Counter-Strike: Global Offensive updates are always a bit of a surprise. Valve has historically never announced when an update is coming, and has pushed them to the live servers at unpredictable times of the week.
Today's update is surprising for more than just that reason, though. Titled 'Suppressive Fire', the update has one major highlight: a change to how both the Negev and R8 work.
If you've played CS: GO during the past year, you're likely familiar with how unpopular these two weapons are. The Negev has long been considered an expensive joke weapon that is usually never pulled out unless a player is purposely trying to lose, or his/her team is in a large lead. Meanwhile, the R8 was only popular during the brief period that it was overpowered at the time of its debut. More than 99% of players carry a Desert Eagle in their loadout instead, which battles with the R8 for a single slot.
Today's update completely transforms how these two weapons function, and as a result their popularity.
In the case of the Negev, it's still as inaccurate as before when you first start firing, but after a brief moment it begins shooting straight like a laser. Valve best describes it as going from being "wild at first", to turning into a "deadly controllable beam". This, in conjunction with a price reduction, has made the weapon a must-have in casual matches.
The R8 wasn't altered quite as significantly, but similarly saw a huge leap in performance due to a reduction of its firing delay. This allows players to line up headshots much easier than before, and pop off shots at a faster rate when using its standard mode of fire.
The results are somewhere between nuts and crazy. I would go as far as to say that they are now the two best weapons in the game, or at least in their respective categories. Valve is fully aware of this and has banned their use from competitive matchmaking.
I happened to hop into CS: GO immediately following the update's deployment, and couldn't believe what I saw. Most players were jumping around de_nuke with Negevs, holding down the spray button to produce a steady stream of 5.56 x 45mm NATO across the map. It was pure pandemonium.
I recorded my gameplay, including a brief session on de_inferno with the R8. You can watch the results above.
This update included additional features, such as a new friend code system, a recent teammates tool, and major adjustments to its latest map, de_canals.
