We haven’t even had a chance to catch our breath from the previous major update with map changes and other interesting additions, and Valve is already releasing another update. While this update doesn’t bring a lot of changes, all of the changes it does bring are very meaningful and have a big impact on both skins and the game economy as a whole!

So, let’s find out what Valve has in store for us this time.

In article you will find:

New Economy

For a very long time, the economy for the CT side has looked unfair compared to the T side, and finally, this is starting to be corrected. In this update, Valve has made several changes that will positively impact the game for counter-terrorists. They have lowered the price of some items and changed the rewards for terrorists.

• Reduced the price of the M4A4 from $3100 to $3000
• Reduced price from $600 to $500
• Reduced the terrorist team award when the bomb was planted but defused from $800 to $600, to decrease the impact of the first round on subsequent rounds

New Grenade Effects

In a recent update, Molotov and Incendiary grenades have undergone modifications to their burning effects. Now, when a terrorist throws a Molotov, the resulting explosion will produce a plume of dense black smoke, accompanied by flames that exhibit a darker hue and a distinct bluish tinge.

Additionally, the burning duration of Molotov cocktails has been extended, surpassing that of Incendiary grenades.

Here, you can see how Incendiary Grenade has changed in the update:

• Adjusted the explosion and flame visual treatment
• Reduced duration
• Reduced area covered by spreading flames
• Reduced price from $600 to $500

Rent All Collections From Kilowatt

Our reaction to this news was “WOW,” and it’s no wonder because now you don’t have to open the case 50 times to get cool and expensive skin in your inventory. Now, when you open a case, you have a choice: open the case and get one random skin forever, or get all the skins from the case, but only for seven days (it does not apply to knives or gloves).

This is a great update that will allow many people to enjoy the game for just $2.50, which is how much a key for the Kilowatt case costs. However, this is a bad sign for many, as the price of skins can change significantly. Will this not lead Valve to a new “skin subscription” mechanic? It remains an open question.

• When players open a Kilowatt case with a key, they will have the option to rent the entire Kilowatt collection (i.e., every weapon in the case, excluding the rare special item) for a week instead of receiving an item from the collection
• Equipped rented weapons will be replaced with the stock version of the weapon when the rental period expires
• Rented weapons cannot be modified (e.g., via stickers or name tags), traded, or sold on the Steam Community Market

Maps

Some maps also received changes. Once again, the company fixed bugs that interfered with gameplay. This update especially affected Vertigo. In this update, the passage between the elevators and the scaffolding was opened up, some changes were made to the catwalk, and other minor changes were made.

Vertigo:

• Added catwalk by bombsite A, connecting to the back of A
• Removed connector between the back of A and elevators
• Opened up the passage between elevators and scaffolding
• Slightly tweaked size of bombsite A
• Tweaked spawn timings slightly
• Changed Wingman layout to feature bombsite A changes

Baggage:

• Fixed movement hitch on the lower conveyor
• Lowered height of central conveyor tray to help open sniper view

Office:

• Fixed a case where a player could shoot through multiple walls

Mirage:

• Fixed bad collisions on certain props
• Fixed some sticky collisions around windows in palace

Other Changes

As far as significant updates go, that’s all we have for now. However, there are also some minor updates worth mentioning, as they can be quite beneficial to your gameplay experience. Let’s start with the chickens: the developers have finally refined the chicken animation and introduced new features for them.

There’s a pleasant addition for those who enjoy watching demos: you can view kill moments on the timeline, along with various other minor changes that enhance the overall demo-watching experience.

[ HUD ]

• Fixed a bug where the MVP player name displayed incorrectly during bot takeover
• Fixed a bug where the Refund All button in the Buy Menu would only refund a single flashbang grenade
• Fixed a bug where the ESC menu scoreboard during the end-of-match didn’t match the TAB scoreboard
• Fixed a bug where the Loss Bonus scoreboard tooltip would get stuck on-screen after closing the scoreboard
• Blocking stranger Steam avatars will now block other user-generated content such as name tags and sticker placements

[ CHICKENS ]

• Chickens have a few new animations
• Chickens can now walk up hills
• Chickens can now turn right while walking

[ UI ]

• Various performance improvements to the Warehouse main menu and item inspection background scenery

[ DEMOS ]

• The demo playback timeline now shows indicators for kill and death events
• Demo playback can be toggled into “highlight mode” which will show only kills and deaths for the active player
• Various minor demo playback UI changes
• Fixed a demo playback crash

Wrapping Up!

Once again, Valve has spoiled us with another update, and we want to say thank you! The frequency and quality of these updates are truly amazing. We hope Valve continues to deliver such great content, and we can’t wait to see what new operations they have in store for us. Follow our blog to stay updated!