After one of the most tumultuous periods in VALORANT, players are disappointed once again after finding out disheartening news around the current map pool of the game.
In VALORANT Patch 8.08, Riot Games confirmed there will be no changes to the current competitive and casual map pools, leaving the community dissatisfied and worried for the upcoming season. Over the last Act, players have been very vocal about their opinions on the map pool, and how it has heavily affected their enjoyment at every level.
Whether players are grinding ranked or trying to have fun in Swiftplay, everyone is regulated to the same map pool to ensure people can transition from casual to competitive play. This change was brought on at the start of the year and was met with ire from the general fanbase who believed it was unfair that casual players were forced to play the same maps repeatedly.
In many instances, players have complained about playing on the same maps in a row, or having only played a specific handful of maps over the course of a play session. It has killed any sort of variety for those in casual lobbies, while the current maps in competitive have also provided a lackluster experience for ranked climbs.
Riot responded to the complaints on the VALORANT subreddit, stating the developer was only going to make map pool changes after Masters 2 in June. This, however, opened a whole other can of worms around the developer making major decisions around the professional scene, even though a large amount of players are unsatisfied with the current rotation.
Some players even offered a small compromise with the developers by bringing back the full map pool for Unrated, Swiftplay, and other casual game modes, but it went unanswered in the thread. Ultimately, players will need to deal with this same map pool for yet another cycle as we ramp up towards the next Masters tournament in Shanghai.
