The hardcore CS2 community is done with skins and wants a better game.
Spring may be in the air, but the CS2 community is outraged as the latest "Spring Forward" update, packed with new skins and a refresh for The Armory, came devoid of any huge gameplay changes or improvements.
The update landed on CS2 servers late on March 31, and while fans appreciated new skins to hunt, many believe Valve has pushed more important fixes down the list including mass cheating, Premier ranking improvements, or balance changes.
"This is not a major update:" Community convinced Valve has "given up" on CS2 cheating
The Spring Forward update arrived in the evening of March 31, and almost immediately, CS2 fans flocked to social media in anger. The patch included minor map balance updates for Inferno and some bug fixes on Train, but other than that, it was all about cosmetics.
Five new collections of CS2 weapon skins, including a revamped free weekly drop pool, the new Fever Case, and a refresh of The Armory means nearly 100 new cosmetics arrived with the update — leading many to accuse Valve of getting CS2's priorities messed up again.
"This is not a major update, Valve," one fan said in an April 1 Reddit post, with others calling the patch a "bad April Fool's Day joke." In general, the community were unhappy at Valve for putting the wallet before what they believe was a priority — adding proper gameplay content and fixing the issues CS2 has already.
"It’s frustrating to see such lazy implementations, especially considering CS:GO had everything working fine," another player said. "CS2 stripped away 70% of it and is now bringing things back in the sloppiest way possible."
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Everything from a lack of features for existing modes to a still-broken community browser are still in high demand, but above all, players desperately want Valve to make another pass at cheaters who have taken over once again as Premier Season 2 rolls on.
"At this point, cheating in CS2 feels like background noise Valve just learned to live with," one player surmised in another thread. "Valve says VAC is always watching, but it feels more like it's watching Netflix than the game. "CS makes money hand over fist through skins, and cheaters don’t seem to interrupt that cash flow. [I'm] just tired."
Premier leaderboards are still dominated by blatant hackers, resulting in another exodus from Premier and to third-party platforms like FACEIT. Yet, thanks to bot accounts farming weekly drops, CS2 appears as successful as ever: the concurrent player count for the FPS was shattered last month with millions playing each day.
There's still time for a proper major update. Valve previously has issued several fixes and a VAC ban wave close to the start of each Major tournament, with the next pinnacle event in Austin kicking off in June.
That said, it's clear many players remain unhappy with Valve's handling of CS2, and hope more is done than just slamming cosmetics down their throat and calling it a day.
For more CS2 coverage stay tuned to esports.gg.
