stew

Okay, I'm going to word vomit a bit on the timeline. The current state of NA VALORANT below the Tier 1 level is in an absolutely terrible place. Tier 2 was fundamentally killed when Riot introduced the franchise system without providing hands-on support for the Challengers League or offering proper financial aid to the orgs willing to invest in it and help grow and support our future players and teams. It's honestly not surprising that match-fixing for money eventually happened. These players are putting in all their time and energy to become the best, chasing their dream of making it big and joining a Tier 1 team. When that hope is lost, people may resort to accepting money to throw matches — and to be honest, that kind of money could be life-changing for them. I think one thing Riot failed to consider is that Tier 2 is a crucial pillar of support for Tier 1 play. It's incredibly exciting to see new underdog teams and rising talent perform on the big stage — it often makes for some of the most competitive and thrilling esports moments of all time. When that pillar starts to crumble, there's a very real risk the entire structure could collapse. It's genuinely depressing and disappointing to see Riot mishandle a game I truly love and care about (even if I criticize it a lot). I hope they come to realize that they need to support the entire competitive ecosystem — not just the very top. Lastly, streaming the game and trying to create content around ranked has been a nightmare. Every streamer constantly getting stream-sniped, which forces people to delay stream and ultimately kill chat interaction. Matches are being thrown — again — either for money or to help others climb and reach high spots on the competitive leaderboard, even though it’s ultimately pointless. The incentive to play ranked has remained the exact same since the game launched. A lot of ranked players aren't excited to play — they're just addicted, queuing up and chasing the feeling the game gave them long ago. There have been no exciting new rewards for reaching the top, and no new game modes that allow for fun, expressive content to be created. I'm still pretty heated as I write this. I just want what’s best for the game — both at the top and everything beneath it. We, the players, need to see action — not just words. Thanks for coming to my TED talk, and I'm super excited to receive my 10th Radiant gun buddy.