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Counter Strike: Global Offensive The Arms Deal Update

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ArmsDealUpdate.png
Introducing the Arms Deal Update, which lets you experience all the illicit thrills of black market weapons trafficking without any of the hanging around in darkened warehouses getting knifed to death. The Arms Deal Update lets you collect, buy, sell and trade over 100 all-new decorated weapons that you can equip in-game.

You can start collecting decorated weapons via timed weapon drops just by playing CS:GO on official and community servers. You can also get them by opening dropped weapon cases with the appropriate key, or by trading with other players through Steam’s Trading interface. Additionally, any decorated weapons you’ve found, bought or traded can be sold on the Steam Marketplace.

We also want The Arms Deal Update to give back to the community, which is why we’re happy to announce the eSports Weapon Case. A portion of the proceeds from sales of eSports Case Keys will go towards prize purses at CS:GO community competitive events.

Last but not least, as part of the Arms Deal Update, we’ve added two new stock weapons available to everyone, the M4A1-S and USP-S.
Find out more about the update here and through the Arms Deal FAQ, or simply hop into the game and check it out yourself. And as always, be sure to let us know what you think on the CS:GO forums, Reddit, and the Steam Community Discussions.

The Arms Deal Update is shipping ten themed weapon collections containing over 70 unique finishes for your in-game ordnance. Scroll through the collections below, then check out the F.A.Q. for more information on how to get them.

THE eSPORTS WEAPON CASE
Purchasing an eSports Case Key will help support the CS:GO competitive gaming community. A portion of all sales from the eSports Weapon Case will be redirected to fund prize purses at upcoming CS:GO eSport events worldwide.

THE CS:GO WEAPON CASE
Highly exclusive and visually unique, these themed weapon finishes can only be obtained from a CS:GO Weapon Case. The CS:GO Weapon Case is the first in a series of limited edition cases for collectors in the market for a rare finish for their weapon of choice.

Silenced Weapons
You asked, we listened. Fan favorites from Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike Source, the Silenced M4A1 and Silenced USP Pistol make their long-awaited debut in Global Offensive's inventory as stock weapons

Less expensive but with a smaller magazine than their unsilenced counterparts, both weapons have detachable silencers that make them quieter and suppress tracer fire while providing less recoil and better accuracy.

Confirmed Kills
Available exclusively through case drops, weapons with StatTrak modules give you an up-to-date record of every kill you get with that weapon.

Get Creative
In the near future, you’ll be able to upload your own weapon finishes and custom knife models through the CS:GO Workshop. Popular up-voted finshes may even appear in future CS:GO updates!

Other Changes:
Arms Deal
-All Arms Deal Update items can be traded.
-All Arms Deal Update items can be sold and purchased through the Steam Marketplace (visit the FAQ for details).
-Every decorated weapon has a unique finish and exterior condition and can be thoroughly inspected in game. The ability to launch the in-game inspection view for an item is available in the Steam Inventory, Community Market, and Steam Trading.

UI
-Upgraded Scaleform version to 4.2.
-Improved memory management of Scaleform UI elements.
-Added Inventory to Main Menu and the In-Game Pause Menu.
-Added Loadout to Main Menu and the In-Game Pause Menu.
-Added blog.counter-strike.net blog to the main menu
-Added drop shadows to some UI element text for improved readability.
I-mproved some HUD layouts to avoid overlap.
-Game no longer truncates player names in most HUD UI elements. Fonts will now scale down to fit the full string.
-When a player picks up a weapon, the original owner of that weapon will now be indicated.
-Fixed certain buttons missing clicks

GAMEPLAY
-Added Silenced M4A1.
-Added Silenced USP.
-New weapons can be equipped through the Inventory UI.
-When a player reloads their weapon, they now drop a magazine that persists in the world.
-Machine gun belts now visually match the ammo count in the viewmodel when firing and reloading.
-Added holdable action key +lookatweapon that allows players to visually inspect their ---first person weapon while in-game. This has been bound to the F key by default (if that -key was previously unbound).
-Players now automatically crouch while planting bombs.

MATCHMAKING
-Adding matchmaking servers in Brazil.
 
I love everything about this except them not going F2P with this patch. It's inevitable and they should do it sooner rather than later.
 

NIN90

Member
ruh roh

As someone who put over 500 hours in CS GO, I'm actually not outraged at this. Might even give CS the chance to get big again.
 

HoosTrax

Member
Um, I'm not sure why Valve didn't just use the TF2 and DOTA2 F2P model to begin with tbh. Was there some reason for that?

I don't see a bacon skin like CoD has though, unless I missed it.
 
I ain't even mad. I love TF2's item system. I know a lot of CS players (like my friends) don't give a shit about item drops, but for those of us who like RPGs and stuff, it definitely adds to the fun. As long as it doesn't take away from the core game (which I don't think it will), I don't see how anyone could be unhappy with this.

I love everything about this except them not going F2P with this patch. It's inevitable and they should do it sooner rather than later.

Hell, it's basically F2P already. I bought it during the Steam sale for like 4 bucks.
 
Um, I'm not sure why Valve didn't just use the TF2 and DOTA2 F2P model to begin with tbh. Was there some reason for that?

I don't see a bacon skin like CoD has though, unless I missed it.

I imagine they wanted to trick some people into buying a console version of a Valve game. Now that time is up on those titles, they can move the pc version into the f2p money maker they want.
 
As if the game wasn't addicting enough. People should probably sell their first couple of skins. The market is always insane the firs few days
 

HoosTrax

Member
If it does end up F2P eventually (how can it not), I expect people who actually bought the game to get a limited edition skin (similar to the doughboy helmet from TF2).
 

KingKong

Member
from the FAQ:

Q: How can I get decorated weapons?
A: Players can currently acquire decorated weapons in a variety of different ways. Firstly, you will receive decorated weapons automatically, via timed weapon drops, just by playing on both official and community servers in any game mode. Secondly, you can acquire weapons by opening dropped weapon cases with a weapon case key. Thirdly, you can trade weapons with other players through Steam’s Trading interface. And lastly, you can purchase them from other players through the Steam Marketplace.

Q: How do I earn decorated weapons by playing the game?
A: Weapon drops are awarded for play time over the course of a week. As your play time increases, the drop rate will slow down. The drop rate will reset when the week rolls over.

Q: Does this mean CS:GO is free to play now?
A: No.
The Arms Deal Update is aimed at rewarding the wide spectrum of players who have already purchased CS:GO -- from players looking for new ways to express themselves in-game, to CS:GO’s competitive community getting well-deserved visibility and bigger rewards for their high level of skill.
 

Randdalf

Member
They'll almost certainly make it free to play within a year, should the model prove to be successful though. That's how it worked with TF2.
 

jokkir

Member
Silencer can only be changed once dead and access to the Inventory. Kinda lame :p

EDIT - Can be changed in game when equipped actually
 

Lotto

Member
I'm not gonna lie, a lot of these skins are pretty awful but I really like what they're trying to do here in terms of supporting the scene. I know people latch onto everything that is CS 1.6 but I really do hope they add a bit more customization to the guns (i. e. adding silencer to more than just the M4A1 and USP) but just balance it more. Definitely gonna try it out to at least see how it looks in first-person.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Really curious to see how the new silenced weapons affect the balance of the game, seeing as the implementation is pretty different from 1.6/Source.

Also...is the P2000 still the CT starting pistol? Or has the USP taken over?
 

Mileena

Banned
Valve still don't give a fuck about giving us servers with reg lol

Oh well, hope the USP actually stands a chance against the laser glock. Pistol round is imbalanced as fuck.
 

jokkir

Member
Really curious to see how the new silenced weapons affect the balance of the game, seeing as the implementation is pretty different from 1.6/Source.

Also...is the P2000 still the CT starting pistol? Or has the USP taken over?

It's still P2K until you equip it. So it's either you start with the P2K or the USP
 

TxdoHawk

Member
Um, I'm not sure why Valve didn't just use the TF2 and DOTA2 F2P model to begin with tbh. Was there some reason for that?

Get all the pay-to-play money you can, convert, get all the free-to-play money you can. Best of both worlds.

Half-jokes aside, I don't think this game was originally conceived with f2p in mind, is all.
 

Atrophis

Member
Got to be F2P sooner rather than later. If they really want to put some effort into this game as an esport it really needs it.
 
They are all cosmetic. Nothing gameplay related will be affected.

Only a matter of time before they repeat what they did with TF2:

Step #1 - Release way too powerful gun
Step #2 - Collect money from everyone buying that gun
Step #3 - Nerf that gun
Step #4 - Repeat process with new gun
 
Only a matter of time before they repeat what they did with TF2:

Step #1 - Release way too powerful gun
Step #2 - Collect money from everyone buying that gun
Step #3 - Nerf that gun
Step #4 - Repeat process with new gun

It's all cosmetics. If they released a new gun under a paywall im fairly certain they would lose most of their players.

Can anyone confirm that you choose between the usp and p2000 as the starting weapon?
 
Only a matter of time before they repeat what they did with TF2:

Step #1 - Release way too powerful gun
Step #2 - Collect money from everyone buying that gun
Step #3 - Nerf that gun
Step #4 - Repeat process with new gun

This would pretty much kill counter strike as a competitive game. They see it more along the lines of Dota 2 where balance is everything and only cosmetic items are added. Only reason these new guns were added was because the community has been asking for them and they aren't items you buy.
 

shuri

Banned
So wait, lemme get this straight..

Random cases are going to spawn at random spots in the levels? Won't this lead people simply ignore the map objectives and just search for stuff instead? Won't this also lead to more Team Killings? Why bother with defuse/rescue when you could just kill for those weapon cases..?
 

joeblow

Member
No silencer option on the M4 actually discouraged me from playing this game. It just didn't feel right after years of being able to use it in older releases. Time to jump back into the action!
 

The Cowboy

Member
So wait, lemme get this straight..

Random cases are going to spawn at random spots in the levels? Won't this lead people simply ignore the map objectives and just search for stuff instead? Won't this also lead to more Team Killings?
As people just idle in a server or run around in circles not trying (this happens a lot in TF2 with collectors) they will get random drops directly into their inventory - nothing actually drops in the game world.
 

bounchfx

Member
While I think it would be wise to go f2p to get more people to switch over, the game is absolutely worth the price as is, and there seems to be regular sales making it dirt cheap. There's really no reason to wait if you're interested at all.

That being said, maybe f2p next summer?
 
Bright orange/coloured weapons in CS of all games is easily a gameplay change.

This is truly disappointing of Valve, this should never be on the main gameplay modes (the 2 classic modes).
You're concerned about people making themselves slightly more visible?

You take it a bit too seriously if you want harmless weapon skins omitted from modes as if they're an actual interference to the game itself.
 
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