I like to think I'm somewhat credible in this discussion since I peaked at CS:GO FACEIT level 10 before I switched to playing solely VALORANT. Most of what I will discuss will be a comparison between VALORANT's native deathmatch and CS:GO's community deathmatch servers.

VALORANT's Current Deathmatch

So, it's no secret that since Riot added deathmatch to VALORANT it's been a hot topic. Riot's most recent significant change to deathmatch saw an "improved" spawning logic, and a respawn time decreased from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds. Some time before that, they reduced the player count from 14 to 12.

You might have noticed that almost every time you play deathmatch a few players will leave virtually immediately. That means that right away you'll often find yourself in a deathmatch server with about 9-10 players in the server. That's half of the number of players on a typical CS:GO community deathmatch.

You also can't join a deathmatch midway through. I imagine this is because of a limitation of the game itself, similar to how you can't queue for a game in the range - the game doesn't let you connect to a different game/server if you're already in one. That makes sense in almost all situations, but it's a real pain in the ass when it comes to deathmatch.

A 1.5 second respawn time doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider that most deathmatches end in about 5 minutes because somebody reached 40 kills, it adds up. Let's say you die 20 times in a deathmatch - that's 30 seconds, or 10% of the game you've spent waiting to respawn. And for what? It just pointlessly slows down the game even more and further reduces the number of "active" players on the server at any given time.

I don't even have to mention the countless times you spawn in a place that forces you to be exposed to multiple places at once, and you get shot in the back or the side of the head.

What’s Different About CS:GO’s Community Deathmatch Servers?

It's easier to bullet point the advantages of playing on a community deathmatch server compared to VALORANT's native deathmatch.

• High player count - typically 18-24 players.
• Instant respawn - leads to more frequent fights.
• 24/7 deathmatch - play for as long as you like. You don't need to queue for another deathmatch if somebody reaches X amount of kills or if the timer runs out.
• Anti-camping - this forces players to move about the map, and punishes those that don't. It stops players from camping certain spots that may be easier to defend from.
• No spawn protection - it's just annoying when somebody has spawned near you and you have to constantly watch them to make sure they don't start playing again and shoot you in the back.
• Weapon-only deathmatch - pistol deathmatch is great for practising pistol rounds.
• Map specific - some maps are much more suited to deathmatch than others.
• Headshot-only deathmatch - useful for increasing your headshot % and making sure you have good crosshair placement.

These measures mean that people can play deathmatch for as long as they wish with no interruptions, and have as many fights as is possible. You want to practice with pistols? Be my guest. Headshots-only? Sure thing. The possibilities are endless!

Why It’s Not as Simple as It Looks

If Riot removed the respawn time completely or increased the player count, that would mean that more fights would occur per unit time, meaning more kills per seconds. That in turn would mean that players would reach the kill limit sooner, making deathmatch even shorter than it is at the moment. Okay, well couldn't Riot increase the kill limit or remove it altogether? Well yes, they could. But that would probably mean that more people leave because the deathmatch lasts too long.

Riot could figure out the average length of a deathmatch and remove the kill limit completely and just bring the time down to that average, but in my opinion that's not the best solution, especially if it actually is possible to allow players to join/leave as they please.

The Most Important Improvements (TL;DR)

These improvements assume that it's not easy or it's not plausible to allow players to leave or join deathmatch servers as they wish. These improvements would increase the number of fights a player finds themselves in, thus making deathmatch more efficient for warming up. Perhaps this could be introduced as a separate gamemode as it would be more intense (that would mean the player count is divided between the gamemodes, however).

• Remove respawn time.
  • This increases the number of fights occurring at any give moments.
  • Players waste less time respawning.
  • Get shot in the back? Whatever, you respawn instantly and can take another fight.
• Increase the player count.
  • Riot would have to experiment (PBE?) with player counts, and could even make it map-specific. It probably wouldn't have to be much of an increase if paired with the removal of the respawn time.
  • This also softens the impact of players leaving before the deathmatch ends.
• Remove the kill limit.
  • Instead, find the typical length of a deathmatch - it seems to be about 7 minutes most of the time.
  • Keeping the time limit shorter will reduce the number of people leaving the deathmatch.

These simple changes would mean that deathmatch lasts just as long as it does currently (on average) all whilst increasing the number of fights occurring in the game.

What are your thoughts? Do you use deathmatch to warm up currently?