Renting Skins, A New Vertigo, and More in CS2's Latest Update

A new Counter-Strike 2 update dropped, bringing significant changes to the gameplay, including pricing adjustments impacting the CT economy, and a whole new pathway was added on Vertigo A site. 

One of the main changes within the update is reducing the terrorist team award when a bomb was planted but defused from $800 to $600, “to decrease the impact of the first round on subsequent rounds”. Ultimately, this change will have an impact on the overall T side economy. 

Additionally, to further support the Counter Terrorists economy, the price of the M4A4 was reduced from $3100 to $3000, making players’ choice even difficult between the weapon and its sibling the M4A1-S. 

Furthermore, more key changes were implemented to the Incendiary Grenade, where the price was reduced to $500 from its original price at $600. Also, there were adjustments to the explosion and flame visual treatment where the Incendiary Grenade is distinguishable from the Terrorist’s Molotov with a turquoise color effect. 

All these changes regarding the CTs aim towards balancing the sides, with the previous economy favoring the opposition. 

On top of that, Valve introduced “Rentals”. Which is an option for players to rent the skins within a case for a week instead of receiving a random item from the collection. 

This feature is only exclusive for the Kilowatt case so far and requires the purchase of a key to unlock the new feature. 

It’s worth mentioning that every skin within the collection is eligible for rent, except for the rare special item which is only obtainable by opening the case. 

The new Rental feature came with restrictions, as equipped rented weapons will be replaced with the stock version of the weapon when the rental period expires. Also, rented skins cannot be modified via stickers or name tags, traded, or sold on the Steam Community Market. 

These strict measurements from Valve are most likely a precaution to prevent any market manipulation, stock or breaking the skins economy. Although the feature seems promising since it provides players a chance to test skins in-game before purchasing, it sent shockwaves when first announced with concern sparking from the community regarding the future of skins or at least their prices. 

With this update, the Kilowatt Case price skyrocketed from $0.71 to over $1.60 at its peak, with over 100,000 units sold at that price. 

The final significant part of the update touched Vertigo, with game breaking changes around the A bombsite. For instance, a new pathway was added alongside the site, linking to the heaven area. Also, a new passage opened the “elevator” area wide open with a direct path to lane. 

These changes are expected to shift the meta with how teams handle rotations, post-plants and the overall strategic approach to the map. 

Oh, finally but not least, chickens have a few new animations and can walk up ramps. 

The full release notes: 

[ GAMEPLAY ]

• Height of the 'pillar' of flame for both Molotov and Incendiary grenade now decreases over time
• Reduced the terrorist team award when bomb was planted but defused from $800 to $600, to decrease the impact of the first-round on subsequent rounds
• Reduced the price of the M4A4 from $3100 to $3000
• Minor adjustments to first-person camera movement
• Added explicit "switchhandsleft" and "switchhandsright" console commands
• Deathmatch bonus weapons are now the same for all players regardless of loadout

Incendiary Grenade:

• Adjusted the explosion and flame visual treatment
• Reduced duration
• Reduced area covered by spreading flames
• Reduced price from $600 to $500

[ RENTALS ]

• When players open a Kilowatt case with a key, they will have the option to rent the entire Kilowatt collection (i.e., every weapon in the case, excluding the rare special item) for a week instead of receiving an item from the collection.
• Equipped rented weapons will be replaced with the stock version of the weapon when the rental period expires
• Rented weapons cannot be modified (e.g., via stickers or name tags), traded, or sold on the Steam Community Market

[ HUD ]

• Fixed a bug where the MVP player name displayed incorrectly during bot takeover
• Fixed a bug where the Refund All button in the Buy Menu would only refund a single flashbang grenade
• Fixed a bug where the ESC menu scoreboard during end-of-match didn't match the TAB scoreboard
• Fixed a bug where the Loss Bonus scoreboard tooltip would get stuck on-screen after closing the scoreboard
• Blocking stranger Steam avatars will now block other user-generated content such name tags and sticker placements

[ CHICKENS ]

• Chickens have a few new animations
• Chickens can now walk up hills
• Chickens can now turn right while walking

[ UI ]

• Various performance improvements to the Warehouse main menu and item inspect background scenery

[ DEMOS ]

• The demo playback timeline now show indicators for kill and death events
• Demo playback can be toggled into "highlight mode" which will show only kills and deaths for the active player
• Various minor demo playback UI changes
• Fixed a demo playback crash

[ MAPS ]

Vertigo:

• Added catwalk by bombsite A, connecting to back of A
• Removed connector between back of A and elevators
• Opened up passage between elevators and scaffolding
• Slightly tweaked size of bombsite A
• Tweaked spawn timings slightly
• Changed Wingman layout to feature bombsite A changes

Baggage:

• Fixed movement hitch on lower conveyor
• Lowered height of central conveyor tray to help open sniper view

Office:

• Fixed a case where a player could shoot through multiple walls

Mirage:

• Fixed bad collision on certain props
• Fixed some sticky collision around windows in palace