Valve last released significant gameplay updates a while ago, but on Thursday night, the team dropped a patch addressing several aspects of the game. As usual, CS.MONEY Blog breaks down all the critical changes in one place.
CS2 Skin Rentals
Let’s start with a feature that directly touches every player. Valve has not released a new case but introduced an additional option for the Kilowatt Case opening, the first case in Counter-Strike 2. Now, instead of receiving one random skin, you can choose to get all seventeen skins for one week.
If you choose to rent skins, all the skins from the Kilowatt collection will appear in your inventory. You can play with them but cannot customize or trade them. After one week, all these skins will disappear, leaving you with nothing but only memories.
This option is only available for the Kilowatt Case and will likely be available for future cases. However, cases released in the CS:GO era will not be affected.
It’s hard to imagine players benefiting significantly from this option. Maybe it will be good for those who rarely play Counter-Strike, but it is doubtful. On one hand, for about $4 (the combined price of the case and key), you get skins worth almost $200. This might seem like a good deal, but remember that you can sell an opened skin and potentially recoup most of your money (and, theoretically, even profit).
By the way, on CS.MONEY, you can find skins at low prices, and the purchasing process is fast, easy, and the skins won’t disappear!
M4A4 Price Drop, Bomb Plant Financial Nerf
We’ve long discussed the need for economic adjustments after all Counter-Strike 2 matches transitioned to the MR12 system. It seems Valve gathered enough data and made some interesting decisions.
Firstly, the T-side will receive $200 less if the planted bomb is defused. Valve states this change is made to reduce the impact of the first round on the economy in subsequent rounds. Pistol rounds are indeed crucial, and this nerf seems reasonable.
Secondly, the M4A4 now costs $3000, which is $100 less than before. Many professional players have said they consider the M4A4 a stronger weapon than the M4A1-S, but the $200 price difference made the M4A4 a luxury item that gameplay situations rarely allowed for.
Thirdly, the incendiary grenade for the CT now costs $500, but its duration and spread area have also been reduced.
A Site Overhaul on Vertigo
Apart from economic changes, Valve also reworked one of the most problematic sites in the competitive map pool: A Site on Vertigo. It has been drastically reworked, but it’s too early to say how this will affect strategies. The updated version of A Site is also available in Wingman mode, and maybe the community will suggest interesting manoeuvres for retakes. In any case, Vertigo is a map that people either love or hate, but Valve continues to work on it.
Besides Vertigo, minor changes were made to Mirage, Baggage, and Office.
Chicken Animations, Demo Improvements, and Other Changes
Finally, Valve fixed several minor bugs and added various new features. Chickens now have several new animations and can climb hills, specific commands have been added to the console to switch weapons from the right hand to the left, and several interface and demo playback bugs have been fixed.
Important: many Phase 2 skin types have undergone changes. Before vs Now:
While the update can’t be called revolutionary, it is significant. It will be interesting to see how the meta in competitive matches changes and how the popularity of Vertigo shifts in public games.
