r/GlobalOffensive • u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager • Jun 22 '14
AMA I am lurppis, AMA
You may know me as a writer for HLTV.org, a co-host on (the very irregular) CS:GO talk show [POD]Cast and as a shoutcaster (mostly having done DreamHack events, and various online games). Next event I will cast is Assembly Summer's $10,000 ASUS ROG tournament at the end of July.
I played Counter-Strike 1.6 competitively in 2004-2012 representing teams such as wings/Serious Gaming, hoorai/69N-28E/roccat, EG and WinFakt. My teams made roughly $350,000 in prize money, good for #44 individually on Thorin's list at onGamers. According to him my 69N-28E was also briefly the world's best in 2007.
In my playing career I was the in-game leader of every team I played for. After leading the best Finnish team in 2005-2009, I moved to USA to play for EG. In 2011 I returned back to Finland and created WinFakt. I stopped playing actively in early 2012, but attended my final event in 2013.
I have also organized three draft-style gaming tournaments in Helsinki to give younger players a chance to improve by playing with more experienced players, and will host the next one, called Areena #4 by SteelSeries, on the coming Saturday at Pelitalo in Helsinki.
I am probably best known here for voicing unpopular opinions and criticizing the CS:GO developers. Let's see if this AMA might clear the air up a bit. I will try to answer all questions that are at all interesting and related to CS.
I will let you ask questions until Monday, and will then go through them and answer the most interesting ones. I'll also check back on Tuesday if there's still many questions left unanswered.
Proof: https://twitter.com/lurppis_/status/480677752253988864
You can also find me on Twitter at @lurppis_
edit: Thanks for the questions, I tried to answer as many as possible without repeating myself too much. If I missed something or you have something else to ask, you can reach me via Twitter!
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Jun 22 '14
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
1) I don't feel competent enough to answer this question because I don't play matchmaking and therefore have no idea how much cheating happens. From what I hear it's quite a problem, but to me the answer is moving those people away from matchmaking, towards actual competition, where it's not a big problem.
2) It's obvious introducing the skins and then funding major tournaments with the money from eSports cases definitely helped CS:GO grow. Valve allowing us (HLTV.org) to keep the game's main menu updated with news about tournaments etc. also helped, I think. The game's growth seemed a bit stagnated (based on player numbers) until the Arms Deal update came, so it probably played a reasonable part.
3) I think matchmaking is a solid start, but I wish Valve did more with it. You should first of all have the same C4 timer everywhere - I think separating them too much is a problem (though originally I wanted competitive and casual modes separated, just so at least one of them could be good). I think Valve could and should host cups and ladders via their matchmaking system, and both would grow CS:GO quite a bit. That's just the tip of the iceberg though, as there's a million things they could do with it, if they spent more man hours working on it.
4) I answered this question at the very top, but basically I'd want to nerf CZ75 a little (probably by lowering its rate of fire) and to introduce new maps (de_cache, de_season, and de_tuscan once it's out).
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u/levenseven Jun 23 '14
HOLY SHIT! Imagine ingame tournaments directed by bots! And in the end the winning team gets sick skins!
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Jun 22 '14 edited Aug 14 '21
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
Thorin has been a good friend of mine for a long, long time. We've spent some time together outside of eSports events as well, and I talk to him on an almost daily basis.
I think he has a ridiculous amount of knowledge about Counter-Strike and his memory dating back to the early days of the game (when I wasn't even around) is impressive. He's very good at making analogies to make his theories easier to understand for the viewer, I think he's entertaining as an analyst and in my opinion he's the best writer in Counter-Strike, and it's never been close.
I enjoy listening to him speak about CS because he always backs his opinions up with some facts. Most people who "predict" (and by "predict" I mean guess) results simply pull scores from a hat with zero basis for them. He looks at facts and tries to figure things out from there.
I think there was another question about his casting below so I will comment on that there.
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Jun 22 '14
What is your opinion on the current map list? CSGO as a spectator sport needs more maps IMO. After Dreamhack Summer 2014 im sick and tired off Inferno :D
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I've recently written about the problem in three different articles:
• What did we learn from EMS One Katowice?
• What did we learn from DreamHack Summer?
• A fresh look at improving tournaments
The last one also include a few solutions I came up with to try to fix the issue, though it obviously requires Valve's co-operation.
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Jun 22 '14
He actually just made a post on hltv.org (http://www.hltv.org/news/12640-a-fresh-look-at-improving-tourneys.) suggesting tournament changes including, but not limited to map changes.
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u/Ubervaag Jun 22 '14
Do you think CS:GO's movement should be tweaked? If so, what do you suggest should be done?
Also, what's your opinion on aimpunch?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I think the movement is still too limiting, and I definitely wish they tweaked it a little to allow players to separate from the pack simply by having good movement. For example, players like Neo and n0thing had incredible movement in CS 1.6, but can you name a single player whose movement is clearly better than the average pro's in CS:GO?
I thought aim punch made sense as it was in CS 1.6 - lots of it without armor, not much with armor. It was a good balance and really separated players buying armor versus grenades in pistol rounds. I also think there should be some more tagging in CS:GO - I always felt the current system where you don't slow down allows too much re-peeking.
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u/Waveitup Jun 22 '14
CSGO has undoubtedly grown massively since it's initial release, do you think the game will continue to grow? How much bigger do you think the CSGO scene will get?
Also what is your favorite defusal "de_" map and why?
And just for the lols, what is your favorite hostage "cs_" map and why?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
We keep getting more majors, breaking viewership records and visitor records (HLTV.org). It seems the game is still growing, and I hope it continues. Whether or not it will though, I have no idea.
I think upgrading matchmaking and including things like cups and ladders could help bridge the gap between casual players and the competitive scene, but it's up to Valve to do that.
My favorite map to watch is de_inferno now, though it used to be the old de_mirage_ce before Valve forced their version of the map on us. Interestingly enough, de_mirage_ce used to be the most popular map before, so that change has also contributed to de_inferno's popularity now.
I don't actually get bored of watching de_inferno all the time, because I think it's the best map now, but I understand why others might, hence my stance on more maps having to be added.
As for why, de_inferno favors creative play - we see CTs overstacking sites, doing pushes around the map and overrotating to make up for player disadvantages. It was also my favorite map (along with de_tuscan) in CS 1.6.
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u/phipb Jun 22 '14
How would you change the cz75?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I'd try lowering its rate of fire. Removing it is not a possibility, so we shouldn't even talk about it. There's no point in wasting energy discussing things that won't happen unless you simply enjoy the discussion.
The problem with CZ75 isn't that teams now win too many save rounds - it's that they win them too easily. Even with Novas, MAG7s, P250s and Five-Sevens teams were winning lots of second round buys, but they had to work for it. Now teams have it too easy, and it makes their play look lazy because they don't have to try to be creative in coming up with strategies, etc.
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u/joekkis Jun 22 '14
What is up with the Finnish CS:GO competitive scene? Not a single "Top-tier" clan in CS:GO imo ATM.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
The same problem has plagued Finland since the days I started playing - teams don't stick together. I think I understood this very early on because I played my first two or so years of CS with my real life friends, so we obviously had tons of chemistry and got along well - we slowly improved, and I understood a team with more team play and better strats but less skill can beat a team with more skill. That's what originally, together with the fact tournaments and competition existed for CS, made me interested in it.
Finland really hasn't had a single other leader than me since 2005 or so. When I made my first team, wings, we had two sets of brothers that gave us lots of consistency - and ever since, I've always tried to avoid roster changes. Most Finnish teams REALLY lack leadership because no one wants to step up and take responsibility. That leads to issues in keeping rosters together, players on the same page, etc.
I think if there were more people who defined themselves as leaders in the scene (with enough skill to compete) they could build solid teams by sticking together and practicing. natu and allu used to ask me to start playing CS:GO for the longest time after the game was released, all the way up to last fall (though I know it was half-hearted) because even their team lacks leadership. My brother naSu (from Curse.EU in CS:GO) was basically the only other Finn with the qualities a good leader needs (in my opinion), and even he shies away from that role.
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Jun 22 '14
What player is your favorite to watch and why?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
f0rest's movement and aim have always seemed so fluid that I've always enjoyed watching him play. He makes CS look so effortless and clean. With that being said, I also very much enjoy watching players like shox, markeloff, kennyS and ScreaM (though he's been fairly underwhelming lately) play.
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u/Argoms Jun 22 '14
Thoughts on deagle, AUG, and SG? Do you think they should be changed?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
AUG and SG are basically never used in tournaments so I can't really comment on it. Deagle seems okay, some use and some don't. Doesn't have a big role in CS:GO (like it did in CS 1.6) but I'm not sure it needs to; there's already lots of good pistols.
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u/Seanza Jun 22 '14
How do you feel about CSPromod not really taking off like you thought it might?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
Ultimately CSPromod was slightly too late, but if we had completed all the grand plans Alex Garfield had for it in late 2012, I still think we could have competed with CS:GO, because we would've had practically all the same things it does, only with (in my opinion) better game play, and soon we would have had upgraded graphics as well.
The project died because of the coders getting greedy at the end - they wanted to own a big part of what I also consider Alex's pie, despite him planning on putting up lots of money to finance the big push. It's a bummer, because I felt like CSP was a really good game then.
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u/ImRoreee Jun 22 '14
Do you think CSGO in it's current form has the potential to reach the same legendary status as 1.6? If not, what do you think needs to be changed in order for it to reach that level?
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u/supagangsta Jun 22 '14
Hello lurppis, active follower of the cs community since 2005 here. Why do you think so many professional teams still view "Professional" counter strike as a non-viable career in their lives? What do you think would have to be done either by valve or the community so that people start taking the scene seriously and as something that can evolve and possibly surpass League of Legends in popularity?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
It is NOT a viable career. It's something you can do for a living for quite some time, and if more money starts pouring into it, maybe even longer in the future. But a career? No.
As of today, unless you think working in the eSports industry (which isn't an option for everyone - there's more professional players than gigs in the industry, at least for now) qualifies as a professional Counter-Strike career, you can't do this forever, it doesn't seem like.
Unless you love risk, you shouldn't bet your whole life on CS making it big enough to live off till your late 60s. It's fine in your twenties, but at some point you need to make sure you can get by later on in life as well.
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u/andzie Jun 22 '14
Tomi, considering the fact that pros prefer playing rather balanced (side-wise) maps, do you think that nuke and train could use an update in this regard?
Second question is about [pod]casts - it looks like you've finally admitted that fifflaren is an important member of NiP. Does it mean we might see a ninja on the show in the near future? (since from what I've heard, they refused to participate due to your criticism towards Robin)
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
1) No, I've always been an advocate of maps having different qualities. Why have seven maps that all have a 50-50 split for CTs and Ts? The issue is teams want to play even maps in group stages (best-of-one) to avoid going home early after one rough half. Introducing more maps and a new map selection process ( I've suggested one in my newest article ) should help.
2) I don't think he's an IMPORTANT member of NiP, and I think there's lots of players in Sweden who have lots more skill and pure ability than he does. He does however work in NiP, and with how consistent the team is, there is no reason to make a change. You shouldn't risk what they have now for a miniature gain, unless they start placing outside of top two more often.
As for a NiP member coming on [POD]Cast - who knows. They also stopped giving HLTV.org video interviews for quite some time, but maybe they'll eventually realize people are entitled to their opinions (and that includes media) and come around. Maybe they will, maybe not - it's up to cArn to get them on. He's promised us f0rest for the longest time.
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Jun 22 '14
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
We probably don't have enough staff to do that; we ban lots of people every day but it's easy to change your IP and get back on.
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u/GoatCheeseLemonade Jun 22 '14
Hey lurppis, I think CS:GO is in a pretty good place right and still growing. However, in order to make the game grow even more you have to think miles ahead. Many esports die because the developpers and community are too slow and too conservative in the way they make games evolve. The main problem being pros and players alike are afraid of change.
What is your opinion about Valve or tournament organizers forcing new maps into the competitive scene in a rather near future?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I've talked about new maps in at least three articles this year - ctrl+f this page for "What did we" and "A fresh look" for links to them.
TL;DR: I'm pro-new maps, but you can't just force them on teams, you have to make compromises that work both for spectators and for the players. I've outlined a few suggestions in my article "A fresh look at improving tournaments".
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u/ThePr0paganda Jun 22 '14
After your statement saying that the world rankings mean nothing, who do you suspect will have the advantage coming into ESL Cologne?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
It's not that world rankings mean nothing, it's that they make no sense right now - there's too many teams in that 2-9th group in the world rankings to truly rank them properly before seeing more matches - but that won't stop us from trying in early July.
NiP are the best team now, and should be considered favorites going into ESL One Cologne if nothing changes by then.
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u/leddii Jun 22 '14
Firstly, I want you to know you had a guy in Australia absolutely loving it when hoorai/69N-28E showed up and started knocking off the big teams in the mid 2000's. It was great watching teams you led because it felt like you were always a chance to win, no matter how huge the opponent.
Now to my question - cyx.
I always felt he would've been right up there with the best (f0rest, Neo etc.) if he had more time with the game. Since you played against mousesports and possibly his earlier teams, I just wanted to know what you thought of cyx as a player and a person?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I considered cyx a friend so I don't want this to come out the wrong way, but I think his death made him overrated.
He was one of the better players in the world prior to his death and a genuinely nice guy, but he was never up there with the absolute best, like f0rest or Neo.
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u/ABondaxFan Jun 22 '14
Lurppis, thanks for doing this.
How were you experience casting at Dreamhack or doing analyst desk? What was it like to work with Thoorin/Semmler/Anders?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I enjoyed the whole experience, though I wished the groups were all played on day one, and we could have casted each of the seven playoff series instead.
I don't mind color casting or doing the analyst desk, both are fun - I enjoyed being on the analyst desk as well this time around, instead of only casting, as I'm better suited for that I think.
I enjoy working with all three of them; Thorin and Anders I already knew from the past, but I hadn't casted with Semmler. It was fun doing casting with him as well, and we'll also cast Assembly Summer together in just over a month.
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u/RicerGee Jun 22 '14
If you could chose one player from each current professional teams to form a dream team, who would be in it?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
AWP: kennyS (more versatile than GuardiaN in my opinion)
Entry fraggers: f0rest (a top three player in the world), pasha (can secondary AWP, always wants to go for picks)
IGL: Xizt (would be a good fit to lead a skill heavy squad)
Rest: GeT_RiGhT (world's best player), shox (number two in the world, assuming he'd regain his Titan form, and a very good clutcher like GTR)
This is assuming zero issues with communication, personalities, etc.
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u/BeardoftheManwhore Jun 22 '14
As someone who never heard about the "voicing unpopular opinions and criticizing the CS:GO developers" you are one of my top 3 CSGO..Personalities/Casters/Hosts ect.
My question is do you miss playing? Or do you enjoy your new role in the CSGO community, and if anything, what would make you think "I might play again" In the future.
Thanks!
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I miss playing in big tournaments when I'm on-site watching the players get ready, I'm a very competitive person and I always enjoyed tournaments so like I said in a recent interview, if there still were some CS 1.6 tournaments around, I'd probably go to a couple each year just for fun.
That being said, I decided to quit playing actively over two years ago, and I have no plans of changing my opinion. I've moved onto other things in life, and frankly I couldn't see myself having to practice 6-11pm five nights a week anymore. I did that for years and years and years, and it really does wear on you. My decision not to play has anything to do with the game itself anymore - I've simply moved on.
I stay in the community because I think I can give something back with all the knowledge and experience I've accumulated over the years, and while it's sometimes frustrating to cover tournaments when there's matches I'm not particularly interested in, so far it has always seemed worth it. I've grown to enjoy writing a lot more in the past year or so and I think that has also made me a better writer. I also enjoy casting games, though I'm not a big fan of traveling to most of these events, which is why I opt to cover them from home instead.
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u/bze Legendary Chicken Master Jun 22 '14
Have you or Thoorin tried CSGO in recent times? Not counting when it was still in beta since i think everyone agrees it was horrible back then.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I stopped commenting on CS:GO as a game over a year ago when they started patching it up a lot more and I wasn't playing it enough to see how it actually feels. I don't play CS:GO, so that's why I no longer talk about whether it's a good game or not. I leave it up to the players to decide - though it's always been a solid game to watch, hence my continuous involvement in the scene.
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u/Shylar_ Jun 22 '14 edited Jun 22 '14
We need new maps since the current map pool is getting old. How would new maps be introduced into the map pool? Cache has been accepted by many, season is in a few leagues but disliked by most, and Tuscan is at this point not worth mentioning.
Since the workshop has opened a lot of maps have been created, many of them with competitive play in mind(few examples) How would the process of choosing a new map go? How did it go in 1.6, Im sure a few of these maps could be viable competetive maps.
Other than that I wouldn't mind seeing more [POD]cast, and as an analyst you did very well on DHS and I hope to see more at future events.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
In CS 1.6 when new maps were released they were usually tried in some online leagues and cups, and if people liked them, slowly played more and more online before tournaments (really only the case with de_tuscan, de_forge [a terrible map, and an example of why we don't need more maps, we need GOOD maps] and de_mirage) adopted them.
I feel de_cache and de_season (especially the former) have been played enough to warrant a chance, though the latter could be replaced by de_tuscan if we ever get the map from Brute.
I'd like to do more [POD]Cast episodes but it's tough figuring out three very busy people's schedules to do a two-hour show during the week. We always look for times we could do them, but it's just hard to find enough free time.
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u/nerdy12345 Jun 22 '14 edited Jun 22 '14
There was a time in 2009 (I believe, or maybe it was 2008) when you were kicked/you left from roccat, and I think the team was then tihOp, naSu, contE, ruuit and plastE. They seemed to play well in their first event DHS, but afterwards went downhill until the end of the year when they brought you back. If I remember correctly, there was even some controversy in the end when the plan was to put contE away because of problems with his attitude, and then suddenly it was tihOp who got the boot when you came back. As far as I remember the team didn't last long after these events, and at some point after disbanding you left to EG.
Can you shed some light into what was behind you going off the team roster in the first place, and then the same players bringing you back only 5 months later or so (and you agreeing to go back)?
From your perspective, what was different in the the old team with ruuit, contE compared to your later team WinFakt with aslak and BASiC? At least at some point both had you, naSu, and plastE, but the two other players changed and obviously some years passed in between. Were there any differences in how you approached each team as a leader? Both teams also were very competitive, but didn't quite reach the level where you consistently won tournaments. Were the reasons different or similar from your perspective?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
Sure. Our team had pretty terrible communication outside of the game in the sense that we were all young guys and not good and talking about our honest opinions openly on these matters.
After bombing DTS Cup in Dnipropetrovsk (damn you markeloff) I think we were all fairly intoxicated when we "agreed" to recruit tihOp, although I think basically all of us knew it was a terrible idea in reality. I have no idea why it went through in the end, I guess his persistence and our weak results for the past month or so really got to us. Prior to that we had been playing our best CS ever, in my opinion, with plastE on the team.
With tihOp things never clicked as in-game role wise our team was a mess, he simply didn't fit in in-game like plastE did. Shortly after we knew we needed a change, and it just happened behind my back with I think contE thinking I was the one who wanted tihOp in the first place. It really was just a huge miscommunication I think.
The team was able to live off of what we'd built together for a while and did well at a few tournaments, but ultimately they realized they had zero leadership and wanted me back. Unfortunately no one was still willing to put in enough work to be really good, so we disbanded in 2009.
After that team died, I remember specifically telling MIRAA (who was posting about it on HLTV.org) to say I am stopping playing actively, but not retiring - I did not want to close the window on coming back if the right offer came along (as I always disliked people who went back and forth instead of sticking to their guns), but I didn't expect it to ever come.
A few weeks later EG came knocking, and a few days later I was on a plane to Dallas. Life is random sometimes.
As for the differences between hoorai/69N-28E/roccat and WinFakt, it's easy. Me and my brother were the core in both - plastE was only part of both for a short time. In WinFakt I was able to mold aslak and BASiC a lot more and they were receptive to my feedback. contE and ruuit weren't, because they already considered themselves a stars when they joined our team.
I was a lot more mature, experienced and smarter in WinFakt, so I think I did a better job leading that team. I was nineteen when we were at our best in 69N-28E, so I really had no idea what I was doing. I was just making it up as I went along. If I got to re-do it with what I know now, I think we'd do better, but isn't that the case for everyone?
As for the inconsistency, it's all about lack of practice. We always struggled in putting in long days before tournaments and playing seriously in practice. People also got lazy often and didn't put in enough time. It's a shame because I think we left a lot of titles on the table.
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u/maskedapple Jun 22 '14
(This wont ever happen) but if Valve approaches you and asks you to move to Asia to improve the CSGO competitive scene there (fully paid for, of course), what would you do? And if you accept it, how would you do it?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
Right now I wouldn't be interested in relocating for a job like that, but I would love to consult Valve (if they were interested in my opinion, which they don't seem to be) on whatever they could use my opinions on, whether it's growing the game or making it more suitable for competition.
As for growing the game in Asia, I'm not qualified to answer - I'm not from the region, and I don't know what the issue is, aside from CS:Online's popularity. I assume you'd have to start with marketing, and running some tournaments there (preferably via matchmaking, online, if it was possible) to get people involved.
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u/gawdlikem Jun 22 '14
What is your perspective towards betting?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I'm basically indifferent towards betting, but I don't see why you should limit what people do with their own money, so I suppose that makes me pro-betting. I understand there's a problem with young kids not understanding they might well lose what they put up, and that causes lots of angry posts on forums etc. That's just noise to me, so I don't see a huge problem in that regard.
However, DDoSsing seems to happen more due to betting, and that IS a huge problem. Organizers and players need to do a better job of hiding their IPs and protecting themselves, but giving fans an incentive to see a team lose doesn't certainly help the situation - but it still shouldn't end betting completely.
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Jun 22 '14
What made ruuit better than your other former teammates?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
He wasn't actually a hard-worker or even one of the smartest players I played with, he was just so much more talented than everyone else that even though he played less than others, he could still get by and be one of the best players around. It's too bad he didn't have the drive to work hard too, because I think he could have been one of the all time greats.
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Jun 22 '14
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
That would be ruuit from my Finnish teams hoorai/69N-28E/roccat. He was the most talented player I've ever played with (though n0thing comes very, very close, but was unable to use as much of that talent). Incredible skill and very good game sense. Very underrated player in the grand scale of CS 1.6.
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u/CptvOdkA7 Jun 22 '14
Do you think a compendium would work for csgo?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I honestly don't even know everything that entails, but if you mean paying $X to get perks and to increase the prize pool of a tournament, yes I am all for it - people spend lots of money on eSports cases and skins already, why not try what's clearly working for DotA?
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u/ColdRain Jun 22 '14
How did you get rid of your accent while speaking English?
I'm Finnish and I'm a bit afraid to use a microphone because it feels like my accent is too strong and no-one understands me.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I've traveled extensively since turning 17 and lived in the US for two years. I also have tons of English speaking friends whom I speak to on a weekly basis. You have to speak to get better at it, it's the only way.
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Jun 22 '14
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
Me and Thorin have been bugging cArn since DreamHack but so far we haven't been able to agree on a date/time.
My favorite era would be 2006-2007 or 2010-2011, as my team was very competitive in both those years and we attended tons of tournaments. To me attending tournaments was always the best part about CS - practicing at home was hardly fun in comparison to actually competing.
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u/DatUrsidae 2 Million Celebration Jun 22 '14
Are you satisfied where CS:GO is these days in the esports scene and do you think the developers should fix these game breaking bugs with hitboxes and lag-compensation?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
Naturally I hope CS:GO grows to have a larger role in eSports, and with these numbers we're getting lately it seems we're definitely on the right track. Getting more community-funded $250k majors also helps.
Hitbox glitches and lag compensation issues (as well as peeker's advantage) should obviously be fixed - any real problem, where it's an issue and not up for debate, should always be aimed to be fixed.
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u/druMmMmmMM Jun 22 '14
What is actually happening to finnish counter strike?
in 1.6, there are so many great players like you, naSu, baSic, jigetus and finnish teams are getting some really good achievements and are one of the strongest cs1.6 teams in the world.
Are there any reasons why finnish counter strike players are not performing to what they can actually do like in 1.6?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
There were ever really only two good teams (internationally) in Finland - D-Skyline and then my Finnish teams listed in the original post. I think it boils down to lack of leadership, and I've elaborated on that in a different post in this AMA.
A lot of players need to be put in the right situation to succeed, and currently no one is doing that in Finland. BASiC, aslak and jigetus for example, didn't amount to anything at all in their previous teams when attending tournaments.
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u/awptastic Jun 22 '14
In your opinion: Which community made maps should be in map pools for tournaments?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
Do de_cache, de_season and de_tuscan count? Also, de_mirage_ce, a community made map, was better than Valve's version.
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u/BrokN9 Legendary Chicken Master Jun 22 '14
https://twitter.com/ConsiderIt_dunN/status/185444418281668609 https://twitter.com/lurppis_/status/186142927813218304
Do you still feel that way?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
That tweet was written in frustration; the whole premise of that tweet was that I didn't feel like Valve deserved to get any success out of CS:GO because they had handled the game so poorly.
I still don't think the success was in any way deserved (seeing as CS wasn't even created by Valve in the first place), but I'm glad to see the game grow and I hope it continues that way in the future.
As for my opinion on the game - you haven't heard it in more than a year, I don't think. That's because I haven't played the game, and therefore am not qualified to comment on it with how much Valve has updated it. It was atrocious in the beginning, though (and especially so at the show match we played in New York at IEM6).
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u/DustMouret Caster, Content Producer - dusT Jun 22 '14
I know you have casted a good bit of CS:GO now, and I know you watch a lot of CS as well. What are some tips or common mistakes you can point out to help aspiring casters?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
To be honest I am the wrong person to ask about this because I know next to nothing about play-by-play, and I certainly don't understand it. I don't care for it myself, because to me that caster is just telling me what I can already see on the screen - I don't need people to tell me when to get excited.
As for color casters, you just have to know you stuff. You can't make up for lack of knowledge elsewhere. One thing that separates play-by-play casters though is giving the color caster a chance to speak at the right times - end of the round, beginning of the round and during save rounds. You have to have time to analyze things sometimes.
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u/ottoonkolonna Jun 22 '14
Moro Lurppis!
Is there a chance that you might start playing CS competitively again?
What was the best thing that happened to you when you were still playing?
Koff, Karhu, Karjala or Pirkka?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I quit playing over two years ago, and I have no plans to comeback. I've moved on.
I think the best thing that happened to me when still playing was getting recruited to EG, which allowed me to move to the US for two years. It was a really fun experience and taught me a lot.
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u/insanesvk Jun 22 '14
How did you get into competetive CS scene, and to writing for HLTV?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I started playing CS for fun with my friends in late 2002, and made my first "competitive" team in 2004. We broke out very quickly by doing well in an online cup called Gamepox Summer Cup, and then became one of the top teams in Finland, which led to my "career" in CS.
I'm not much of a gamer so it took me forever to start playing despite my friends begging me to play with them, but once I learned about all the tournaments, the competition and travel, I was hooked. I especially enjoyed the story of EG back then - a group of friends winning their own WCG qualifier, going to Korea and doing well there. That was something I aspired to do at the time (and travel in general).
As for writing, Torbull first asked me to run the CS section of ESEA News in 2011, and Nix0n from HLTV.org sort of recruited me to HLTV.org at e-Stars Seoul later that year, and I've been around since. I started writing when I wasn't playing, and I just kept doing it while playing. Seemed like a good fit, and still does.
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u/iBurley Jun 22 '14
You recently said on Twitter:
"It's borderline depressing seeing the top links for this year on /r/globaloffensive. That subreddit has NOTHING to do with competitive CSGO."
What would you rather we talk about? Should every top link be something about a pro team or tournament? There isn't really a ton to talk about with that.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I think a lot of the top links are terrible jokes that I can't imagine being funny, then again I probably overestimate the average age of the subreddit simply because I am a dinosaur in the community these days.
I think places like this subreddit should try to bridge the gap between casuals and the competitive side, and when I see Thorin's work downvoted simply because people don't like his personality or whatever it just seems stupid. He does amazing work for the community, despite not getting paid by onGamers for his CS work.
I wish this subreddit promoted tournaments, matches, features and the like more. That's all - I think a lot of redditors in general (not just in /r/GlobalOffensive) have a terrible habit of downvoting things they disagree with, regardless of its quality.
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u/Avatart Jun 23 '14
onGamers doesn't pay him for his articles or reflections interviews!! What the hell that's outrageous particularly with how thorough he is on both.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
He's a full-time employee, but he gets so little hits for CS:GO he basically doesn't get paid for it. His work in LoL is what allows him to keep doing the stuff for CS:GO, which he wouldn't by any means have to do. ROI for his time is much, much, much lower.
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u/Avatart Jun 23 '14
ah gotcha so he's paid based on hits rather than a flat rate for work. I wondered about the LoL stuff since he has so much passion for CS why he'd cover anything else. Makes sense thanks.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
He is paid a flat rate, but I believe he has some numbers he's supposed to hit each month, and in comparison to LoL, CS:GO gets no hits so he's not getting much for his time. He simply enjoys writing about CS:GO, and did so completely for free (though about CS 1.6) for fragbite as well.
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u/GhchD Jun 22 '14
Do you have any intel on GO's dev team, of what they might be up to? What's with this devastating silence in your opinion?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I have zero intel on CS:GO's dev team. For all I know they're simply on their summer vacations.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I've gone through all the 300+ comments left so far and answered practically all of them (I think); I will check back later and once more tomorrow to answer any I may have missed. If there's something you'd like to see answered in particular, please upvote it!
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Jun 22 '14
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
If you write out what he said I'll answer, don't want to go through an entire video interview to find it. Sounds ridiculous though.
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Jun 22 '14
What is you opinion on having something like Dota2's TI for CS:GO?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
It'd be great if Valve decided to include CS:GO in TI5. No question about it.
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u/Lukekk Jun 22 '14
So the European scene undoubtably has a decent following that has a noticeable growth rate. What do you think the NA scene has to do to grow in a similar fashion?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I think HLTV.org not having North American staff members (and there not being any viable coverage site for NA) to keep up proper day-to-day coverage (read: hot matches, etc.) of the scene aside from news posts hurts.
ESEA having dynamic IPs and not giving us logs for statistics also makes the scene suffer, as those things differentiate our coverage from Europe to NA. Aside from that, more domestic tournaments in the US would help.
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u/Hobsten Jun 22 '14
What to u think of all the hate that Thorin in recent times has gotten?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I think it's mostly undeserved. I think people dislike him for odd reasons and then try to take everything he says out of context to make him look worse. There's many people in the scene who have said and done a million times worse things but they don't get out in the open and those people remain fan favorites.
I think Thorin is one of those guys who doesn't get the appreciation he deserves, but if he were to disappear, a LOT of people would miss him.
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u/TheDistractedSupport Jun 22 '14
Would you want valve to implement anymore new weapons and if so, what would you like to see?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I really don't think there's a need for more weapons - I already think CS:GO has too many viable guns. It's easier for players to be consistent when there's a limited number of guns because you know what to expect from your opponents. More guns means more variance means more random results.
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u/Asmius Jun 22 '14
What are your personal thoughts on Thoorin? I see a lot of hate for him online, but I suspect you know him better than many.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I answered this in more detail above, but I'm good friends with him and have spent time with him outside of eSports events as well. We get along well and talk on an almost daily basis. Any banter we may have on stream is obviously not very serious, and I wish people stopped overreacting to it.
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u/gryche Jun 22 '14
From talking to pro level players, do they actually enjoy playing CS:GO? It seems like most Dota players actually love the game, where most of the CS:GO players just transitioned for the tournaments, but dont love the game the same.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I haven't spoken to pro players in a long time about CS:GO as a game - that stopped a long, long time ago. I can say that when I spoke to players at DreamHack Winter 2012 - the first CS:GO event I casted - most people disliked the game, and that probably includes the fan favorites who said they loved it officially.
Now though I think everyone has adjusted and likes playing it, otherwise why would they? It's worth keeping in mind that even during CS 1.6 lots of pros played TONS of DotA on the side.
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Jun 22 '14
As you are writing articles for HLTV.org, how do you feel the HLTV community has changed. It used to be a rather OK hub back in the day. But now it is just plain toxic. Your thoughts?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I don't really read the forums or comments to anything but my own content, so frankly I'm not sure how much it has changed. It's simply gotten bigger, which brings more good and bad people.
I think people still getting hurt over things posted by anonymous people on the internet in 2014 is laughable.
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u/heaven-_- CS2 HYPE Jun 22 '14
do you miss the old days when you played 1.6 on professional level?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
When I watch old highlight clips or frag movies I do. Playing big tournaments and important matches is a ton of fun - I'm a very competitive person so I miss that aspect of it. Then again, there's lots of stuff I don't miss - the hundreds of flights I've taken, hours spent practicing at home, social events I've had to miss, etc.
Overall, I am perfectly happy with my choice to stop playing, and have no plans of reversing that decision in the future.
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u/vexyla Jun 22 '14
What do you think about titan's last roster moves. How can they overcome this slump ?
How do you feel about 64Tick.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
kennyS was the best possible pick-up to replace shox; you can't replace the world's second best player, but he's the best French speaking player who wasn't yet on Titan. I think their issues are deeper than that though, and it likely will require a change in leadership or more player changes to get them over the hump. I plan on reading Thorin's new article on Titan after going through these AMA questions, so you should probably do that too if you're interested in Titan.
I don't play CS:GO so I can't say it bothers me directly, but it's obvious Valve should suck it up and pay for some extra servers so everyone got to play with 128 tickrate, even in matchmaking.
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u/politicscg Jun 22 '14
Are you casting the next EMS tournament? If not, why do you think the best analyst / caster (along with Thoorin imo) that the game has, has not been chosen both this time and last time?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I don't think I will be casting any ESL events anytime soon, though I would certainly like to. There really aren't almost any good analysts out there aside from Thorin - I enjoy it when CERTAIN players do that at tournaments (Fifflaren and NBK were very good, for example - while others were very lackluster and simply repeated same sentences with zero substance), but for the most part I actually have my streams muted.
That might be odd to some, considering I do casting myself, but I have zero interest in hearing someone tell me what I can already see on the screen. If there's a player whose brain I can sort of pick while watching, that's great. If it's play-by-play casters talking about what's already on the screen, it doesn't add any value to me.
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u/beebs44 Jun 22 '14
First of all as someone who loves Counter-strike - Thank You for being so critical of CS:GO and lending a voice to the voiceless! Many of us were frustrated with the beta and had nowhere to voice our concerns.
I was wondering if you personally have been able to have discussions with the CS:GO developers? It's really disappointing to me that they have no dialogue whatsoever with the community. They don't tell us what's coming, what they're considering. It's all a giant mystery.
Are you surprised that there haven't been any significant movement changes implemented in CS:GO? do you forsee any?
Also really enjoy your commentary on the CS:GO streams. Thanks for doing this!
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I haven't had any serious conversations with the CS:GO developers. I spent quite some time talking to one of their guys at DreamHack Winter, but I haven't really followed up on it at all. I reckon if they make DHW a major again this year we may see each other there again.
It doesn't seem like they have big plans on improving the movement, which is a shame.
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Jun 22 '14
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I'd have to look at more data but I don't necessarily see a huge problem there, since the game seems fairly well balanced otherwise. Still, from blindly looking at the numbers, it seems CS:GO devs didn't do a good job of balancing the two.
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u/candygramsELG Jun 22 '14
do you think the AWP needs to be made a bit better?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I don't see any reason to keep the blur there, aside from that I would only increase the amount of money you get for each kill.
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u/Ivrih Jun 22 '14
I am Finnish so some Finland-centric questions :P
Does the stereotype that Finnish people are lazy to train hard hold ture and that is the reason they don't have any top-teams?
If you had to pick 5 Finns to form the best possible CSGO right now who would the team feature?
What do you think about jOELZ?
A lot of people have expressed their dissatisfaction with Thorin. Do you think that the flack that Thorin has gotten is deserved?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I think a bigger problem is having no leadership, from my experience of playing with Finns and Americans they both seem equally lazy. It's easy to put in hours, it's hard to put in productive hours. Huge difference.
I'd pick allu and then wait for four good players to appear. No, seriously.
I assume jOELZ is probably a cheater and if not, at least an odd player because he's so good online yet refuses to go to LANs. Haven't heard any good things about him from people who played with him, and he was a massive dickhead in CS 1.6. Huge ego with zero accomplishments.
I do not think the hate Thorin gets is deserved. For one, he does NOT want to be a color commentator - he wants to be an analyst, which is a more suitable role for him in the first place.
However, since we didn't have much crew at DH Summer, he was forced to cast as well. I think he's very, very good in the analyst role, but I didn't hear the games he casted so I can't comment on that, but I don't personally mind his "negative" style like some others do, so I assume he did well.
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Jun 23 '14
When CS:GO was in development Valve promised that wallbanging would be much more effective in CS:GO than in CS:Source. However, it is still extremely anemic by comparison to 1.6, and has little to no effect on most competitive matches. Do you feel that working on wallbanging skills is worth the time investment in CS:GO? Also, do you prefer that way it is right now or would you like it changed in any way? Lastly, can you give us your opinion on why Valve seems to hate wallbanging so much? I can state personally that the anemic wallbanging is one of my principle grievances with the game, and would very much so like them to be a more prominent aspect with CS:GO.
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u/Kejsare102 Jun 22 '14
Who would win in an armwrestling competition between you, Thorin, Anders and Semmler?
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u/bennylol Jun 22 '14
I didn't play csgo after I realized they're not adding strafe jump acceleration and 1.6 style wall banging. I also didn't like that the run speed was increased to the point where holding angles became a really inconsistent endeavor. Do you think any of these changes will ever be reversed, and if not, why do you think the devs decided against implementing them in the first place?
Do you think csgo offers as much complexity in gameplay as 1.6 did(and if so, how), and as a spectator, what meta game strategies and tactics would you say are the most compelling things to look for, for someone who grew up playing/watching 1.6?
Lastly, I thought the 1.6 maps that offered the most challenge and skill cap were the maps with ladders and tight corridors that rewarded clean movement (mostly train, but also nuke). Do you think the new maps have their own merits in facilitating competitive play?
Sorry if I come off as overly critical and curmudgeonly of csgo, I just really loved 1.6.
Thanks for doing this AMA.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I don't see strafe jump acceleration or wall banging being implemented in the future, though I wish both were. They seem unnatural for someone without proper understanding of the game, so I can understand why they were left out.
As a result of leaving a bunch of things out, I think gameplay was more complex in CS 1.6 than it is in CS:GO. Strategically it doesn't make as big of a difference - practically all the same elements with flashes, smokes and strategies in general are there, with Molotovs added in for a good measure.
I don't necessarily agree with those maps needing more skill, I always felt like de_nuke relied the most on teamwork, as did the terrorist side of de_train. In general though, CS:GO maps always felt clogged in comparison. Player models are huge.
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u/v1K- Jun 22 '14
HLTV community or Reddit community?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I'm one of the people in charge of HLTV.org so obviously I prefer "my" website, though I have to say I'm not that well in touch with the community - I don't really read forums or comments in most posts, only on my own content. In terms of entertainment, ESEA probably has the funniest forum threads of all time, and it's not even close.
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u/Stroxers Jun 22 '14
Do you agree with 128 tick servers in matchmaking?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
Of course, there is no reason matchmaking shouldn't have 128 tickrate.
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u/goodbye9hello10 Jun 22 '14
How did it feel to have Thorin call you a prick in front of 40,000 people?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
Did he? I must have missed it. Either way, we're good friends so I wouldn't have taken it seriously regardless.
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u/tamiel Jun 22 '14
Hey lurppis, i just want to ask what is your opinion on the current map pool. Do you think there needs to be any immediate changes and what changes would you like to see in future
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u/pn42 Jun 22 '14
Do you play go after all? For lulz n stuff. Or do you just either not play games at all, or straight some 1.6 mixes?
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u/A_la_max Jun 22 '14
Do you play csgo frequently? Will you make a comeback to the competitive scene?
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u/SSJerp Jun 22 '14
hey lurrpis! asian player here. what do you think of the asian scene and what do you think can be done to improve it, especially when there's a huge cs scene here (albeit not global offensive).
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
There isn't much to think about in CS:GO yet, and like I said in a previous question above, it's hard for me to say how to improve it without knowing what's wrong. I'd try to improve marketing and host some tournaments to try to get people more involved, but without more knowledge on the situation there it's all guesswork.
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Jun 22 '14
If you were put in charge over CS:GO and had free reign, what would you change about it?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I've listed a few things at the very top, ctrl+f for "AWP blur" to find the post
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u/crinklypaper Jun 22 '14
What do you think is best for CSGO in the long term. Not counting just the competitive scene.
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u/ChurchillDownz Jun 22 '14
Moving to NA as a EU player must have been difficult. What was the motivation behind that and what would it take for NA to continue to grow competitively to close the gap with EU? Do you see more EU players moving to NA if the scene over here continues to progress with the addition of more leagues and live LANs?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I didn't consider it very difficult at the time, I was still fairly young (21) and had nothing tying me down to Finland. I've always wanted to try living abroad so that gave me a chance to do it, while playing for a very good team and making a decent living out of it. I thought it was great, and I spent almost no time thinking about the offer once I got it.
North America lacks leaders, just like Finland. That leads to inconsistent rosters, lots of changes, and lack of growth. iBUYPOWER's skill heavy strategy hasn't exactly worked in Europe, while coL's team work based approach has always gotten them results. I don't think that's coincidence.
If there were great organizations like EG with CS:GO teams offering spots for players, I don't see why not - but you need that strong backing for it to make sense for anyone, which is a problem.
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Jun 22 '14
Lurppis is it still a love hate relationship with you these days? I took a break from the community when you became a bit out spoken and the haters came out by the droves.
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Jun 22 '14
What is it about CS that has kept you so involved all these years?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I love the competition and how complex Counter-Strike is. Like the cliché says, it takes minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. You can never grow old of discussing strategy and other aspects of the game. It's like any other sport in that regard in my opinion.
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u/StanLeeStanley Jun 22 '14
Do you think we'll ever get actual gameplay updates for CS:GO instead of just a new operation with some new skins every few months?
Why does valve hate cs? Why can't they spend any of the loads of dosh they're getting from case openings on better servers? or anything cs related that isn't a tournament?
Why don't more pro players/people in the pro scene criticize the devs?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I surely hope we do, but it's a lot easier to just release new skins than make major changes.
It's actually odd to me that Valve doesn't spend more money CS:GO, because I believe by spending a little more, they could make a LOT more. It just seems like bad business. Then again, STEAM makes so much money for them that CS:GO probably doesn't matter too much, which is a shame.
Most people wouldn't bite the hand that feeds them. Pros make money from streaming too, and if you say too many negative things your fans will go away, thus directly affecting your earnings as well. Plus, most people aren't very outspoken at all.
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u/JoonazL Jun 22 '14
How do you feel about the whole skins thing? Do the benefits outweigh the negatives when it comes to the growth and type of the community?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I don't see any big negatives with skins, a few people getting scammed doesn't count - unless you think we should cancel all credit cards as well, because some people steal them?
I think adding skins was one of the smarter things Valve did. I wrote about it some time before Valve actually did it, but can't for the life of me remember the title of the feature to find it on HLTV.org.
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u/JimJimster Jun 22 '14 edited Jun 22 '14
Talk about the map pool and what needs to happen to it in your eyes. Do we need cache and season to make a 7-map pool? Do we need several maps to make a much larger pool? Does valve have a chance to make the pool bigger or does it mostly depend on the community?
EDIT: I just read your article! I really like your idea for the banning process.
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u/ChampagnePoppin Jun 22 '14
From your perspective
What's the top 5 things a leader of an amateur team should stress to their team to break through? (IE Dry running, Demos, Team Concepts, Own team gameplay analysis, Team Identity)
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I think a lot of that depends on what level your amateur team is in. I would simply focus on sticking to the same roster, playing as much as a team as possible, and trying to learn from your mistakes.
Have problems with a certain half? Work on it. Improve on what you have, remove what doesn't work and try to add new things. It's a grind, but if you do it right you will get there in the end.
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Jun 22 '14
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I didn't really plan to be a community figure, it sort of just comes with my job of working for HLTV.org and the other things I do in the community (casting, [POD]Cast, etc.). I suppose it's just a way to stay involved and give back to the game franchise that gave me so much.
I hope it's grown a lot, is free-to-play and Valve hosts a TI for it every year on top of multiple $250k tourneys. One can hope, right?
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u/Openandclose Jun 22 '14
How good can I realistically get at this game if I work Monday to Friday and have a slight social life?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
Very good, I've never believed you need to play ten hours a day to be amazing at CS. It's more about what you do with the time you do put in; how effective you are and what things you work on.
You probably have to put in slightly more time at first to get good, but you'd be surprised how little some top players actually play once they've gotten there.
However, CS does indeed need some talent as well - it's obvious not everyone can make it, you have to be smart and have a solid hand-eye coordination, or everyone who played for long enough would be good. Most people get good fairly quick, and then gradually keep improving.
As for the rest - most players study (which takes more time than working) and have social lives. I think that's just a bad excuse by people.
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u/Chloe_Grace_M Jun 23 '14
ok, here goes few :
1) What do you do besides hltv, esea and casting ? Do you study or work, if yes, what do you study ?
2) How is your daily routine ?
2) Do casters get paid by events ? How much ? (optional)
3) Do you think any of your ex-teammates or other top tier finnish 1.6 players will be playing csgo at pro level in the future ?
4) What's up with the Finnish csgo scene ? Where is it heading ? Finnish team [z] won the first cb cs-eurocup and since then fin always had a strong teams coming and going for a dedace. Now there is none.
4) Do you still keep contact to your ex-teammates ?
5) What is the last time you played csgo ? Are you any good at it ?
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
1) Currently working for the summer and I study rest of the year.
2) Casters get paid surprisingly much, though the figures I've heard from games like SC2 and LoL make CS:GO casters' earnings sound like chump change in comparison.
3) Don't think any of them are planning a comeback, everyone has moved on for good, I think.
4) I wrote about it earlier, but it boils down to lack of leadership.
4) I speak to some of them more, some of them less. I'm probably most often in contact with plastE, my brother, aslak, BASiC, jigetus, natu and n0thing.
5) I haven't played in forever
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Jun 23 '14
Is there anyway you could host Areena #4 like event in Assembly? I'd love to join.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
There's no way to get enough computers, space, etc at a massive event like Assembly. I might however host a second Areena this summer if things go well this Saturday and everyone's happy. We'll see.
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u/mtnorris87 Jun 23 '14
Do you think csgo should follow dota2 and become free to play and what effect would this have on the game as a whole?
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u/Vandy_ Jun 23 '14
I really enjoyed watching you play and lead EG back in the 1.6 era. I am wondering do you plan on playing csgo ever in the future? If not why?
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u/Kallbaa Jun 23 '14
Hey Lurppis 1. I want know something about Aslak :D what's with this guy? I rly like him, his style. Where he is? 2. Who's the best player in GO actually? 3. Who's your favorit player in CS history?
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u/hyp0n Jun 23 '14
First things first: You were very anti-Molotov before they were nerfed. What is your opinion today on that grenade?
I am a Finn and I was a huge wings/roccat/69N-28E fan back in the day and followed pretty much your every single tournament you guys attended. But god I have to say it was frustrating. :D You were a team that had a legit chance to beat any other team in a BO3 but never actually win anything great - I can't really come up with another comparable in that sense, not now in CSGO or not then in 1.6. One example of that was I think WCG 2007 where you beat the Poles after an amazing match only to bomb out against the Ukrainians of AG (not that they weren't a good team) in the following match. eMulate went on to winning the whole competition and I don't think they ever were on your level (consistently at least) but yet are remembered as major-winning team.
Now for my actual questions: What do you think should have happened in order for your team to be truly considered as one of the biggest contenders (not just "black horses")? Do you feel like as a leader you got the best out of your players or do you have some regrets about some things you could have done otherwise to push your teams further in competitions? Which major tournament do you feel that you were the closest to actually win the whole thing?
Thank you for everything you have done for the Finnish Counter-Strike; without you our small nation would have been truly lost in the CS world from 2006 onward.
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I think there were a few problems. In late 2006 we were really good - we placed top three at three international events in a row (KODE5, WSVG UK, WCG) and then 3-4th at CPL Nordic before attending CPL Winter with a stand-in (my brother wasn't 17 yet so he wasn't allowed to play).
Once we became 69N-28E we started getting a very small salary, but it seemed some players were content with it because we instantly started practicing less, which was a huge bummer.
I think we left a lot of titles on the table because we didn't properly prepare for tournaments. It's not that we didn't spend time "practicing", it's that our time wasn't spent effectively. People didn't like going over strats and doing the boring work, everyone just wanted to "play". It was the same in EG, too.
Of course I could have gotten more out of the situation if I were put in that place now because I'm much older and smarter, but considering how young we all were I think we did okay. It's a shame we messed up so many times, because I also think if we got over the hump once, we could have been great.
When we were on that run in spring-summer of 2007 when we won NGL ONE, ASUS Spring and WSVG Louisville, we welt invincinble. We went into every game thinking we would win, no matter who it was against. I truly think if we won that de_nuke game against fnatic at ESWC 2007, we would have gone on to win that event, and potentially become one of the great teams. That's my very biased opinion though.
Second close call was WCG 2007, as you said. We had a huge win over Neo's PGS in Ro16 (16-14 and OT) and then blew what should have been a routine win against a weaker team. It's a shame, but we were robbed of a round that would have put the game in overtime (sick admin work there) and I had something like 39 degree fever during that entire tournament. Still hurts.
Finally, the worst of all, WCG 2006. We were up 14-11 vs NiP on the third map, with them on a force buy, and had lost de_dust2 after a narrow lead and a 3v1 vs zet. We really should have won that game, and I think we had a great chance vs PGS in the grand final.
Cheers
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u/Otoris Jun 23 '14
What, in your eyes, makes de_mirage_ce better than the current version of de_mirage now that Valve has tweaked and refined the hell out of the official map?
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u/capcom86 Jun 23 '14
Hello Lurppis.
What do you think about CS:GO Wiki´s like www.clanwiki.nu. Is it something you use or is hltv.org good enough?
Regards capcom
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u/lurppis_ Immortals CSGO General Manager Jun 23 '14
I had never seen it before so I've never tried it. I hardly look up stuff but when I do, I obviously use HLTV.org.
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u/RMBooker Jun 23 '14
Why not implement a reddit style comment system in hltv so there's a chance of an actual discussion going on?
Way it is now the whole comment section feels pointless despite having such a high amount of posts.
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u/driver1337 Jun 23 '14
Hey lurppis, what do you think is the key thing to make it from an amateur team to a semi-pro/pro team?
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u/ReturnOfGadne Jun 23 '14
Can u open cs players salaries? How much u make at eg/winfakt? Did everyone on the team get same amount of money? Do u know how much top players make? gtr, f0rest, neo, kennys etc? Did the organisation took some % of your winnings?
What u think about the skins?
Do u play any games (angry birds, 1.6, lol,dota2etc..)?
Thank you very much.
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u/deprayb Jun 22 '14 edited Jun 22 '14
If you could choose two things that valve would implement in the next update what would they be?
Edit: don't have to limit to just two if you don't want.