Some major changes were implemented in last night's update (10/2/2014), including new movement values, increased armor penetration of SMGs and more!
With the departure of Operation Breakout comes some pretty big changes to the game from Valve. In addition to various fixes to connectivity, GOTV issues, and SDK improvements, there are also some significant changes in movement and the armor penetration values of almost all of the sub-machineguns (although only minimal changes to the P90), a reworked tagging mechanic, and better visualization of bullet impacts.
For the movement changes, Valve has decreased the acceleration rate, increased the deceleration rate, as well as an increased friction overall. What his means is that it takes more time to reach full speed and less time to come to a complete stop. To many players this is a very welcomed change, as it reduces the feeling of "being on ice skates" as it's popularly described. Embeded at the top is a video explaining and demonstrating the new movement values in comparison to the old ones by 3kliksphilip. Even though this change is relatively small, it does change timings of pushes, rotations, etc. as well as reducing the effectiveness of strafing in combat.
Sub-machineguns have recieved a buff to their armor penetration rate, every one excluding the P90 has a buff of around 20% increased armor penetration. The P90 itself has only had a very small buff in comparison, barely effecting its performance. However, the big thing this does is that it heavily reduces the effectiveness of armor/pistol buys in the second rounds, as smgs will now be fairly effective against armor now. This also means that we could be seeing SMG buys in eco rounds as well. Note that this follows the trend of Valve increasing the viability of a wider range of weapons in this iteration of Counter-Strike.
Tagging, slowing when you're taking damage, has been changed in this patch. Basically, Valve has now made tagging culmulative, so that the more damage you take, the more you're slowed. H.E. Grenades now tag a certain amount as well. The amount you can be tagged is determined with which weapon you're holding. Each weapon now has a "mobility" value instead of a movement value, the more mobility you have, the less you can be tagged when you're hit. Additionally, grenades now do a small amount of impact damage to the enemy, and grenades from your teammates now do not stop you from moving when they hit you.
Before when you sprayed a gun it could be pretty hard to determine where your bullets were landing. However, now with improved "impact and blood effects" it is now easier to see where you are shooting. This can be a very helpful change if you have not memorized the spray pattern of your gun.Â
You can view the full patch notes on Valve's Counter-Strike blog here.
