Riot discussing potential Valorant map selection feature after Fracture release

Being able to pick what maps you queue up for in Valorant has been a long-requested feature. With Fracture now joining the pool, it’s getting a bit packed, and Riot are looking at ways to thin it out like map selection.

Riot has been dropping a new Valorant map every few months, with Fracture’s release in Episode 3 Act 2 marking the game’s seventh battleground. It’s sparked new debate in the community regarding map selection tools. When you queue up for a game in Valorant, you have a chance of playing any of the seven maps.

Players have long pushed for a feature where they can limit what maps they queue for. It’s a feature adopted from CS:GO, where players can choose maps out of the pool they want to play, and matchmaking will only give them a game on those maps. With the map pool only ever getting bigger, the chorus of players is getting louder. Riot have heard them, and are currently scouting out what will work in Valorant.

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“Nothing we’re ready to share yet, but we are thinking about this space,” developer Joe‘ManWolfAxeBoss’ Lansford said on Reddit. Exactly what solution Riot are looking at remains to be seen though. https://twitter.com/ValorINTEL/status/1436478776225918978 One potential option is the “map ban” system implemented in Rainbow Six: Siege. There, players queue up for all maps but get shortlisted three before jumping in-game. Each team bans one map before playing on the final one. It’s a less extreme variation of the CS:GO map selection system and one that might be more appealing if Riot are concerned about queue times and team balancing.

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The developers were very clear in saying that it’s only “something we’re thinking about for the future” and nothing is locked in for imminent release ⁠— so don’t get hopes too high. Riot are listening though, so change could be coming.