Another one bites de_dust.
Valve has released a new update for Counter-Strike 2, and changed a minor feature near the Counter-Terrorist spawn in the game's most popular map, Dust 2. Per the release notes, the developers have "modified crate stack outside CT spawn towards bombsite A", which doesn't sound like much, but oh my is there some weepin' and a-wailin'.
The change is to a spot just left of CT spawn and beneath the raised A bombsite on Dust 2, from which players used to be able to boost one another up to an area called catwalk: a common tactic in the first seconds of the round, because it helps the CT defending catwalk or short mid to get into position faster. Valve has changed the crate layout in this area, such that one player can now easily access this shortcut with a bit of jumping, without the need for another player to boost the spot.
So the change makes a common early round tactic easier to execute (particularly when playing with randoms), on top of which it opens up this shortcut throughout the round's length. This is going to make a big difference in all sorts of situations, and most obviously it's going to be a game-changer in certain retake situations, allowing both defenders and attackers a new route to catwalk from different positions. This all kind of makes sense, and I'm certain there are other implications I'm yet to see.
The change can be seen in action in the below video from the official CS2 account.
Release Notes for today are up. We're updating some maps and other miscellaneous items. Here's the change to Dust II: pic.twitter.com/pjWTfarxhmJuly 23, 2024
But Counter-Strike 2 fans, at the moment, seem quite a grumpy bunch. Personally I think CS2 is fantastic and play it as regularly as I did CS:GO, but there's no denying that since launch the content blowout that some were hoping for has not arrived: the lack of things like a new Operation or new weapons is keenly felt, and the game remains a target for cheaters and scammers.
"The more I think of this, the more upset I am," says COYGodzilla. "Against good teams, D2 is going to feel so oppressive on T side (it already does if you don’t have long spawn RNG). Now you are stuck in tunnels, and have to deal with powerful pushes + utils in mid and can’t get out long lol (again especially on rounds with no long spawn)... what are we even doing here, no one asked for this lol."
"They just broke Dust 2 wtf," wails Loosecun, while other posts don't even attain that level of civility. "They are fixing a problem that doesn't exist," says TalhaOne, among plenty of others going with old classics like "Valve is killing this game." Some can't even agree on whether it's a buff or a nerf. Most mind-boggling is one individual who's posting in a Counter-Strike forum in the hours after a minor change to Counter-Strike and saying "this game hasn’t been good since ‘03-‘05." Well, sounds like someone's spent the past 20 years playing it anyway.
It should be said that plenty of players bring more perspective to the change, with several making the very good point that this is far from the first time Dust 2 has been tinkered with, and it's also nowhere near the biggest change in the map's history.
"Let's see how it plays first?? You guys are fucking allergic to change lol," writes NexxZT. "Literally when has Valve ever made a change to a map that didn't work out at all? People complained about the Mirage window jump, Vertigo A site, and a lot more. Guess what, it plays a lot fucking better."
I'll be doing my own valuable research tonight, but I keep on calling this a minor change because it really does feel like that. I definitely expect to see a few new moves around A site, but I somehow doubt that the experience of playing Dust 2 is going to be wildly different from last night.
From the outside, it feels like Valve has focused this first year on building out Counter-Strike 2's foundation, prioritising stability and minor tweaks, and changing an element in its most popular map fits that pattern. But beyond an interview around launch with PCG, the team rarely communicates its intentions in advance. The internet hates a void, even if it's par for the course with Valve games, and so the anger over this change feels to me more like a symptom of the wider malaise among some in the community, who tend to either have a pet issue everything revolves around, or just want some good old red meat in the form of a substantial content update.
It's the latter frustration that Valve does need to eventually address in Counter-Strike 2, until which time expect grumbling at pretty much everything else it does with the game. But who am I kidding: even that won't change things for long. For as long as Counter-Strike players are Counter-Striking, every molehill can be made a mountain: and altering the layout of some crates will bring forth the ever-so-faint faint mating call of the obsessive… "dead game!"
