New Counter-Strike update is dividing the community

The new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update has received mixed emotions from the community.

The patch, added to the game yesterday, addresses the flow of the first person shooter. The economy reset system has been adjusted, with the potential of changing the metagame.

• Round loss bonuses are now based on the count of a team’s round losses. The count increases by one after each loss and decreases by one after every win.
• Previously, a win would reset the round loss bonus. Now, a win reduces the loss counter by one.

The new changes mean that reset rounds are going to be affected after winning one game, then losing one game. Usually, in this scenario, a team may opt to double eco, choosing to save up their money for a full buy. At this point, a team would be low on money and they’d have no option to buy. Now, it looks like they’ll have the funds to early buy, increasing overall gun rounds on a map.

This change has positive implications and, so far, the community has taken to it kindly. There is, however, a few smaller patch changes that some players aren’t happy with. The alterations may not take a huge toll on ranked play, but they could lower the competitive value of professional matches.

One update that has received negative feedback deals with the AUG. The price of the Counter-Terrorist gun has been increased by $150. This could be considered a step in the right direction, but some pro players don’t think it’s enough.

The gun has recently seen increased play in the highest level of Counter-Strike, and has somewhat replaced the classic M4. Some people in the community consider the gun less skillful and have been awaiting nerfs. Valve has taken this into consideration and increased its overall value.

FaZe Clan’s Nikola “NiKo” Kovač suggested that the gun should be nerfed or bumped up to $3,500. Some don’t think the increase to $3,300 is enough for it to see less play in a competitive environment.

Another update that looks minor on paper but has huge implications for competitive play is the changes to the flashbang. The utility item hasn’t been changed in itself, but now, flashbang assists will appear on the kill feed.

• Added flashbang assists for players who successfully flash an enemy which then gets killed by another player. Players who threw the flashbang will get an assist callout in the death notice.

This may seem like a positive change, but some pro players think it gives unnecessarily free information to the enemy team. This has the potential to lower competitive play.

Fnatic’s Jesper “JW” Wecksel gave a possible example of how the flashbang change would affect the game.

The new patch is being showcased at the World Electronic Sports Games 2019 World Finals, where teams such as Fnatic and G2 Esports are fighting for a $890,000 prize pool. The economy change has yet to be implemented, but the AUG and flash alterations are in full effect.