"The Armory" Update Brings Major Changes to CS2

Valve has unveiled one of the most substantial updates to Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) since its launch. Titled "The Armory," this update introduces a wealth of new content and improvements, including a new pass featuring gun charms, over 100 new items, significant animation enhancements, and network optimizations.

Introducing The Armory Pass

Players can now purchase and activate The Armory Pass, which allows them to earn Armory Credits as they gain experience (XP) in the game. These credits can be redeemed for a variety of exciting new items:

• Gun Charms: Personalize your favorite weapons with dynamic charms. Each weapon can have one charm attached, and you can precisely place them using a simple drag-and-drop system.

  

• New Weapon Collections: Explore three new weapon collections that offer a range of fresh skins to enhance your arsenal.

  

• The Gallery Case: A brand-new case featuring exclusive items.

  

• Heat Treated Desert Eagle: A special edition Desert Eagle with a unique finish.

  

Charms: Personalize Your Weapons

Charms are a new way to customize your weapons in CS2. When you redeem a charm from The Armory, you receive three complimentary Charm Detachments, allowing you to remove and reattach charms to different weapons. Additional Charm Detachments are available for purchase, giving you flexibility in how you accessorize your loadout.

Inventory and Item Updates

• Trade Restrictions: All items acquired from the in-game store, trade offers, or the Steam Community Market now have a 7-day re-trade and re-market restriction.

• Enhanced Previews: You can now preview stickers, patches, and charms on your own inventory items, even if they are listed on the Steam Community Market or your friends' Steam inventories.

• Inventory Management: The ability to delete weapon cases from your inventory has been removed to prevent accidental loss.

• Sticker Customization: Apply new stickers with a scrape level selector and precisely adjust the wear level when scraping existing stickers.

• Name Tags: Enjoy real-time previews of name tags on items when applying them, enhancing your customization experience.

• Loadout Improvements: Customizing a base weapon that's currently equipped will now automatically equip the newly customized version.

Animation Enhancements

Valve has made significant strides in improving character animations to create a smoother gameplay experience:

• Improved Posing on Slopes: Characters now pose more naturally on uneven terrain, eliminating awkward lean angles.

• Foot Placement Fixes: Adjustments to how characters' feet interact with surfaces remove issues like the "MJ lean" and wide-legged stances when moving.

• Ladder Animations: Updated ladder animations accurately reflect player positions, including crouching, providing better visual feedback.

• Jumping and Falling: Reduced popping when crouching or uncrouching during jumps and fixed pose popping when falling off ledges.

Gameplay Adjustments

• Grenade Behavior: Flashbangs and HE grenades no longer detonate prematurely after exceeding their bounce limit, ensuring more predictable and strategic gameplay.

Graphics and Audio Improvements

• Display Options: Added a display selection dropdown for non-windowed fullscreen mode in the video settings for better control over your graphics setup.

• Fire Effects: Fixed graphics artifacts related to fire effects in the advanced video settings.

• Audio Fixes: Resolved several audio issues, including step sounds not playing correctly for other players and voice chat bugs on community servers.

Networking Optimizations

• Telemetry Tools: Introduced options to display graphs of network jitter and packet misdelivery to help players troubleshoot connectivity issues.

• Packet Delivery Improvements: Changed how packet misdelivery is measured, focusing on gameplay impact to provide a smoother online experience.

Map Updates

Several maps have received updates to enhance gameplay and fix issues:

Ancient

• Fixed disappearing geometry and pixel peek issues.

• Adjusted clipping for improved player movement.

• Resolved issues where players could detect movement through water from across the map.

Anubis

• Fixed missing collisions and adjusted grenade throwing paths.

• Improved clipping on floors for predictable grenade throws.

• Fixed a pixel peek and enhanced player movement.

Dust2

• Fixed clipping issues at the B site.

Italy

• Added to competitive matchmaking.

• Fixed bird animations to enhance the map's ambiance.

Mirage

• Resolved C4 stuck spots to prevent gameplay disruptions.

Nuke

• Fixed pixel walks and gaps where items could get lost.

• Resolved disappearing geometry issues.

Overpass

• Adjusted grenade clipping to prevent bad bounces, improving tactical play.

Workshop Enhancements

• Shader Updates: Added an optional third layer to the environment blend shader and biplanar mapping options.

• Wetness Layer: Introduced an optional wetness layer paintable in Hammer on environment materials.

• Foliage and Overlays: Added color correction, roughness, and normal adjustments to the foliage shader and static overlays.

Miscellaneous Changes

• Command Line Options: Removed support for command line options intended for development purposes only to streamline the game's performance.

The Armory update represents Valve's commitment to continually improving CS2 by addressing player feedback and enhancing gameplay mechanics. With these new features and fixes, players can enjoy a more personalized and seamless gaming experience.

Be sure to check out all the new skins and items available in The Armory update on Waxpeer, your trusted marketplace for CS2 skins and items.