They say that CS:GO fans only get one update a year, but that when it drops they react like the world has come crashing down around them, and that idea has certainly felt true based on the reaction to Operation Riptide dropping earlier this week.
With official RMR competitive events and the first Major since September 2019 looming on the immediate horizon, the timing of the update certainly caught the majority of the community off-guard, and from weapon, tweaks to map overhauls, Riptide is already shaping up to be amongst the biggest updates the game has seen in some time.
Dust II overhauls
Despite being a historic map and arguably one of the faces of the entire series, Dust II has been a map that has been seeing less and less play on both a casual and a professional level. Compared to other maps in the pool such as Nuke, Overpass, or Inferno, the gameplay on Dust II often feels stale and simplistic for a competitive pick.
One of the biggest examples of this style was at T Spawn, where Terrorists would often buy an AWP, Scout, or Auto-Sniper and begin spamming the Doors, where CTs cross to get to the B Bombsite. Being tagged as a CT through a spammed shot down Mid was one of the most triggering feelings in the game, requiring very little skill and feeling ridiculously unfair, and Valve have remedied it in a big way with a change to T Spawn in Operation Riptide.
Sight down Middle has been obscured from T Spawn as a part of Riptide, with Terrorists not being able to wall-bang through Doors any longer. Dust II is one of the few CS:GO maps with a balance towards the T side each round, however with the most dramatic change to the map arguably in its history, this could be the change that sees it shift back in favor of the CT side.
Droppable grenades
Perhaps the biggest talking point of the operation has been the introduction of droppable grenades, with utility now being able to be passed around just like weaponry.
This single change is going to have huge ramifications in how teams set up their roles and responsibilities, as well as completely flipping how a round can play out with more bits of utility flying around than before, and from potentially different sources than players are used to.
Clutches are also set to be revamped by the change, with bits of utility being able to be recovered by players left standing at the close of a round, and allowing for a whole host of different options for them to see things out.
Of course, it’s hard to know exactly how much the game will be changed by this one change until the operation has had time to be properly played through, however, this certainly feels like a feature that will raise the overall skill ceiling of the game.
Weapon changes
The final big change with CS:GO’s competitive gameplay post-Riptide is with the Deagle and M4A1-S.
Deagles have been the go-to option for force, partial, and eco rounds for both sides in the current meta, with the weapon only requiring one shot to the head and two to the body to kill an enemy player. Pound-for-pound, it was without a doubt the best weapon in the game before seeing its body damage nerfed in the recent Riptide Operation.
M4A1-S were at one point legitimately the better option when it came to rifles on the CT side, with the weapon still being a favorite amongst veteran players in the scene especially. The smaller capacity and ammo magazine meant that there became less and less reason to opt for the M4A1-S over the M4A4, however, Riptide has helped put the silenced carbine back into the spotlight by improving the body damage of the weapon, giving players a reason to buy it again.
