We should probably talk about patch timing before we get too far into what Valve brings in this sizable update.
Most developers schedule updates for off-times on lighter days, which is why we see many titles being released on Tuesday instead of Friday, as it gives them ample opportunity to roll everything out without interrupting gameplay.
This is in stark contrast to when Valve likes to roll out updates for Counter-Strike late in the evening, causing bizarre lag spikes in matches being played in the MDL that costs players the necessary clutch to keep their team alive in the league.
It is simply a matter of convenience, and shifting the update to roll out a bit later when the servers aren’t as active would be a massive quality of life improvement, or at least give players less to blame their faults on during intense matches.
Digressions aside, Valve has just rolled out a pretty sizeable update to their beautiful competitive shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive at 2130 EDT this evening, and they’ve shifted a sizeable number of things in this update.
First, player contrast can now be boosted in your settings allowing for an easier silhouette to engage enemies. It boosts the contrasts at farther distances, highlighting the edge pixels of enemies on your screen while reducing the background noise around the character. This should help cut down on the ‘hide and seek’ that can occur in some matches with custom character skins, while ensuring that it’s easier to mutually engage in a duel both on and off-site.
Oh, and we did this: pic.twitter.com/ygUKWqxrLa
— CS2 (@CounterStrike) June 11, 2020
Beyond the visibility (which can be turned on or off in your advanced video settings) for enemies, we also have a couple of various map changes.
Overpass has removed Ivy from bathrooms, the bike from picnic, and the windows by bathrooms.
Dust2 sees B site doors being flipped, which is a pretty sizeable change for the impact. Tossing and retaking B is going to be difficult in the upcoming days, with heaven being a more important keystone on retakes than it was in the past. The doors now open directly towards B tunnels, allowing players to cover B entrance from mid. A small shift with massive consequence.
Cache is the final map with actual changes that will likely affect gameplay: the ladder to mid nest has been changed to a box, and they’ve also taken a hard look at clipping within the map. This is not all-inclusive in regards to what Valve has shifted, but it’s the changes that will affect your gameplay on these maps. It’s worth noting that various users have already been stating that these updates have cut their FPS by as much as 30%, but your mileage may vary with that.
