CS2 pros worried about future of the game after Valve makes grave mistake in latest update

They have the right to be mad.

An overview of the A site of Dust 2 in CS2, with boxes covering a flat catwalk and a ramp below to CT spawn.
Screenshot by Dot Esports

Valve released a small update to Counter-Strike 2 on Oct. 17, which changed the way command aliases work. Players agree it was a grave mistake and makes the game even more inconsistent than it already is.

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The newest CS2 patch claims that “command aliases now leverage subtick accuracy.” It basically means players can no longer “de-sub-tick” movement with custom commands, so it is more consistent, which was pivotal when doing jump throw binds, for example. Many pro players, analysts, and streamers are outraged by this change, and their reactions were collected on Reddit.

“Let’s keep blocking things that make the game feel better while adding nothing to actually fix it,” former player-turned-analyst SPUNJ wrote. “I’ve been blissfully hopeful up until this point and now I’m just fucking tilted,” he added.

Other figures like Complexity’s floppy and EliGE, FaZe Clan’s Twistzz, Smooya, analysts Mauisnake and Bleh, and streamer Austin have also expressed their disapproval of Valve’s actions. “Stop removing things which your community loves,” smooya wrote, and there’s hardly a better way to describe CS2’s latest patch.

While many people in the community have been defending Valve so far, believing the developers are doing what they can to fix numerous CS2 issues, this seems to be the turning point for many of them. A lot of players on social media agreed with the pros’ negative reactions to the update, and are outraged with the fact Valve is fixing features that work instead of focusing on actual issues.

You can’t blame them, though. IEM Sydney 2023, which started this Monday, is the first tier-one tournament in CS2. At the Australian event, many pros have criticized the game, claiming it’s buggy and not ready for competitive play. With their feedback, it’s more than baffling that Valve is working on things like command aliases rather than the real problems pointed out by the pros.

On top of that, the pro teams in Sydney aren’t even using the new patch since most of them are using alias commands, according to ESL’s CS referee, Michał Slowinski.

Author
Image of Mateusz Miter
Mateusz Miter
Freelance Writer at Dot Esports. Mateusz previously worked for numerous outlets and gaming-adjacent companies, including ESL. League of Legends or CS:GO? He loves them both. In fact, he wonders which game he loves more every day. He wanted to go pro years ago, but somewhere along the way decided journalism was the more sensible option—and he was right.