The large Valorant community is always discussing the current state of the game and often complaining about the developers. This isn’t something professional players are particularly fond of - especially Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov from Fnatic, who recently took to social media to respond to the community and share his vision of the situation.

What Chronicle said

On his official X account (formerly Twitter), Chronicle addressed casual players who criticize Riot Games and constantly suggest which agents should be nerfed or buffed. According to the pro, the game should be viewed more broadly, considering all aspects.

I find it odd that the Valorant community is now blaming the developers for not sticking to things they said six years ago. Proper feedback on social media shouldn’t be stating the obvious, but offering something unique—not shouting things like ‘please nerf agent_name because it's unplayable.’ From my perspective, the issue with the game is that if you look at it as a triangle (with three sides—aiming, abilities, and teamplay), the agents’ abilities heavily overshadow the other two.

In light of this, Chronicle proposed his own vision for the game. He believes that the cooldown for smoke abilities could be removed entirely. This would make the game more comfortable and eliminate the need to pick 2–3 smoke agents in every team.

What if Valorant never had cooldowns for skills—or more specifically, what if this feature was only available to smoke agents, so the game wouldn't force you to pick 2–3 smokers just to play somewhat comfortably? I think this idea is exciting. Looking at the triangle again with this change, it seems balanced—skills are still strong for winning rounds, but now they’re valuable—you can’t just spam them like crazy and win. On the other hand, valuable utility would make teams focus more on teamwork, and gunplay would have more space. But I think this aspect needs major adjustments in the future.

Mixed reactions in the comments

The responses were divided. Many players supported Chronicle’s ideas, while others argued it would worsen the game, especially for the defending side.

I think it would just turn the game into a rotation simulator, running from one site to another every round. With changes like this, defenders couldn’t afford to spend many abilities early in the round.
If you look at the game now, it’s already tough for defenders, but at least you have flashes/recharges etc. to keep your chances alive. Without that, every map would turn into a 9–3 attacker stomp, if not worse.

It’s worth noting that this is just one player’s personal opinion and is unlikely to impact Valorant’s gameplay or influence upcoming updates.