Posted in: eSports, Games, Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft, Video Games | Tagged: rainbow six: siege, Six Invitational, The Six Invitational

Rainbow Six Siege Unveils Its Plans For Year Nine

Ubisoft dropped a ton of new information at The Six Invitational, revealing their plans for Rainbow Six Siege - Year Nine.

Ubisoft is holding its annual Six Invitational tournament in Brazil this weekend, and with it came the annual news of what's coming for Rainbow Six Siege over the next year. Yesterday, the team revealed what they have in store for Season 1 with the reveal of Deadly Omen, giving us a new Operator and other changes. Now we have a clearer picture of what 2024 will bring to the game as Year Nine will add a second Operator to the mix in Season 3, two Operator remasters to change things up, and a new set of balancing changes for all characters. Year Nine's main objective will be to reinforce fair gameplay as they have announced a number of improvements to the game, a new cross-play update, more anti-cheat and anti-toxicity measures, and more to come that has yet to be revealed. We have the full rundown of everything the team revealed today, along with a video from the Six Invitational.

Rainbow Six Siege – Year Nine Roadmap

Operation Deadly Omen, the first season of Year Nine, brings the terrifying villain Deimos to players' control. Additionally, season one will introduce important updates, such as a new inventory management menu. Known as the Locker, this system is an easier way for players to organize, view, and access their skins collection. Following the Year Eight Season 4 Test Server Lab, other updates include a revamped shield mechanic for more balanced play and an attachments & ADS upgrade. The ADS upgrade will reward and reinforce a tactical playstyle by reducing access to magnifying and supporting a methodical playstyle. Season 2's remasters will relaunch fully upgraded Operators and breathe new life into some old favorites, beginning with Recruit, the starting Operator. Additionally, Season 2 will introduce the following: the full release of the Reputation System; map filters in the Standard Playlist; new maps and new Target drills in the Map Training Playlist, and the full release of Siege Marketplace.

Season 3 will introduce a new Greek Operator, long-awaited badges and career system, access to the Shooting Range during matchmaking, the Siege Cup tournament, and a revamped versus AI mode with a full new feature: AI can control attackers, allowing players to play as Defenders this time. The upcoming badge system is intended to celebrate and recognize player achievements, allowing players to showcase players' dedication. Additionally, the Siege Cup event, a competitive tournament system, will offer players unique rewards. The new Versus AI playlist, which uses machine learning to replicate a specific Attacker playstyle, allows players to practice their defense in preparation for matches. Finally, Season 4 updates include remastering a beloved American Operator and a cross-play update to access matchmaking with PC for
Console players. Additionally, Season 4 plans to support anti-cheat efforts by implementing a system that will automatically kick cheaters and minimize the negative impact cheaters have on matches.

Player Protection

Rainbow Six Siege remains committed to fair, resonant gameplay for all players and maintains a zero-tolerance policy for toxicity and cheating. New strike teams will be able to update and reinforce anti-cheat solutions more regularly, including the QB System for PC users and Mousetrap for Console users. Year Nine continues to build on player protection features, such as new ranked playlist requirements, an update to the Reputation System, and improvements to data bans. In particular, the team improved on the machine learning-based data bans to be more effective in reducing the impact of cheaters, alongside improved account bans on PC. Mousetrap will be implemented within the Reputation System, and there will be a full release of automated text chat moderation.

Player Comfort & Long-Term Progression

Following Year Eight's updates, more player comfort-focused updates will launch this year. Player comfort updates intend to improve the quality of life and add features for a smoother Rainbow Six Siege experience. In Season 1, these include improvements to rappel entry and exit as well as improved gadget pickup. Also coming in Operation Deadly Omen is the Locker, an easier way for players to sort, favorite, and manage their collected items. Furthermore, a new badge and career system that celebrates players' achievements will be added, encouraging them to earn badges and using the career page to see an overview of their progress.
Players can also expect previsualization to be implemented for mechanics like projectile trajectory, drone jump, and deployable gadgets. Previsualization allows players to be more confident and precise with their gadget use, effectively onboarding new or returning players to the current state of the game. Trajectory previsualization will be available in all game modes and can be turned on or off in settings.

Additionally, Year Nine plans to introduce improvements for matches, including a new 1v1 preset for custom games and a better matchmaking system. Dynamic matchmaking will be tuned to each specific region, so players will be matched appropriately, regardless of where or when they play. The development team plans to launch After-Action Report 2.0 to provide better visibility for the end of the matches and provide more details on the match played.

Balancing

The objective of balancing in Rainbow Six Siege this year is to break the run and gun meta to highlight utility and strategic play through emphasizing the balance between gunplay and utility. The goal is to ensure that gunplay is not the sole option in all situations, as well as to reinforce our Attackers lineup. In Year Nine, the development team is focused on delivering meaningful balancing updates, split into three categories. The first being an Operator, loadout, or gadget update to always be on top of current gameplay needs. The second category is system updates, split into separate entities that affect the game globally, like an update to shotguns or attachments. The third and most significant category is a remaster, which is the most in-depth change and affects Operators' base stats, loadouts, gadget capability, and more. An Operator remaster is a reimagining of them and their in-game use, like Tachanka in recent years. To ensure the Operator roster remains impactful to play, remastered Operators will be chosen from their pick rates, ban rates, and if previous balancing levers were ineffective. Consequently, the team will implement remasters for two Operators, as well as balancing for Solis, Azami, Fenrir, and others. Season 1 also adds an LMG update, which, along with the attachment update and new balancing levers, makes this weapon class more viable.

Training & Onboarding

To improve how new players are introduced to Rainbow Six Siege, fully revamped onboarding features introduced in Year Eight, including new Tutorials, will continue to receive updates this year. Specifically, Year Nine will expand the Versus AI and Map Training Playlist modes introduced last season. Season 1 will bring additional Operators and maps to the Versus AI mode, helping players develop in-game strategies based on the AI's behavior. In Season 2, onboarding updates will continue to add Operators and maps. Furthermore, Season 2 will introduce a large update to Target Drill in the Map Training Playlist and more improvements.

Season 3 brings a new cover lane to Shooting Range, a new Drone Drill Playlist, as well as Additional Operators and Maps to the Versus AI Playlist. These features will offer players the effective tools to improve their competitive play and train strategic efficiency. Finally, Season 4 will receive more updates for the Versus AI and Maps Training Playlists, such as additional Operators and Maps. Understanding a map is key to succeeding in gameplay, and with more maps available, players can practice and develop stronger strategies across matches.

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