Riot Games learned that making a game too Free to Play friendly can cause a lot of smurfing for example their old IP system (Match earned currency) nerf the opportunity to earn as much currency as we can and reduce the amount champions and runes (Pay to win stats) we can purchase. So they removed the IP system entirely with a champion capsule and Blue essence system (XP based system and loot crate) to reduce the amount of smurfing and made runes at level obtainable. So that casual players with only a few champions can go head to head with veteran players but lowered the amount of champions earned.

But compared to other companies their free to play friendly monetization encourages the game to played more which keeps the playerbase high. But the cons of this is that many players can stack as many fresh accounts and destroy new players.

As of right now Valorant has a lot of smurfing right now but which is expected how easy it is since its a new game. All you have to do is play 10 games and unlock your best character and start playing competitive. Instead of being reaching a certain level on your account all you need to do is play a few games. But what makes Valorant free to play friendly is that you can earn characters very easily and the skins although is tedious to earn is possible for free to play.

TLDR free to play has the good and the bad.