Our favorite gaming company, Riot Games, has a massive following due to the well known MOBA, League of Legends. This robust retinue of fans gave them a springboard to launch an FPS game called Valorant. League content creators sold the dream of a Riot Games FPS to the community, maybe too well. According to twitchtracker.com, on April 9, 2020, Valorant had a live Twitch.tv viewing of over a million during beta. But if human anatomy has taught us anything, it is that dopamine comes from anticipation and not gratification. On the day of Valorant's launch, there wasn't even a fifth of the views from the beta's peak. Still, many people had expectations for the game only to be let down. On the day of Valorant's launch, Murphy's Law sneered at their optimism.
What Went Wrong
Valorant's Virulent Anti-Cheat System
The Valorant team prides themselves on their anti-cheating system that has been named Vanguard. The anti-cheat to end all cheating, it was made out to seem. They've banned upwards of 10,000 cheaters, worthy enough to puff their chests with pleasure. It is all fun and games until their vicious pet Vanguard starts baring its fangs at other games. There have been a substantial number of players that have complained of Vanguard's intrusiveness outside of the Valorant experience. Other games are being dragged down by the meddling mutt of an anti-cheat. Significantly slowed, the players who just barely make spec requirements for some games were at their wits end with Vanguard. Some of the unfortunate recipients of injustice made a subreddit dedicated to denouncing Vanguard. Safe to say Rito's anti-cheating system is far from perfect.
The Counter-Strike Community's Contempt
Every FPS startup has to go through the gang initiation phase before it can be relevant. Overwatch and Apex Legends were initiated, and Valorant is no exception. Who does the initiating? You may ask. The Counter-Strike community and friends. They are the first line of criticism or praise when an FPS debuts. On Valorant's launch, many CS:GO veterans threw stones for various reasons. The game is too clunky; the graphics are garbage, and unsurprisingly, animosity towards the anti-cheat system. Some even preferred aimbots in one game to a crippled CPU performance in a plethora of others. They weren't stingy with their criticism, and it's difficult to say it's uncalled for.
Making More Mistakes?
A common disease at Riot Games is making unbalanced characters. On release, they introduced a new Agent called Reyna. Even if you've never played an FPS game in your life, you could spot the broken bull that is Reyna. In any game, the invincible and invisible mechanics are always kept under a microscope because they can be too powerful. Rito decided it would be "innovative" to put both of these abilities into one abomination of an agent. There is no doubt that she will be nerfed on the next Valorant patch notes. In the meantime, however, she will wreak wanton havoc upon the game. It seems that League of Legends' 200 years of collective game experience taught them nothing.
