It’s not exactly a secret that the most recent update from Valve allowing players to unlock various operators was tenuously received, at best. Many professional players took to social media with some kickback in regards to players becoming difficult to see in various environments, turning the uber-competitive title closer to hide and seek than the classic and expected murder-chess.
Valve has yet to back down from what many consider to be a misguided attempt to allow personalization, and now everyone is playing on FACE.IT and ESEA servers instead of the traditional in-game matchmaking experience. For better or worse, that’s where the title stands now.
Rather than capitulate and backpedal, Valve is going even farther with the latest patch in regards to customization in-game, although to a far lesser degree than operator skins.
First, players can now more easily alter their crosshair. It was formerly an event where you would have to select various options, apply them, and then enter the match in order to see what your crosshair tweaking actually looked like. It was admittedly a far cry from what many players would prefer, as a hyper-competitive first-person shooter tends to rely on crosshairs for sending rounds downrange.
Today we're shipping a visual update to the Buy Menu, a new setting to edit and share crosshairs, and Patches for Agents. Here's today's "Patch"… Notes: https://t.co/8To9IjVVCv pic.twitter.com/cTfQGVfxfr
— CS2 (@CounterStrike) February 24, 2020
Now, there’s a handy-dandy menu feature that shows players precisely what their cursors will look like in real-time as they fiddle with settings in the menu, and the settings are vast. From the length of the perpendicular lines, crosshair thickness, color, the gap between the various elements; everything that a player could possibly desire in terms of customizing their crosshair is now in-game, and it’s a beautiful sight to behold.
Players can also import and export their crosshair, allowing streamers of various mediums to share their personal settings with fans; it’s a bit like painting your car with flames to make it go faster, as ultimately there are a vast number of settings that are all ultimately viable to frag out with, but it’s a readily available option for the more devoted fans of specific personalities.
Beyond the crosshair, Valve has also added patches that can be affixed to your various operators. The patches currently have classic sticker designs such as ‘Welcome to the Clutch’ that many have already made themselves familiar with over the years, and can be placed prominently on various operators. It’s likely that patches will begin to be a new operation symbol, replacing the Challenge Coins that the community is similarly familiar with.
It doesn’t seem as though these changes will have anywhere near the impact with the community as the operator skins, but it’s a pleasant enough gesture of progression.
