Riot Games has launched Valorant's rank mode in North America, and Europe should get the addition shortly. The recent 0.49 patch note teased the mode, but the devs said they want to make sure everything was well-controlled before hitting the button.
Riot says they’ll shut down ranked mode “if things get weird,” but in case everything goes smoothly, players in the closed beta can choose to try “Competitive” in the game menu. Please note that all of your progress will be deleted before the official launch of Valorant this summer. However, you still can keep any premium in-game currency you’ve purchased. The competitive mode is strictly meant for testing purposes only.
On a different note, there’s something Riot Games don’t have to test. The names for top-ranked players in Valorant should not be called “Valorant.” Both “Valorant ranked Valorant players” and “Valorants” sound inappropriate.
One thing we can be certain about is that Valorant's rank mode will generate lots of opinions, thus, Riot should expect a lot of feedback. Does the matchmaking seem fair? Are the highly skilled players promoted out of lower ranks quickly enough so that the lower-leveled ones don’t feel overwhelmed all the time? Is the solo queuing fun or not?
One important note is that just winning doesn’t help you rank up. Personal performance and the decisiveness of your wins also matter.
Another factor to evaluate the success of Valorant's rank mode is how well Riot handles cheatings. It’s expected that people will try to cheat in Valorant, as no popular competitive game is completely protected from it. Riot has been talking publicly about the war against aim-botters and wallhackers. They already exist in the game, and how they manage it may determine the fate of the Valorant.
A requirement to participate in competitive mode is that you have to play 20 unranked games. If you haven’t finished all 20 but still force in Valorant's rank mode, the game client will tell you the exact number of games left.