Valorant ranked players spare no effort to win a competitive game, even if it means changing their cool usernames to random formations. This new loophole sees players employing ridiculously lengthy tactical usernames to hide their ultimate points. While it may seem like a non-issue, higher-ELO players are thoroughly annoyed. It’s a lesser-known fact, but ult points help monitor the enemy’s position, tactics, and strategy in the FPS.
Riot allows players to change their usernames at least once a month. However, Valorant players have found a legal yet unfair loophole in the system, which has convinced them to stick to a verbose IGN. You wouldn’t think a username could have anything to do with competitive play, but it’s now possible. Weapons, strategy, and utility are no longer the only tools to win.
A 16-character-long tactical username can conceal the ultimate points on the Valorant scoreboard, disrupting the game for many. A casual Valorant player may not bat an eye, but it’s a pesky exploit in high-MMR.
Valorant’s first reveal of the scoreboard had wagged money tongues. Complaints of too much economic information were plenty, but Riot stuck with its decision. But players have now cracked the code to hide what they can with tactical usernames, and it’s not fair for many reasons.
Whether an enemy has their ultimate ready shows on the top bar, but high-ranked Valorant players often use the point tally to read the enemy’s strategy. For example, if the enemy Raze is one point away at the round’s beginning and has her Showstopper ready without a kill during the round’s course, it means the agent is somewhere around the orbs. You can’t get this intel through the top bar.
In a similar situation, if an enemy player with a powerful ult is one point away, the defenders may try to play aggressively, knowing that the enemy may rush to get the orb. Again, these bits are game-changing in Diamond and above level matches where rank demons would gorge on small details. From the enemy’s location to their strategy, all of this can be revealed by how their ult points increase.
So, players sacrificing their cool Valorant IGNs isn’t as ridiculous. Instead, it’s a pivotal exploit that unfairly tweaks the scoreboard. Valorant has been out for over two years, but this trick is still new. Now that it’s out in the open, Riot may roll out a character limit or another fix to maintain in-game integrity.
Riot Games recently overhauled Valorant’s UI and tweaked it after player response. The developer may consider rolling out some necessary changes for the scoreboard in Valorant episode 6 act 1, which is already loaded with potential new updates.