A new Valorant update has just dropped, which contains various changes and bug fixes that will make the game even better. Although a bunch of tweaks and adjustments have been made with the release of Patch 2.01, the heroes and maps are the ones experiencing the major changes.
Seeing as Valorant is a live service title, developer Riot Games will be consistently updating the game and regularly releasing those updates to provide fans with a constantly improving gameplay experience. This time around, it appears that Riot Games has been releasing updates quicker than anticipated, as the game’s official Twitter account suggests that fans probably didn’t expect one this soon.
While most of the time, patches of this caliber are usually for minor bug fixes, it appears that Patch 2.01 will be implementing several adjustments that could change the game as a whole.
Now, the major thing being changed in this update has to do with the controversial Split map. As a matter of fact, the developer calls this an overhaul patch. That being said, the main focus is to make the attacker options even better on Split and lessen 50/50 checks.
Not only that, the layout of the map has been changed as well. Specifically, certain corners of the map have been tweaked, and particular areas have been opened up as well. For example, the main doorway on Split has been widened so that stalling by defenders will be more difficult. Riot Games notes down the complete details of this in the patch notes.
Didn’t think we’d patch again so soon?
Patch 2.01 is here with adjusted AFK restrictions, light Jett touches, and a major changes to Split. Read all about it: https://t.co/MZDD7pIMfT pic.twitter.com/ViGDFVKuNG
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) January 20, 2021
That being said, the developer made more changes to Valorant with this new patch asides from map changes. Patch 2.01 also nerfs Jett, the Agent from South Korea. From 7 seconds, Jett’s smoke duration has been nerfed down to 4.5 seconds. By making her Cloudburst ability longer, this allows her to become a Controller in the game.
The developer doesn’t want the respective roles of the different Agents to intertwine, which is why this update was released. Some of the changes made that are worth mentioning include queue restrictions for being AFK, as well as the ability to hide custom games from the player’s history.
From what we can tell, Riot Games is more than aware of the different issues that players have with the game, and it’s working hard to remedy them as best as possible. The fact that the developer made a major update to one of Valorant’s maps is a big deal, and the patch notes states that the team thought about it long and hard before pushing through.
The development team also included references in the patch notes that players can check if they want to see what the specific map changes are. While there are many live service games out there that no longer receive major updates after a while, it’s great that this isn’t the case for Valorant. Even though Patch 2.01 could have just focused on changing maps, Riot Games still included other tweaks as well that improves the game as a whole.
That being said, it’s to be expected that some players would be frustrated by the Jett nerf. On the other hand, it’s great that the developer wants to punish those who are AFK without negatively impacting those who truly have connection issues. Although, we have yet to see if this feature will truly work as it’s supposed to.
