Valorant Episode 1 Act III is finally here, but it has come with a few drawbacks.
The next ranked season has been disabled after Riot developers discovered an audio bug. In a tweet announcing the bug, Valorant devs called the audio bug rare, but said that it affected all of the game's maps, including the new map Icebox.
"We want to get Icebox testing as soon as possible, so we're shipping this patch with ranked entirely off," Valorant explained.
Ranked downtime began at 8 AM CT for North America, Brazil, and Latin America. Korea, Japan, Oceania, and APAC followed shortly after. Later in the day, Europe, Turkey, MENA, and CIS will also have ranked disabled. Riot is planning to stabilize the patch and fix the audio bug before turning ranked back on. It won't be turned on before the issue is fixed.
Valorant ranked play goes down for audio bug
Audio is very important in a game like Valorant. The tactical first-person shooter relies heavily on sneaking, catching enemies by surprise, and coming up with evasive strategies. Sounds like footsteps, gunshots, and ability callouts greatly affect gameplay so they're always getting balanced and improved. Any sort of audio bug threatens to upend the game.
Even though ranked play isn't an option, Valorant players can still enjoy Act III's battle pass, including new weapon skins and gun buddies. Valorant also introduced its first exclusive edition skin line and a new map, Icebox. The winter-themed map takes place on a dock near a battleship. It won't be available for competitive play until October 27. That's also when new agent Skye is being released. An expert in healing and hunting, she's sure to make an impact on the meta.
"Happy patch (and Icebox) day, we hope you have fun with the beginning of Act 3!" Valorant tweeted.
