VALORANT developers discuss agent role, potential future changes

VALUABLE is getting another Duelist, Neon, with Patch 4.0, adding another fun agent for players to use. But players have noticed that Riot Games seems to be challenging the dedicated role of each agent, blurring the lines between Duelists, Controllers, Sentinels and Initiators. The developers shared insights on how they balance the agents and how the dedicated roles might evolve and change in the future.

VALUABLE Character producer John Goscicki shared his thoughts on current agent categories and how they might change in the future during a recent developer Q&A session.

“I think a lot of those categories are broad terms and ways of thinking about those rules and characters, like what strengths and weaknesses profiles should and can be. And we’ve been constantly trying to push the boundaries of those things, and you’ve seen that lately, not just with Neon but with Chamber,” said Goscicki. “So I think, as the game evolves and continues to evolve, we’ll probably go back to a lot of those characters and like, sharpen their identities to the different outputs of the game. those roles or develop them. We’re always talking about the possibility, “Hey, there could be more than four that we have now.”

Character remakes are not uncommon in online games, especially if the character has been absent for a significant period of time. By VALORANT The list of agents has continuously grown over the lifetime of the game, and agent changes are common. Some older agents can be further tweaked to better suit their assigned roles, as mentioned by Goscicki, but players may also see new roles emerge.

VALUABLE Game designer Ryan Cousart also explains how agents fit into different “quadrants,” allowing the team to follow guidelines and ensuring they fit into their specific roles.

“So you’re going to have these very inherent relationships of put and stop with smoke and things like being able to control the map like a sentinel and a controller can have points. similarity and would live in the same little corner, Cousart said. “Living in that quadrant helped us create these balustrades.”

This does not mean VALUABLE Players are guaranteed to see a new dealer catalog anytime soon. But the lines between each category will continue to blur as new agents are introduced, keeping the game fresh and interesting.