On November 19, a CS:GO update was released, which introduced several important changes. The most noticeable of them – changing the composition of maps included in the competitive map pool. Dust2 was removed from it, and Anubis, on the contrary, was added.
Anubis instead of Dust2
The FACEIT platform has already responded to the changes: Anubis appeared in the list of cards available for matchmaking, however, it replaced Train, and not Dust2, which also remains available for now. The update has already affected the cost of skins: souvenir sets with items from the Dust2 collection have become significantly more expensive. The sets associated with the latest majors have increased in price the most. Probably, in the future, the rise in price will also affect rare skins from these collections.
Many players and analysts were skeptical about the changes in the competitive map. For example, Duncan "Thorin" Shields considered Valve's decision unsuccessful: in his opinion, Dust2 was clearly not the most problematic map, and there were much more technical and gameplay flaws on Nuke, Vertigo or Ancient. Nikola “Niko” also thinks so. Kovacs from G2. He noted that instead of Anubis, which still needs lengthy fixes and improvements, one could choose Tuscan or Cache, which is more ready for use in tournaments.
For some, the update became a reason for jokes. For example, BIG captain Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz mentioned on his Twitter that now “they are finished.” Indeed, in 2022, Dust2 was the map that BIG chose most often, and the team’s win rate on it reached 61%.
Weakening of AWP and M4A1-S
In addition, the developers made two significant changes that will affect the gameplay, namely, the choice and use of weapons. The AWP magazine has been halved and now holds 5 rounds rather than 10. In addition, the M4A1-S's range modifier has decreased from 0.99 to 0.94.
Analyzing these changes, one of the community members published calculations on Reddit in which they showed that the M4A1-S would lose 20-30% of its effectiveness when fired at long ranges. As a result, to hit a target you will need to make approximately the same number of hits as from an M4A4. At short distances, the advantage of the M4A1-S will remain: for example, to hit an enemy with 500 units (about 9 meters), 4 hits to the body will be enough versus 5 for the M4A4. However, as the distance increases, the modifier has an increasingly greater influence, and at distances of 1000 units and more, the number of shots becomes the same.
Calculations showing how the damage and number of hits have changed for the old and new versions of the M4A1-S
Opinions are divided regarding the reduction of the AWP magazine. Some believe that this change will not have a significant impact on the game. Analysts from the PureSkill service, having analyzed the statistics of 5 thousand matches, found that in most cases, players with AWP make two or three shots per round. Five shots or more make about 10%.
