Valorant has pretty weak visuals overall, but Lotus is one of the worst maps for that. But maybe my opinion will change when we can actually play the map.

I hate when new maps are being played in tier 1 international tournaments. No one knows how to actually play the maps and no one knows how other regions/teams play it. Everyone just goes in with guessing and hoping that their preparation was the best. Its fun to see new maps in action ofc, but it just gives such big fluke element.

I don't know haven't played yet but:
visually its ugly and door mechanic seems interesting but not a huge fan of it based on what I've seen. Likely going to be ok map at least and I could see myself enjoying it.

Russ

Little Big Planet 2 (and 1st).
Endless amount of levels to play and you could create your own as well. So many different levels and I met so many nice people that I used to play with everyday. A lot of good memories from that game. Amazing game and suited perfectly for when I was around 9-12 year old

My prediction based on what I've seen, but hard to tell obviously:

Killjoy
Astra/Omen
KayO
Fade
+likely duelist Jett or Raze not sure yet

so pretty much current most meta Pearl comp

Most divorces are not based on abuse what are you talking about?

The system is bit fucked. Mothers always have an huge advantage. In a way its understandable, but still faulty.

All I know is Koldamenta > Vanity
rest are debetable while Yay is better than KOI's op player, at least for now

I bet SkRossi is still positive in KD and FK to FD

They really aren't though. Will was their best performing player in Champions. Will, the guy who got booted of the team. Cryo is lan proven, but rest not so much. Both Asuna and Derrek looked pretty bad. Bang had his moments, but was by no means top controller. And Stellar performed like expected. People seem to forget that 100T didn't have amazing Champions and there was pretty noticable difference between their level and DRX's and Fnatic's. Especially outside of Pearl.

and I don't count RedBull because completely different stakes and level of play

He really isn't that fragging, but one of the more fragging controllers in EMEA, because again most are low fragging IGLs.

NOO these qualifiers are not treating Finnish players well

The thing with controller role in EMEA is that majority of them are IGLs. You won't find many fragging controllers here. Avova, baddyG, L1NK are like closest. And then ofc you have guys like Soulcas and Mistic who sometimes play controllers. That's why we have so many good non-controller support players (sentinel, initiator etc), but lack in insane individual controllers. Its just not needed.

Not 100% sure, but my understanding is that Nvidia is overall at least slightly better. Everyone was hyping up AMD like crazy when they launched 6k series, but haven't heard that much of Radeon ever since (haven't followed much either tbf) so those likely didn't perform as well as Nvidia's 3k series. But not sure tho.

I think Omen will be good on this map but could be wrong. Too early to tell.

Monsteerr maybe

Riot just combined Anubis and Ancient pretty much. This map looks so similar to those 2 when it comes to sites and areas. Like really close.

But why? They pretty much nerfed Omen just so Split defense wouldn't be as strong...

Looks nice, but why every Valorant knife has to look like toy

we didnt even finish finals lol

I don't remember saying that 100T can't win RedBull? I was mainly saying how teams like Vitality and Heretics are going to surprise people's expectations and I personally didn't predict 100T to win and saw them as overrated even back then. And how did this change my comment on people overreacting?

Am I wrong though? Did I say something that was false? No I don't think so. I'm not just overreacting over fucking RedBull Homegrounds tournament like some delusional people.

How was Yacine to Guild hyped? They were supposed to get Twisten, but it failed.

True same with 100T. They are good, but hasn't by any means proven yet that they are one of the best. They had pretty mid Champions performance, but people act like they were amazing. And then they won RedBull homeground vs 2 month old teams where even the best one had 2 subs. Guys like Cryo and Bang are good, but holy fuck the overreaction over one 3rd party tournament. I'm not going to call Rhyme best controller 2023 even though he fucked Parla who likely were at same level as most teams in RedBull.

No idea, but found this video I don't know have you seen it. Didn't watch but based on comments it seems to work. But I also think the sounds are just supposed to be like that and you will just get used to it eventually. When switching headphones it usually takes some time to get used to the new ones because most sound bit different. When I switched from HyperX Flights to DT 770, I instantly disliked the sound quality(even tho objectively they are way better), but after week of use I got used to them and nowadays my old HyperX sound like shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvjItX7XHkA

I recommend buying studio headphones from brands like Sennheise, Bayerdynamic, Audio Technica etc and then buy external USB mic or just ModMic Uni if you want to make studio headphones work like headsets. But this usually cost bit more and may not be possible in every setup. But give way better sound and mic quality.
some PCs are not powerful enough to run every studio headphones so you might need to buy amp as well, also USB mics usually pick a lot of background noises so that could be an issue with open mic

But if you go for headsets then good old HyperX Cloud 2 is still really good value. Ok sound quality (what you get from headsets) and decent mic. Also pretty durable and still used by many pros. Logitech also has their G Pro ones that are apparently pretty similar. No idea about RedDragon never heard of.

Depends on person, but maybe like lvl 6-8, but some could struggle even in lower because CSGO works differently. Also many good Valorant players have experience from CSGO.

I think Molsi is up there as one of the best flex/entries in EMEA. He was just on weaker team so he never had the chances of getting known as one. He is really good and consistent (vs C9 was his worst game I've ever seen and overall RedBull was weak from him). I think Zyppan might be better and more proven, but in my opinion Molsi is the most underrated player in EMEA. Also this is a dream team and I've been Molsi believer since LDN UTD so I had to pick him.

EMEA: NaVi
AMER: Leviatan, would have said NRG but they don't get EMEA scrims anymore so don't know anymore.
APAC: DRX

I bought NFS 2015 really late and heard a lot of people were shitting on it, but I think it was casual fun. Drifting was really nice and I enjoyed it. Ofc there was a lot of problems and it felt pretty soulless overall.

Actually when I opened the game today it took quite long to load from the start screen. Might be an universal issue but idk.

Looks pretty nice its like Prime, Protocol and Singularity together seems like it. But not like huge fan based on this pics. I still want Recon AK Vandal ffs

Never been into racing games, but Need For Speeds used to be best during PS2 era and I surprisingly liked the 2015 NFS game. But overall its pretty shit franchise nowadays.

Going to depend on how well the teams gel up. In the end of the day most of the teams haven't had much time to play together especially when it comes to tournaments.

type of music to be echoing in the backrooms

Water confirmed? oh nvm im dumb its the sites...

3 sites is nice. Adds difference to the rounds. For example on Haven B is usually that fast, pretty high risk site to hit and then C and A again work differently. If they do it well then 3 sites is good. Haven one of the best maps in Valorant and one of the most fun to play attack and defense.

all time IMO:

Ascent: LOUD - no explanation needed really
Bind: Acend - their streak on that map was insane
Fracture: FPX - insane win record and only team to beat DRX on it
Breeze: Gambit/M3C - they were just really good on this map
Split: don't remember
icebox: G2 or Fnatic - G2 changed the EMEA meta on this map and were really dominant even as team with problems, Fnatic has been good on it as well and tried to copy G2
Pearl: too early to tell
Haven: DRX - didn't come up with anyone else

Yes, but some teams give more resources to their stars and those stars might not perform as well when/if they don't get as much resouces but its more splitted. For players like Yay, Derke, Cryo etc their teams have always sacrificed a lot for them, but team that has multiple stars might not do that.

I get you, but I guess its because they have always went in as one of the favorites and have ended up placing in like top 5 every event pretty much but have never won anything and now their roster is more stacked than ever.

At least this time around it was visually good, but didn't really add anything to lore if I'm not wrong outside of them wanting to find something from the new map

Derke - duelist/op
Molsi - entry/flex
Koldamenta/Boaster - controller/IGL
nAts - sentinel
Leo - Initiator

maybe too much star power to work

Its because their roster is arguably the most stacked and they have had history of good performances even if they didn't win anything yet

Overwatch clears Valorant in animation, but hopefully this is good.

I guess easiest is just to sell items/clothes etc that you don't use or that you see as worthy to sell for money. Or just try to find work. Seasonal stuff usually last shorter so you earn faster and maybe can get in easier, but obviously there isn't too much seasonal work atm. If you live in place with snow you could find work to to plow snow out of people's frontyards etc.

What? RedBull Homeground doesn't mean shit. Vitality got formed like 2 months ago while 100T has been together for many months now. Tournament full of newly formed teams.

Also Bonecold was playing in VRLs at the time and Guild were playing LCQ 4v5.

Stellar's biggest achievement so far has been winning NA LCQ against The Guard who didn't even look that good, like both Bonecold and Koldamenta have achieved more.

I asked you a question and you didn't answer. How is that insecure? But yes let's agree to disagree.

He meant IGLs that have led multiple teams/rosters to success. Redgar is most known for his time in Gambit and FNS for Envy/Optic(same team). While for example Koldamenta led Acend, G2 and Guild to success with different rosters.

And are you time traveler or what? If there hasn't been single Valorant LAN in NA then how can you say anything about how NA crowd would be? You likely based your claim on some past events so I wanted to know which one. I don't remember watching single esport event in NA where the crowd was any more impressive than EU counterparts. I remember NA Rocket League crowd being pretty quiet when EU shit on them not that long time ago (game where NA is actually competitive).