Rainbow Six Siege celebrated the first season of Year 6 by revealing Crimson Heist this past weekend, along with its new Operator, Flores, and a rework of the Border map. The team also revealed more of what’s coming this year and beyond, starting with a Year 6 roadmap:
- Year 6 Season 2: Operator from Nakoda Nations and a rework of the Favela map.
- Year 6 Season 3: Operators from Croatia along with three slightly reworked maps.
- Year 6 Season 4 : Operator from Ireland, as well as a rework of Outback.
Player behavior was also a topic for the team, with the reveal that the Reputation System was shadow-tested in the previous season, but not visible to players. When the tool launches later in Year 6, it will be visible to players and will show them their rating; the goal is to encourage positivity with in-game rewards, and to punish toxicity with sanctions like limiting access to the ranked playlist. The team has also been developing a streamer mode in order to help content creators remain anonymous in-game, so players can hide their name, region, and ping from the viewing audience, as well as hide the names of other players in the match, their clearance level, and profile image. A version of the streamer mode will be available on the Crimson Heist Test Server.
Of course, Rainbow Six Siege will continue to benefit from continual core gameplay updates this year, starting with a new secondary weapon called the Gonne-6, which is loaded with a single explosive shot that can destroy any bulletproof gadget. The Gonne-6 will be introduced on the Crimson Heist Test Server as an option for Glaz, Dokkaebi, Lion, Finka, Gridlock, Amaru, Iana, and Zero.
A few other gameplay updates coming later in Year 6 will have a big impact on Preparation and Support phases. In the Prep phase, Attackers will be able to change their Operator selection and adjust their loadout as many times as they like before the countdown ends and the Action Phase begins, giving them more flexibility to make tactical decisions based on their drone scouting. In the Support phase, players will be able to control cameras, drones, and gadgets after their death, allowing them to continue to support their teammates who are left standing. Lastly, Armor ratings will be converted to Health totals to more clearly communicate how much damage different Operators can take. Again, these updates are slated to release later in Year 6.
Rounding out the topics were quality of life and customization. DDoS attacks have been down 90% this year for Rainbow Six Siege, and the technical team is working closely with the Microsoft Azure team to reduce matchmaking time and improve overall server stability. The overall file size of Rainbow Six Siege will come down as the team works to streamline the game to take up less space on players’ hard drives.
As for customization, players will have the option to incorporate other cosmetic items into their Elite sets in order to create a truly customized look for their Operators. Furthermore, a Resident Evil crossover event is coming in Year 6, bringing an Elite skin of Resident Evil’s Jill Valentine for Zofia and an additional unnamed skin. The team has also announced its partnership with Creative Director Ikumi Nakamura on a series of skins, starting with Echo and Dokkaebi on March 2.
Along with the 2021 roadmap, the team revealed extensive plans for the 2021 season of Rainbow Six Siege Esports. Be sure to check out all the latest news here, and for more information on Rainbow Six Siege, check out our previous coverage.
