Padchuckr

With Counter-Strike Source firmly established as the competitive team game of choice across the world it would seem like a somewhat odd time for the developers to monkey around with the core of the game. So needless to say, with changes proposed to the weapons pricing system, it’s time to have a word.

The precise changes that are being proposed by the devs are outlined here and essentially break down as follows. The cost of weapons in all Counter-Strike games (there does not, as yet, appear to be an opt-out) will change dependant upon what weapons were bought in the previous week. In other words if everybody grabs an AK one week the next week the AK will cost a lot more and the MAC-10 or some other sidelined gun will be cheaper. The hope being to cause some changes in the way the game is played and force people out of their comfort zone weapons.
In theory this doesn’t sound like a completely stupid idea. I mean it does sound quiet stupid, but not Mel Gibson calling a cop Sugar Tits stupid. However the reality is that it is in fact not simply the mild stupidity of it that stinks, it’s the fact that it’s fucking with a very delicately balanced system.

Counter-Strike is a matchplay game. Every time the teams line up for a few rounds the rules are the same, the guns are the same, the maps are the same and they have been since forever and a day. People who don’t like this aspect of Counter-Strike have long since buggered off to pastures new. So that leaves the hardcore, the people who play Counter-Strike for what it is, a sport. Counter-Strike is the online equivolent of going to the park with a football and hooking up with a bunch of randoms for a kickabout, or, depending on how and who you play it’s like a pub league, or at the top end like the Premiership. The point being that the game played is the same no matter what level the competition, no matter who is involved. That’s the beauty of it. To muck around with the costings for guns on a weekly basis is like changing the value of the balls on a snooker table to spice things up a bit. It’s bollocks.

That said I’m not wholly opposed to the whole idea. It could bring a few little unpredictable touches to the game in public play. Let’s just hope that Valve make sure to include opt-outs for those servers whose players like their game pure.