Ever since VALORANT’s closed beta was launched, players were complaining about how oppressive the operator feels to play against.
Furthermore, the operator was so effective at the defender’s site that professional players were sometimes double or triple stacking the gun in most of the online tournaments. Since there are still not enough smokes or stuns available in the game that would have made it easier to combat the operator, at high-level pro players are literally abusing the gun at the moment. Besides, the movement in this game is slow by design and it is making the operator more deadly than usual.
Additionally, some of the big-name professional VALORANT players like 100T HIKO even agreed that pro players are currently abusing the operator. And Shroud who is one of the most mechanically gifted FPS players of all time also agrees that the operator needs some kind of nerf or the game needs to have more agents to combat the operator more effectively.
Riot Games finally acknowledged the Operator:
After many player complaints, Riot Games finally acknowledged that the operator is a more pressing issue in the game right now. While before they stated that the operator was not “too OP“, with the new patch they reverted back their initial statement. Basically, they are finally admitting that the operator is really oppressive to play against. According to the devs, the operator is actually performing a bit too well than expected.
“While these major Agent changes settle, we have turned our eye on a more pressing issue: the Operator. We know that this weapon can feel very oppressive to play against, often leaving players feeling like there is no hope when attacking. We agree that the Operator is likely having an outsized impact on match outcomes and are testing a suite of changes to address this issue“, Max “Orcane” Grossman, Lead Agent Designer on the operator.
As of now, Riot Games is testing some sort of rework/nerf to the operator internally. However, Riot still did not clarify exactly what kind of nerf/rework is coming. Instead, they want to keep the testing internal until they are happy with the changes. The devs also exclaimed that the operator is really important to the game and they want to make the right call.
“For how important the Operator is to the game, we want to make sure we are making the right call, so we’re giving these changes a bit more time to soak internally to make sure we get them just right“, Max “Orcane” Grossman, Lead Agent Designer on the operator nerf/ rework.
Riot also didn’t mention when exactly the change is coming and what shape it would take. The exact same thing also happened in CSGO back in 2015. When players started to complain that the AWP feels too overpowered. As a result, Valve did nerf the weapon and the whole professional Counter-Strike scene saw a dramatic shift.
- More Related: VALORANT Patch Notes 1.08: Raze Blast Pack Nerf, Guardian Buff, And Much More
One of the more common solutions to the operator that many pro players and the majority of the community are suggesting is to just give the devs enough time to release more agents with more flash/ stuns. However, that would take a lot of time. In the meantime, Riot might be planning on something different to make the operator feel less effective without stripping its identity in the tactical shooter genre.
