Having followed the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene for close to two years now, the same complaints about the game have popped up repeatedly in a cycle. There is no third Major for 2016, so now is the perfect time to have this discussion. Here is a preliminary wish list ordered by priority. As a disclaimer, I only play CS:GO casually and watch the competitive side of the game.

First Shot Accuracy

Both Slothsquadron and DevinDTV have made posts and videos about this particular issue. Slothsquadron pointed out that CS:GO’s inaccuracy was worse than CS 1.6 because of a bug wherein bonus bullet accuracy went up after switching or reloading a gun. DevinDTV points out that inaccuracy is built into the game and even at standstill conditions, you miss one in twenty shots with the AK at 800 units of range. The inaccuracy increases with range.

It should change on a pro level because it limits the skill of the game, as players who have higher accuracy and precision aren’t rewarded for their skill in long range combat with the rifles. It’s incredibly frustrating as a player to watch and as a spectator to spectate when one of those weird RNG moments happen. And while it is likely the case many of these cases aren’t correlated with first bullet accuracy, that will always be the first thing players blame. RNG can have some place in a competitive game (as Dota2 has shown), but in this case it serves no clear purpose.

In the same vein, it is incredibly frustrating as a casual player never knowing if you missed a shot because you were bad or if it was because of the RNG. Because that element exists, human nature itself will blame the RNG. At least with the RNG removed or mitigated, you know if you made a bad play or if your opponent made a good play.

Pistols Rebalancing

Pistols are too strong for how much they cost. They have the best mobility, incredible accuracy, more movement tricks and most of them do more damage with a headshot than the CT rifles. In a quickdraw battle between a p250 and an m4 where both players hit a headshot at the same time, the p250 will win. It makes no sense when you consider the m4 costs 13 times more.

In every competitive game, units or items are tiered by their cost. The cheaper items might have a specific use but should overall be less effective than the later guns. That’s not the case in CS:GO, as pistols have a high win rate despite their overall value being much less than either SMGs or rifles.

Preferably, I’d like the movement accuracy nerfed as well as the damage they do via headshots, except for the Deagle, which, though overpowered, makes up for it in being more finicky than the other pistols to use. If not that, then at least rebalance the costs of the pistols to their actual value they get for you in the game.

Jump Shots/Falling Drop Accuracy

There have been a lot of examples recently of the jump shot being viable in CS:GO. The NRG team has revealed it found a 100 percent way to get jump headshots with any gun. Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag was able to reproduce it with an AWP on Dust2. This should be a pretty clear thing to nerf. They don’t offer anything positive in any way to the game, no matter how I think about them. The jump shot is more important, as it’s more viable than the falling drop accuracy, which has fewer uses in the current map pool.

AWP buff

The AWP has seen multiple nerfs. The bounty frags are negligible and the speed of movement, when scoped, has also been nerfed. As I pointed out earlier, items should be tiered based on cost, with more expensive items having more value. We should reevaluate the cost-efficiency of the AWP.

The movement also needs to be looked at. While it is in line with previous version of CS, quick-scoping — firing without letting the scope animation complete – -is still not viable. Earlier this year, Valve released an update to a change in spraying and tapping accuracy so that the viabilities of styles of play could increase. A buff to quick-scoping is in line with that philosophy. Competitive games are much like art in the sense of how much self-expression can be shown in a player’s style, and opening up these play styles only enriches the game and the players of all levels.

Movement/Tagging

The rationale of movement technique buffs and tagging is the same as the logic of buffing tapping or quick-scoping. It increases the styles of play that are possible in the game and enriches the game on all levels. They need to come into a package, as tagging is a way that counter plays the increase in speed of opposing players.

Skin betting Regulation

The one thing to look at that isn’t gameplay related is skin betting. While I was never interested in it, I don’t feel it is right to ban it altogether as Valve has. The easy solution is to sell licenses to vetted and trusted vendors so that the system can’t be exploited or used to prey on people that are underaged.

From my point of view, these are the issues that need to be addressed both in the most immediacy and what will likely take longer to fix. With no third Major in the year, now is the perfect time to start.

Valve, please.