Riot Teases Potential Pre-Match Aim Trainer For VALORANT
The winds of change are blowing into VALORANT, and no, we don't mean just because of the winter-themed Act Three. With a new Icebox map and the release of Agent Skye just around the corner, Riot Games has hinted what else could be given a tweak in the near future of the first-person shooter.
One of the most annoying parts of any online FPS multiplayer is those boring queues. They can sometimes be achingly long as you're forced to wait for the map to populated by the other players, meaning developers are keen to keep us busy to stop dropoff.
Those who have an itchy trigger finger have suggested being dropped into a practice range to pass the time, however, Riot Games is apparently "reluctant" to try this out. Thankfully, another solution has been hinted at with the potential introduction of a pre-match aim trainer.
- Read More: VALORANT Announces New Support Agent Skye
The latest "Ask VALORANT" blog explained how the team has been listening to your opinions. When it comes to giving us a practice range while we wait, it turns out it all comes down to cost. Lead Games Mode Producer Jared Berbach said, "A practice range ‘match’ is currently just as expensive for us to run on the server side as a standard 5v5 match, but the effort is about 10x less efficient per player because it is only serving one player at a time. We prefer to preserve our server horsepower for bread and butter competitive matches".
Teasing that a compromise could work instead, Berbach added, "I mentioned a possible simple aim trainer that can scratch the trigger itch, and that could be a step to a future solution where you queue for something like FFA Deathmatch. There is a bunch of prerequisite tech we need to figure out there before we could do something like this, but an early step we are taking toward this is to implement the ability to join FFA DM games in progress—which we hope to get done early next year".
With Act Three just weeks away, there are plenty of new features on the way. The idea of a pre-match aim trainer sounds like it would be more than just a simple patch update, so it makes sense it will take until early next year to see it implemented. It's also important to note Berbach hasn't categorically confirmed a pre-match aim trainer, simply that it's an idea devs are toying with.
Either way, it sounds like those boring queues will be a little more interesting than simply sitting there and twiddling your thumbs before being dumped into a match. Still, it's potentially good news for those who want to refine their shooting skills before using them for real on the opposition.
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Images via Riot Games