Valorant Pros Not Happy with Upcoming Smoke Changes
| Tags: Valorant
| Author Thealchemist
Valorant professional players are not happy with the upcoming smoke changes in Patch 7.08
Valorant is known for being more casual-friendly compared to other tactical shooters, with aspects like larger hitboxes and visual highlights on enemies. With the upcoming smoke changes in patch 7.08, the FPS is going one step forward in making the game more accessible to casual players. However, many professional players have shown their disappointment with this update. Let’s have a look at the changes and how some pros reacted to them –
Valorant Patch 7.08 Smoke Changes
Valorant’s Public Beta Environment (PBE) is a server where upcoming changes are tested, and one of the recent updates in this server had to do with the smokes of Omen, Astra and Brimstone – all Controller Agents.
Smoke Changes (7.08 PBE) | #VALORANT
~ Astra, Brimstone, and Omen’s smokes will now play an audio & visual cue 1.5 seconds before they fade. pic.twitter.com/7XHU1bN2Ub
— Valorant News & Updates (@valormarket) October 14, 2023
This update will allow audio and visual cues 1.5 seconds before the smokes of Brimstone, Astra and Omen fade. Therefore, players will be able to tell if a smoke is about to fade when it is in their line of vision or close enough for them to hear.
As most of the community agreed, this change is going to be helpful for casual players. You will die way less frequently due to the smoke you are hiding inside suddenly fading. Moreover, unlike pro players, you won’t have to count down your internal clock to determine exactly when it will fade.
Since smokes are an integral part of Valorant’s gameplay, this change, although it may seem insignificant, will likely change how the FPS is played.
Pro Players’ Thoughts on Valorant Smoke Changes
It hasn’t been long since the news of this upcoming update was released, and some professional Valorant players have already shown disappointment.
It's gonna change a lot actually for pro players, especially for players who just launched the game. https://t.co/ougHviVZk7
— NAVI suygetsu666 (@suygetsu) October 14, 2023
“Riot need to delete this before everyone has seen it, otherwise hate will start.” – said NAVI’s Dmitry “SUYGETSU” Ilyushin.
Not really a big fan of this change. It gave controller players a huge advantage to know exactly when smokes fade. Overall will change a lot of fights imo. https://t.co/RJkuoLlGxn
— BcJ (@BcJFPS) October 13, 2023
Former Evil Geniuses member Brendan “BcJ” Jensen, who played Controller Agents such as Omen, expressed that this update will take away the advantage Controller players had by knowing exactly when their smokes are going to fade. Now, it will be hard to take the cheeky timing and aggressive plays with the smokes giving a cue before fading.
this + buffing the judge would leave the game in a great place https://t.co/9eqwkaraY6
— zach (@zekkenVAL) October 14, 2023
Zachary “zekken” Patrone of Sentinels took a sarcastic approach to express his disapproval of this change by saying, “this + buffing the judge would leave the game in a great place.”
Reminder to everyone: Riot is just following their usual M.O. of lowering the skill floor to make playing at lower ranks more enjoyable and easier.
You still need to call out smoke timings at the pro level but it's less punishing now https://t.co/T5ngDJCQf4
— G2 JoshRT (@JoshRTz) October 13, 2023
G2’s coach Josh “JoshRT” Lee told his followers that this change is Riot Games following their trend of lowering the skill ceiling of the game to appeal to more casual players.
why lol https://t.co/WyckM6WgT9
— Anthony (@Vanityxz) October 14, 2023
— T1 xeta (@OfficialXETA) October 14, 2023
Lastly, Cloud9’s Anthony “vanity” Malaspina and T1’s Son “xeta” Seon-ho, both IGLs of their teams, didn’t welcome this change through their social media posts.