CounterStrike Global Offensive Operation Riptide Just Dropped
Well, it turns out Valve was actually teasing something major for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive earlier this week. Today, the studio has launched the FPS game's next big operation, Riptide, which brings a batch of new game modes and maps, gameplay changes as well as challenges.
Available by grabbing the new operation pass on Steam, the CS:GO Operation Riptide introduces some significant changes to how you can take on the shooter. One of these is the new private matchmaking queues feature. This lets you generate a code for sharing with friends - or even people in the same Steam group. To create the Premier match on Valve's servers, you can use this code. The new overview of operations shows that you can join forces groups, form teams or simply wait for the matchmaker to decide.
In addition, Riptide ushers in the possibility to select two different lengths of matches on official (competitive matchmaking) servers of CS:GO that are short (MR16) and long (MR30) (or you can opt for "no preference" if you're willing to try both. Team Deathmatch has also got some new options, with the added option of "Classic Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch (first team to 100 kills wins), and Free-for-all Deathmatch (all players are enemies)".
The Demolition and Arms Race game modes have also seen some updates with a more streamlined progression of weapons in each, plus some other tweaks which you can check out in the overview.
There will be rewards for Riptide while it is live as in previous CS:GO operations. You can earn stars through weekly tasks, which allows you to spend stars on new agents, like the "Guerrilla Warfare Terrorists", CT SEAL team Frogmen as well as the French Gendarmerie.
In the way of maps the fan-created, almost Far Cry 5-like map County - which we reported on earlier in the year - has been added to CS:GO official matchmaking for Danger Zone mode. Basalt and Insertion II now have a place in the Competitive Casual, Deathmatch and Competitive modes' competitive matchmaking pools, while Ravine Extraction, Ravine and Wingman have been added to Wingman’s official matchmaking. Grind, Mocha and Pitstop have been removed. Dust 2, Inferno, and Ancient have all received some adjustments, too, which you can read up on in Valve's patch notes.
Riptide's new gameplay features include the ability to drop grenades like normal weapons, as well as an enhancement to body damage for the M4A1 and an increase in the Deagle. Game Servers Dual Elites are now less expensive, and vision after death has been reduced to 2.0s from 3.0s (0.5s down from 1.0s for vision after headshot).
Today, we are thrilled to launch the CSGO's 11th Operation. New challenges await, with new maps, new game mode options, all-new Private Queues and more: https://t.co/w9Av3CkmrU
- C:GO (@CSGO) September 22 2021
Operation Riptide is now live. Game Servers The game will run until February 20th, 2022. New mission cards will be released every week for the initial 16 weeks. For a complete overview, visit Valve's overview.
