Riot successfully uses the League of Legends Public Beta Environment (PBE) to test new content, patches, and gather feedback from fans. And it seems like a testing environment is finally making it’s way to VALORANT.
VALORANT senior release manager Corrie Hardin discussed a test server in today’s blog post, explaining that the feature is coming “some time in the first half of 2021.”
“Specific features/queues will be advertised or limited and patches will be targeted for a certain length of time in advance of going live,” Hardin said. “This will also help us to gather more information so we can capture performance changes and expose bugs early that players might run into.”
VALORANT is no stranger to bugs, especially after a new map or agent is introduced. With Icebox debuting with the launch of Act III, players have found a number of exploits. Omen players were able to teleport under Kitchen, for example. And Killjoy can set her turret outside of the snowy map and let it poke at enemies without being destroyed.
While Icebox won’t be available in VALORANT’s ranked mode until Oct. 27, a test server would’ve helped weed out more bugs before the map went live.
Riot would also be able to get feedback on skins and make any adjustments it sees fit. League designers frequently do that on the PBE and make minor tweaks before they hit the store.
It’s unclear how long patches and content will be tested before going live. But League usually uses a two-week period on the PBE prior to a patch’s release.
