As we approach Season 6 in CAL, Day of Defeat: Source is handed a few changes. Season 5 saw the introduction of experimental 3rd party modifications known as the "Cone of Fire" and "Pistols" as well as the change in friction and movement speed. The purpose was to change the way the guns behaved and rewarding people for more accurate shots, but they also wanted to add in a second gun to kind of implement the 1.3 setting. When the programs were released they were met with mixed reviews, and both had their positives and negatives. For Season 6 however, these modifications are being left behind. CAL is going to go back to Vanilla source as it has been played prior to Season 5. Once again, this decision is controversial, and many in the community have express both praise and criticism towards the decision that CAL has made.
First and foremost, CAL is a league for all players - players looking for a fun environment for competition be they a very serious gamer, or a casual gamer. It is important for CAL to maintain a good middle ground for both; a middle ground that promotes good competition, as well as an area where casual gaming is still possible. Unfortunately with modifications such as the Cone of Fire and Pistols, one not only removes the 'ease' of joining a league such as CAL due to the requirement to modify a server (which requires some tech savvy), but these modifications change the game in a way that makes game servers less accessible and much harder to promote for pub play. If pub play cannot be promoted, there will not be a pool of players to spawn competitors out of. After all, every gamer starts out as a noob, a pubber!

A major concern for CAL specifically was the Cone of Fire (or CoF) and the change of balance it made to certain weapons. The CoF seems to provide a good fix to make the 'feel' of Source and its weapons similar to the original Gold engine. However an unfortunate by-product is the changing of the balance in guns. Some have become over-powered while others have become under-powered. In order to maintain a better consistency in competition as well as provide the most fair and balanced game-play, CAL has decided a mod such as the CoF is not in its best interest.

Another loss for the up-and-coming season 6 is the removal of many custom maps. CAL always has, and will, support custom mapping and mappers who desire to make a balanced, attractive map for competitive play. There is a line that needs to be drawn as to what maps, and how many, are needed. On top of being a hassle, and another 'tech savvy' issue for league play, custom maps such as Anzio+ are unnecessary. The original stock Anzio that is provided is already a very good map, if not one of the best. The purpose of Anzio+ was to hopefully better frame rates (Anzio is one of the larger, more taxing maps in Source) as well as get rid of what some believe to be 'undesirable' locations. But it is not up to CAL to provide such handicaps to those who have systems that under-perform this game. Also, a map such as Anzio+ is not as easily accessible or widely known as original stock Anzio - and the issue of promoting ease-of-access to CAL and the promotion of league-play is hindered.

What is staying with CAL this season is the changed friction and stop-speed settings. These settings have perhaps the most immediate positive influence on how weapons, movement, and their movement penalties behave. What makes it even better is the ease of change in the server configuration itself. The friction and stop-speed settings require no installation of a 3rd party mod. Very nice!

Ultimately CAL is trying to distance itself from relying too heavily on 3rd party modifications and focusing on the stock game itself. 3rd party modifications have to be redone every single game update. This is not only a hassle on the developers of these mods, but it also disrupts the league at any given time that these updates occur (which tend to happen on Wednesday match nights no less!). By removing 3rd party mods and relying only on the developers of the game itself (Valve) the consistency from season-to-season can be established and fluid transition into league play for casual, or competitive, competition can occur. The Day of Defeat: Source division has seen so many changes over the past couple of seasons that it's time to settle down and set the groundworks so the league can grow and competition can prosper.