Valorant 3.0 patch notes explain account leveling, when leaderboards are coming back
VALORANT 3.0 patch notes have been released today, and Riot Games has provided the latest on when Leaderboards will be back.
Valorant 3.0 does much to change the current experience, bringing with it Account Leveling and a new Agent to play as.
Fans will notice straight after updating that Valorant Account Leveling is now running in the background, however much you play.
According to Riot Games, Valorant Account Leveling can be found as a border on your in-game Player Card and will change every 20 account levels and leave you with a way to visualize and rep the time you've spent in-game.
This is not connected to just one game mode and levelling up your account requires you to get Account Points (AP).
You can earn AP in several ways, including by playing matches; however, the amount of AP you gain per match is based on the duration and results of the match.
You will also be rewarded bonus AP for your first win of the day, although it should be noted that AP only goes toward your Account Level, and does not contribute to Battlepass or Agent XP.
At the end of any match, your AP will go toward your account level, which will appear on the Player Card as an evolving Account Level border, as mentioned above.
A message from Riot Games adds: “Your account level goes up with every 5,000 AP you earn. As your account levels up, so does your account level border.
“In order to respect time already invested into VALORANT, on the day of the Patch 3.0, you will receive an amount of AP based on how many matches you’ve played in the past.
This means you could be anywhere from Account Level 1 to 100 (or more) depending on how many games of VALORANT you’ve played at this point.”
Meanwhile, Riot Games has also confirmed that Leaderboards have been disabled but will be returning later this week.
Gamers should also note that wins are being tracked, with Riot Games adding: “EP3 Act I Leaderboards are down, but they should be back up later this week. Don't worry; your wins are still being captured... you just can't, ya know, see it.”
“Account Levels for longtime VALORANT players have a much lower cap than we intended. We're looking into a fix and hope to update in a future patch.”
Valorant release teaser for new agent ‘Killjoy’
Further patch notes have been shared and can be found for Valorant 3.0 below:
ALL AGENTS
- Signature abilities now only provide a minimum of one charge per round instead of accumulating a charge every round.
- For example, if you have a two charge signature ability and you end the round with one charge remaining, you will not gain an additional charge
- Charges gained from cooldowns are now always temporary
- Visibility returns faster during the fadeout period of all flashes.
ALL WEAPONS
Bullet tagging changed from 75% slow >>> 72.5% slow
“Tagging” is the slowing effect you feel when hit by bullets
Weapon Deadzones changed from 30% >>> 27.5%
“Deadzone” in VALORANT refers to the movement speed a player becomes inaccurate
ALL RIFLES
Walking inaccuracy changed from 1.3 >>> 2.0
Running unchanged at 5.0
ALL HEAVIES
Walking Inaccuracy changed from .5 >>> 2.4
Running unchanged at 6.0
ALL SMGS
Walking inaccuracy changed from .3 >>> 1.0
Running inaccuracy changed from 2.0 >>> 2.5
CLASSIC
Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .84
Running inaccuracy changed from 1.5 >>> 2.1
FRENZY
Price decreased 500 >>> 450
Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .8
Running inaccuracy changed from 1.0 >>> 2.0
GHOST
Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> .92
Running Inaccuracy changed from 1.85 >>> 2.3
SHERIFF
Walking inaccuracy changed from .25 >>> 1.2
Running inaccuracy changed from 2.0 >>> 3.0
JUDGE
Price increased 1600 >>> 1850
Damage falloff at 10m changed from 13 per pellet >>> 10 per pellet
Damage falloff at 15m changed from 10 per pellet >>> 7 per pellet
We want the Judge to be a devastating, multi-fragging, close range option and believe it’s a bit more premium than we had previously given it credit for. It was also performing better than expected at range so we’re taking that down a notch.
BULLDOG
Hip-fire (full auto mode) firing rate increased from 9.15 RPS >>> 9.5 RPS
Price decreased 2100 >>> 2050
The bulldog was feeling just slightly underpowered in close/mid range situations where hip fire was the go-to. So we’re giving it a bit more of a firing rate to compete, and lowering the price to make it more enticing to buy.
SHORTY
Price decreased 200 >>> 150
STINGER
Price decreased 1100 >>> 950
BUCKY
Price decreased 900 >>> 850
MARSHAL
Price decreased 1000 >>> 950
ARES
Price decreased 1600 >>> 1550
OPERATOR
Price decreased from 5000 >>> 4700
GUARDIAN
Price decreased 2400 >>> 2250
COMPETITIVE UPDATES
For Episode 3, our major focus for Ranked is matchmaking accuracy and fairness. We’ve evaluated our system and have made a few significant changes that should improve these key areas across a wide range of players. Without getting too much into the secret sauce of things, we want to share some of what you can expect in Episode 3.
Here’s our primary player experience goals:
We want winning games to matter most—at all skill levels.
We want to improve individual performance evaluation because we believe it helps identify more fair and balanced matches.
We want you to see your rank as an accurate representation of your current skill level.
We want you to have fewer motivations for playing on different accounts and to get to your proper rank faster.
Here’s some of what you can expect from our changes:
Reduced the possibility of feeling “hard stuck” on older accounts. If your skill improves, your rank should properly reflect that, regardless of account age.
Matchmaking accuracy will improve across all ranks, which should lead to a smoother ranked climb and reduce how hard you may swing up and down in rank
While winning games is still the most important factor, individual performance will also be accounted for to improve matchmaking at Immortal+
This should result in better matches at the highest levels.
Close games will have a smaller effect on rank rating gains and losses
Adjusted our Rank Rating curves, so climbing (or falling) should feel less volatile
Updated Rank distribution
Placements raised to Diamond 1
This should help reduce the grind for our players at the top
Our plan is to continue to monitor these changes after they’ve reached our live servers, and we’ll certainly make more adjustments where appropriate. We’re looking forward to getting these changes into your hands, and please continue to provide us with feedback on your experiences throughout Episode 3!
PERFORMANCE UPDATES
We’re excited to deliver major improvements with 3.0! This work is the culmination of significant effort and collaboration over the last several months involving many teams across VALORANT. Performance is a war won in the margins, and we’re generally able to provide small, incremental changes. This time, however, many of our smaller items came together all at once.
Players with medium to high spec machines (CPU bound systems) may see up to 6% performance improvements as a result of the following work:
Improved clipping plane calculations using multithreading
Improved thread utilization across multiple cores for distributed tasks
Optimized camera calculations
Optimized ambient audio for each map
Fix for Character Ability HUD invalidation box
General optimizations for all ability animations
SOCIAL UPDATES
Hover Cards have been added to the social panel
Hover over your friends list to quickly learn more about the players you have added.
You can now invite to party with Riot ID in custom game