Riot Games has released a video blog post outlining drastic changes coming to Valorant's competitive queue and ranked system beginning in Act III and continuing through Episode 2 early next year.

Design Director Joe Ziegler and Systems Design Lead David Cole reveal that the needs of the matchmaking system have outgrown the original intention of it being more social in function. They also acknowledge the inconsistency of match fairness at top ranks and problems with a unified team/solo/duo queue system.

To address the problems, the following changes will be implemented:

  • Tightened rank disparity restrictions from six ranks to three
  • Immortal+ ranked movement impacted purely by wins/losses and decisiveness of outcome
  • Ability to select preferred server(s)
  • Addition of a public, region-based leaderboard
  • Potential restriction at Immortal+ to solo/duo queue

An exact date for the proposed changes has not been given, but a rough timeline has been plotted from the upcoming Act 3 to Episode 2 in early 2021.

Additionally, Cole said there will hopefully be more news next year on a system to allow for "team-based competition" where friends of broader rank ranges can queue together, noting that it shouldn't be the focus of the competitive queue.