14 DAY TRIAL // Valve has confirmed that it has big balance changes set to debut for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive next week, as it wants to make some modifications to the pistols in the game, starting with a nerf for the recently introduced CZ75-Auto.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is once again taking the franchise to new heights in terms of popularity, as the game is the second most played experience on Valve's Steam service, second only to Dota 2, and continues to draw in plenty of viewers during professional eSports tournaments around the world.
While the anniversary of the series has come and gone, Valve has now confirmed that it's preparing a big update for the game that will bring quite a few modifications to the pistols in the shooter.
According to a comprehensive blog post, Valve wants to promote variation in terms of weapons, and the company achieved great results when it introduced the USP-S and M4A1-S, which managed to disrupt the popularity of the M4A4 and other pistols.
"When we released the USP-S and M4A1-S as part of the Arms Deal Update, our goal was to add variety to the weapons players typically see in a match and to give CS:GO players more opportunities to demonstrate their skill in weapon selection. So far, the results of that experiment have been a success."
The same goal was targeted with the CZ75-Auto, which was rolled out back in February as an alternative to the P250 for Counter-Terrorists – a weapon that was way too popular, according to Valve.
"Pistols are popular in CS:GO, and until a few months ago no pistol was more popular than the P250. Occupying more than 70% of all pistol purchases, the inexpensive P250 was a clear candidate for an alternative weapon. We intended the CZ75a to provide new gameplay opportunities among the pistols, while generally increasing the variety of weapons used in that category."
While the initial results were promising, as CTs alternated between the CZ75 and the P250, with some also going for the Five-Seven or the Deagle, slowly but surely, the CZ75 became extremely popular and cut into the usage of every other pistol.
As such, Valve confirms that next week's update is going to make some changes to the existing pistols and a nerf for the CZ75 is almost guaranteed.
The pistol was initially envisioned as a powerful gun, but with just 24 bullets to make it a high risk high reward item. Now, it's going to be interesting to see how Valve plans to alter it.