When you ask someone what the first multiplayer game they ever played was, the answer will more often than not be Counter-Strike – for people above a certain age at least. Hours spent playing at either a LAN cafe or at your mate's house would have put you into one of two groups – not the Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists, but those who loved the AWP sniper rifle and those who hated it. Those who hated it, like myself, only did so because we kept dying at the hands of those that loved it. I can still hear the sound of it firing on some nights.Even now, ten years after CS:GO, the AWP has kept its title as one of the most iconic guns in video game history, thanks to how powerful it is in the right hands. However, after years of living in fear, it's time for AWP haters to rejoice – the sniper rifle is getting nerfed. Unfortunately, it will still kill you with one shot anywhere above the waist, but if they happen to be a bad shot, you might get a chance to rush them, since they'll now only have five rounds per magazine.The update saw a few map related changes as well. "For starters, we’re making changes to the Active Duty map pool, which will determine which maps get played at the 2023 Paris Major," says a blog post by the CS:GO team. "Anubis is being added to Active Duty and Dust II is being removed. But both maps are still available in Casual, Deathmatch, and Competitive modes.
"We’re also making some adjustments to weapons. The AWP has had its magazine size reduced to five bullets (so make them count!), and the M4A1-S now does less damage at long ranges."
As pointed out by PC Gamer, the CS:GO community is torn on this decision on Reddit. While haters like myself mention that AWP users will now finally have to pace themselves and reload, others have said that a 50 percent round cut is a bit too drastic. Some have even joked that Valve has done this out of hatred toward CS:GO pro, kennyS.