There’s no better way to celebrate the holiday period than with presents, and the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive developers have decided to help everyone honour the occasion by releasing their mammoth Winter Update.
The patch introduces a whole swath of things, including the ability to remotely relay the game state, service medals for next year and a new replays for casual and demolition modes. But that’s not even close to the biggest changes.
Perhaps the biggest change, for fans new and old of the game, is the introduction of the R8 Revolver. That’s not because of the weapon itself, but because it replaces the Desert Eagle, which has been a staple of Counter-Strike ever since the game began life as a Half-Life mod.
To demonstrate just how iconic the pistol is to the community, please spend the next minute (or hour, on repeat) watching this.
And that’s not to mention the many insane rounds and movies that have come out of matchmaking games, offline tournaments and elsewhere.
The beauty of the desert eagle — or deagle, was the way it rewarded skill if you were able to aim correctly at the head. That hasn’t carried over to the design of the revolver, however, which appears to be more akin to a small-scale AWP.
It’s absurdly powerful, far more so than the deagle ever was, as one Australian showcased on a stream earlier today.
Watch live video from killerahri on www.twitch.tv
HLTV.org reported that the gun has “an apparent one-shot kill damage value in its slower firing rate against armoured opponents”. Other videos I’ve seen suggest the weapon can do 97 damage to the body at long range from a single shot.
It’s worth pointing out that the revolver — or ReVolvo, as some are affectionately saying — only costs $850. That’s more than the deagle cost, and substantially more than alternative eco-round options such as the P250, Five-Seven or Tec-9.
But this is a pistol, not a rifle. Pistols aren’t supposed to have the stopping power of an AK-47 or an AWP. It’s certainly caught professional players off guard.
IT DOES 100 DAMAGE IN 1 BODY SHOT WTF VOLVO?
— Jonathan Jablonowski (@LiquidEliGE) December 9, 2015
HAHA THIS GUN!! VALVE IS TROLLING RIGHT NOW it takes half a second to shoot the gun, but WAIT.. if you right click it.. it instantly shoots
— Samuel Portillo (@SileNtCSGO) December 9, 2015
just playing 1 MM right now and its so “funny” kill people by 1 bullet ….. ;/ “need to remove power from pistols? ok (1/2)
— Denis Kostin (@seizedwf) December 9, 2015
(2/2) we will make new unbalanced pistol #justvolvothings @csgo_dev
— Denis Kostin (@seizedwf) December 9, 2015
They added a revolver to csgo while I was flying to a LAN!? Uwotm8
— Hiko (@Liquid_Hiko) December 9, 2015
iI it April fools? Or is this a real update?
— Luke Havoc Paton (@RNGHavoc) December 9, 2015
Not everyone was surprised, mind you: legendary Swedish player Christopher Alesund, otherwise known as “GeT_RiGhT”, noted that Valve were tweaking around with the revolver in internal builds.
Ohh the revolver has been added ? kinda fun to see they added it in (had a small peek around 2012 on it) wasn’t even sure if it would come
— Christopher Alesund (@GeT_RiGhTcs) December 9, 2015
But amusingly, that’s not the only major change.
The developers have also adjusted the round and bomb timers, not just for competitive matchmaking but for upcoming major championships. Nobody consulted the community on that change either, and while the reaction isn’t as stark across the whole community it’s certainly upset quite a few of the pros.
– times are now 1:55 and 0:40 for round and C4, respectively. These are also the new times for CSGO Major Championships. – Why?
— Heather [sapphiRe] (@sapphiReCSGO) December 9, 2015
– In Competitive Matchmaking times are now 1:55 and 0:40 for round and C4,These are also the new times for CSGO Major Championships. WhAT:>>
— Denis Kostin (@seizedwf) December 9, 2015
C4 timer is now 40seconds rather than 35? Thanks valve, fixing things that doesn’t need to be fixed FeelsBadMan
— Samuel Portillo (@SileNtCSGO) December 9, 2015
Am I reading that right.. Majors will have 1:55 round time and 40 second bomb time?!?
— Chad Burchill (@RNGSPUNJ) December 9, 2015
Well boys, Valve has done it, they have decided to screw with the competitive settings that have been in place for 10 years. NotLikeThis
— Janko Paunovic (@YNkCSGO) December 9, 2015
And that’s still not all of the major changes. Accuracy while firing pistols — except the revolver, obviously — has been nerfed, while the recovery time for the main rifles (the AK-47, M4A1 and its silenced variant) has been “adjusted … to reduce the range at which spraying is preferable to tapping/bursting”.
On top of that, Valve has reduced the sound of footsteps in first person as part of their ongoing tweaks to the sound, and players can purchase gifts for others until January 15th to commemorate the holiday season.
Phew. It’s a lot to unpack. But no more deagle … I don’t know if I can take that. The deagle was already a fraction of what it was in CS 1.6 and CS: Source. It’s practically a FPS icon. And to replace it with a revolver? A revolver that does infinitely more damage, so much so that you might as well not bother buying a rifle at all?
I guess CS:GO really is the Wild West of online shooters.
Update: The headline’s been changed to reflect the fact that you can still use the desert eagle, although if you have the revolver equipped the deagle is unavailable.
However, that’s something you’re highly unlikely to do, as this following tweet showcases:
Just played two ranked games where the only guns bought on either team were R8 and AWP (bad R8). Gaben pls.
— reynad (@TempoReynad) December 9, 2015
And this simple video illustrates just how absurd it is in normal situations.
I suspect a nerf might be in the works over Christmas.
Comments
6 responses to “Counter-Strike Celebrates Christmas By Replacing The Desert Eagle”
what if i told you the .50 sniper does the same thing?, becuase it does, just saying.
After trying it, can confirm it needs nerf, but isnt best gun in game, once people get over the fact its new they will go back to guns such as ak, m4 and awp. especially in dm
six bullets… more than enough to kill anything that moves.
I love to reload during a battle! There’s nothing like the feeling of slamming a long silver bullet into a well-greased chamber.
Umm just saying they didnt REMOVE the deagle. It is an optional replacement. You choose one or the other. The way the article says that the deagle is an iconic part of Counter-Strike kinda suggests it’s gone.
After playing yesterday for a couple hours, for DM and casual its a lot of fun, but it breaks MM (competitive play), its literally a hand held AWP for $850, needs a serious nerf.