Following recent changes by Riot Games, the Valorant community has increasingly expressed its opinion about the tier-2 league. Today, professional player Michael "Dapr" Gulino shared his concerns that the scene is doomed to fail.
Throughout his esports career, Dapr has successfully competed in various CS:GO competitions, including tier-2 and tier-3 tournaments. After transitioning to Valorant, he spent a long time with Sentinels but later joined the second division team Oxygen Esports, so his opinion on the Challengers league is considered expert. In his official Twitter account, Michael talked about his experience competing in the CS:GO tier-2 scene and insisted that the main reason for the future failure is franchising.
I left CS due to the dying T2 scene, and 3 years later VALORANT is also getting a dying tier-2 scene. It's sad to say it was obvious, but it really was. As soon as franchising was announced, it drew an artificial line that will worsen life for everyone. I hope this will change in the future.
Michael's opinion is also shared by his followers and a large part of the entire Valorant community. They argue that franchising, with its "artificial boundary" between levels, has created an impassable barrier for budding professionals. Most players complain that yet another promising scene is disappearing, and franchising, with its control systems and limited opportunities for outsiders, is very bad for Valorant and esports in general.
Despite the grim outlook, it can be considered that not everything is lost. Constant changes in Valorant allow the best teams of the tier-2 scene, such as The Guard, to climb the career ladder and join the franchising elite. But whether this path remains open and proves sufficient to improve the second division will be seen in the future.
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