Valve release new CS:GO update called “Operation Riptide”

The day has come! Valve has released a new update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive this Wednesday morning. The update comes after several rumours and speculation from the CS:GO community, owing to numerous hints and cryptic Tweets from the game developer.

The new update is called Operation Riptide and contains a myriad of changes and innovative actions. One of the most important and remarkable modifications for competitive CS:GO, is that grenades now are dropable and can be passed on to your teammates.

Another major rework is that you no longer can see people crossing mid-doors on Dust2 from T-spawn, due to a newly placed wall, as you can see in the video below.

Plays like this on Dust2 will be much harder to do in the future, owing to the new update.

Furthermore, Valve has decided to nerf the deagle and its body damage, meaning that it will require more than two body shots to take down an opponent with the otherwise powerful hand cannon. On the other hand, the M4A1-S has been buffed, making it more potent in regards to body damage.

You can find all the new features down below:

[OPERATION RIPTIDE]
– Introducing Operation Riptide, featuring new maps, new missions, and new ways to play your favorite game modes! Activate an Operation Riptide Pass and complete your missions to earn rewards including all new agents, weapon collections, stickers, and patches.

[GAME MODES]
Private Matchmaking Queues
— Generate a Queue Code and share it with your friends to create a private Premier match on Valve servers
— Or, select one of your Steam Groups and play a match exclusively with other members of that group
Short Competitive
— Added the option to select a preference for match duration in competitive Matchmaking: Short (MR 16), Long (MR 30), or No Preference.
Deathmatch
— Added the option to select Classic Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch (first team to 100 kills wins), and Free-for-all Deathmatch (all players are enemies).
Demolition
— Reduced max rounds to 10 and eliminated half-time team swap.
— Reduced round time
— Adjusted weapon progression
Arms Race
— Adjusted weapon progression
— Players now receive a health-shot after three kills

[GAMEPLAY]
– Grenades can now be dropped just like weapons.
– Vision after death reduced from 3.0s to 2.0s (vision by headshot reduced from 1.0s to 0.5s).
– Deagle
— Reduced body damage
– M4A1-S
— Increased body damage
– Dual Elites
— Reduced price to $300
– Riot Shield
— Added the Riot Shield heavy weapon to the buy menu, currently purchasable by CTs in Casual Hostage map groups.

[MAPS]
– County has been added to official matchmaking in Danger Zone game mode.
– Basalt and Insertion II have been added to official matchmaking in Competitive, Casual, and Deathmatch game modes.
– Ravine and Extraction have been added to official matchmaking in Wingman game mode.
– The following maps are no longer available in official matchmaking: Grind, Mocha, Pitstop, Calavera, Frostbite.

Dust2:
– Slight visibility tweak from T spawn through mid
– Improved visibility into B back site from upper tunnels

Inferno:
– Made gate at top of banana solid
– Revised 1v1 layout
– Minor bug fixes

Ancient:
– Increased size of plantable area in both bombsites
– Fixed bullet penetration on plywood surfaces
– Further optimizations
– Added 1v1 arenas