While old guns are being tweaked and re-evaluated, a few new weapons were added, including a new heavy machine gun rifle, new pistols, and a new shotgun, but I think the biggest addition was with the equipment. They added molotov cocktails, an expensive $850 item, which can be used to slow down opponents and re-route opponents through AOE damage. Molotov cocktails could be used to slow down T rushes through the tunnels into B on Dust2 or by Ts to slow CTs on retakes. Molotovs are currently stackable and bounce (versus an instant break), which might need to be revisited. Decoy grenades are also a new item that can be thrown to emit gun sounds and give the illusion of there being a player. The decoy grenade currently produced an AK / Glock when thrown by Ts and M4 / USP when thrown by CTs. It was suggested by players that decoys should instead produce gun sounds of a weapon held by your team, which was a well received suggestion. While decoy grenades realistically won't fool any real player, I can see them potentially being used to make opponents hesitate for a quick second and at times provide the extra split second needed to secure better positioning.
When we first head of the molotov cocktail and decoy grenades, everyone's minds immediately rushed to Valve's failed attempt at incorporating the riot shield but I think if done correctly this provides an interesting twist. If done right I think each item has the potential to be change the way traditional competitive CS maps are played. They can change the dynamic of rushes, bombsite holds, and area retakes. IF done right, they can provide a new tool for strategies and breathe new life into classic maps.
Flashes were effective and smokes laid down a thick layer of cover that is useful. I think players were generally happy with how each were implemented. HE grenades currently are way too overpowered as one well placed grenade can take down a player with full health and armor. We had a few rushes thwarted by one HE taking out two or three of us in one fell swoop. Something that needs to be tweaked... Other changes include CS GO experimenting with automatically equipping a random member of the CT team with a defuse kit at the beginning of each round. Valve wanted to try and make the defuse kit a special item like the T’s bomb, but the group was quick to explain how in competitive game play multiple CTs buy kits each round so that at a minimum, there is one kit per bombsite. Another easy fix if they take our advice. Valve also was experimenting with including fresh Kevlar as the standard player load out at the beginning of each round, removing the need to decide between buying Kevlar with or without a helmet (in fact, like the kit, it was removed from the buy menu all together). This initially seemed really interesting as it could help balance ECO rounds, but upon group discussion it became apparent that if everyone always has full armor, then it in a way becomes obsolete.
Giving everyone full Kevlar each round also impacts a key strategical element that is so often the unsung art of Counter-Strike: the money system. Without needing to purchase Kevlar, Valve tweaked the price of some guns (most notably the AK, which is now more expensive) and money rewards. The money system is the second area that we felt needed the most work, and I think ultimately should be the last area revisited once we understand how useful different weapons are and what is done with kits and Kevlar. When the pros began talking about the money system, it quickly started to feel like CS Money System 101 and eventually 200 level lectures. They educated the developers on how the money system is used and how if not carefully crafted can be exploited. I am sure the developers knew that the money system is an important element of CS, but I don’t think they (or even most competitive players) understand how supremely important it is. The money system in Counter-Strike is what separates it from every other FPS and was beautifully perfected thanks to years of community feedback and a now famous article a few years ago. The money system is an easy tweak that Valve will need to listen closely to the competitive gamers for guidance on and it will likely be a long exercise in trial and error through beta depending on how quickly the other areas get finalized.
