A complicated problem can sometimes be solved with a simple solution. For VALORANT pro players and content creators that had reached the pinnacle of competitive play, the rewards they found were not all they were cut out to be.
Ranked VALORANT has an overwhelming amount of ‘problem players’ that don’t communicate or listen at all, and it’s still an issue at the game’s highest-ranked tiers. To make matters worse, the top echelon of ranked has also been recently infiltrated by players throwing streamed matches to make money off crypto betting sites.
So how do high-ranked players still play VALORANT casually but with teammates they know will have their back? That’s where Pro City comes in.
What is VALORANT Pro City?
One of VALORANT’s biggest creators, Tarik, set up his own Discord server, complete with matchmaking and built-in MMR, and invited a select number of top-level players to join. Those in the server are invited to join 10-man custom lobbies and play together instead of on the ranked ladder, where they would get matched with completely random teammates.
This Discord server is Pro City.
Most of the members of Pro City are either professional players or very high-ranked content creators. The virtual doors to Pro City are guarded by “strict criteria and strong council,” says Tarik, ensuring the high level of play is maintained. There are no specific criteria to join, which has caused some controversy about who is actually allowed on the server.
There is no set schedule for matches or seasons that we know of. Players in Pro City, based on footage found on-stream, will enter queue rooms on the server and be matched up against each other to produce the fairest and most balanced matchup possible.
Who’s on top of the Pro City leaderboard?
The Pro City server uses NeatQueue, a Discord plug-in that queues players, tracks their wins and losses, and assigns MMR.
The leaderboard for Pro City can be actively tracked on the NeatQueue website, and you can check it at any time. You don’t need to be in the actual server to check out players’ statistics or see who might be grinding in the server instead of on the ranked ladder.
Now that the VCT season has officially started, professional players seem to be playing in Pro City less, and many content creators have been sucked back into the ranked grind.
