The newest Valorant act nears its end, right? There are still nearly two weeks to go, and the official Valorant Leaks account has already put a question to the community: ‘What Battlepass Tier are you?’ The answers to this straightforward question are indeed very enlightening and at the same time amusing. It’s just like a mirror that reflects all player types existing in the game, from the very engaged ones to the totally uninterested ones. This goes beyond just a simple progress meter; it actually contains the players’ sentiment towards the game in a nutshell.
Let us first talk about the speedrunners whose numbers have increased drastically and those who have assuredly been the fastest to complete the battle pass. They have already reached the final tier of the 50-tier battle pass before even a month has passed. One player, midniii, even stated that he managed to complete it in about a week. Another player, ernis420_, said he was through with it two weeks ago while sending a laughing and crying emoji as if it was nothing. Sato even said that he got done within a weekend while facing up to the same rank. That is really something amazing efficiency. For the players, it just cannot be described as anything but a blessing when the season is prolonged. Mark Patton reacted to their post, saying, ‘Finished. I’m glad it’s a longer season for once.’ It could be a chance to, I don’t know, maybe go out in nature? Or just proceed with the next account like sukiyoo who said they were ‘done on 2 accounts around 3 weeks ago.’ It does not take much lol, they added. A little bit of boasting, but okay.
The other side of the coin, however, is that there are players from the opposite camp. Some of the gamers still consider the current battle pass one of the most uninteresting ever. Among them, Aakash Patel was quite straightforward, calling it the series’ ‘most boring and longest, never-ending battle pass I’ve ever seen in Valorant.’ Ouch. Others share the same experience problem, and for them, it is just that they have not even bothered to engage with the game. Rosk succinctly stated, ‘Haven’t played the game this season haha.’ Meanwhile, r0hx told about a ranked-related frustration that eventually led him to quit: he played one match and his partner was placed in bronze while he was in diamond queues, and he just lost it. He is currently at tier 2. For him, the pass is the last concern since the core matchmaking feels wrong.
Some players are throwing in the towel on the fundamental problems, one of which, Unito, replying as theorykiller, mentioned the big one: cheaters. ‘yeah no i am not spending a single penny on this game till they fix vanguard so i don’t face these novaxware cheaters,’ they declared. It’s a principled stance. If the anti-cheat is not up to par, then why back the cosmetic system? Another user, the kappa convict, referred to the pass as a ‘con,’ pointing out the classic live-service fear: if you do not complete it, you do not get the goods. So the pressure is on, but the drawback of no motivation may prevail.
The chat even took a strange turn into… wealth? Midniii’s claim of finishing the week was followed with a question whether they indeed spent 15,000 Valorant Points on buying tiers. Midniii refused, replying ‘no i played it out 😭,’ although the assumption still lingered. This sparked a mini-thread about someone being ‘RICH RICH,’ which is quite funny yet also indicative of the notion that the fastest finishers must have paid. It indeed reveals the players’ mindset regarding grind, you know?
While most players were talking about completing; some artists were actually still focused on the important aspect of gambling: the health of the game. Depressedposts6 stated, ‘One of my least played acts. We need more QoL updates and fixing ranked matchmaking.’ Logan claimed that ‘these 5 mins queue times’ are the reason they are not finishing, and Dizzaract was one of the very few who actually praised a cosmetic item, recognizing the Heart Splitter melee design. Malik Ahmad even directly asked about the new bundle, ignoring the current pass and its restrictions.
What does all this signify? The Valorant community is very divided on this act. On one side, especially those players, who adore the long duration and pass the content in no time. The other, more vocal, are the ones who feel the burnout due to in-game experience that they perceive as lacking major apps through the battle pass, which turns out to be an odd report card on player satisfaction. When the grind is good, the players are fast and vice versa.
Riot Games is likely to be paying attention to these discussions, as the community’s engagement on platforms like PlayStation and Xbox often reflects broader trends.
