http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/2012/02/survey/ To sign up for Beta invite I signed up about a week ago and just got my Beta invite today
Never heard of fy_iceworld? xD They are generally small maps with no buy zone (cept maybe in the middle) and guns on the ground. Also there is no bomb/hostage objective, just kill the other team.
i used to hate people who would kill you at the respawn point when a game just started...if a delay start was set up. That map was a blast though. I loved tmp rushing, turning the corner and just run through 4 or 5 guys with one clip
Next person that gets a beta invite, I'll totally pay for your gift invite. Several people from my cal-i/cevo-p teams have started playing again. We need a 5th if there's anyone here who can hang, and isn't a douche. I'm totally serious. Keep in mind this is for Source/GO.
If you don't mind me asking; what are the specs on your PC and what did you answer for the survey questions?
Laptop XPS 15 i7 Q740 @ 1.73GHz 8 GB Nvidia Gefore GT 435M Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit So pretty average specs, maybe even low end compared to desktops Hmmm. I can't see the survey again, since I already took it. From the top of my head the questions/answers I remember were: 1)I said I favored CSS slightly 2)Slightly favored if won pistol round 3)I believe I choose AK47 for value on all of them 4)I choose pretty high hours for time played even if it wasn't the case Can't remember what else there was.
We had basically the same answers on the survey (though I put AK/AK/AWP). Your PC is better though by a bit. Ah well, I bit the bullet and bought a key. People are paying $150 for these right now (stupid). I paid $65 and felt like a total dip for doing it. At least I'll be playing it tonight. =)
After a few hours of playing, some thoughts: It's definitely been console-influenced, but not entirely in a bad way. There's options in menus that are intended for consoles and what not. It's beautiful, I didn't realize the Source engine could look so nice. Videos and what not do not do it justice. It gets more fun the more I play. I had a teammate that was really down on it, he seems to like it more and more as well. Negatives Fog: Uh, it's everywhere. My understanding is this was done to reduce draw distance on consoles, since they seem to have problems running the Source engine. I was told it can be reduced server side as a percentage, so this may be a none issue. The big problem is there's a lot of areas where you just can't see people because of this "natural" smoke crap. As a side note, the colors on maps seem to be very washed out as well, I think this is due to HDR. Hopefully we can turn that off in later patches or the retail release. Sound: This is terrible, this truly needs to be fixed. Every action you make presents an echo that is generated at least twice (or so I'm told). In action I usually only hear myself twice, but that's more than enough. You're standing outdoors, you make a step...then a second later you hear another step. It makes you think you're hearing the other team when you're just hearing yourself. I have no clue how they thought this would be an improvement on the game. Directional audio seems to be problematic as well, when you're listening to people walk around you can hear that they're close -- but it is really difficult to figure out where they're coming from. There's a lot of ambient noise as well. The fun part is they've added music (which I've turned off of course), and it's context sensitive. For example it ramps up when the bomb has been planted Counterstrike of Duty. Tip: If you have the game, set your audio quality to LOW. This helps a bit, but it shouldn't even come to this. Other than that all my gripes are minor, you can't do a few things here and there that you should be able to. With that said I'm sure they'll be available at release. Positives Maps: The console influence is primarily here; it seems like maps have been modified to speed gameplay up and simplify things. Since you'll have PS3 players playing against people on PC this is somewhat important (and it'll be hilarious when it actually happens...). A good example is De_Train; (this was always one of my least favorite maps) on the inner bombsite several trains have been removed entirely, the outer bombsite has been moved, you essentially can't go under any trains, etc. Across all the maps I've played (Nuke/De_dust/De_dust2/Train/Inferno), I've only found a couple questionable changes. And even in those cases they're understandable. To be specific -- on Nuke, there is no longer an outdoor entrance that can take you to the lower bombsite. It was there in 1.6 and Source, but it's no longer available. That one I disagreed with, since the map is already very CT-sided. However I'll reserve judgement. Fun fact for old school players; with the changes they've made de_dust actually seems viable as a competitive map. Guns/Weapons: They've made a lot of guns / weapon changes. Some important ones: M4 is now "M4A4" instead of "M4A1" -- the functional difference is silencer is no longer available. I was very unhappy about this change, but it's not a dealbreaker, the gun feels more solid to me. CTs no longer start with USP (and it no longer exists), it's now the P2000 (basically the same gun, but feels less powerful and has an extra bullet). AK feels like it has more recoil than before, at least compared to Source (I haven't played 1.6 in so long I couldn't tell you) it definitely isn't as good (you can still dome people with it, but it is usually 2 shot bursts instead of 3). A lot of the other weapons feel more balanced, like the SIG on Tside is sick. Aug felt better as well, but I generally like the new M4. Shotguns seem viable now, as well. You can now only carry 1 flashbang, and a total of 3 grenades of any combination. In other words you can't have 1 of every grenade at any given time. Frag grenades...are...powerful... if you do not have armor on, and you are hit by a grenade it is lights out. The other day I had a grenade do 173 damage, last night a teammate managed to do 500 damage with 1 grenade (hit multiple targets). If you have armor on that is reduced to levels that seem to be consistent with the previous games. Molotov cocktail is awesome, it's very good for delaying rushes and doing minor damage. Decoy grenade is fun, and clever -- you can definitely juke people with it. Misc: These are some of the things I like the most, little details that make the sum greater than it's parts. In 1.6 when you headshot someone, they fly backwards in ridiculous fashion. In source they would just fall over but had ragdoll physics. Now they're a combination of the two; you still have Source physics, but they fly backwards over the top -- it's awesome. When you kill someone they fall over and blood slowly pools around them like in the movies (I've never seen that in a fps before). You can now see exactly who is alive or dead at the top of your screen (previously you had to pull up the scoreboard). This works because during beta you can have a maximum of 5 people per team. I'm not sure how this will work if there's more than 10 people, or if they'll even allow it when the game is released. It would suck if you couldn't have more than 10 for pubs, but it is a great touch. Servers automatically have 15 rounds per half, and the server automatically switches you to T side or CT side after the half. Games are first team to 16 of course. You can see exactly how much money everyone has on the scoreboard, which is fantastic. You now know exactly who to ask to drop you a gun, and you'll know if they're lying about their money. ----- Anyway this is a lot longer than I intended it, I wasn't trying to write a review. All in all I'm very happy with the game, and I think it has a lot of potential. It seems like they've learned from the mistakes they've made in Source and are making sure it doesn't happen again. This game truly could bring 1.6 players and source players together, along with a new generation. Assuming they keep working off the base they have here, and continue listening to the community to make sure the game doesn't lose what makes it so great.
I can't believe this happened almost 6 years ago... But this was during a scrim against some clan that **** talked us for a good month before playing us. You should have heard our laughter on vent. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/elxbVLga6aY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I really like some of the changes you bring up in these couple paragraphs, glad to hear they are trying to bring back 1.6 headshots. Making the average game have competitive rules automatically is also a great change. Have to say the fog thing you mentioned scares the **** out of me though lol. How will this effect awping? Are the long distance areas of certain maps (ie nuke outside, dust2 long etc) severly effected by this fog or are they much smaller now to compensate? Is picking mid on d2 still possible? Unfortuneatly I can't play the game right not due to graphics driver issues (probably the main reason I still play 1.6 instead of something newer) or I'd answer these q's for myself. Thanks for the post though it was very informative. +rep
Youtube is blocked for me at work, I'll have to check it out tonight. =) Thanks for the rep! The fog is definitely an issue, it's less of a problem when sniping than it is if you can't scope. I'd say if you're scoped it's not too problematic. It is supposedly adjustable so I think it'll be corrected on most servers when the game goes retail. It seems to be more of an issue on Train than any other map for some reason, I didn't notice it quite as much on Nuke. The map sizes are almost approximately the same. A good example is if you're ivy on Train, you can see all the way to the stairs that go to inner bombsite, beyond that it's very foggy. Another thing I forgot to mention is when you shoot a small trail of smoke comes from the barrel of your gun. Again, a nice touch...but if you shoot the hell out of a wall for example smoke comes out of it as well. The amount of smoke increases the more you shoot it. You can have a relatively big smoke cloud in one spot if you aim it there. Although in practice I haven't noticed it as much lately, I'm not sure if the servers I was on have toned it down or if they patched it. The game is supposed to have a big patch today I believe. You can definitely pick doors on D2. I'd say even more so than Source, now. This reminds me of something I forgot, it seems like walls are much more spammable again. This is something that was missing in Source. For example, I believe AWP does 100% damage through double doors on D2. It definitely seems like it does more damage than it did previously. My teammate said it felt to him like your bullets go completely straight when you no scope now. That remains to be confirmed though, but I have seen someone get popped by a sick no scope.
