The release of Valve’s biggest update to Counter-Strike in a decade has been anything but smooth as Counter-Strike 2 has launched to mixed reviews and mixed feedback, and now off the back of two large events being IEM Syden and the CS Asia Championships, eyes continue to look forward to the first major of CS2 in March of next year.
(Image from prosettings.net)
Despite this mixed feedback, can CS2 be the promised successor? We’ll take a look at many features of the game, including those which many fans would like to see changed, and other features that may not have received the great recognition they deserve.
A history of mixed launches – Esports fans often have a short-term memory or simply haven’t been around a game long enough to know about its history, but Counter-Stike has a very long history of mixed experiences on launch. The popular version of 1.6 had its naysayers in the beginning, the launch of Counter-Strike: Source split the community and had a difficult launch of its own, and the launch of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that aimed to bring the community together went through nearly a two-year period before many considered it to be a highly competitive and nearly polished game.
Despite this, major events still took place long before online esports betting was popularized, player numbers continued to grow, and changes continued to be rolled out too. With CS2, Valve seem to be extremely responsive and are pushing out updates quicker than they have for any previous Counter-Strike title, but the series does have a long history of mixed launches that show it just takes time.
An exciting new meta – Along with the new game engine comes an exciting shake-up to the meta game for Counter-Strike too that hasn’t been seen since the launch of GO. The two big events have shown how professional players are already adjusting to the new smoke grenade mechanics, and over time the meta will continue to develop in exciting ways as new strategies are discovered.
Many players simply haven’t been able to adjust yet, however, when Global Offensive introduced the Molotov, many players hated the changed and said it would kill the game, years later it has become an essential piece of utility in the game. It’ll simply take some time for stubborn players to adjust, and with some of the feedback being aimed in this direction, that feedback will also change in time.
Sub-tick woes – A game tick is how long it takes for the server and client to communicate, and update what has just happened – whether this be movement, a shot fired, or a player death. To move away from the rigid requirements of server ticks, Valve have introduced “sub-tick” into CS2 to provide constant updates and hopefully a better gaming experience, but it hasn’t been a smooth roll out.
Issues with game sync and hit registration have been targets here, with many players being outspoken with their dissatisfaction. It’s safe to say that it isn’t perfect, but with the popular phrase of getting “csgo’d” being around for a long time with poor hit-reg in the previous game, it seems par for the course. For many, it’s also an issue of simply not adjusting – with the game now having a larger peekers advantage, holding angles has become more difficult, and those that haven’t cottoned on to the new playstyle are quickly being ousted.
A cheating problem? – A look at any forum or reddit thread will be littered with constant complaints about a huge cheater problem within the game, and the lack of a solid anti-cheat option. Whilst Counter-Strike has had a long history with cheaters, as do many online competitive games, it seems many players are blowing the current issue way out of proportion, likely due to other aspects of the game. Valve may eventually release news on their new VACLIVE anti-cheat that which is supposedly already active, using an AI model for anti-cheat purposes, but as the game is still so new it’ll likely take time before any major results can be seen.
The release of Valve’s biggest update to Counter-Strike in a decade has been anything but smooth as Counter-Strike 2 has launched to mixed reviews and mixed feedback, and now off the back of two large events being IEM Syden and the CS Asia Championships, eyes continue to look forward to the first major of CS2 in March of next year.
(Image from prosettings.net)
Despite this mixed feedback, can CS2 be the promised successor? We’ll take a look at many features of the game, including those which many fans would like to see changed, and other features that may not have received the great recognition they deserve.
A history of mixed launches – Esports fans often have a short-term memory or simply haven’t been around a game long enough to know about its history, but Counter-Stike has a very long history of mixed experiences on launch. The popular version of 1.6 had its naysayers in the beginning, the launch of Counter-Strike: Source split the community and had a difficult launch of its own, and the launch of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that aimed to bring the community together went through nearly a two-year period before many considered it to be a highly competitive and nearly polished game.
Despite this, major events still took place long before online esports betting was popularized, player numbers continued to grow, and changes continued to be rolled out too. With CS2, Valve seem to be extremely responsive and are pushing out updates quicker than they have for any previous Counter-Strike title, but the series does have a long history of mixed launches that show it just takes time.
An exciting new meta – Along with the new game engine comes an exciting shake-up to the meta game for Counter-Strike too that hasn’t been seen since the launch of GO. The two big events have shown how professional players are already adjusting to the new smoke grenade mechanics, and over time the meta will continue to develop in exciting ways as new strategies are discovered.
Many players simply haven’t been able to adjust yet, however, when Global Offensive introduced the Molotov, many players hated the changed and said it would kill the game, years later it has become an essential piece of utility in the game. It’ll simply take some time for stubborn players to adjust, and with some of the feedback being aimed in this direction, that feedback will also change in time.
Sub-tick woes – A game tick is how long it takes for the server and client to communicate, and update what has just happened – whether this be movement, a shot fired, or a player death. To move away from the rigid requirements of server ticks, Valve have introduced “sub-tick” into CS2 to provide constant updates and hopefully a better gaming experience, but it hasn’t been a smooth roll out.
Issues with game sync and hit registration have been targets here, with many players being outspoken with their dissatisfaction. It’s safe to say that it isn’t perfect, but with the popular phrase of getting “csgo’d” being around for a long time with poor hit-reg in the previous game, it seems par for the course. For many, it’s also an issue of simply not adjusting – with the game now having a larger peekers advantage, holding angles has become more difficult, and those that haven’t cottoned on to the new playstyle are quickly being ousted.
A cheating problem? – A look at any forum or reddit thread will be littered with constant complaints about a huge cheater problem within the game, and the lack of a solid anti-cheat option. Whilst Counter-Strike has had a long history with cheaters, as do many online competitive games, it seems many players are blowing the current issue way out of proportion, likely due to other aspects of the game. Valve may eventually release news on their new VACLIVE anti-cheat that which is supposedly already active, using an AI model for anti-cheat purposes, but as the game is still so new it’ll likely take time before any major results can be seen.
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