Riot Games has announced that the new VALORANT Premier Alpha Tournament Mode will go live next week.
More specifically, Riot’s competitive team is delivering the Alpha version of this feature into the hands of an initial group of players—called Premier. Riot’s greater goal is to build a connection between the game and VALORANT esports through this highly competitive mode.
We want to present an even higher goal beyond Radiant that provides the most competition-hungry players with a rewarding challenge beyond ranked.
Jon Walker, designer – VALORANT Competitive team
Ultimately, the VALORANT Premier Alpha Tournament will be a means to allow millions of players to experience the game in a similar way to VCT pros and teams. This game mode will be undergoing its initial alpha test in Brazil.
However, since the VALORANT Premier Alpha tournament is in alpha, the studio expects that improvements will be needed. In its current state, Premier has about 60% of all the planned features and functionality, but there are whole features that are absent in the current Alpha. The game developer is actively seeking player feedback before rolling out the Premier mode to all global players.
Jon Walker, a designer on the VALORANT Competitive team, explained, “We want to present an even higher goal beyond Radiant that provides the most competition-hungry players with a rewarding challenge beyond ranked.”
The competitive team clarified more details of the VALORANT Premier Alpha test as follows:
WHAT ARE WE TESTING?
The team has designed a new in-game feature called Premier that will allow you to build a team and compete across a season of pre-scheduled matches.
In Premier, you will be able to create or join a team of five friends, acquaintances, and neighbors. Then battle for glory against teams of a similar skill level. After building a roster, your team will be placed in a division where you’ll play across a persistent season composed of a mix of weekly matches and tournaments.
Each season will last a few weeks, and if you play your sweatiest, your team may qualify for the end-of-season tournament to battle for the title of Division Champion.
PREMIER ALPHA
Next week, players in Brazil will hop into our first broader test of Premier. They’ll take the first steps in testing a few key features:
- Team creation (with team logos and colors)
- Server load
- Tournament play (including a map pick-and-ban system)
- Premier Score (and qualifying for the end-of-season tournament)
- Matchmaking and queue health throughout the Alpha
- General bugs
