It's just one of those things where if you play Valorant, chances are really good you're just in it for the casual shooty shooty and playing-with-friends aspect of it, and that's why you're not going to go do the effort to rank up and that's fine

Valorant Rank Distribution and players percentage - ...source btw.

82nd percentile is kinda impressive, but looking at the graph, it doesn't seem like you're up and far away from the "hump".

Does that line up with your experience though? That you're not really that good of a player than the "ordinary player who spends time in valorant"?

Platinum is kinda like the stage in the game where you're recognizing the mistakes you're making but you still make them anyway whereas Iron-Gold is blundering your way to figuring out the game

I'm peak Diamond 2, but Dia isn't really that much far off. Plat-Immo 1 is the next kinda group where you're improving your gameplay because you want to master the game

Immo 2-Radiant is where you find the ones who actually are consistent enough to play well everytime

And even then a Radiant would look down on Immo 2s

And if there's absolutely one constant is that every player who's stuck in a rank will complain about their teammates instead of their own gameplay :v

Hmm, I see~ So if I am understanding you correctly, you're at a stage where you're about to get serious in your gameplay?

I am kinda reminded of the 90-10 rule here for some reason. I just can't put my finger as to why I'm reminded of it.

faramond: it also doesn't hurt that Valorant API (what does that mean again) is released so people have made tracking apps that let you know exactly who you're playing against, what stats you're doing, etc. https://tracker.gg/... Here's mine, for one. I don't play competitive regularly enough though to be... statistically significant?

I should play comp again to update the tracker. It doesn't update your current rank if you stopped playing after getting the rank up lol

API = "application programming interface"
As far as I understand it, it's just some code that makes it easier for outside programmers (think makers of mods, or programs that could be used with Valorant) to deal with Valorant. Through this API, makers of trackers can get stats fairly easily, among other things. It depends on what the API makes available.

Hmm, well, best of luck on the rankings, lol!

IT'S NOT FUN THOUGHHHH

I actually dislike competitive since I play undisciplined and don't like talking to teammates

Like that's the main thing I can tell you would propel me to diamond again, or even ascendant: "Maybe use your mic more, ChaosGhost"

Well, kung ako sa iyo, eh di hindi ko na lang ipipilit na maglaro ng competitive. Though it needs to be asked: does it do anything to your skill? I think some people who dislike playing competitive play it to level-up their skillset.

I've gotten to a point where playing unrated mode is harder than playing competitive because the hidden matchmaker algorithm for the two are separated, and Unrated is making me play with Ascendants

But yeah the main thing with comp matchmaking is that it forces you to play your skill level, and makes you face better competition as you get better, so if you keep playing it you'll eventually get you to the rank you deserve.

Like since I peaked Dia 2 last year, now that I've dabbled in comp again after a few months I ranked into Plat 1, but when I won the promotion game it gave me two rank ups to Plat 3 because the game reckons I'm still in a diamond level and wants me to get there ASAP

Hmm, I see~ So if you really are serious about your skills and want to get better, then you really have to play competitive at some point.

But if I were just a casual gamer (why would I play Valorant in the first place? IDK), I have no need for that...?

Did I get that correctly?

Yeah, especially since they have a game mode called Swiftplay where it's just a race to 5 wins, simplifying the game economy to make the shorter format fit

It's normally a race to 13

Also a team deathmatch which is a race to 100 kills with its own unique maps, that's definitely the "I just want to play for fun" mode

idk how you'd be able to make playing competitive fun for you, but I guess good luck?

Oh I get in the mood every now and then to tryhard, which is why you'll notice from my match records that I play once a month

Also, why am I starting to imagine that the ideal scenario here is to have a friend/rival that is of the same skill level as you? Tipong he gets better as you get better, and you become really good friends.

Wait, wrong genre at the end there, lol!

Oh yeah that definitely helps. One reason I seldom play is I don't have a buddy to play with

playing solo queue is hell

lemme find a clip of me playing with an aussie friend of mine who's Ascendant now but we were both Diamonds when we played last year...

Heck, my experience is remotely similar to yours, but playing with random people is hell. Even if it's supposed to be PvE (which has been my experience)

Kill #Valorant | Captured by #Outplayed Oh this one's spicy. Freya's hilarious. She was talking to Brim (which is the white font color voice comm label on the left) on team chat then switches to party voice comms (green font color) to complain to me how our smoker is smoking wrong lmao. (She's still voice training, MtF)

It's just pleasant to have someone comfort you with a "nice try" when you fail

You can tell she cares more than I do because she's complaining on voice chat for our smoker to place his smokes correctly

(which is why she's far further up the rankings than I am)

well~ ayun lang.

One of the main things separating Valorant from Counterstrike is that the character you pick has specific utility available to them, unlike CS where everyone can buy smokes/flashes/grenades/mollys. Learning Valorant is mostly picking a character you like and making sure you do their role well

So your smoker not knowing how to place smokes is a very tilting thing to have in a comp game

chaosghost: wait, wait!! i actually imagined someone who is literally smoking cigarettes while playing valorant. and cigarette ash going all over the place.

Oh no that's bad for your computer fans :v

My "Main" is Neon because she's Filipina that's really the only reason she's a bad pick and gonna have a buff next patch so yay and her role is to rush into a site and die take first contact

I like her because she runs fast so I can die quicker and alt tab back to my browser

> I like her because she runs fast so I can die quicker and alt tab back to my browser

faramond: Kill #Valorant | Captured by #Outplayed Her main thing is she moves so fast it breaks your crosshair placement cuz she moves past you.

My friend going "How are you alive" at the end sums up Neon's playstyle, at least on my end. Just move as far forward as you dare, and you really need to dare because timidity or even just secondguessing goes against her skillset.