April 24, 2023
Valve has managed to keep its iconic FPS fresh and engaging for players by releasing regular updates and new content. But, in March, the developer completely changed the game, introducing the hotly anticipated Counter-Strike 2. The news was enough to break the FPS community, but those who have tried the game claim it’s nothing to write home about.
The game flaunts flashier graphics, visuals, retouched maps, a new smoke mechanic, and legs. But that is about it for the rebranding of Valve’s ever-successful franchise. Besides these changes, everyone had their sights fixated on the tick-rate changes and anti-cheat system, two areas where CS2 seems to be lacking.
The game does look visually better, but playtesters claim the sub-tick system still feels like 64-tick, and if that’s true, then CS2 is nothing new, considering Valve completely skipped over the anti-cheat.
Does CS2 even have a sub-tick system?
Most esports titles, especially FPS, run at a 128 tick-rate, as seen in the case of CS’ main competitor Valorant. CSGO, however, is more than a decade old and is rocking 64 tick-rate servers. After ten years of player requests, Valve has finally pulled the curtain on the sub-tick system, but some playtesters aren’t fully sold on it.
CS2 has a new networking mechanic called the sub-tick system. The new feature appears to work independently of the tick rate, as seen in the trailer video posted by the game’s developers. According to Valve, the new sub-tick feature would work between the intervals of information being transmitted and received between the player and server, recording every precise action the player performs in the time duration and letting the server know of it regardless of the tick rate.
The new sub-tick system is like a never-ending flow of updates from the server. That means players don’t have to wait for those tiny millisecond gaps between ticks before their inputs are registered. Movement and gunplay should feel smoother than before, but not everyone is convinced that it’s actually making a difference.
As discussed earlier, many testers and professional players claim that the new sub-tick feels the same as a normal 64-tick one. In addition, triers have confirmed that the shooting feels more accurate, but the performance is still inconsistent. Consequently, some well-known names have called it bad for high-level play, which seems fair to say.
CSGO pro Robin “ropz” Kool was one of the first ones to chip on the odd feeling in CS2. Taking to Twitter, Ropz expressed his thoughts about the new sub-tick system not being good enough yet.
Furthermore, retired pro and Streamer Jason “JASONR” Ruchelski even went ahead and called CS2’s sub-tick system a scam.
The only conspicuous evidence that favors a tick-rate change is the fact that previous lineups no longer work in CS2. But, besides that, playtesters contend that shooting doesn’t feel as smooth as it does on FACEIT, a platform that offers a 128-tick experience.
Matchmaking system is the same in CS2, so far
Counter-Strike has been in dire need of a new matchmaking system for years. The game has been using the same old system for a decade to pit players against each other, which sometimes unfairly matches players from different skill groups against each other, causing a bloodbath. Consequently, most players prefer playing on third-party matchmaking services like FACEIT and ESEA since they provide better balancing and anti-cheat measures.
A new matchmaking system could have been the key to CS2’s success since it might have convinced players to play on the official servers. Former CSGO pro Michael “shroud” Grzesiek even went as far as to claim that fixing the ranking system may take CS2 to new heights of popularity, potentially garnering an average of 5 million concurrent players.
“If CS2 doesn’t f**king work on their matchmaking and rank systems and all that shit, and if it would be just the same as CSGO, I would be so upset. It won’t matter because people would still play the game because it’s Counter-Strike, who cares, and that sh*t. But CS is in a spot where it could literally take over,” shroud said.
He’s not wrong. Poor MM has been a pest for a decade, and players were looking forward to playing competitive CS on official servers. But the potential lack of a 128-tick rate on the same old MM doesn’t help change things.
CS2 doesn’t have a new anti-cheat
The biggest bummer for ranked demons in CSGO was likely the absence of new anti-cheat in Valve’s official announcement. For years, hackers have been the biggest thorn in the side of competitive CSGO players, and they were expecting significant upgrades to the game’s anti-cheat. According to data miners, CS2 will feature a new anti-cheat system called VAC Live which will work differently than the old one in handing out bans. If a cheater is detected, the game will be canceled.
Although leaked sources have revealed that the new anti-cheat would still use the same algorithm as the old one to detect cheaters, which has taken the wind out of loyal CS players’ sails. VAC has a history of not catching cheaters, meaning a live anti-cheat won’t change much.
The previous anti-cheat system VAC NET which CSGO used, needed to be fixed and efficient in terms of catching cheaters. Valve has tried its luck against cheaters numerous times but failed; the hackers were always one step ahead. If Valve continues using the same old algorithm to catch cheaters, it would be alarming news for the community.
After considering all these factors, it’s difficult not to question how much CS2 truly diverges from CSGO. Sure, there are changes, but did Valve really address the game-changing issues that truly bothered a dedicated CSGO player? The only hope CS players are now holding on to is that CS2 is still in beta, and the official game may come out with key updates. But for now, CS2 looks disappointing for those who were looking to return to the official servers.