Valorant pros accuse Riot of ‘pandering’ to casual players with patch 8.08 Cypher changes
Riot GamesValorant patch 8.08 brought major Cypher and Viper changes that impact the casual and professional meta; however, some pros have called out a change as heavily geared toward the average player.
One of the biggest changes to Cypher in Valorant patch 8.08 concerns his Spycam. Players can now tell when Cypher is watching them with his hidden camera via an audio cue. Previously, the ability was silent and great for getting information on the enemy team’s map movements.
The ability is crucial to some professional teams who run the agent often, as it provides great intel and rewards players who can hide the camera well. Riot explained in the patch notes that it has “seen play patterns around Spycam that lack counterplay for the enemy team,” and added the audio cue as a result.
Multiple Valorant pros and coaches have critiqued the change as an example of Riot making the game easier and less deep.
“I’m disappointed with the Cypher cam nerf. Hidden cams were interesting to play with and against. Seems like this change just removes a lot of the ability’s depth,” Sentinels Valorant head coach Adam ‘kaplan’ Kaplan said on social media.
“Riot nerfing a sentinel agent every two patch might as well just remove this role,” Sentinels’ IGL Amine ‘johnqt’ Ouarid said of Cypher’s changes. “Also that camera nerf is the most casual friendly change ever and ruins the whole concept of the ability.”
One player called the change a part of a trend of Riot “making the gameplay easier,” pointing at the developer’s addition of a visual cue to smoke abilities. The change allowed players to know when a smoke is about to disappear. Previously, pros had to count down to gauge how long the ability blocked their vision, with every Controller’s smoke boasting a different length.
“That Spycam change has to be the most pandering to casual players I’ve ever seen in a patch though,” Oxygen Esports Valorant pro Michael ‘dapr’ Gulino said.
The major changes to Cypher and Viper in this patch seem to be just the beginning, however, as Riot has said it has even more changes lined up after VCT Masters Shanghai. Whether these changes include more of what dapr called pandering, or just major adjustments to the pro meta, remains to be seen.
