Bugged Operator skin in Valorant makes it easier to snipe

Riot Games' new tactical shooter Valorant has been one of the most successful closed betas in recent times, and a big part of that is just how well-polished the game has been since launch, with very few bugs, refined gameplay and just a level of polish that some full-releases can't match.

That doesn't mean things have been exactly plain sailing, there has been disquiet at the Raze agent for being overpowered, growing concern over the instructive anti-cheat measures, and a couple of game-breaking bugs have been identified, and to be fair to Riot, quickly patched.

• Read more: Cypher receives Spycam nerf in first Valorant patch, Jett map exploits fixed

And it will be something they will need to constantly do for the life of the game, as evidence by the recent release of the Prism weapon pack, which contains it in a whole host of weapon skins including one for the all-powerful Operator sniper, which one canny Reddit user realised gives players much better situational awareness when ADS'd compared to other Operator skins.

Compare this to the ADS view you would see when using the Reaver skin for the Operator and you can see where the problem lies.

The poster u/ThaT_Ace was originally worried that this was that dreaded thing in gaming circles, a pay2win mechanic, something which developers have assured players will never be present in the game.

• Read more: Riot developer says Raze will receive a nerf in next patch

Thankfully he received a quick response from not one, but two Riot employees confirming that this is, in fact, a bug and not a feature. 

Nicholas "Nickwu" Wu Smith, a developer at Riot, was the first to reply saying: "We have a full fix coming soon, but for now, this issue only happens when material quality is set to LOW."  Inadvertently telling anyone who wants to know exactly how to get this all-seeing scope.

Another Riot employee with the alias Fancypcmcgee also confirmed it was a bug which will be fixed "in an upcoming patch".

Adding: "Competitive integrity is really important, and we test to make sure that we aren't selling power with our cosmetic content. Sorry, this one escape".

Riot has been making strenuous efforts to keep Valorant a level playing field, from worldwide server distribution so that players can play to on as low ping as possible, favourable minimum specifications for even the lowest end PCs and a desire to, not yet at least, introduce skins for the games various agents in case one becomes meta.

• Read more: Valorant: All weapon skins, skin bundles plus Battle Pass details

One thing where they aren't exactly pleasing gamers though is the price of the skins, with the Reddit thread where this bug was brought to light filled with players angry at the price tag of the Prism skin pack with one user saying: 

"That’s cool and all but why is it $70 for the Prism bundle?"

We don't think this one is a bug.