VALORANT players can’t agree on the worst map—so they default to the newest one

When I think of people embracing new stuff, the VALORANT player base is probably the last that comes to my mind. They just can’t or refuse to welcome new meta with open arms, and unfortunately, ever-evolving mechanics are the only thing that can keep a F2P tac shooter alive for years. 

Take, for example, the newest VALORANT map—Sunset—a quaint location on Alpha Earth focused on mid-control and closed-quarter fights. I see it as pretty and creative, albeit there are a few flaws here and there. But the sheer amount of hate surrounding Sunset is strange. 

I’ve not run into a single Sunset game so far where players said they liked it or are, at least, trying to like it. In fact, I rarely get the chance to play the map because players keep dodging the queue.

Learning a new map’s quirks isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and we had only a week to master it before it was added to the Competitive queue. But declaring Sunset as Riot Games’ worst addition to the game just based on our sad win rate isn’t fair.

Take a look at the discussion in this Reddit post uploaded on Sept. 21. “Players will always hate new maps,” the post’s title read,  and honestly, it drove me to write this story. That’s how it has been in most competitive shooters, and it’s probably because FPS players have always been resistant to change and new content.

Those who build content for VALORANT are people, and like everyone else, they can’t be perfect all the time. Every map has some problem or the other, but I can vouch for the fact that most of our preferences are solely based on win rate. 

I’m not saying that you’d have to like all maps. When Pearl came out in Episode Five, Act One, I was only three months into playing VALORANT. And the map’s vast area and lurker-friendly corners overwhelmed me for quite a while. 

And, of course, I never liked Fracture either, and I am so glad it’s out of the queue. But that’s not because it’s a bad map. I couldn’t adapt to it because of the agents I main and the annoyingly non-cooperative teammates I get sometimes. But that didn’t make me label both these maps as the ‘worst’ and dodge queues.

It’s not just new maps. Players refuse to adapt to a new agent and their unique playstyle as well. Deadlock was launched in Episode Seven, Act One, and again, I haven’t seen a single player embrace her strengths.

Now, before you attack me with facts like “The esports scene didn’t like Deadlock,” they didn’t like Harbor at launch either. Look at where he’s now in pro play. In ranked, he’s still considered the “worst controller”—again, something which I don’t get. I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if Deadlock becomes the meta in VCT 2024.

Don’t get me wrong—Riot could have done plenty of things better. Some agent designs are just too unbalanced and different from their class peers, while maps can be too one-sided, which is why Riot keeps adding changes.

What I’m trying to say is that players will always have a bad map or agent, but that doesn’t necessitate the fact that the map or the agent deserves so much hate.

Sunset definitely isn’t the worst map—it’s small, it’s new, it’s a good fit for most of the agents, and it offers plenty of flexibility on both sides. You’d just need to focus on gathering intel and controlling the mid-section, not to forget how crucial it has always been to win gun fights, no matter the VALORANT map you are on.     

Players who lose on new maps forget the fact that their opponents are winning it. There must be something they’re doing right, and that’s exactly what you need to learn to make it your best map.

So maybe stop labeling a map or agent as faulty and start analyzing—if you want to win more games in VALORANT.