Operation Black Ice will officially begins today in Rainbow Six Siege with a new content drop and a 2.0 patch that makes substantial tweaks and improvements to the game. One of the biggest new additions is the Yacht map, in which a luxury yacht hits an iceberg in the arctic Baffin Bay and Rainbow is sent to secure it. The update also adds new weapon skins and a Spectator Camera for all platforms, letting an 11th player join and switch between a tactical overhead view, a free-cam view and a first-person view.
Operation Black Ice also adds two new Operators from Canada's Joint Task Force 2 counterterrorism unit, Frost and Buck. Frost, a Defender, comes equipped with a mechanical leg trap that's undetectable by electronics scanners. Buck's assault rifle carries a "Skeleton Key" underbarrel shotgun, letting this new Attacker quickly breach and switch to close-range combat. Season Pass holders get instant access to Frost and Buck with a seven-day period of exclusivity, while all players can unlock them with Renown or R6 Credits when that period is over on February 9.
The update to version 2.0 also includes a ton of alterations geared toward balancing and improving the experience for players. For starters, Attackers will now be able to pick individual spawn points instead of voting as a group, making it harder for Defenders to pick them off as they spawn. In the same spirit of making things a little harder on opponents, your Operator's automatic shouts won't be heard by the enemy team, so you won't have to worry about accidentally giving away your position. Also, player ranks are being tweaked to enable more players to attain Gold, Platinum and Diamond status – and if you meet the new qualifications, you'll see an immediate change.
That's just the tip of Operation Black Ice's proverbial iceberg. To get a full rundown of the new Operators, features, changes and bug fixes coming with the update, check out the official page at www.rainbow6.com/BlackIce.
