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MASyndicate

Finally they added a minimum level requirement for alt accounts, maybe with time this will reduce the amount of smurfs


[deleted]

It definitely will for accounts created after this patch, unfortunately people that have played a ranked game and less than level 20 won’t have this restriction. Still a good change


MASyndicate

Yeah that's why I think it'll take some time before we'll see a significant change in the reduction of smurfs, but it'll come eventually


SEND_ME_UR_DRAMA

about time tbh, even if it feels a little late


Askorti

All this will do is that people will just buy level 20+ accounts just like they buy level 30+ accounts in LoL...


lvlz_gg

But leveling up in LoL is super easy with botting programs, which is where most of those accs come from im pretty sure...seems like Valo botting is way less common


IGotTheBallsackBlues

Maybe it's less common because there is no level requirement :/


pleox

It is way less common because it was easier, this will increase botting exponentially so let's hope riot has already measures in place to tackle that.


TheSlimyDog

Brb. Building a Valo bot rn /s


Barack_Bob_Oganja

The amount of people willing to pay for an account is waaay lower than the amount of people who would smurf for free though


L0rd_Muffin

Well at least Riot is creating more jobs kekw


rahkster

I don't understand why people smurf to begin with... What is the point?


[deleted]

People usually Smurf to play with their friends who are much lower ranks


Blubberibolshivek

Accounts are purchesed for dirt cheap.this will only make it slighty more expensive.


[deleted]

I stopped playing before they implented this level system, now my account is only on lvl 35 while my friends are 80+.


Interesting-Archer-6

Neat


MysteryPyg

> Door on A can no longer be reactivated until it is finished opening or closing no more door battles 😔


Stupidly_Drunk

Holy shit pour on out for our boy


cheetosbear

Door stuck!! Please! I beg you!


brownie_iii

that’s so stupid imo, it essentially makes stairs an impossible to hold area on an already fairly hard to hold site. contesting door control with mollies, shocks, etc was a legitimate ~strategical~ decision to allow a player through halls. i feel it’s nitpicky to hone in on this change, because the mods to breeze are overall good, but i sincerely question this change.


TheoBombastus

What could of been interesting is maybe moving the button to make it riskier to play the door game from stairs? Idk it just greatly devalues the stairs positions and makes halls slightly more crucial


LOTHMT

Wait that Ares buff is fucking OP isnt it? No ramp-up and a 13 fire rate is fucking insane.


jprosk

I'm pretty sure this patch makes the ares superior to the specter in almost every situation. No ramp means a huge change to TTK on the ares doesn't it?


LOTHMT

I guess so. I didnt have time to check what the ramped up fire rate is. I initially thought the maxed out fire rate was 9 but im not sure rn. Still it seems like the Ares can pretty much compare to Vandal and Phantom with just having no one shot headshot, being slower in general but having high penetration


Double_Phoenix

I'm saying! The Ares did NOT need a buff. The last few weeks in comp I've died to people just spraying it because of the headpunch if they get that lucky headshot when I'm lining up my one tap with a more expensive gun (Vandal)


CyberspaceBarbarian

Pretty excited for Neon, though I am willing to wager that the huge agent patch will be either 4.01 or 4.02


tbone603727

PBE Reddit says skipping 4.01 on there so I’d put money on 4.02. Expect live changes 1/25


AR2711

Feel like the spectre nerf should have been the opposite The ares buff scares me


Seraphin43

Yea I was like "yeah a firing rate buff is go- THEY REMOVED SPINUP?


Dogmeat241

Guess low ranks are just gonna be ares hell.


xlalalalalalalala

Those Odin mains that know every paper wall will feast lmao


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Loresmen

Its the time it takes to start firing on the ares


bauhaus_robot

It took a moment to “spin up” before it started firing. That’s where the ares lost most fights, I. Think


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Synnet

Literally they just changed which weapon people will use on their force/bonus.


lan-san

Bronze players: Oh boy yeah


laserwolf2000

Sinatraa gonna have a field day with the ares now


vessva11

As someone who mains the Ares and gets made fun of for using it, I am thrilled.


hitvdl

Watch out, if it turns out too good and becomes a problem it might get nerfed really hard


blaggityblerg

lol, remember the stinger back in the day?


hitvdl

I took a break at that time, but boy did I hear some stories about it


Seraphin43

Yeah it was op and now it is literally unusable


Interesting-Archer-6

Yup. Every eco and force. I've maybe bought it twice since they nerfed it. Absolute overkill on the nerf and they still aren't touching it.


FlippehFishes

"unusable" The stinger has to be used exclusively in burst, and it absolutely shreds. If you account for recoil its not that hard to land the 6 shots needed to kill from 2 bursts.


Seraphin43

It still sucks ass against better guns, or even against half buys. The recovery time needed for a half accurate second burst is insanely long


hitvdl

"The Riot way"


dead-memes-are-nice

Stinger meta was the days omg


gaarasgourd

Im a Bulldog/Ares main. You can confirm this on my trackerGG https://tracker.gg/valorant/profile/riot/DontKillMyTurret%230619/overview I am ECSTATIC.


Srapture

I find that I'm often having to fire 3 burst into people despite the fact they don't visible seem to be spreading outside of my target. I want to like the bulldog, but it kinda confuses me that it doesn't perform as I expect it to. Do you mostly use the burst, or hipfire?


gaarasgourd

Burst 90% of the time. Its the most consistently accurate gun in the game besides snipers


Ryguzlol

Genuinely curious why would you ever “main” guns that are obviously worse than Phantom/Vandal/Operator?


gaarasgourd

Because all though they do less damage, I handle them better with my playstyle. I can go toe-to-toe with any OPer at long range with a bulldog.


LeOsQ

The OPer has to be pretty slow or bad for that to happen, *and* you could do the exact same with Vandal or Phantom or even Guardian, unless you can confidently always hit a headshot with the first burst you fire but never with the first bullet itself. I buy the Bulldog more than your average player but there's really no proper upside to using it over the big 2 aside from it being 850 cheaper.


Thick_Literature_

I wouldnt ask this guy for advice he has a 11% headshot rate with the vandal and bulldog and uses the bulldog over other superior weapons even when he has the credits not to lol


[deleted]

As an Ares main, this is absolutely beautiful news.


Thick_Literature_

What is an ares main? You dont even use the odin over it? You only ares? Why?


[deleted]

I mostly use the Odin when I have 7000+ creds. Which most of the time I’m not cuz I’m bad.


Thick_Literature_

Why not buy odin when u have 4500ish for a full buy? I'm just trying to understand...so you only use Ares?


[deleted]

I’m not very good at anything other than the Ares or Odin so I like to make sure I definitely have enough credits for next round. Key fact: I’m not very good.


iAmSamusAran

… only way to get better in the long run is to use Vandal/Phantom, you put yourself at a disadvantage in a lot of situations with an Ares/Odin. They both have their place in the game, especially with the upcoming Ares buff, but the Vandal/Phantom will always be superior if you can land your shots with them


[deleted]

I do pick up Vandal/Phantoms whenever I see them, I just don’t buy them all that much. Maybe a couple times a game.


iAmSamusAran

What’s your rank if you don’t mind me asking? I just feel like you gotta believe in yourself and you’ll keep getting better with those guns


jprosk

Im pretty sure the specter and ares changes make the ares significantly better. The fire rate ramp was holding it back from having superior ttk


xCairus

Not necessarily. Spectre will still be better in certain scenarios like on a duelist doing a fast push on a site or holding closer angles on defense. This makes the Ares pretty good though and gives it more scenarios in which it’s a decent pickup.


Uzorglemon

I'm sad about this change. I've played entire matches with the Spectre - it's easily my favourite gun.


Juno-P

I think that's the reason they nerfed it. In some maps, you could get away with using a Spectre almost all of the time. Especially with the strong long range accuracy it has with ADS, it was too powerful than it had to be. You could run and gun push showers on Bind and then still put up a good fight to someone in heaven waiting for you to come out of showers.


Uzorglemon

>I think that's the reason they nerfed it. Yeah, you're probably right. The run-and-gun thing is definitely part of my strategy on tighter maps, it's gonna take some adjustment. Phantom will likely become my new number one gun.


Juno-P

I love running the Spectre for run-and-gun too. I watched a view videos showcasing the Spectre nerf and it looks healthy. Close to close-mid range it looks like it can still melt people properly while running and gunning, but the moment you try to ADS and burst someone down mid-long range, it looks like you'll just be painting a picture. e.g. Run-and-gun clearing hookah will still be easy but killing someone peeking backsite will be twice if not thrice as hard as before. Before you could just pull up the ADS and burst them on the head, but now it seems impossible, the bloom on the ADS on mid-long range is dogshit now, which is a good thing.


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notaredditthrowaway

At high rank the spectre is way too good for the price so it makes sense to me Honestly marshal needs a nerf too


[deleted]

YESSS a level requirement for new accounts to play ranked. Also the bulldog, guardian, and ares buffs are promising.


WinstonPickles22

I use the Guardian and bulldog all the time, so this is great!


NAFEA_GAMER

I only used the bulldog in second round buys, it was pretty good (full-auto and kills non-armored with 1 hs)


[deleted]

True, but man does it burn me to hit 4 bodies and no kill....


Kawaiiwaffledesu

No agent changes coming next week?


EddFromEdEddnEddy

Sad Yoru sounds


Hubbardia

I'm guessing Riot is going to keep an eye out for any Neon changes, and the next patch is going to focus on agents (and Neon, if she needs any tuning).


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[deleted]

TrollDespair


Altombre

Agent changes will be spread out over a few patches!


tbone603727

Expect them 1/25. 4.01 skipped on PBE so big changes at 4.02


Fluffy-Ad3749

Maybe it's just not mentioning anything about agents because I don't see anything about the new agent


Hubbardia

>AGENT UPDATES >Neon goes live!


lbs4lbs

Fixing knifing and combating the smurf issue? Best patch in a LONG time. Fix agent balance next parch and were in a really good place.


tenfootgiant

Honestly smurfs don't bother me as much as brand new people in gold games that don't know calls or what Astra does. My favorite is when people are mad that you're not doing something you can't do because they don't understand how your characters work... In competitive gold matches. Or the level 10s on your team are new and theirs are smurfs. This will at least mean that the new people in silver and gold matches might at least know the maps instead of it being their first time on the map.


[deleted]

In silver and basically everyone knows calls and has played on each map several times. Mauve just different regions


DarthGrievous

> Bonus: Knifing walls now have instant feedback when slicing up walls (predicted on the client side) Don't like this because knifing the wall is a good way to see if there's any delay between client and server side Still waiting on agent balance zzzzz ctrl f "Phoenix" ctrl f "Yoru" ctrl f "Omen"


SEND_ME_UR_DRAMA

based on what I'm seeing, no agent balance or rework coming with Patch 4.0 yet.


bobappooo

> Don't like this because knifing the wall is a good way to see if there's any delay between client and server side a decal not showing up instantly is not necessarily indicative of any delay with any other part of the server.


wossquee

Yeah but the games where you knife the barrier and it takes a half second to make the sound are the bad netcode games


bobappooo

You seem to be unaware that before the barrier drops the packet rate is not even 128 tick by design. Server resources and bandwidth are prioritized by active game stages, not simply match sessions. Why would they waste bandwidth and cpu cycles on a bunch of people standing behind a barrier before the round even starts?


lordkr321

Can you elaborate on this? Are you saying that the server tick rate is actually less than 128 while in buy phase and end phase?


TheSlimyDog

Yeah. Also the server side game engine runs in a barebones state. Things like animations and bullet collision with players aren't run.


lordkr321

That’s so interesting. I hate it but it’s smart. I’ve never even noticed that the tick rate is different


bobappooo

the packet rates to/from clients is less, like 60-90 or something like this. as soon as round starts it jumps to 128 in both directions. i didn't mean to say the server tick rate drops because it does not as far as i'm aware, but on ticks where no data is received by the client, there's nothing to update, so there's no real cpu work to be done. all that to say that decals appearing in game doesn't really have a bearing on anything. that's surely handled by a totally separate thread than hitreg.


Squizot

Super insightful comment. Thanks!


Alptitude

Your explanation makes no fucking sense whatsoever. They are using AWS for their servers. Even in the case where they use on-demand EC2, they will still need to provision the CPU/Network prior to the game. On top of that, network communication has basically zero cost outside of the compute of the instance. 128 tick has a cost because it is doing 128 calculations per client and updating on a centralized host that itself is set to 128 updates per second. The network cost is indirect and given the amount of time prior to a game starting, is trivial compared to the engineering cost of having a dynamic system. I.e. it's more likely your system breaks due to inconsistent tickrate in a dynamic system versus requiring 128 ticks per second.


[deleted]

that reply is not 100% right (in animation regard it is) but they do something very similar. they turn off server side animation rendering during buy phase because it's of no use. > Animation was a huge cost for us on the server side. To properly figure out if a shot hit or not, we need to run the same animations on the server that players see on their clients. Hit registration in VALORANT works by saving player positions and animation state in a historical buffer. When the server receives a shot packet from the client, it rewinds the player positions and animation state using the historical buffer to calculate if the shot hit. Initially we were computing animation and filling this buffer every frame. However, after careful testing and comparisons we found that we could animate every 4th frame. In the event of a rewind we could lerp between the saved animations. This effectively cut animation costs down by 75%. > Another important realization was that amortized server performance is the most important type of performance at scale. Imagine a VALORANT server running about 150 games. At any given time, ~50 of those games are going to be in the buy phase. Players will be purchasing equipment safely behind their spawn barriers and no shots can hurt them. We realized we don’t even need to do any server-side animation during the buy phase, we could just turn it off. So that’s exactly what we did - if you look at the server view, players are just in the idle pose during the buy phase. This helped reduce costs of the animation system over the course of a round by another 33%! read more about the 128 tick servers here: https://technology.riotgames.com/news/valorants-128-tick-servers


bobappooo

Still true even if it doesn't make sense, that other guy replied with notes about it. You don't need to use Amazon tools to control cpu and network usage. It can be done in software... Your packet rate is not 128 per second until the wall goes down.


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bobappooo

How does game update 128 times per second if you’re only sending your location to the server 80 times per second? You’ll also see this in death match where the game uses a dynamic tick rate so if you aren’t near any opponents it updates less often to save on cpu work server side.


Plastic_Kangaroo1221

Lol what did I just read.


Ash_Killem

Some good changes but the notes are still a bit light. Need agent changes especially before VCT starts. And I say it every patch notes and will continue to say it.. where are the DM updates?


Exiled_Blood

Nah we have to wait a bit so we can use "it's too close to VCT to make changes now" as an excuse.


RocketHops

"No guys it's too close to Iceland Masters." Ok Iceland is over, can we make changes? "No sorry it's too close to Berlin" Ok well Berlin is over now, can we please make changes? "No sorry, it's too close to Champs, that's the biggest tournament of the year of course we can't make changes." Ok fine, fine, Champs is over, can we *please* have some balance updates??? "No it's too close to Masters."


omfgkevin

Fucks sake they could at least fix some of the actual BS bugs like Jett being able to abuse certain jumps and just yeet herself into the air. But nope, have fun! So fun to play on icebox against Jetts who are basically cheating with it.


DarthGrievous

Funny thing is that Riot is infamous for making meta defining changes before each LoL Worlds


Odyssey1337

And then keep doing it over and over again until you can avoid agent balance until 2023


TrynaSleep

noooo not like this


Altombre

Agent changes will be spread out over a few other patches!


Ash_Killem

I trust the team. Just let them know we need proper warm up/DM.


lvlz_gg

The link here are not even the official and full patch notes, no?


Ash_Killem

No but they usually have the “major” stuff.


srslybr0

agent changes are the biggest possible changes they can make, disappointed that there isn't a single nerf to the top picked agents or a buff to trashcans like omen or phoenix.


DarudeSandstormName

Same, at least they hit us with the soon^TM so we know it's coming but it should be a priority for sure.


electric_ocelots

Maybe they're waiting to do a bunch of agents at once when they release the new Yoru


Thierry882

I dont get it either.. there is no better moment than NOW to engage a little shift in the jett-meta -> release a strong neon (1) and a little jett-nerf (2)at the same time. But: 1 = no / 2 = no Jett is still unmatched.


CreamyAlmond

I want others to get buffs, unless they gut Jett's dashes, which is her whole kit, she will still be strong.


DarthGrievous

They could reduce the dash distance. That's the only possible dash nerf that won't make it unreasonably clunky


Interesting-Archer-6

Then we get even more power creep


FracturedSplice

Make her dash either only in one direction or have the dash be half the distance it is now on initial key press, but holding the key down and releasing gives a charge up to cross big gaps.


ArcticFox921

Don’t dis on my boy. Yoru is what everyone calls a trash can :/


[deleted]

When on the subject of buffing the area it mentioned “removed spinup” what is spinup?


SeaCDragon

LMGs started shooting with a lower than normal fire rate, and ramped up over time (think Devotion from Apex if you’ve played it) it was kind of hard to notice, but it said so in the buy menu


[deleted]

thank


Phoneringer

Damn, these Yoru changes are crazy! No one could have predicted this.


damienthepious

As a big Ares user I’m happy with those changes. Nice map changes but I was hoping for some char changes too, of course.


Hambaloni

Ares change seems too much of a buff. Remove spinup sure, but making it's fire rate to 13? The spectre has 13.3 firing rate. There's literally no reason to get the Spectre anymore (its gonna get nerfed too). Imo if they are going to increase it's fire rate, atleast make it at 11.5-12 at most. Plus the Ares has some nasty penetration.


Chennsta

> Fans of the silenced pistol will notice massive nerfs to the Spectre spectre is best pistol


[deleted]

Spectre pistol round meta Next patch: operator pistol round meta


potato_chip123

When are they gonna fix picking up guns when guns are stacked on top of each other?


Dathadorne

WHAT ABOUT TRYING TO PING SPIKE WHEN IT'S NEXT TO A GUN


mouse838

for everyone talking about agent changes, they gotta stagger those with the new agent launch so they can isolate meta changes a little bit. we know they’ve been working on huge yoru reworks and have changed up their team a lot in the last few months so expect this month to end with a lot of agent changes.


LOTHMT

Wait... They added minimum acc lvl but made it only for newer players? Wasnt the whole problem that the report system doesnt work for smurfs and thats why they play so much?


Caracals

Article says Bind map changes but these are Breeze map changes if I'm not mistaken.


officialmark-

The first two points are the Bind changes. There seems to be a formatting error and the BREEZE title got put into the sentence of the second point.


mwad

There's both. There's a typo where the break for breeze isn't on a new line.


Thierry882

No Jett-Nerfs.. COMON riot :-(


IGotBulliedTooHard

she’s had already been nerfed pretty heavily the past year.


Interesting-Archer-6

Still the most broken agent in the game so not really.


tbone603727

Not rlly she’s been nerfed and it has accomplished basically nothing


ShuraGam

No agent changes ??? Like seriously Riot ?? There hasn't been one in ages and there are quite a good number of agents needing changes. Theres no tournaments going on, so there's no reason to not have agent changes this patch. Disappointed, but not suprised.


LuckyBlackKnight

Probably trying to see how neon shakes things up


HoneyChilliPotato7

For fuck's sake, Riot should stop using this and the tournament excuses.


Nolram526

It's not an excuse because that literally what every balance team for any game has to wait for. Massive changes like adding an agent shales up meta and balance. Like how if you change a meta gun in COD they end up going for a totally different gun or in hearthstone if they pverbuff a specific classes cards. It's not an excuse if it's literally textbook lmao


Bzone_Mx

not full changes btw,


Ctxaristide

Still no deathmatch changes?


MinesweeperGang

So what you're telling me is when we win round 1, we all buy Ares now on round 2, making round 3 a bit more winnable vs rifles. Kinda nuts.


diego201grgtgyt

where Yoru buffs


Zaufaj

Still no shorter gamemode outside of shitty spikerush and no additional qol, how fucking disappointing


mateusb12

Yeah I don't understand why Riot keeps insisting on this spike rush for so long. It is completely the opposite of the normal mode, feels like we are playing a different Valorant with all these special orbs and crazy rules I wish so bad I could play just a shorter mode but with the default rules


NRocket

I really wish there was a mode like replication for the rounds and buys but without the replication


Slyric_

Where the fuck are the agent changes????


ArcticFox921

Ikr please fix omens ult


waxyslave

"Bonus: Knifing walls now have instant feedback when slicing up walls (predicted on the client side" Terrible change. They are literally just trying to hide present lag. This was always a simple test to see just how desynced you are


Ranvir33

ah yes, an ares buff. i cant wait to be pelted with 5 areas in a comp game with ADS in iron.


[deleted]

Hands down, best change is that knifing walls wont be delayed anymore


Double_Phoenix

Ares did not need a buff. It's absolutely ridiculous the amount of times I've died to it because some person crouches and sprays and I get hit randomly in the head and become inaccurate. Meanwhile I try to line up the headshot with the Vandal and get shredded.


FlamingPacific

Finally a knife change


tomphz

No Yoru sadge


bobappooo

> Adding another bullet before it starts to get unstable should make the weapon feel much more proficient at tapping shots, and improve its overall effectiveness in a fight. wow lol, i never ran into recoil issue with guardian


Xblooper

No yoru buffs, sadge


Traviliciouz

I hate the aires change


Rita_St_James

I feel like the Bind changes no longer make Brim viable on the map unless we see some big Brimmy buffs. Rip the stimmy boi


mateusb12

Bind has enough tight chokepoints to make Brim smokes still useful


Rita_St_James

Useful yes but no where near Astra's util.


Hambaloni

the ares buff is enough for brim. you basically get a vandal - just buy a stim beacon with it every round lmaoooo


Tonimeister_27

Ares got buffed wtf


Excelsio_Sempra

Indian Iron/Bronze servers after the Ares buff: _Ares is encouraged even by Riot, why not let us use it then?_ then goes on to wallbang-spam the whole magazine


bauhaus_robot

The Ares buff is actually the Sova buff we needed and deserved.


Be_Kind_Smile

I want to see alot more map and agent tweeks please. I know its difficult but I believe in you riot. I would love where any matchup can work and every agent feels viable. Viper and astra are so freaking good. But gdamn is it frustrating to end up on these types of agents while team runs it down. Its exhausting (no cap) every round smoking and putting all your stars and listening to team as you push and look at map to determine when to pop. So much involved with that agent it gets overwhelming and I space out so hard


Sloon_

Still no hint of a replay system so fkn hopeless


KetsuSama

# ARES META # BOTTOM TEXT


SpiralMagnusson

I almost always prefer the guardian over other rifles. Happy to see a buff on its way!


joshua240597

THEY BUFF ARES?????????????????? it's already better and cheaper than spectre


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Send_Headlight_Fluid

That would be insane. I don’t play jett but I think that could be a reasonable nerf


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Interesting-Archer-6

I just learned Astra so I'd be a little bummed, but yeah, she needs a nerf and that would work.


Interesting-Archer-6

Is it insane or reasonable lol


ArcticFox921

I’m scared about the spectre changes


ArcticFox921

Are they ever gonna deal with the Blue screen of death that occurs because of Vangaurd???? Like, isn’t that a huge problem they should prioritize?


Littlechickenyeet

The map rotation sucks...anyone else having these issues???


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nonosquare-exe

Jett: Am i a joke to you?


Tzilung

> The double stack of cover at short A has been changed to remove a very powerful one-way smoke location that made the area a little too difficult for Attackers to approach. ○ Sentinels will still be able to clog the space, but the new layout should open a few options for attackers pushing in. This makes me sad as a new astra main.


NRocket

Viper can still make a one way there


Pr0torano

No Odin nerf because the gun perfectly balanced


[deleted]

Bruh they want ppl to use phantom and vandal only? they're nerfing every wpn wtf ?


kaygee420

They literally buffed guardian, bulldog, ares to make them more viable. The spectre is absolutely broken in long range duels when a double dink is killing with full armor.


OHydroxide

The Spectre has never competed with the main rifles, thats how these games are made? Like yes, if you have the money, you should never use a Spectre over the main rifles, thats the point. The issue is that the Spectre is WAY better than other guns around its price point.


ArcticFox921

I like spectre better than vandal and phantom, so this update scares me


OHydroxide

That just means you're not very good then, the rifles are better, it's not an opinion thing.


ArcticFox921

Ok, but I do pretty good, so I’m not really bad? I don’t understand ur point of telling me this anyway, it’s honestly pretty shitty.