Riot has issued a statement addressing lag issues with their virtual servers for the Valorant NA Last Chance Qualifier.
While action has been intense at the Valorant North America Last Chance Qualifier, things haven’t been all smooth. There have been numerous tech pauses and issues with the event choosing to use an online virtual server instead of running the LAN client for Valorant at the event.
This video footage shows the lag in action, which was (to say the least) not acceptable:
100 Thieves’ Spencer “Hiko” Martin tweeted about his frustration that the Valorant NA LCQ LAN event wasn’t actually a LAN event:
Despite these issues, 100 Thieves has advanced to the upper bracket semifinals to face off against XSET, which is ongoing as of press time.
Now Riot Games has issued a statement on the issue via their Twitter.
“Since we started planning NA LCQ earlier this year, our goal was to have a LAN event,” Riot said. “Given strict COVID protocols for in-person events, we felt it was in the best interest of all to shift to a remote server, should any players need to be quarantined. This would allow for teams to continue to compete and not bring in a sub or be forced to forfeit.”
Lag causing headaches for Riot and the Valorant Last Chance Qualifier
Of course, many have pointed out that the servers lagging on key plays could have some competitive implications on the Valorant NA LCQ. However, Riot has assured fans that they are working diligently to resolve the issue and make sure that the playing field remains competitive.
“We recognize the virtual server is not the same as playing on LAN,” Riot finished. “However, we are diligently working on improving the remote server experience throughout the competition.”
Some have pointed out that with the players all playing online, the Oceanic teams not being able to be present at the event has less reason to have happened now - as they could have found a way to connect to the servers. However, that would likely introduce even more lag into the event than they are currently dealing with.
The Valorant NA Last Chance Qualifier will continue tomorrow with FaZe Clan vs Rise Nation at Noon PDT.
For all the latest on Valorant and the VCT, keep it locked here to esports.gg.