Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Siege X News

Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 release date, operators, and roadmap

Now Ubisoft has announced it's full plan for Year 6, let's take a look at the roadmap, including every update coming in Year 6 and Crimson Heist.

Year 6 sees a revamp of the usual annual content plan, making big changes to season updates starting with an operator landing in each season, as well as some operator reworks, and battle pass changes. The Rainbow Six Siege Crimson Heist release date also sees a brand new secondary weapon, the introduction of new operator Flores, and a Border map rework - among smaller changes and systems to a replay system, and streamer mode.

The rest of the year, however, is still fairly light on details, although we do have a full Year 6 roadmap and know what to expect from the operator reworks, skins, reduced downtime, and reputation system plans. Here's everything Ubisoft announced at the panel event and what we can expect from Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 and the four seasons ahead.

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Rainbow Six Siege's Blackbeard could get "a complete rework, a bit like Tachanka"

Earlier this week, Ubisoft Montreal revealed in the Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 Season 1 designer notes that Blackbeard is in for some key nerfs when Crimson Heist's launch arrives. The attacking op will see his shield's health dropped by more than half and his MK17 damage dialled down - but, it's possible we could see a more comprehensive rework down the line.

In an interview with the FPS game's director Jean-Baptiste Hallé ahead of the Rainbow Six Siege Crimson Heist release date, we asked whether Blackbeard might see a nerf in Year 6 or beyond, given he's not necessarily overpowered, but that his shield in its current state can be a point of frustration in a gunfight with the op. "I've never been happy with Blackbeard to be entirely transparent with you," Hallé tells us.

"It's a matter of priority. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up needing a complete rework, a bit like Tachanka had." However, it looks like we won't see anything along these lines hit the game soon. "Right now, we have higher priorities to tackle in terms of balancing, but I cannot be happy with Blackbeard's state if he's considered as frustrating as he is," he continues.

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Dev Blog: Streamer Mode

In November, we released an article outlining the top issues and community concerns among the Rainbow Six Siege community. Protecting our content creators from players using streamers’ public information to disrupt their experience was highlighted among our top priorities. With the release of Streamer Mode, creators will have more control over what information is publicly available, protecting them from Stream and Queue Sniping.

So, what are these disruptive actions and our efforts to stop them in their tracks? Read on for the details.

Queue Sniping

Queue Sniping—when players taunt or kill a streamer after they deliberately queue at the same time as them—has been a growing problem within the Siege community. Streamer Mode will give creators two forms of protection against Queue Sniping:

Hide Region and Latency – This will allow users to hide all instances where region and ping are mentioned.
Hidden Matchmaking Delay – This will offer a random, hidden delay to the streamer’s matchmaking. The streamer will be able to choose from several delay options. The delay will not impact a player rejoining a match if they are reconnecting.

Find these settings in the Options menu under “Streamer Mode preferences.” Utilizing these settings will greatly reduce the ability of players who are watching a stream to purposely queue into that streamer’s lobby. This isn’t the only issue facing content creators, though.

Stream Sniping

There are instances in which players also intentionally use another player’s livestream to gather information and get an unfair edge, or to act in a disruptive manner. This behavior, calledStream Sniping, is another issue we want to protect against. Our initial release of Streamer Mode will have three settings that empower creators in the battle against these disruptive actions.

Hide Names – This option--listed as “Hide Usernames” for PC players, “Hide Online IDs” for PlayStation players, and “Hide Gamertags” for Xbox players--gives users the ability to hide their own name or the names of their entire team by replacing them with randomly generated presets taken from the NATO phonetic alphabet. This will be reflected not only in-game, but also across text and voice comms, the scoreboard, and Squad drop down.
Hide Clearance Level – Hide the Clearance level on the after-match bonus screen and the contact panel by replacing it with a placeholder.
Hide Avatar – This allows streamers to hide their avatar and replace it with a placeholder.

[h3]Stream Sniping Next Steps[/h3]

Currently, these settings will only impact the point of view from the streamer, limiting the information those watching have regarding the match. However, our team is hard at work on the next iteration of Streamer Mode. Our hope with the next version is the anonymization provided by these settings will be seen by all players in the match, not just the streamer.

Match ID Display and Reporting

Cheating and toxicity are subjects we are [committed to winning](http://rainbow6.com/anticheat_update) the war against. We understand that allowing players to activate these options may raise concerns regarding the process of reporting cheating and disruptive behavior. For this reason, we will add visibility of the Match ID on each match’s scoreboard. This not only gives players a reference point when reporting, but also increases our team’s ability to accurately investigate these reports.

Conclusion

Streamer Mode is just one step we are taking in our efforts to protect our players and is a feature we intend to keep building upon. This is just the first version. We are currently working on and will be releasing a second version that will strengthen and improve stream sniping protections. As we continue to listen to your concerns, our efforts to address those concerns will also continue. We look forward to sharing more updates regarding our work addressing issues facing content creators in the future.

Crimson Heist

Kicking off 2021, all of us at Rainbow Six Siege are proud to introduce Crimson Heist, a season that gears players up for the ultimate heist. A new Operator is joining our ranks: the sly and tactical Flores, an Attacker from Argentina who knows how to mix precision and passion. He brings the RCE-Ratero Charge, a remote-controlled charge, with a timed explosion, that sneaks up on unsuspecting opponents.

Crimson Height is an action-packed season that offers reworks of the Border map and Newcomer playlist, a new secondary weapon, and plenty of other exciting additions. Are you ready to get the stash? Keep reading the Patch Notes below to discover more.

View Patch Notes

Rainbow Six Siege Crimson Heist - everything we know about Y6S1

Wondering exactly what Y6S1 will bring in Rainbow Six Siege? The recently announced Crimson Heist features a brand new operator, as well as reworking the Border map, and drone proximity awareness coming for attackers to avoid Mozzie's Pests.

As well as laying out the Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 roadmap, Ubisoft also went into great detail about what to expect from the first season at the reveal event. Year 6's Operation Crimson Heist, introduces Argentinian attacker Flores, a medium speed attacker with four special drones that come loaded with explosives.

There's also a new secondary weapon on the way for some operators, which fires one powerful, explosive shot capable of destroying unreinforced hatches, and cannot be destroyed once the timed explosion is activated. Sure, you'll have to choose between a pistol or a one shot projectile, but it's gadget destroying capabilities make this a worthy entry. Here's everything you need to know about Rainbow Six Siege Crimson Heist.

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