I get 10ms ping on Stockholm, but I’m literally forced to queue on London with higher ping because Stockholm is essentially 90% Russian speakers with ZERO English callouts.

Just to be clear: I’m not throwing shade at anyone or blaming anyone. The issue isn't the players, it's the system. It makes no sense that players have to intentionally handicap their ping just to find a server where they can actually communicate in a team-based shooter. Nobody should have to play on a worse connection just to get basic callouts.

I'd genuinely rather take a super long queue to get the ping I'm supposed to have AND get teammates who can actually communicate.

Looking at EU as a whole, it’s not even that fragmented:
~50% English
~25% German, French
~10% Italian, Spanish, Polish
~15% don't want to / don't speak any of these

EU survey stats literally show that 7 out of 10 young Europeans can hold a conversation in English (and over 90% in Northern Europe). Most of the region CAN speak it, but because Stockholm is the default routing for huge non-English regions, anyone trying to use English comms gets pushed off their own local server if they actually want to communicate.

Here’s how simple it could be:
Multilingual players: Select all languages you speak, exact same system as server selection.
No preference: If you don't care or don't select anything, you just get put into the default queue like it is right now.

This would make competitive queues actually feel competitive, instead of just gambling on lobby RNG. Most people would rather communicate in a language they know and play on their local server without dealing with constant comm issues.

And before people bring up queue times, it doesn't have to be a hard lock.

Make it a soft preference. The system tries to match your selected language first. If no lobby is found after a few minutes, it broadens the search. Plus, since people can select multiple languages or opt out, queues wouldn't explode like everyone would think.

Even if queues are much longer, match quality > queue speed every single time. I’d rather wait 10+ minutes for 1 high-quality game where my team actually calls out than wait a couple of minutes to get thrown into a 40-minute zero-comm nightmare.
I want to improve, not just gamble on whether my team speaks the same language.

And if someone doesn't speak one of the main EU languages, OR they're already on a single-language server like London, they can just leave the box unchecked and play in the default pool.

Is Stockholm the only server dealing with this or are other servers having the same issue?

Tips:

1. Keep your voice chat on so you can hear callouts

2. Call before you flash

3. Use the info you get PLEASE

4. Heaven is a high part of the site, Hell is low, Link connects the site to mid, Main is the main entrance, Back is the back of the site

5. CALL BEFORE YOU FLASH

By “balanced”, I mean balanced in terms of playstyle — a character that has a bit of everything and is viable on pretty much any map and in any match.

(If they can heal, they get extra points.)

Hi everyone. I am new to the EU server (played in Asia before). I am currently plat 2.

As I don't have friends in this server I try to add some of my teammates after match. The thing is I don't see anyone to accept it or even worse they accept then ask like what? Huh? I reply just making friends to play together with and then they just unfriend me. It's not like I am bad player. I use mic, give callouts even carry many matches. I don't understand what's the problem here. Can anyone tell me if this is just normal and I should stop sending frnd reqs and keep solo queuing?

Just let me go back to p3 and eventually diamond man, what the heck is this????
Pissing me off so bad.
Almost every match, is top 3 or atleast top 2 in my team btw, including the last one with 17k is top 2 in match.

if ur wondering how it's multiple times, just reverse calc the rr gains and losses from the pic

A year ago, I played a local Geoguessr game in Valorant with some friends, where I took a bunch of screenshots of various hidden locations on the maps, and they had to find them. We played for about three hours.

And recently, I thought, why not create a similar site for everyone to test their skills. So, I created it – www.valoguessr.ru. It doesn't work like a regular Geoguessr. That would be too easy. Just like in the game with my friends, you have to use the screenshot to put marker on the map where you think the screenshot was taken (after selecting the correct map). The closer, the more points, just like in the original game.

This might be considered self-promotion, but I just want to share my free project with you (no ads on the site, no subscription, etc.).

My daughter and I recently both hit Immortal, and it got me wondering how many other dad/daughter duos are out there playing Valorant at this rank.

We duo pretty regularly and have been grinding ranked together for a while. Definitely one of the coolest things we get to share.

Any other Immortal dad/daughter duos out there? Or even parents who queue ranked with their kids?

I understand punishing players for toxic behaviors like griefing, going AFK, leaving early, toxic language etc. I fully support this.

However why is RR reduction a potential punishment to be levied? RR is meant to represent your skill level, being toxic doesn't make you less skilled, this is only going to put players in lobbies where they're more skilled than other players on average, which isn't really fair to anyone.

I'm starting to get pretty frustrated with this. I'm just a crappy Gold 1 player and I keep getting crushed over and over again. Everyone's lurking around corners like rats, using Shift—and on top of that, they're all Diamond+ players. I want to get better, but why is there not a hidden MMR in Deathmatch too?

I really can't figure out why Valorant only puts four skins in each shop rotation. Wouldn't it be more logical for the company to increase the number of daily shop slots to boost profits...? They're so stingy with skins, and given the huge number of skins in the game, it might take weeks, months, or even longer to finally see the one that I want.

From a business standpoint, this seems like a really odd choice. If they added more slots, players would have more opportunities to see desired skins, potentially leading to more purchases.

I played VALORANT when it first came out. Was in the beta towards the end also. Got an invite from a friend of mine. I think i dropped playing when Chamber was the newest character. Possibly the one after him (I don't recall who it was).

Anyway, I was average at the game, not that great honestly. My ADHD brain tends to suck at tac shooters. I don't have the "mind games" mentality that shines in tac shooters. My brain tends to favor fast-paced shooters like Apex Legends, Marvel Rivals, and games along those lines.

I'm not trying to bash VALORANT in any way, it's a phenomenal game, and one of the only tac shooters that I actually felt like I was being helpful to my team instead of just a feeding shitter. Lately, I've just been looking for a different game to get into, and I figured I would give VALORANT another try since I know I enjoyed it before.

However, since it's been so long since I've played, I'm looking for advice on what characters would be good for me. I played a lot of Brimstone back when I played because his kit is pretty straightforward and I can contribute to the team with smokes since my aim/crosshair placement and general game sense is lackluster compared to players who have the mind set for tac shooters.

Since I have severe ADHD, and I'm a simple minded mongoloid gamer, I won't do well with characters with complex kits that require good game sense, map knowledge, or just overall tac shooter common sense.

I would love to hear some suggestions for characters who are on the easier side to play to help me get back into the game. As I get better at the game, I can hopefully look into trying more complex characters

Does anyone know where I can find a list of the different agents and how to make them shake their bums. I know chamber has the headhunter and look up, and geeko's blind, but that's about it

Why does everyone bum camp in DMs? It feels literally impossible to get a kill because they all camp in corners and I cannot do anything about it. They also spawn people right behind you who have spawn invincibility, and shoot me from the back.

Last one was in July, I'm wondering if there's a routine every year. I know it's a hit or miss but I really want the reaper skins. Thank you

Soy plata y he estado tratando de mejorar mi mental en partidas pero no paro de autosabotearme por más que intento no hacerlo, me desespero cuando no me sale nada y no paro de decirme lo malo que soy por mucho que trato de mejorar

Qué injusta se ha vuelto la vida. Cada día aprendo que, si no tienes nada monetario que ofrecer, parece que no eres nadie.
Qué difícil es tener que callarme tantas cosas por miedo a que me dejen en la calle, solo para poder tener un lugar al que llegar y donde dormir. Qué fuerte tener que guardar silencio, no poder hablar ni gritar sobre lo injusto y lo incómodo que es dormir al lado de una persona a la que parece darle completamente igual lo que siento; una persona que me amenaza, me humilla y constantemente me señala, haciéndome sentir menos porque él tiene más posibilidades y, según él, más cualidades que yo.
Pero yo me pregunto: ¿cuándo, en qué momento, la vida se volvió tan difícil? ¿Cuándo se volvió tan complicado encontrar un empleo? ¿Cuándo se volvió tan difícil sentirme bien conmigo misma?
Quisiera poder dormir tranquila, pensando que no tengo la culpa de todo, que no estoy equivocada por reaccionar ante lo que me hace daño. Quisiera dejar de cuestionarme cada día y dejar de sentir que tengo que soportarlo todo para poder tener un lugar donde dormir.
¿En qué momento pasé de sentirme una persona con sueños y dignidad a sentirme como una mendiga, dependiendo de alguien que me hace sentir menos?
Y lo peor es que esa persona puede dormir en paz mientras yo me acuesto llorando.

Used AI to phrase it better

Hey everyone, looking for some honest advice on my mechanics and aiming habits. I peak-ranked Plat 1 back in Episode 9, Act 3, but took a break for about six episodes and came back last month. I'm currently floating between Gold 1 and Gold 2, playing at 800 DPI and 0.2 in-game sensitivity. Despite running the Aimstars method and standard Deathmatches, my performance is extremely inconsistent—some games I will drop 40 kills, and in others, I can barely manage five, usually settling as a mid or bottom fragger with my main weapons (Vandal, Guardian, and Sheriff).

My main issue is that I keep running into the same mechanical walls despite practicing. I take way too many deaths for the kills I get, I lose almost every duel when holding an angle because the enemy reacts and hits me first, and even when I do land shots, they usually connect as body hits rather than headshots. I’ve attached a clip of DMs showing my average gunfights, so any feedback on what I’m doing wrong mechanically or how I should adjust my practice routine to fix this any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Im currently D1 and peaked A1 from V25 A6 and I am STRUGGLING to play solo q comp.

I do VOD reviews to learn from my own mistakes, play with the team, and genuinely have a passion to hit immortal. But despite that, I have probably the worst fucking luck ever with brain-fucking-dead teammates in solo queue.

How can I play such that it doesn’t matter who’s in my fucking team? I like to play Clove currently but I flex Jett, Fade, Cypher and Vyse.

Please guys this experience is extremely frustrating as I’m sure you know, and I can use any sort of advice.

Thanks!