Thank fucking goodness.
As part of a huge update released late yesterday, Valve took aim at Counter-Strike: Global Offensive‘s most egregious problem: awkward, unreliable hitboxes. Hitboxes are what they sound like: they dictate where players can be hit when you shoot at them. For years, players complained that they could, for instance, unload clips into people at point-blank range and still somehow miss the majority of shots. Jumping, meanwhile, became an effective tactic to avoid headshots because it threw off hitbox positioning so badly.
That, however, is no longer the case. Among many other things (new animations, balance tweaks, etc), Valve has completely overhauled Counter-Strike‘s hitchy hitboxes. Redditor piccgamer put together a graphic demonstrating the difference:
What does that mean? Well…
Or, in practice, as demonstrated by the_banana_eater_1:
Valve’s even put in a new command that lets you see exactly where you hit your enemy.
So this is all really good news, and that aspect of the update has been almost universally well-received by fans. Other parts? Er, not so much. People are digging the new ladder climbing animation, but some see other animation changes as arbitrary or harmful to game balance.
There have also been heated debates about tweaks to a staple gun, the M4A1-S. Previously, many considered it overpowered, but a lot of players feel like Valve didn’t give it a soft shove in the right direction so much as they volleyball spiked it into oblivion.
Lastly, some players are reporting framerate drops, which is not entirely surprising given that traditional hitboxes require fewer calculations than the more complex “hitspheres” CSGO now employees. I’m sure Valve tried to optimise everything as much as possible before the overhaul, but it’s not inconceivable that a few configurations slipped through the cracks.
Of course, the update hasn’t even been in the wild for 24 hours, so we’ll see how things shake out. Counter-Strike is a game of precision tactics, information gathering, and muscle memory. Changes, no matter how slight, are bound to cause big ripples. It remains to be seen if some of Valve’s more controversial decisions lead to change for the better or worse in the long run.
Have you had a chance to play since the new update? What do you think?
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Comments
16 responses to “Valve Fixed Counter-Strike’s Biggest Problem”
headline is misleading…. its still rife with hackers, Smurfs and derankers…..
There is however a new “report griefer” option which is nice, but ultimately as effective as the report hacker option.
The new hitboxs feel a bit weird, but thats just because im used to the old ones i guess.
AWPers are still scum.
the new defuse animation thing looks VERY out of place
my poor M4A1-S factory new Stat track Basilisk has been shelved 🙁
The buff to the dualies is a very welcome addition.
“its still rife with hackers, Smurfs and derankers”
“Awpers are still scum”
Dude, this IS CS don’t forget… That’s part and parcel XD
Touché
however i remember a golden age of CS where the only thing you had to worry about was AWPers, hackers got the ban hammer instantly, smurfs and derankers didn’t exist… ahhh to be back in 1998 😀
CS peaked with the riot shield in 1.6.
I too had to shelf a beloved weapon… Field Tested Master Piece 🙁
Not too happy with the telephone cables coming out of the bomb either… I dont really know what to say overall to the update.
What’s a greifer?
Someone who loses on purpose to get a lower rank so they can verse silvers (low ranked players)
… or more broadly anyone who makes it difficult for their own team or other players in general on purpose for no benefit to anybody except their own amusement.
So the game is actually playable now? I tried to get used to GO but it was just a horrible mess compared to even source which had it’s own hit registration issues.
Headshots for days
If they make it more like source then I’ll be able to start owning again 🙂
New hitboxes are great! Killing a jumping target is now not a pain in the ass. Killing the defuser is now possible.
I don’t understand why people complain about it, it’s just like when they changed knife and bomb explosion sounds. People will complain for like 2 days then get over it.
Ok so the fact people are whining about the “now they know where I’m defusing from” thing… it was always obvious anyway by just using a smidgen of your grey matter…
Fixing the hitboxes will be great to try out, was so sick and tired of jumping scout bullshit and never being able to hit people.
Anyways, looking forward to trying it all even if the M4 has been hit a bit with the old nerf bat.
Did they turn it into Action Quake?
No….. damn.
This hit box update also came across DOD (Day of Defeat Source). Which was great to see as DOD rarely get’s updated. Cut down so many jump snipers early today as a result.
So glad they did that, i did eventually get used to CS: GO’s hitboxes, but it is nice to see them adapt it accordingly =)
Last Night ; Damage Given 94 in 4 (M4A1-S) ……
So 5 shots to kill with CT’s main weapon … uggghhh … shelved.