Influence of shorter round times
In July of 2021, we finally got the return of offline events for CS:GO with ESL Cologne. During this event we saw a good amount of the matches go into overtime, some going as far as 17 rounds of OT during the Astralis V Faze game. This caused an older discussion for a shorter match format to come up again, most of these call for a MR12 format with shorter timers and an altered economy. The general point of this discussion is that CS:GO matches are too long, on average lasting 45 min to an hour. If such a change were to be implemented, it would result in major changes for everyone.
What would this behold for cs gameplay
Despite the fact these changes would make matches feel less intensive, they would drastically change up the meta . If we compare these proposed changes to the closest competitor Valorant, we can see it will become a much faster pace instead of the slower style of cs. Rotations would be much harder with the limited time, forcing people to commit more to sites. When compared to valorant once again this is not an issue since there are multiple agent abilities that help with the clearing of sites, for example raze’s boombot & grenade or a jett dashing in to distract the people on site.
CS:GO has some similar utility, but requires alot more setup and time since you are locked in spawn unlike valorant where you have an area to move around in. If CS:GO were to switch to such a format, it would most likely result in a map overhaul similar to what CS already has in place with its retake gamemode. This spawn area works well with the retake gamemode as its meant to be like you already have the site, as for normal competitive matching making this would be detrimental. Map, meta,and team setup would change drastically.
A new economy, again
Besides all the above mentioned changes to gameplay and maps, the economy would need to be overhauled as well. First is the 16k limit, having 16k would mean you can buy for at least the next 5 rounds. Getting max money would mean you have an economical advantage for the rest of the game, making it extremely hard for the enemy team to make a comeback. Alongside the limit we have different ways to gain money, from kill rewards to round bonuses.
Currently cs has varying kill rewards for the type of guns used e.g. 600 for smgs and 300 for rifles, these amounts will most likely change to a lower value like we currently have in casual or change to a flat rate for all guns. Again looking at the closest competitor Valorant they have a static value for all gun types including knife kills. Round rewards get the same treatment as kill reward in valorant with a small bonus for a 2+ losing streak. For CS:GO this could mean a similar thing if MR12 would happen to compensate for the lower max and shorter game.
Conclusion
Looking at these prediction cs:go would go through major changes, and not per say for the better. Indeed the matches would become less intensive and might open up MM for a whole lot more people due to the reduced time, but could change a well balanced game to a possible disaster. People may be dissatisfied with matchmaking at its current state, but this is mainly due to cheaters, griefers, and toxic people. As someone who has played the game since 2015 for over 6000 hours, the game itself feels well balanced if you know what is going on. Problem is a lot of people don't know how to manage their economy and be patient, they just try and rank up being aim gods alone without thinking of teamplay or round wins.
If any changes would be required, a system to see more things taken into account for matching people like economy management for example. Leetify (not sponsored) is a great example of this, a 3rd party site that keeps a whole bunch of statistics, having such stats counting for rank as well could mean a better matchmaking. This as well as a more aggressive trust system might result in some nice matches. but for now CS is good as it is at least gameplay wise.
Feel free to share your opinions below the post, we would love to hear them!
