Image: Valve
Valve is now inviting, “as many eligible players as possible,” to the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test.
Valve has announced big competitive changes coming to Counter-Strike 2 as it begins to invite more players to the sequel’s Limited Test. This involves a new CS Rating feature which acts as a visible measurement of players’ Counter-Strike performance and determines their position on leaderboards.
If you want to get on global and regional leaderboards in Counter-Strike 2, you’ll need to play matches in the updated Premier mode - the game’s Active Duty Pick-Ban competitive mode. Players can either play the mode solo or with friends, but it’s the only way to get their CS Rating up and climb the leaderboards. This mode is meant only for players who want to climb leaderboards, so it’s a safe skip if you’d rather try out other competitive modes instead.
More changes are coming to competitive gameplay besides the CS Rating, however. In an effort to further reduce the number of uncontested rounds in a typical Counter-Strike match, games will now be played to a maximum of 24 rounds in regulation time. There will be a six-round overtime in case a tie happens, and this change will apply to Premier, Competitive and the Majors. Basically: shorter matches, more playtime.
Valve is also adding map-specific ranks which give players separate ranks for each map in the current map pool, which means that skill groups will now be divided per map. That just gives players an added level of progression depending on which maps they’re best at, and which maps they have low ranks on. This week’s Limited Test patch has also added a new map - Inferno - to all available game modes.
Valve has also announced that it’s, “starting the process of inviting as many eligible players as possible to the Limited Test.” Not all players are automatically eligible, however. You’ll have to have CS:GO Prime status, an active official competitive matchmaking Skill Group and play the majority of your games in a region where the Limited Test is available. If you have all these boxes checked, an invite might just be on the way.
Counter-Strike 2 is still set to release by the end of Summer 2023, so it should launch sometime this month.