In case the Year One event announcement ahead of the Episode 3 release wasn’t enough to satisfy Valorant fans, Riot Games had one more surprise packed for players of the tactical shooter.
Through a Tweet posted on June 17th, Riot confirmed the upcoming PBE servers for the title that’s set to arrive soon. For the unaware, PBE is a test environment where Valorant players can try out new changes to the game ahead of the release of an actual patch in the live servers.
“Simply put, our bi-weekly patch cadence could use some extra help to identify bugs and evaluate stability before we lockdown what stays and goes into our patches,” the devs said in a blog post. “This includes Agent and weapon balance, game systems, competitive, and the other updates that are usually captured in our Patch Notes.”
Players participating in the PBE will be able to report any bugs they identify to the Valorant PBE Subreddit. This will likely result in a much more stable environment when the changes hit the live servers.
Riot has confirmed that the Valorant test environment will begin from July 9, 2021. Only a limited number of players will be able to participate in the PBE.
For starters, the PBE will be available only to North American Valorant accounts. Players can go to the sign up page to receive further instructions.
The devs have also stated that the PBE servers will be “selectively available” instead of being active 24/7.
“The VALORANT PBE will be open over one weekend before each new patch, two weekends prior to the normal Tuesday live date,” Riot confirmed. “This is where selected North American VALORANT accounts can jump in, test proposed changes, and mention bugs in the dedicated VALORANT PBE subreddit.”