Prepare for a 1-year CS2 beta

Just as it hinted at, Valve released Counter-Strike 2 last Wednesday and the CS community went from playing CS:GO to playing CS2 almost overnight. But as you might expect, based on the original beta, the game was not ready to be released.

I personally spoke to a dozen different pro players who told me the same thing. Valve, on the other hand, has a different approach: the more feedback the better, even if the community as a whole has to playtest their game.

We all know what happened when CS:GO was released. The game was unstable for years and required waves of updates before it became decent. Now we have a new game and its beta is likely to last at least one year.

Officially, CS2 has been released and everything’s ready to go. But in reality, the game is far from being complete. You’ll see long bug reports for many months to come and you need to accept that there’s nothing that can change the situation.

Even if Valve works non-stop on fixing the issues, it will take them 6-12 months to find the right balance and clean up the mess.

BO1 MR12 😭😭😭 https://t.co/xIYXbieVYn

— ropz (@ropz) October 3, 2023

Community complaints

Among the most common complaints regarding CS2 is that the game feels slow, at least compared to CS:GO. Agents move a bit slower and seem to be affected by the weight of their guns. The sensation is that you’re playing an RPG with a frail character who needs to carry a lot of items in his pack.

Another big complaint about the new game is that the weapons don’t shoot properly. Spray control seems to be a big issue for a lot of pro players, who have gotten used to a very specific way of doing things.

Now that they need to adapt, thousands of hours of practice will be required to fully master the new spray patterns. Guns like AK-47 and M4A4 feel slightly different in CS2. In key situations, that can dramatically impact the result of a duel, a round or even a map.

Keep in mind that the new MR12 format has turned Counter-Strike into a much more alert game. With fewer rounds to play on each side of the map, players need to make sure that they win the pistol rounds or at least the third round of each half. Otherwise, the battle feels lost from the start.

Header: Valve