Riot Aims to Add 30 Agents Before Opt-Out Option: A Better Decision?

Riot Aims to Add 30 Agents Before Opt-Out Option: A Better Decision?

30 agents are anticipated to be introduced live in game before any opt-out option for players in queue.

Agent and map bans have been a contentious point of discussion in the Valorant community. With only 15 Agents to choose from right now, there’s little room to fit a proper drafting system. However, as the game expands, and the system becomes more complicated, things might change. The developers have been quizzed on this numerous times, notwithstanding a July 2 dev post asking the same question ⁠— “Will there be a pick and ban system with Agents and maps?”

“We expect teams to have set plays and strategies that will require very specific Agents. Banning an Agent would invalidate that entire strategy, and we don’t want to discourage practice.” was the official statement of RIOT regarding the dodge and ban policy owing to not getting the chance to select a specific agent, more suiting to personal needs and expertise.

RIOT Games has ambitious plans to expand Valorant’s list of agents over the the next few years. The pace of addition of five unique agents in less than a year after its launch was striking, continuing which, the developers of the game are looking to come to pass at 30 agents or above far more quickly.

Valorant All Agents Abilities Gameplay 2020 - YouTube
A unique roster of agents

30 Agents : Better Penalty Scheme?

When Valorant first launched almost a year ago, 10 Agents were available for everyone to experiment with. Over the course of the first year, five new characters have been added into the mix. Despite this influx, a pick-ban system doesn’t appear to be in the cards anytime soon.

“At what Agent do you think bans will be viable?” Valorant Game Designer Nicholas Wu Smith was asked during an April 6 Twitch stream. “Maybe close to 30,” he responded. At the current rate, this could give us another three to four years before Agent banning is even considered. “It also really depends on if we get as much good competition out of banning stuff versus other games,” he added. “Other games ban, but is it actually better?”  

Highlighting a specific example of how such a system might impact the game, Smith used Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo to make his point. “Is it better to see TenZ on Jett more often, or is it better that we never see that because it always gets banned against that team?”

While the more intense criteria of adding ‘30 Agents’ is new, many developers as well as a large section of the Valorant community at Riot have shared this stance throughout Valorant’s first year on the market. Obviously, the notion of ‘30 Agents’ is just a loose figure off the cuff from one particular dev. “We expect teams to have set plays and strategies that will require very specific Agents. Banning an Agent would invalidate that entire strategy, and we don’t want to discourage practice.” he responded to a tweet.

“It really depends on how much it adds to the game versus subtracts to the game”, Ziegler commented. Similarly, Senior Game Designer Trevor Romleski argued Agent bans could offset the competitive scene. After all, there’s always a chance it could be implemented much sooner if the community demand is there.

Despite the player desire for it, however, picking and banning Agents doesn’t appear to be a focus for Riot Games for the time being. It is anticipated that such a system could prove harmful to Valorant‘s competitive scene where high-level, agent-specific expertise is seemingly required.

Along with new maps, the addition of new Agents is, for many, a large part of what makes the game’s future such an exciting prospect. Although quite how many of them are likely to prove viable for competitive compositions remains to be seen — we’ve already seen the likes of Yoru whimper into the meta, and even Agents with decent utility, such as Skye, Reyna, and Killjoy, don’t enjoy anywhere near the same pick rates as the original 10.

Evolution of Valorant

After all, the pick/ban mechanic is designed to add a layer of strategy to games, but with such a small and established pool of preferred Agents comprising the meta right now there’d hardly be much in the way of tactical decision-making. The real question is whether a pick/ban system is something that would ever make sense in Valorant, even with twice the number of Agents we have now.

Of course, when the collection of 30 agents includes more utility as those of the aforementioned duelists, a pick and ban system might make more sense. But given that, there hasn’t really been a new addition to Valorant’s collection better than the core 10 that launched with the game, except, perhaps, Astra. While it’s not much about the distributing flair, it’s more about diluting the skill level in professional games — in a hypothetical future with a pick/ban system, because gamers are just not playing the Agents they’re best with.

In either case, going by Smith’s comments, it may be a few years until any sort of “pick-ban” system is introduced even after the addition of 30 agents to the game’s collection.

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