Interesting Thoughts on Inconsistencies and Imbalance

[J.Dot]

I've played CS since around 2014 and have loved every minute of it up until the last month. I, like almost every one of you have done all sorts of research and looking as to possible reason why the game feels worse in so many ways and have seen hundreds of different possible explanations from subtick being inefficient and off kilter to weapons not being re-implemented into source 2 correctly but today somebody showed me something interesting.

A friend of mine who's around 1400 hours in game currently posted this video in our discord earlier today and, while a bit long, does bring up some interesting thoughts. A lot of people are really deep into the hole of how bad the cheating problem is on CS2. I definitely agree that it's a major issue, but the amount and consistency of weird stuff going on can't be completely explained just by that.

The video he shared goes into detail on the idea of how a lot of titles today are beginning to push new players into buying crates or other microtransactions by subtly adjusting in game values for new or inexperienced players to have a slight advantage which increases player retention therefore increasing the chance of each individual player to bite on the microtransactions within the game. A rank up here, a 'lucky' headshot there, or even an outright miss registered as a hit just to hold that player from quitting that much longer. Not to mention some players gaining 300 elo for a win and players with even lower elo only gaining 100 for the same game. This, clearly, creates an imbalance in a game that intrinsically requires balances to be fun for everyone. People have taken to calling it engagement retention or similar terms.

Vid for reference: https://youtu.be/RLPaDWXv774?si=G08vrqBJkTzDNbLr

It eventually goes on to point out that Activision has had a patent out for an SBMM system that does precisely that since 2017. Patent #US20190091581A1. Paragraphs 0075-0080 cover this explicitly.

"Referring to FIGS. 2A-2C, simultaneously, in an implementation, a host may facilitate the multiplayer game by dynamically modifying the gaming environment and/or gaming parameters to suit the skill levels of one or more players within a gaming session, measuring a team's performance in a gaming session, using likeability factors between players as a factor to perform matchmaking, using social groups to modify gaming environments and/or gaming parameters to differently suit the requirements of each social group, and/or performing other operations described herein."

I for one, hate when people call others cheaters. I dislike hacusations as it really diminishes your individual ability or willingness to improve. I always ask myself "why did I fail, and how can I do better next time?" That being the case, I'm much more inclined to believe that Valve, having potentially been aware of this market research and patent since 2017 or even before, wouldn't take advantage of this type of system eventually. Valve essentially invented the loot crate system and live support games with TF2. They have a vested interest in retaining the microtransactions within their game and the only way to improve numbers within that system is to retain more new players. What better way to do so than make them feel like the game is on their side when they're in lobbies with better players than them?

Everyone with more than 20 hours in the last month has experienced shots hitting that should NOT have hit, dying to guns that shouldn't one tap in the way it did, guns that normally kill in 4 hits to the chest taking 5-6, and hitreg that is just utterly atrocious while the enemy team seems to be absolute .006 second one tap machines.

Maybe I'm grabbing onto things that aren't true, but I can't deny the plausibility of the points expressed.

TL;DR maybe valve ruined CS2 for more money.

[Karl]

I couldn´t agree more with this statement since i have around 700+ on this game and haven´t played for 3 years. Started right when Cs2 came up with my homies. I couldn´t really enjoy the game to the fullest as i used to in the old version of the game. In more detail whenever i play solo or 5 stack for example its either really easy or really hard just due to the fact that the guys on the other teams have around 5+ k and my friends have around 50 hours i don´t get why does the matchmaking system make you compete against players that don´t touch grass when you just literally just installed the game. Also i know there´s a habit of calling someone a hacker whenever you get a weird shot from weird angle that doesn´t make any sense but since i started playing this version of the game 7 out of 10 games i end up playing against a cheater or really hardcore sweaty russian tryhards that either don´t touch grass or cheat since i cant tell difference because they have around 4+ k hours on this game.
Also... I feel like the grenades or weapons doesn´t feel the same as they used to in the old version i don´t understand how it is possible whenever i shoot someone and i could clearly see and notice my bullets flying across his head and not registering any damage but when they shoot me i get insta killed. You might say its a skill issue but when it happens to you almost 70% of the game you will get suspicious or mostly common "frustrated" and i cant really grasp the fact if the guy is either lucky or he´s cheating since its really hard for me to tell beacuse the guy has either private profile or 5+ k hours on the game.I really hope the Valve will focus more on the matchaking issue. Also why should i play with players that doesnt speak english at all or for more example at least a common language why there are not server boundaries for regions to play on, for example why should i play with some guy from across the contitinent when i can with someone from either my country or neighbouring. i dont get why there are not prioritized servers for players from the same exact reagion or neighboiring because its really hard to play solo when there´s 90% chance you will end up with some guy who doesnt speak english at all and how can you POSSIBLY cooperate with these players... You cant .... After spending around 40 hours in to this game after the release i have to say it big downgrade from what it used to be since i feel like they havent focused on the main issue of the problem in this game which is matchmaking and cheating...

[ktulu84]

Its not that deep bro

If valve cared about money they would do something easier and not write a whole new engine

[Karl]

Originally posted by BoraY:

Its not that deep bro

If valve cared about money they would do something easier and not write a whole new engine

That is a really cool take but still they haven´t focused on the matchmaking or cheating problem properly since CSGO. And also the new engine stuff is pretty cool and all i like how it looks but for me its just the graphic update for people to stay on the game and pour money in this game instead of focusing on the main issue that has been going on since the first game launched

[J.Dot]

Originally posted by Bowie:

That is a really cool take but still they haven´t focused on the matchmaking or cheating problem properly since CSGO. And also the new engine stuff is pretty cool and all i like how it looks but for me its just the graphic update for people to stay on the game and pour money in this game instead of focusing on the main issue that has been going on since the first game launched

Yeah this is definitely true. I really find it strange that in CS:GO a huge proportion of the cheating was done obviously and blatantly in non-premium matches with obviously low trust factor and, at least in my experience being MG2-DMG just before the transition to CS2, a very comparatively low percentage in premium lobbies. CS2 on the other hand just doesn't give a ♥♥♥♥. Premium, Non-Premium, Premier, low or high trust factor. It just doesn't seem to make a difference at ALL anymore.

[ktulu84]

Originally posted by Bowie:

Originally posted by BoraY:

Its not that deep bro

If valve cared about money they would do something easier and not write a whole new engine

That is a really cool take but still they haven´t focused on the matchmaking or cheating problem properly since CSGO. And also the new engine stuff is pretty cool and all i like how it looks but for me its just the graphic update for people to stay on the game and pour money in this game instead of focusing on the main issue that has been going on since the first game launched

valve never cared about cheaters in their games and they will probably never update vac. Its nothing new. Cheating problem will continue and i dont think there is a point of talking about it.

They never leave the gameplay stuff behind, cs2 is obviously released early and needs a ton of updates in order to be good. Problems with matchmaking will be gone in a few months

cs2 didnt promise more than visual improvements and a few gameplay improvements, these are exactly what valve is working on rn

CSGO was extremely outdated so they just upgraded it to a new, better engine so it can reach the standarts of a modern fps game and thats just it.

They didnt even charge money for cs2 and even accepted a huge player loss, they obviously dont care about money

[K poppa]

the match making in this game is a joke

[phil_holes48]

Originally posted by BoraY:

Its not that deep bro

If valve cared about money they would do something easier and not write a whole new engine

its not that deep bro trust the multi million dollar corporations bro

[Clutchster]

Originally posted by phil_holes48:

Originally posted by BoraY:

Its not that deep bro

If valve cared about money they would do something easier and not write a whole new engine

its not that deep bro trust the multi million dollar corporations bro

Hahaha million? Try billions. Valve a made a billion in 2023 of micro transactions.