The VALORANT In-Game Currency System Makes No Sense

VALORANT was released almost a year ago and has taken the gaming community by storm ever since. In the last 30 days alone, the game has received almost 14 million active players, with an average of almost a million active players every day. While the game has received noteworthy criticism for being a copy-paste of the infamous CS:GO, VALORANT continues to succeed and now out-ranks the almost a decade-old FPS game by nearly twice the number of active players. However, while Riot Games is admired for the time and resources it has invested into VALORANT, it is equally criticised for the non-sensical in-game currency system that it has implemented.

When it comes to in-game weapon skins, it’s safe to say that no other FPS game (yet) can overthrow VALORANT. It has, by far, the most appealing weapon skins in the FPS genre. From animations to exclusive kill effects, you want to get your hands on them somehow. While other FPS games, such as CS:GO and Apex Legends, chose to go with loot boxes and packs for weapon skins, Riot Games decided to go a different route with VALORANT. In VALORANT, you can purchase weapon skins from the in-game store. Not only that but the in-game store has a rotation feature, so your weapon skins will refresh at a certain time every day and you can never know what you’ll get next. Furthermore, the in-game store rotation is random for everyone, so the weapon skins that you might get, another person may not.

While Riot Games has been scrutinised by players for placing a time duration on weapon skins and bundles before they’re gone, it makes sense from a business standpoint. VALORANT is a business for Riot Games and the company has to generate revenue one way or another. A certain time restriction on in-game cosmetics induces a sense of urgency among players if they want to purchase them. As a result, Riot Games benefits from this! Hence, this is still understandable. However, what makes no sense is the game’s currency system that forces you to spend more than you have to and get less in return.

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Why Radianite Points (RP) Are A Scam:

Radianite Points (RP) in VALORANT can be used to upgrade weapon skins. Upgrading, in turn, adds special animations and kill effects to the weapon skin. For some weapon skins, Radianite Points (RP) allow you to purchase more variants, too. Now, this is all fine. However, the weapon skins that you’ve newly purchased have absolutely no animations at all. They’re basically monotonous cosmetics for a weapon, similar to how it is in CS:GO, and aren’t that radiant. You’d think that if you spend so much on a weapon skin, you’d get at least something, perhaps an animation or even a sound effect, without having to upgrade it. However, that isn’t the case! In order to get your money’s worth from your recently purchased weapon skin, you have to upgrade it to certain “levels” with Radianite Points (RP). Each “level” will give you something new, such as a withdrawal animation, sound effects, and kill effect.

For the most part, the concept of Radianite Points (RP) in VALORANT makes sense. That is until you see how much they cost. 20 Radianite Points (RP) will set you back 1,600 VALORANT Points (VP) — that’s more than what an entry-level weapon skin with little to no animation will cost you. In retrospect, it can cost you up to 90 Radianite Points (RP) just to completely upgrade a weapon skin with all the variants and “levels”. The most Radianite Points (RP) that you can purchase at a time are 80 Radianite Points (RP), and they’ll set you back 4,800 VALORANT Points (VP) — that’s absurdly expensive!

What makes matters even worse is that there’s no way to earn Radianite Points (RP) without spending money. Whether you earn them through the Battle Pass — which cost 1,000 VALORANT Points (VP) — or purchase them from the in-game store, you have to spend money either way. You can earn up to 160 Radianite Points (RP) from the Battle Pass, which may take you weeks of play-time, and you’d still only be able to upgrade one weapon skin completely. However, you do earn a decent number of non-animated weapon skins from the Battle Pass, which makes it rather worthwhile.

Criticism:

The criticism for VALORANT’s in-game currency system comes from professional content creators and e-Sports players, too. In a video published by WestJett, a well-known VALORANT content creator on YouTube, he mentions how the Radianite Points (RP) system in VALORANT is a “scam” and says, “who in the right mind is going to pay money… extra money to upgrade their pistol skin?” In a response to VALORANT’s tweet promoting the then-released Elderflame weapon skins bundle, Flexinja, a renowned content creator for NRG, said, “$100 is aight for the bundle except you need nearly $200 more to upgrade all guns. Feelsnotrightman :(“ Further criticism comes from players on social media that feel the same about Riot Games’ unusual marketing schemes.

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What Can Riot Games Do To Change the Valorant In-Game Currency System?

Obviously, VALORANT is a business for Riot Games! It’s a free-to-play game, so in-game transactions are the only means of generating revenue for the company. However, if this non-sensical in-game currency system continues, Riot Games will lose its customers soon. In recent months, VALORANT has really seen unique weapon skins. For the most part, the weapon skins have been boring and irrationally expensive. Suppose the company wants players to invest more in in-game cosmetics.

In that case, it has to change the in-game currency system of VALORANT — starting with making the Radianite Points (RP) cheaper or adding means of earning them outside of the Battle Pass, such as exclusive events or additional challenges. Apex Legends, for instance, allows you to earn Apex Packs through exclusive events, which give you Crafting Metals to purchase certain character and weapon skins for a certain price. Riot Games can add something similar to VALORANT and, in turn, encourage more players to purchase weapon skins without the fear of spending more than twice the price of weapon skin just to upgrade it.-

What do you think about this? Do tell us your opinions in the comments below!

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