Waiting for your next match while warming up in the Range is one of the most commonly requested features in Valorant.
With this in mind, Riot outlines its future plans to include practice modes amid matchmaking queue times.
Feasible tech?
The devs believe it is feasible to give players a room in the practice range amid waiting to find a lobby in matchmaking.
Lead Games Mode Producer, Jared Berbach, says in the Ask Valorant #9 Blog Post that the resources needed to accomplish the feature are better suited for their many other plans for the game.
“The tech is feasible to let you jump into the practice range while queuing,”
“But we’ve been reluctant to pursue this because it is straight up not efficient for what it’s accomplishing and we’re more excited about alternatives.”
Delving further on the “alternatives” they have in mind, he continues:
“Here’s why: 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.”
Current stage
Currently, a seamless transition between the Range and a matchmade lobby for players isn’t included in their immediate plans.
With the many other bugs and in-game glitches that need a hotfix, the dev team wants to focus on those for the time being instead.
Not all hope is lost though— Riot might be working on it, or at least something close to the thought, pertaining to refining each player’s aim before putting it into play.
Berbach hinted that the ‘alternatives’ the devs are considering may possibly include an integrated aim trainer that players could make use of while in queue.
There isn’t any further information on how it would exactly work, look, or play. However, the mode is definitely on Riot’s radar to implement on Valorant sometime in the next updates.
He clarified that there’s a “bunch of prerequisite tech” to sort out first before they can implement their aim trainer. A more immediate update may enable players to join free-for-all Deathmatch games in progress.
The devs are planning to let players join live Deathmatch lobbies around early 2021, although their plans may easily change as the development starts.
“Now about those alternatives. 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.”
Regardless, a simple aim trainer can be a big help for players to refine their reflexes, aim, and skills before loading into a match.
Read the full Ask Valorant #9 Blog Post here.
