Are you excited to play Valorant's new competitive mode? Well, Riot Games is launching its Valorant Premier Alpha Test next week, which promises to "present an even higher goal beyond Radiant that provides the most competition-hungry players with a rewarding challenge beyond ranked". That's an interesting statement because it's effectively proposing a ranked 2.0 mode of sorts to mess around with. What could possibly be more rewarding than the original form of ranked that launched back in July 2020? After all, ranked is ranked, right?
Essentially, Riot Games wants to build "a connection" between the VCT (Valorant Champions Tour) pros and regular players. They would like players to have a ranked experience similar to that, which is an interesting statement but doesn't really mean anything off the hop. Are we supposed to go on tour like a pro somehow? Well, as it turns out, that's sort of the case. Riot Games wants players to use the upcoming Premier feature to form teams and compete across a season. That's not really an original idea per se, but having in-game support for teams in a competitive FPS title is intriguing.
In the Premier mode, you'll be able to form a team of five to battle teams of a similar level in pre-scheduled matches. While it might not be a big deal to you, for some it might very well be the next step for multiplayer FPS games. Whereas before ranked teams were an unofficial fellowship that disbanded after a few hours, now it's a formed team that will last a few weeks through an in-game season. Are you ready to get sweaty?
As for the Valorant Premier Alpha Test launching next week, players in Brazil will be able to test out Team Creation, Server Load, Tournament Play, and more. Team logos and colors will be made available, as will a map pick-and-ban system during Tournament Play. It seems pretty well put together for an alpha, but we'll have to see if Riot Games has put together a winning combination. More regions will be announced for this alpha in the future.
For more information on Valorant and other competitive shooters, stay tuned to TechRaptor.
