GO has the better featureset right now. I still prefer 1.6's gameplay over Source and GO, but I don't think I'd ever go back to it. Might just be nostalgia too.
Nah 1.6 plays a lot better but most of that is down to the engine. The source engine brings a lot of small things like "slippery" movement and I think it's the reason for most of the recoil complaints that 1.6 players had with CS: Source & CS: GO but like you said if you've never played them before there's no reason for you to go back.
Can you explain what you dislike about the game exactly, please?
The hit boxes (which are arguably better than Source)?
The recoil?
Spray patterns?
I only played Source casually and I'd like to here some legit concerns. But I do sorta agree with you on Valve appealing to the casual crowd, I like a bit of challenge and competition in my games.
I've said this before but from what I remember GO started off as a project to port CS: source to consoles but it's turned into a different beast over time. Hidden path actually took a lot of what top players and knowledgeable players on board and made changes throughout the beta. I've spent a decent amount of time with GO but I've not really done any real research myself on things like recoil on how it completely works but I'll give you a view from someone who's played 1.5/1.6 at a decent level.
Spray patterns for some of the weapons, like the M4, are actually fairly close to what it was in 1.6 (it's got that T shape to the pattern) but not completely there but that's not necessarily a bad thing. My issue comes from how the recoil reacts and feels. In 1.6 I could feel where the recoil was dragging me and from that learn how to control it but with CS: Source and with GO I don't get that sort of feedback, they've made in better throughout the GO beta but it's still not quite there and I don't think there will be any further improvements on it.
Another issue right now for me personally is the movement. With 1.6 there were some subtle movement skills that you could learn that was a part of the reason why the skill ceiling was so high, for example on T side of de_train it's possible to bunny hop from the inside stairs and peek the lower entrance and see the pop dog train and move down to see the top of the train. Movement in Source and GO didn't allow for this, obviously in this example the map layouts have changed slightly from each version but you see what I'm getting at. There's also the "slidey" feeling that movement in source/GO feels. In 1.6 I could go from bunny hopping down a ramp to a standstill instantly, while with GO you don't stop instantly and it removes that crisp feeling of movement that 1.6 had. People have played around with cvars and near 1.6 movement is possible in GO. I'm not saying that GO HAS to have movement like 1.6 or that the game needs to be 1.6, it doesn't, but it certainly doesn't feel as good in a few ways.
Like I've said I think most of this is due to a different engine and some stuff is hard to explain without visually showing it but I'm still hopeful that GO can turn into a competitive beast. If anything I'm actually more worried about it's competitive viability under Valve than with Hidden Path.
