Riot Games is currently experimenting Cascade Agent Select system in order to prevent instalocking agent issues in VALORANT.
VALORANT is a 5v5 tactical shooter game where precise gunplay meets unique Agent abilities. Ever since VALORANT was released, Riot Games has constantly been trying its best to keep the game more lively for the mass player base, and Riot Games has been pretty successful with it.
VALORANT is a team-based game where the players need to coordinate with each other in order to become victorious. The diverse Agents with unique abilities are also there so that players can choose their favorite characters in-game and play comfortably.
However, some Agents are more preferred over others in VALORANT, especially the duelists, because of their ability to frag. As a result, most of the players often try to pick the same Agents, such as Jett and Reyna so that they can be the top fraggers in a match.
This is where the instalocking issue comes into play. In VALORANT, each Agent can only be selected once in each team. As a result, most players who connect to the Agent selection menu first get to pick their favorite Agents without creating a perfect team composition for the match.
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Hence, the situation sometimes gets messy in the game, especially when players are solo queuing. More often, most teams usually lack the key Agents that they need to win the match. So, the players behave with unnecessary toxicity, and it eventually leads to a loss for the whole team.
Riot Games is experimenting Cascade system in VALORANT
Riot Games promotes team play and a friendly environment in VALORANT. Instalocking is a major issue that can create a toxic environment in the game and can ruin players’ experience. However, Riot Games does not have much to do about it in case of preventing players from instalocking.
VALORANT can not force players not to choose the Agents that they don’t want to play. So, Riot Games had been thinking a lot about how to prevent instalocking without making players upset. Thus, they have been experimenting with the Cascade Agent System for quite some time.
In the Cascade Agent Select system, players are given 10-second intervals to select their Agents. At first, player 1 can select their Agent while the others wait. After the first players select their Agent, the next players in the queue will get 10 seconds to choose their characters.
While the other players are waiting for their turn, they can select their primary and secondary Agents without being able to lock them. So, teammates can actually see what other players would prefer to play.
Will Cascade Agent System solve the instalocking issue?
In the current Agent selection system, players who can connect to the agent selection menu first get to instalock their Agents. So, if Riot Games implement the Cascade Agent System in VALORANT, the instalocking issue will more or less likely be resolved.
However, it will bring in other issues. For example: Now player 1 will get to pick whatever Agents they want, and player 5 will have to pick what is left. As a result, players from the bottom of the list, unable to pick their favorite Agents, will be unhappy about it, and they might eventually throw the match later down the line. So, that doesn’t actually resolve the actual issue.
However, Riot Games is still experimenting with the Cascade Agent Select system, and it is still in development. They may change things in the process that might actually solve the instalocking issues in the future.
When will Cascade Agent Select be in the game?
Riot sent out Surveys for players to give their feedback on the system in its current form. Riot Games will take feedback from players and make adjustments to the system to make the system better. It is still in experiment mode and unclear whether Cascade Agent Select will be implemented in the game or not.
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