You come back after a hard day at work to enjoy a great game of Valorant, but XYZLiveYouTube just wants to play with Bucky. So while four players vie for victory, there’s a shotgun-wielding streamer with a muted mic who doesn’t care about the team. That’s what low-level multiplayer has become: a nightmare. Oddly enough though, these trolls are the heroes of Twitter and YouTube, they go viral after every hack, and that’s not normal.
The age-old smurf issue in Valorant is well documented. However, in 2020, the Smurfs had other reasons: they just wanted to play with their friends. So Riot investigated and modified the system accordingly to filter them out. The developer has since taken commendable steps to nip this in the bud, but Smurfs still plague the lower ranks. Sure, their numbers have dwindled, but the new Smurfs are deadlier than ever.
Brave Smurfs are going viral, and it’s surprisingly normal
Why you ask? These new Smurfs are heroes and challenge streamers. Raising the cunning level normalizes the smurf, setting the precedent that it’s okay to hide with a lower ELO if you’re using a weapon that puts you at a disadvantage. Streamers ruin games for enemies and sabotage teammates, but social media loves them and encourages others to follow suit.
Riot introduced five stacks to discourage Smurfs. However, Radiant players going viral for being hacked with just a silver pistol is incentive enough to exacerbate the smurf problem.
“In addition to fixing the issue of Smurfs by identifying and matching them fairly, we’ve also made some changes to reduce the incentive to create alt accounts in the first place,” Riot explains.
Let’s take the example of Valorant TikTok, a platform that can make you a star overnight and that’s a good thing. Except Valorant scammers have gone viral on the hacking platform. Eventually, it caught on to throw out a challenge, post it on TikTok, and boom. You are a star. A perfect example is Valorant’s “Most Gears” challenge.
In this challenge, the streamer deliberately lost to extend the game and get more assists. It also means not killing the enemy at all. This has been a viral trend and by far the worst as it clearly sabotages teammates. At the time, Riot hadn’t released an update that would minimize the impact of uneven rounds on received ELO, so all five players were losing tons of RR for winning by a small margin. That is, if they even win.
Some streamers run fast through the ranks, and some just use a weapon and something else. All of this is not to be taken lightly. Of course, these high-ranked players are at a disadvantage due to the demands of the challenge; for example, if a beaming smurf is only classed with a pistol, you could say that enemies should be able to easily shoot them with a vandal. The problem is that the Radiant player does not need to be in the money to start.
Silver ranks seem to be more competitive than immortals.
Complaints that Silver is tougher than Immortal are plentiful. There are many explanations for this dilemma, but Smurf is the most logical. Ranked Daemons easily reach Radiant, then create new accounts to resume their work. Because of this, you will see incredibly talented players with low ELO, making it just as difficult as high ranks.
Riot has added advanced smurf detection that allows highly-skilled players to get the correct MMR in just four matches. According to the developer, the smurf kill was generally a success, which is awesome. But all that effort is wasted when popular streamers embellish the Smurf.
Tasks for high-speed racing are the most dangerous. Streamers hit Radiant in X hours, ruining the ranked experience for everyone. Nine players are playing for their ELO ability to advance to the next level, playing against Radiant, who are doing their best to skip several divisions as quickly as possible. In no world is that fair.
It’s time for Riot Games to publicly punish streamers for leading by example and making it clear that there is no place for a circus in Valorant. Steamers shouldn’t consider low ELO their personal playground or ramp to improve their skills. This is a competitive game and low rated players deserve fair competition.
Fortunately, Riot is already working on handling Smurfs at a higher level, so players should keep their fingers crossed and try to avoid ELO hell. Changing the settings and getting the best Valorant reticle code can help you rise through the ranks of Valorant and take on the Smurfs.
Source : PC Gamesn
