‘What a joke’: VALORANT players criticize map pool changes in Patch 9.08

Riot Games previewed upcoming changes to the VALORANT competitive map pool earlier today, but players have a lot of questions and criticism.

On July 30, Riot gave us a sneak peek at all the VALORANT map pool changes slated for Patch 9.08. Pearl and Split will be returning and replacing Icebox and Lotus. Sunset will also see some design updates to combat post-plant spam.

While players celebrated the removal of Icebox, many still weren’t completely satisfied with all the map changes. One of the biggest complaints surrounds Fracture, which hasn’t been in the competitive map pool for nearly a year. Players pointed out the irony of Fracture’s absence while other maps continue to hog its slot in the pool. Rather than Fracture, it’s Split making its return despite only recently being replaced by VALORANT’s newest map, Abyss, last month. As much as I personally love Split, I also would have preferred to see Fracture’s long-overdue return instead—just to shake things up.

And then there’s Ascent, which has remained in the competitive map pool since its release “while consistently having the most boring meta,” according to pro Wedid. If there’s any map that’s due for removal and a possible rework, it’s Ascent. Plus, it would make room for Fracture and other maps that haven’t seen as much competitive play. Constantly keeping Ascent around over other maps just feels like “a joke” to some players.

Outside of Fracture, Ascent, and Split, players also shared criticism regarding map design changes. As mentioned in Riot’s announcement, Sunset is getting a makeover, with specific “updates to B Site to help deal with post plant spam/gameplay.” This is nice considering how difficult and tilting it can be to defuse the bomb on B site while being spammed through the smoke. 

But Pearl’s B site suffers from the same spam issue, and yet, Riot confirmed it won’t see any design changes when it makes its return in Patch 9.08. “No changes to Pearl after all this time is a joke,” one player commented. Indeed, the last time this map saw major changes was back in Patch 6.11, over a year ago. If Sunset is specifically being updated to limit post-plant spam, Pearl’s B site also deserves to be looked at for that same reason. Perhaps that will be addressed in a future patch, depending on how Pearl holds up after its return.

It’s unclear at this time when exactly these map changes and VALORANT Patch 9.08 will be released, however.