Yeah, this has gone on for so long lol. I always end up making threads far much longer than they need to be xD
Flags look the same to me, but I might be lost as fuck lol
The dumbed down aspects, I dislike, but dont mind. I get frustrated when I die to someone mid jump with an AK, or phantom. It's unfortunate, somewhat tilting. In the end, I've ran into more bullshit on games like cs, where I've been mid jump no scoped from T spawn while I was jumping across a smoked double doors on dust2. Shit happens. In mid to lower elo, the skill ceiling doesn't matter. My issue with the skill ceiling, is at the top level.
You're right with Cs being more punishing. It's why I always enjoyed the comp side of Cs, but never the fpl/pug streams from pro players. Same reason why I couldn't watch shroud that much, until he came back from mixer(before mixer he had the personality of a snail, but great gameplay), and somehow gained a personality because he can just play whatever he wants not.
Watching pubs and playing pubs in a game where you dont 16-3 or 16-8 opponents while dropping 30-40, is honestly a lot more fun. In comp, go for the stomps. I'm more than happy with a 13-0 in an event, compared to a 13-10 or 13-11. That shit wears you down if you're playing consecutive matches in one day.
Pubs, fuck 13-0s. that shit makes me bored out of my mind if every match i'm winning, is a 13-4, 13-5, etc. It's fun in the beginning, but if it lasts weeks. I tend to just get bored and go onto the next subject. It happened to me on console, over and over. Went from CoD, to tlou, to uncharted, to killzone, to gears of war, halo, etc.
It's why I wish I tried to get into the comp side of either of those games, as what drives me is playing against better people and seeing where I could improve from my mistakes.
It's why I enjoy tac fps games after coming to pc. There are people who've spent tens of thousands of hours in the genre, and I find it so much fun to play against better people. Shit drives me to improve, and I love it. playing against people I know I'm better than, shit is just demotivating.