Riot shares information about Valorant regarding map pick/ban, the gifting system, in-game replay, animated show, and more

Riot Games have finally pulled out the Ask Valorant Q&A posts after almost a year-long hiatus. Today’s Q&As go over a bunch of important topics that players have been concerned about.

Through the relevant blog post on the PlayValorant website, fans are getting to learn about which much-requested features are being developed. The features range from a map pick/ban system and an in-game replay system to gifting items and attacker/defender skin loadouts.

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Riot reveals details on the Valorant map pick/ban, gifting system, in-game replay system, reporter feedback, animated show, and more

As the map pool has risen to seven at this point, fans often wondered whether a map pick/ban system would come into play soon. Riot has clearly mentioned in the blog post that they don’t foresee this feature being added to the regular competitive queue. However, they are open to exploring the option in their planned tournament mode.

“A map pick/ban system is worth exploring in an environment fit for complex team strategizing.”

Jon Walker, Competitive Designer, has mentioned the reasoning behind this decision, and it is that the developers simply don’t want players to avoid certain agent-map matchups they are uncomfortable with.

Coming to the gifting system, fans will be disappointed to learn that this is still in the backlog of the developers. And while they are all for adding the gifting option to the game eventually, there is currently no timeline for this feature to be offered.

Since the title came into being, players have clamored for an in-game replay system. Players, especially those who have shifted from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to Valorant, miss the robust in-game replay system of the former. However, Steven Eldredge from Game Production mentions,

“There is no plan for a player-facing version of a replay system, as of now.”

On the bright side, players will start getting reporter feedback for successful reports on AFK (away from keyboard) players. Currently, players are only notified when a player is punished for toxic texts or voice communications. Although there is no concrete timeline for this feature either, the devs are working to make sure that players will receive a report anytime a reported player is penalized.

Skins are an inseparable part of the Valorant experience. Much like CS: GO’s loadout option for choosing different skins for the Terrorist and Counter-Terrorist sides, Valorant players have also requested a feature so that they can equip alternate skins in Attack and Defense. The blog post mentions,

“We're actually already exploring the feasibility of an idea like this.”

However, in order to actualize this, the developers would also need to tweak the collections page to properly showcase and support this feature in the current collections menu. The devs also disclosed that other concepts are being worked on that might “compete with this idea in some way.”

And last but not least, fans seeking an Arcane equivalent for Valorant will have to wait much longer as the devs are going to “remain hyper-focused on the game for quite some time and we have plenty we still want to do to keep expanding the universe in support of VALORANT the game.”