Counterstrike:Source, is it safe to go in the water?

[Jeff]

I logged into CS:S tonight, to have a look. I just went into spectator mode. (It is purty). i watched 4 games or so, and I guess I got a decent server. They were mostly quiet, kept to the game, and there wasn't a lot dumbass talk going on.

I'd never played CS before, and had heard all the horror stories, about idiot teenagers talking trash, TK'ing, etc. Is the game ok for someone new to jump into? I am only new to CS, I have tons of FPS experience, including online play in Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six 3, UT99 - 2004, etc.

Has anyone else been playing? what have your experiences been like? I have a low tolerance for idiots.  :x

[Ascendent]

I detest CS:S gives me a headache when I play it but its the same kids playing CS that play CS:S. But you shouldn't let that stop you go give it a shot. Hopefully you'll enjoy it.

Ascendent

[Clanwolfer]

Give it a shot.  Every time I play CS, I play passively; don't get caught up in the talk and don't ask too many dumb questions, and generally things go ok.  TKing isn't a huge problem most of the time for me; just be prepared for a dumb team if you go out and play on public servers.

[Jeff]

Maybe we could host a server for CG'ers? I wonder if there'd be enough interest. I imagine a lot of us will have it because of HL2.

[Jow]

One problem you'll have as a newbie is that people have been playing CS for damn near 7 years now.  Ergo, the learning curve is very steep and you will probably get owned, big time, near all the time.  If you're cool with that, party on, Garth.

[Laner]

One problem you'll have as a newbie is that people have been playing CS for damn near 7 years now.

Que?  Half Life is barely 6 years old at this point, and Counterstrike didn't show up until at least a six months later.

[Turtle]

Just follow someone who looks like they know what they're doing.  Never get in front of him, and never get directly behind him.  Do stay a minimum of 3-5 yards away.

I used to be a master CS player (keyword: used to), and I would encourage new players to do this to learn from me.

Basically, better players tend to be more aggressive, so they'll always know where the fights will break out and when to engage.  They'll know all the little tricks, so just being around them will make you learn quickly.  You can also give him some much needed backup, as many CS players don't bother with teamwork.

Likewise, make sure you stay out of his path of retreat (hence the min 3-5 yards distance).  Experienced players know when to retreat as well, so if you're standing right behind him as he's back up, you've just blocked his path of retreat and you'll both end up dead.  It also helps a new player not get killed if his lead is offed in front of him.

Even with all this, however, CS isn't that interesting of a game, you run and shoot, and shoot some more.  The objectives are kinda boring.  It's the simple kind of fun that you've find in old shooters like Galaga, except your now a modern soldier and your enemies are player controlled.

The game is also very twitch oriented, so if you'll be going against players who have had 5+ years to hone their CS reactions down to the level of computers.

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

CS: Source has some major bugs right now--for example, if you change your name to "%n" and die or kill someone else, (ie, if your name would have appeared in the upper right corner kill list), the ENTIRE SERVER crashes and everyone on it either freezes (requiring hard reboot) or gets a CTD.

Additionally, in this beta version of CS: Source, a wallhack can actually be invoked via the console... who needs download hacks when they're built into the game!?!

So far every server I've been on has been crashed by some %n newb who sucks real bad at the game, starts to lose, changes his name to %n, and suicides.  Blam, server dead.

[Thin_J]

They released an update about an hour ago that fixes the %n crash bug.

Rumor has it that it's removed the ability to turn on the wallhack and other such built-in cheats, but I haven't seen that confirmed anywhere yet.

Also, if you want to play the game play with people you know/trust if at all possible.

I just finished a 4 hours stint with the same guys I play Joint Ops with, and it's good times.

As long as you can find a good set of people to play with, the game's a blast.

[Gryndyl]

I just started playing for the first time a couple of weeks ago, never having played the original. Haven't had any crash problems at all and I typically just ignore any chat that's not tactics related. I've had quite a lot of fun playing

And I got royally pWn3d the first few nights I played, running about 1 kill to every 15 deaths. I get an average of 50-50 now so I seem to be improving

[Jag]

Used to play this alot. I always had alot of fun. If you can play Ghost Recon, you can easily fit into CS. I'm not doing steam, preferring to wait for retail.

How does this version compare to the old CS?

[Turtle]

It is the old CS, a tiny bit different than CS:S.  Beyond graphics, small map changes, and one or two new weapons, you'll be hard pressed to find many other differences around gameplay.  Unless you're someone who has been playing for years right up to the source release, you probably won't.

[Thin_J]

and one or two new weapons,

Just wanted to point out that there aren't any new weapons. Everything in Source is in Regular CS 1.6 and/or Condition Zero.

In reality, the only difference in gameplay terms is that recoil is handled differently. Otherwise it's identical to regular old CS.

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

They released an update about an hour ago that fixes the %n crash bug.

Oh thank god.  Guess I can finally play the damn game again.

[Biyobi]

I stopped playing CS right before they changed the weapon names, so they're new to me.  :wink:

I'm delighted they fixed the "%n" problem.  That made playing last night way more enjoyable than it was over the weekend.  My next wishes are for a server browser that ignores non-alphanumeric characters when sorting (ala All Seeing Eye) and a super-armored helmet so I can stop dying by headshot.

Has anybody gotten the "Friends" part of Steam working?  I can add friends but they never show as being on-line, even though one of them is playing down the hall from me.  I end up having to use ASE to find them.

[Chesspieceface]

The water is safe.   I've been playing nightly and the only unenjoyable experience I've had relates to unbalanced skill levels on the teams.  People need to take a responsibility on public servers to change teams when they are uneven and not stack the best players on one side, even if it means splitting up a clan.

Other than that little niggle, I find it more fun than CZ/1.6 and WAY prettier.  There are only about 9-10 maps right now (dust, dust2, aztec, piranesi, cobble, chateau, havana, office and italy ???) and only a single player model for each team, but these are not big issues.  

Personally unless people are abusing the voice channel for social discourse or TK'ing on a FF server, I don't find the community too annoying. This is still CS.  Plain and simple.  Like it or not, its the most popular online FPS ever and there is a good reason for it.

BTW:  I'm 'earbiter' say hi if you see me out there.  I'm usually on <50 Ping West Coast servers at night.