CS2 pros weigh in on the worst problems with the game — but what topped the list?

CS2 players from some of the world's best teams have weighed in on the biggest issues affecting the popular shooter in its current state — and to say the list is long would be an understatement.

CS2 content creator Thour reached out to pros over the past few weeks asking a simple question: What do you want fixed first? Among the obvious answers like hit registry and the long-awaited return of cl_bob, it was a proper optimization update pro players wanted most of all.

Thour posted the results of his survey on X (formerly Twitter) on Oct. 19. They reached out to players across all levels of competition, from amateur rookies to Major champions and veterans of the franchise. The likes of NaVi's w0nderful, Team Spirit's donk, Team Vitality's Spinx, and Eternal Fire's XANTARES were all quizzed.

The FPS and optimization issue popped up most of all, with over half the recorded responses begging Valve to look into optimizing the game. Other recorded responses included a pass over the game's controversial sub tick changes, running accuracy, hit registry, and constant game crashes.

Casual players agreed with the pros on this point. "It's a great feeling like you said when the very top of the community (pros) and the bottom can agree that things are broken," one player said.

CS:GO had the benefit of optimization where just about anyone could play competitively as the game could run on the cheapest of PCs. But now, a little over a year after CS2 arrived, the game doesn't feel optimized with players forced to upgrade to a high-end rig to extract every last bit of FPS from the title.

We've seen Valve issue optimization updates for its titles in the past, like the annual "Spring Cleaning" update for Dota 2 or a bug fix patch for CS:GO. Throughout CS2's launch, Valve was hard at work cleaning up the game and ironing out the kinks — to the point where we saw nearly a patch a day for a full month.

Updates today are few and far between, and even though the community appreciates content drops like October's Armory update, many believe it's high time Valve did a round of cleanup to make CS2 feel more consistent.

There were a few issues with the game that pros didn't mention to Thour that many casual players have been pleading for. Above all, many wish for a rebuilt and effective anti-cheat following an influx of cheaters to CS2 over the past year.

Currently, Valve issues a VAC ban wave every couple of months. This isn't fitting the bill for many, who believe the game's Premier competitive mode is tainted with hackers. "The actual community is at the mercy of not falling with a cheater lobby. None of these people ask for anti-cheat because they play LAN and it’s the only thing they don’t need to worry [about]," one said.

Others listed more customization options, drawing comparisons to the video menu in rival shooter VALORANT, while a few players aren't all that keen on the game's map pool. "[CS2] has become a game catered to new players, lacking polish which CS:GO had but those players won't notice it," one surmised. "It's a game made for pros and the skins community because we aren't getting experimental maps, new game modes, or any kind of non-competitive content."

Time will tell whether Valve circles back on a few of the pressing issues affecting CS2. But, with many of the team working on new projects like Deadlock, CS2 players' patience will likely be tested for the remainder of 2024 and into the new year.

For more CS2 news and coverage, stay tuned to esports.gg.