Valorant’s new competitive mode will give everyone the esports experience.
Riot is bringing a new competitive mode to Valorant that will offer greater challenges and greater rewards than standard ranked matches. Valorant’s new “Premier” mode will open up the esports experience to players of all skill levels and not just the best of the best.
Most competitive shooter tournaments are free to enter, but only the most skilled players really have a shot at winning. Valorant’s Premier mode will change that by offering divisions of various skill levels. Think of it a sort of like the English football league system, although we’re not quite sure yet if Valorant’s Premier mode will have the same rules for promotion and relegation.
In Premier, players will form teams of five to take part in seasonal pre-scheduled matches. Each season will last a few weeks and then terminate in an end-of-season tournament where the winning team gets crowned Division Champion. Next week, Riot plans to send out invitations to Brazillian players first to test the new game mode.
Announcing Premier: the next step in competitive VALORANT, where you can build a team and compete in a season of pre-scheduled matches. Headed to Brazil for a limited Alpha Test.
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) October 26, 2022
Find out more: https://t.co/5CrBJtZycA#VALPremierAlpha pic.twitter.com/NknQxvw5WM
Riot is calling this an alpha test as only 60 percent of Premier Mode’s features are currently completed. Those selected to take part in the test next week will cover the basics of the game mode, including creating teams, playing tournaments, keeping track of your Premier Score (which is different from your ranked score), and matchmaking and queue health.
Creating teams looks to be a simple matter of selecting a name and using some pre-set icons and colors, although that will surely improve over the course of the alpha. Tournament play will involve a map pick and ban system just like the highest levels of esports, and Premier Scoring will determine whether a team makes it to the end-of-season tournament.
All this seems very exciting, but Riot still hasn’t told players what they could get for taking part in Premier Mode other than prestige. I’d expect to see some exclusive cosmetics as an incentive, but we’ll likely have to wait until later in the alpha to find out.
In other pro-Valorant news, those pros have finally let slip that the Spectrum Phantom skin was actually pay-to-lose, leading Riot to fix the slightly too-long barrel.