Skip to main content

Riot Games may soon reward Valorant players who are dedicated to the grind

Riot Games, in response to a Valorant player complaining about the lack of things to grind for in the multiplayer shooter, said that a reward system for time spent on the game is in the works.

While single-player games offer more experience points and trophies, among other things, as people spend more time on them, multiplayer games have different approaches to such rewards. For example, Apex Legends players unlock badges that they can attach to their banners to showcase in-game accomplishments, while Call of Duty players collect weapon camos as they complete challenges.

In Valorant, however, things are different. While the game offers various types of collectible content, including weapon skins, gun buddies, and player cards, almost all of them may be purchased.

“As it stands, you can acquire everything in Valorant if you’re willing to pay for it — there’s nothing to grind for that isn’t already purchasable which means there simply isn’t anything rewarding for skill or time spent,” a player who goes by the name u/19Dan81 posted on the Valorant subreddit.

“This game needs content and exclusive features that are only accessible to those that are dedicated to the grind so they can feel rewarded for time spent — even the ‘whales’ need something to grind for,” he added. “There’s way too much emphasis on pay-walling content and not enough emphasis on player retention long term and rewarding skill/time spent.”

A Riot Games developer who goes by the name u/tehleach responded to the post, claiming that there are “a few different systems” under consideration that will “provide mastery/time investment expression,” but they were not yet ready upon the game’s launch.

“I can’t go into specifics but just know that we hear you and we want this stuff in the game too,” the developer said.

Digital Trends has reached out to Riot Games for more information on the planned reward system, and we will update this article as soon as we receive a response.

Valorant launches early

After a closed beta that started in early April, Riot Games finally widely rolled out Valorant on June 2, ahead of its planned summer 2020 launch.

“We’ve been looking forward to sharing this game with everyone,” said game director Joe Ziegler. “We’ve been wanting to get you this game to help brighten these tough times.”

Valorant features a roster of characters with unique abilities and a wide array of weapons, with teams of five facing off against each other.

Editors' Recommendations

Aaron Mamiit
Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…
TikTok is launching a dedicated gaming channel
Person's hand holding a smartphone with TikTok's logo on screen, all in front of a blurred background.

TikTok is moving further into the games industry by launching its own dedicated gaming channel.

According to a report from Financial Times, the channel will allow TikTok users to access games by pressing a tab on the ByteDance-owned social media platform's homepage. Four people familiar with the matter said that the channel will feature a variety of mobile games — some of which the company already developed — with ads and additional content that users can purchase.

Read more
Need a new multiplayer game? Try this 24-player mech shooter
galahad 3093 early access hero

Aside from the recent PC release of Mech Warrior 5 in 2021, there’s been a distinct shortage of games about giant robots duking it out in space. Don’t get me wrong: Titanfall and its sequel were delightful in how they spliced tight first-person shooting with pilotable mechs that one could summon from the sky. Meanwhile, multiplayer-focused mech games like Vox Machinae and Hawken have come and gone, existing in their own corners of the industry. The former was predominantly designed around virtual reality, and the latter was a free-to-play albeit defunct shooter that’s been out of the picture since early 2018. In light of that, there’s plenty of space for a new game to come along and reinvigorate the giant robot niche.

That’s what upcoming arena shooter Galahad 3093 seeks to do. It mixes elements of Mech Warrior, Hawken, Overwatch, and Starsiege: Tribes into one experience. That mix should be, at the very least, intriguing to those who’ve been waiting for their next mech shooter fix.

Read more
Evercore Heroes applies League of Legends’ formula to a cooperative game
Key art for Evercore Heroes.

Vela Games, an Irish game studio founded by former Riot Games developers in 2018, unveiled its first game at a digital prebrief event attended by Digital Trends. Titled Evercore Heroes, this game modifies themultiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) formula that League of Legends helped popularize into a competitive PvE dungeon-crawling experience. 
While the basics of gameplay and isometric view of Evercore Heroes are very similar to a game like League of Legends, players aren't directly fighting each other. Instead, four teams of four compete against each other in a cooperative dungeon-crawling experience where players slowly level up their characters, charge the titular Evercore, and eventually win by taking down a large boss. MOBAs, both in terms of gameplay and their community, can be intimidating to get into, so co-founderounder Travis George hopes that the cooperative aspects of Evercore Heroes and other efforts by Vela Games will make this an approachable and friendly game to which platers return.
"We all know that games aren't always known as the friendliest places in the world -- and we're not going to change human behavior on the internet -- but what we can do is be really deliberate about the gameplay, the community, and even the technology choices we make to hopefully orient players to have a more positive experience online," George says. "Hopefully, that keeps them coming back."

So far, Vela Games has revealed eight playable heroes: Shade the assassin, the shield-wielding Fyn, Zari the archer, the creature with a community-voted design named Beko, the melee-focused boxer Blink, fire mage Cynder, tech medic Remy, and short-range healer Lotus. They each have distinct abilities, and most of them look like they could be League of Legends champions or Valorant agents, so Riot Games' influence can really be felt in the design. Definitely keep an eye on this one if you're a fan of Riot Games. 
Evercore Heroes is currently in development for PC, and interested players can sign up for a player test that will run from October 13 until October 16.

Read more