The newest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update has arrived, bringing changes to matchmaking, another significant overhaul to Vertigo, and a number of other small tweaks.
As part of a new “onboarding experiment,” CSGO newcomers will be forced to spend their first few games playing in casual and deathmatch modes until they hit Private Rank 2. This will prevent first-time players from immediately diving into ranked matchmaking.
No details were given on why these changes were made. It’s unclear if this was made to force players to get a feel for the game before playing ranked or if it’s a measure to prevent troublesome players from easily juggling multiple accounts. Regardless, this suggests that other changes to ranked matchmaking may also be inbound.
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Dust 2 received a Vphysics Displacement bug fix. Nuke did as well, but also received another fix in the form of an extraneous collision spot that would sometimes inexplicably catch bullets fired from the B-side ramp down to the toxic barrels. Those changes are relatively minor, but Vertigo has received some major changes.
After watching over the film from the StarLadder Berlin Major, Valve has brought a number of tweaks to the map that will force pros to once again relearn the map.
The ramp commonly used by the T side to attack the A bombsite was heavily overhauled, which should radically change how the site is handled by teams.
The forklift at the bottom of the ramp has been removed, which gives the T side significantly less coverage when pushing towards the site. Offsetting this is a widened scaffolding that also offers a new pathway to reach the A bombsite. Additionally, one of the pathways between the elevator room and the A site was closed off, giving the CT side fewer avenues for a retake.
The B side received fewer changes, with blockers being added around the outer walkway and the path between CT spawn and the B site getting expanded. Mid received a few changes as well, with the door to the site being removed and the geometry being “cleaned up.”
The net effect of these changes is likely to be a more diverse method of attack from the T side. Valve’s changes will hopefully bring a better sense of balance to the newest map in competitive CSGO.
The full patch notes can be found on the official CSGO website.
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