Riot Games has released the notes for Valorant patch 8.08, and players are disappointed to see that the same boring map pool is in effect.
The notes for Valorant patch 8.08 were released on April 30 and included some major changes to Viper and Cypher, but did not include adjustments to the current map pool. Players have been calling for a change-up in the map pool almost since this Episode began, and Riot has not brought in any new maps to the rotation since January 2024.
While the current lineup does have fan favorites like Acsent and Bind, it also has three of the least popular maps in Breeze, Icebox, and Sunset. All three of the least-liked maps feature long-range gun fights and are considered a little stale in terms of Agent meta.
Under the announcements for the eighth patch, players are commenting about the lack of map pool changes almost as much as they are talking about the major agent adjustments.
“They… they really didn’t rotate any of the maps? Why?” Reddit user packy17 said.
Even professional players are calling for a change in the map pool.
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Change the map pool now plz
— M80 gianny (@koalanoob) April 30, 2024
“Change the map pool now plz,” GianFranco “koalanoob” Potestio said on social media.
“This is about to be one of the most boring acts to date, zero map pool changes and more unnecessary agent nerfs,” one X user said.
The changes to Viper in this new patch will also impact players’ experience with the current map pool. The character is considered a must-pick on most of the current rotation and is now much less powerful.
Riot has not commented on the map pool much despite players’ complaints for the past few months. The developer said it moves maps out of the rotation to work on them internally before bringing them out in an improved state. However, this practice of keeping the competitive map pool to only seven means that some maps have been out of the rotation for over six months.
Valorant players will have to wait for the next patch to see if Riot is finally giving them a new rotation of maps to play on.