A year and some months ago I decided to post my opinion regarding the game condition up to that day. Now, a year and a while after that moment I show up again to restate that, in fact, CS is without question at one of its worst times ever (not player based, which seems to be apparently rising like a rocket). I've honestly been playing for A LOT of years, not only for the hours displayed within this account, so these are the reasons to hear me out on this matter:
---> Let's start by the obvious, the cheating issue. Honestly, after so many years I've finally decided to lose my trust on the "new and innovative VAC system" that they have been developing since Internet was actually a thing. We've got to the point in which people in every match tell you that they are blatantly cheating either because they win money by any means with it, or because it's completely necessary due to the fact that everyone is doing so. And yes, they tell you all such stuff through the mic while doing
absolute barbarities (killing people through walls, running and gunning at peek speed...) that SHOULD be easily detected not by a powerful cheating system, but by at least ANY system. Therefore, Valve is not working on anything because they win money with cheaters, their VAC system is as clear as water or both.
---> Subtick is the biggest piece of trash that someone has ever come up with. They sold it as the best innovation on competitive games up to date, but it is just another excuse for not developing 128 tick servers and spend proper money on the community. Thus, forget about a nice gaming experience where bullets hit what they are supposed to.
---> Operations are not a thing anymore and they will never be. Last one was a laughingstock towards the community and a gold-digger strategy.
---> Optimization is another big no no. Do you remember when they used to tell us in CSGO that optimization was reaaaally difficult because of the game constitution on top of a veeeery old code from when the mammoths used to roam the Earth? Well, surprisingly the same thing is taking place now with a "recently developed" game based on a brand new code.
In short, neither CS2 nor its community will ever be treated as they deserve, so don't trust Valve, they are just building a rip-off based on an easy way to make money, and they will keep working on achieving that sole purpose. Don't lose your time with it, spend what is worth on some beers along with a buch of friends, which will definitely prove to be far more profitable.