular season record gives you a higher seeding in your tournament.
STORE UPDATES
Your Level Borders and Player Card collection UI is getting an upgrade! You’ll now be able to search, navigate, and equip your Level Borders and Player Cards using our grid UI.
BUG FIXES
Deadlock
Annihilation (X) can no longer open Bind’s automatic doors from outside the teleporter rooms.
Annihilation (X) can no longer open Breeze’s Mid Chute trapdoor from below.
Neon
Fast Lane (C) now more reliably fully extends through Fracture’s A Door when cast from the outside, behaving the same as when used from inside A Hall.
General
Fixed a bug where the music would hitch/skip while loading into a map or the Range.
Player Behavior
Fixed a bug so that you’ll receive the correct Ranked Rating penalties for disruptive behavior.
Weapons
Fixed a bug where killbanner audio was playing too quietly.
