Top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players were surprised to find Valve representatives pottering about the floor of the ESWC 2012 finals this year, recording footage for a mysterious new film and getting the lay of their community’s land. Reportedly the developers were “very keen” to talk about upcoming changes to the game – including the return of the silencer.
“They talked to us for about forty-five minutes about the changes that were coming in the game and were very keen to address the silencer issue,” one ESWC player told Cadred. “One of my team-mates had already said to them that the silencer had to be brought back and I think that’s why they talked about it so much. They kept saying that it was a low priority compared to other things but it would definitely be making a return.”
Meanwhile, another professional team offered insight as to why Valve view the silencer as a delicate issue:
“The guys we spoke to kept telling us that they felt CT was really overpowered right now on most maps, which wasn’t what we felt at all,” they told Cadred.
“They said that was the main reason for dropping the silencer because it gave the CTs yet another advantage and they felt it was one too many. They know how the community feels about it but they said it was a balancing issue. Even then they reassured us that it would be back, just as soon as they could figure out how to fit it in without it unbalancing the game further.”
I’d highly recommend a read of the whole Cadred piece, which offers a glimpse at the long-maintained disconnect between Valve and CS players, as well as the measures Valve are taking to reconcile that gap.
Elsewhere in the article, Richard Lewis argues that the addition of the silencer will make negligible difference to the way CS plays. Do you agree?