CSGO adds shorter matches, Dust 2 map changes

If you are a CSGO fan, get ready for some of the biggest changes the game has seen in years.

As a member of Operation Riptide additions, Valve includes a new matchmaking mode. Games are traditionally decided by the first to 16 rounds method, also known as 15 rounds max (which simply means each half has a maximum of 15 rounds).

The new mode halves that number to eight rounds, with teams only having to win nine rounds to win the match. “With short matches, you’ll get the compressed 5v5 competitive experience in a best-of-16 match, which lasts about 25 minutes. ” Valve said.

This is not the only massive change under against the current, which will remain active until February 23, Australian time next year. Players will now be able to drop grenades at others “in most game modes”. New options have been added for people looking for Deathmatch games, with Team Deathmatch, free-for-all and the standard Counter strike now exploded mode.

Along with a slew of new community maps, including Basalt (pictured above), County, the Italian-looking ravine, Extraction, and Extraction II, there are a few key balance changes. The Desert Eagle, a popular choice for attackers and defenders without the cash for a full purchase, now does slightly less damage on body hits. (It’s still a head-shot machine if you have the aim.) Fans of the silent M4A1 will rejoice, as its bodily damage has been improved. What if you were annoyed by the sound of Dualies being gunned down? Bad news, because you’re going to see them more often now because Valve has made them a bit more affordable.

For those who just wanna play CSGO matches with friends, the new operation also has private queues, which allow players to use Valve’s official servers to organize their own games:

With a player-generated queue code, a group of friends can team up in a Premier match on Valve servers. Team up, form your teams, or line up solo and let the matchmaker take care of the problem.

Private queues will generate a specific code for members to use, allowing groups, whether they are dedicated clans on Steam or perhaps streamers who just want to play internal matches with their community, to easily get started in games. It doesn’t have the flexibility of a third-party server, and it currently only supports Premier matches, which is Valve’s option for matchmaking games that come with a select / ban phase.

Among all of this, one of the game’s most iconic cards, perhaps one of the most iconic in all video games, has undergone a pretty big change:

• Card changes – Stuck visibility of the middle of T spawn in Dust 2. Really!

Dust 2’s central lane is a famous line responsible for countless videos of endless frag and torment, with attackers and defenders often trying to quickly kill the other team. It has become a thorn for defenders over the past few years, however, as an ever-experienced player base and the rise of super-high refresh rate monitors have steadily made it easier for people to get more and more easily. early eliminations or huge damage. , on defenders trying to cross over to Site B. The original line of sight from the spawn in the middle, at least from the attacking side, has now been replaced with a solid wall, as can be seen in the tweet below.

Removing visibility is also a huge economic change, as defenders no longer have to account for the $ 300 that needs to be spent just to make sure they can get to one side of the map safely. . And it’s not just the kit that’s affected: by removing the mid visibility of the attacking spawn. It is now much more viable for defenders to quickly go through the double doors to quickly enter the tunnels, the area that leads to Site B and connects to the middle. (Defenders could always do this before, but it was much riskier.)

And if that wasn’t enough: riot shields are back.

This is a huge update, perhaps one of the most important CSGO has had over the years in terms of the larger player base, the potential impact Dust 2 has on the pro scene, and what the balance changes will do for small arms. Deathmatch changes and new maps should also add a bit more fun to the laid-back scene.

Operation Riptide is live for all CSGO users today. That’s around 11.1GB, depending on the download package on my Steam client.

This article originally appeared on Kotaku Australia.