The wait wasn't very long, and Premier Season 3 has arrived for CS2 players. The second season ended on July 14th, as it was announced at the start of the year, and Valve was quick to kick-start the next one.
Now that Season 3 is live, a few patch notes have been released, detailing all the gameplay changes, along with the addition of a new security feature and a change to the map pool.
When does CS2 Premier Season 3 start?
CS2 Premier Season 3 started on Tuesday, July 15th at 5:00 PM PT (Wednesday, July 16th, at 1:00 AM BST). The duration of the season remains unclear, but given that Season 2 lasted six months, we expect a similar pattern for the third one.
Overpass is back
The Active Duty map pool has received a small change for this new season, with Overpass now added back in and Anubis removed to make space for it. Here is how the map pool stands after this change:
- Ancient
- Dust II
- Inferno
- Mirage
- Nuke
- Overpass
- Train
Seasonal reset and new medals
As it's always the case, a new medal is up for grabs at the end of Season 3. Players will receive the medal corresponding to the highest CS rating achieved during the season, and the bars will reflect the total wins, with one bar equal to 25 wins (up to 5 bars).
All players with an account in good standing, 25 Premier wins, and an active CSR will receive their medal once the season is over.
Gameplay changes and Trade Protected Items
Here is the complete list of gameplay changes for Season 3, as revealed through a post on Steam:
- Fire from the incendiary grenade now spreads faster, occupying space rapidly to counter rushing Ts.
- The MP9 has gotten a bit of a nerf, with a harder to control spray and substantially less jumping accuracy.
- Change in CT economy: win or lose, CTs now receive a shared team award for each T eliminated in the round, so the more you win and the closer you keep your losses, the more you'll have to spend.
On top of that, Valve has introduced a new feature called Trade Protected Items. As described in the post, "In the unlikely event that you lose control of your account or were the target of a scam by a bad actor, you may reverse all Counter-Strike item trades from the last 7 days."
CS2 is the first game to have this feature, but Valve also said they're planning to add support to more titles in the future.
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