Rainbow Six Siege Reveals Year 5 & 6 Roadmap & Major Changes

Ubisoft details year 5 and year 6 plans for Rainbow Six Siege, including operator and map reworks, and more massive gameplay changes and events.

You Are Reading :Rainbow Six Siege Reveals Year 5 & 6 Roadmap & Major Changes

We traveled to Montreal last week to chat with Ubisoft about the future of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and to watch the beginning of the Siege Invitational 2020 which wraps up year 4 of the game. With each season’s conclusion, and more so at the end of each year, Ubisoft reveals a bit about what’s coming next to the game.

Yesterday we took a deep dive into Year 5, Season 1 – titled Operation Void Edge – and today we’re looking at the longer-term the future, the longest in fact Ubisoft has ever revealed for Rainbow Six Siege.

The presentation at Ubi Montreal began with the line every year is the best year but this year they “mean it” and then we learned about not only what’s in the pipeline for Rainbow Six Siege Year 5, but Year 6 as well. And this is because Year 5 is what Ubisoft dubs a “hybrid” year and is better explained by seeing how Year 6 shapes up (the same applies for R6 esports, but more on that later). The other reason is that Ubisoft is fully confident and already planning a longer-term future for Siege.

Rainbow Six Siege Year 5 Roadmap

The main objective is to fully realize the original vision of the game in years 5 and 6, so Ubisoft has developed a two-year plan with the old core team and is exploring new areas of gameplay. You’ll see that seasons 1 and 2 of Year 5 are structured differently than the back half and that’s because it’s a “hybrid” year.

Every season has a major event and an arcade playlist (one per season for first half of year, multiple for future seasons). An example we saw of this is the golden gun playlist which is exactly what it sounds like for you GoldenEye fans. As you can see there are no new maps and a reduction in new operators. Instead, Ubisoft – having built over 20 maps and over 50 operators – is now focusing on improving and adding to what’s already there.

Year 5 Snapshot

• Six new operators (down from eight)
• 4 map reworks (Oregon, House, Skyscraper, Chalet)

But there’s more. As part of “core gameplay and reworks” Ubisoft is taking a similar approach to operators as it does maps. And yes, that means Tachanka – the universally beloved, memed, but generally terrible operator is getting a total rework. This helps make up for there being – at a glance – less new operators. Old operators and old maps are becoming new and more competitive going forward.

Map Bans

Over the last two years Rainbow Six Siege added the pick & ban system for operators and more control for players in choosing where they start on attack or defense. The same is coming to maps, much like we see in the pro league championships. In ranked play teams will each be able to vote to ban a map (out of a selection of three). If both teams ban the same map, they’ll randomly get one of the remaining two.

Gameplay and Game Changes

One of the biggest changes of year 5 is the reputation system which adds more detail and groups players based on rep. In terms of gameplay, we’ll see some game-changing updates as well including the ability to tag specific gadgets. Rainbow Six Siege lead game designer Jean-Baptiste Hallé tells us an area of focus is the prep phase, to make that more important and fun. Soon, players will be able to use drones to let their tag gadgets (i.e. where Kapkan mines or Frost traps are). Operator reworks are big part of this too and can happen during seasons, instead of right at the beginning when new operators release. This gives Ubisoft more flexibility.

Another focus for Ubisoft is adding to the narrative storytelling of the game each season. This is less about gameplay and more about building out the lore and characters of the game that the community rallies behind.

New Stuff We’ll see in Year 5

• The ping 2.0 system releases in its first iteration in the first half year 5 so players can get hands-on and provide feedback.
• Secondary gadget for hard-breaching. The goal here is to free up the roster so teams aren’t always forced to pick Thermite or Hibana.
• Map Bans – each team bans a map – they can ban same map (3 offered in total)
• Defenders are getting a proximity alarm. It can be thrown anywhere to cover flanks and works similar to a metal detector we see in some maps.
• Replay system (looks like spectator/commentator system – different angles, highlighted players) which will be essential for content creators and pros.
• Arcade Playlists (example is one-shot golden D-50 Desert Eagle)
• Improving balance of speed versus armor (speed overpowered)
• Giving reason for players to pay attention when dead or when losing a drone, more to do during prep phases as well

Lord Tachanka Rework

• Tachanka finally gets the love he needs. Concept of being immobile doesn’t fit the game, so now he carries the LMG turret as a primary weapon
• Hid gadget is an incendiary grenade launcher that launches flame grenades rapid fire… the ultimate area denial tool, an an alternative to Smoke.

Ash Becomes Lara Croft

• Ash is getting a special Tomb Raider Elite Skin, from a partnership between Ubisoft and Crystal Dynamics. It releases this season with Operation Void Edge.

Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 Roadmap

Year 6 builds off the back half of what we see in Year 5. There’s no info here on what maps will be reworked or where new operators hail from, but we at least understand the vision and cadence. The message is the same – more updates, more improvements, more features and events, all in an effort to improve, expand, and balance what the game already has. And of course, they’re doing this with more monetization (new battle pass each season, plus the annual season pass).

Restructuring Content Releases

• Gameplay Investments (4 operators/year but more core gameplay changes)
• Continuous engagement (bi-weekly distribution, Battle Pass)
• New Consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X, Stadia)

Year 6 introduces the Rainbow Six Cup, which sort of bringing the Six Invitational structure to players at home. You and four friends can compete to see who’s best.

There’s a lot here to digest but out of all the details what we’re most curious about is how the battle pass affects the season pass now that there’s less “new” content per season, and where the mystery operator from Year 5, Season 3 is. They’re intentionally keeping this one a surprise, likely to drop a major character to distract from that being the very first season of there being only one new operator. Maybe it’s Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell or a character from Rainbow Six Quarantine which releases in 2020.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/rainbow-six-siege-year-5-6-roadmap-major-changes/