Valve trolls CSGO players with Office changes and Inferno wall bangs

By Nick Johnson

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Apr 16, 2020

Reading time: 3 min

Since the release of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Shattered Web operation in November, there has been a steady stream of hints that all seemed to point in one direction – the return of the  Office to competitve CSGO. While the map has been available to CSGO players for years, it has never seen competitive play on an esports stage.

CSGO’s most recent patch moved the mystery forward slightly when developers included the following lines in its usual post explaing the patch:

Office

  • (Changes based on pro player feedback)
  • Snow has accumulated by dumpster in back courtyard
  • Beverage machines have been restocked.
  • Office is now a non-smoking environment.
  • Tidied up kitchen break room.

It’s an interestiing thing to draw attention to, especially because at least one pro player came out immediately and cried foul. Team Liquid’s Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski retweeted the post, claiming that CSGO devs were trolling

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While Counter-Strike’s developers might have been having a little fun with the community, oddly enough they did at least one of the things mentioned in the notes. While the breakroom is still a mess and no one has moved the ashtrays, the back courtyard did get a fresh dusting of snow. 

Players no longer have to jump to get on top of the courtyard dumpster or its nearby boxes. Instead, developers have added a mound of snow that makes traversing the area much easier. Where before CT players risked their heads becoming tempting targets for any T peeking paper, they can now make it to dumpster without exposing themselves.

The change is small, but its a change nested inside a whole bunch of nonsense. It could be Valve having some fun at the expense of the CSGO community, but the adjustment will be welcomed by those that enjoy one of the most T-sided maps in the history of Counter-Strike.

Inferno’s new wall is “bingelibangable,” is CSGO’s new in-joke

That’s not the only thing that raised eyebrows in Global Offensive’s patch notes. In a change no one knew they wanted, developers made the apartments wall next to balcony wallbangable from both sides. The patch notes called the wall “bingelibangable.” We didn’t know what that meant, but we realized that when the developers said “binge,” they meant binge. After firing a lot of bullets, we put CSGO’s bots to the test to see just how bingelibangable the wall was.

The appartment window is the best area to shoot through from the outside. An AWP is the best bet, but the angles needed to shoot down into site or up into apps are both awkward. Players should spend some time in the server before trying to kill a defusing CT through it. If they can get the angle down, though, its a powerful new spot. CT AWPers are best off shooting from on-site next to the far site box that’s closest to CT. From there, a crouch is enough to give them a decent angle, especially if the Ts are stacked behind a balcony smoke. Interestingly, both the M4 and the AK penetrate the wall around the window better than the SG 553 that was nerfed this same patch.

The wallbang potential here is low, but the opportunity for outplays makes the small change worth it.

Office is still a lingering mystery, as is its partner Aztec that WIN.gg covered when CSGO introduced its in-game crosshair setting. It’s possible that the rescheduling the ESL One Rio Major affected Valve’s plans to unveil the jungle-themed map alongside the TPS reports of Office. Looks like fans will just have to wait until November to see.