Rainbow 6 - MEET GRIDLOCK AND MOZZIE

Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:03 AM PST

Gridlock and Mozzie are mates from way back. From the first time they met at a robot destruct-o-rama in their teens to a few years later when Mozzie convinced Grid to join the Defence Force, they stayed in constant but distant contact. It wasn't until they were called in to help fight one of the century's largest bushfires that they really clicked. They've been deployed together ever since.

A farm girl from Central Queensland, Tori "Gridlock" Tallyo Fairous learned from an early age that the best way through any hardship is with the help of family. Years spent running the family cattle farm honed her natural leadership skills, but her preferred method for dealing with problems is to get stuck into them herself and to ignore the inevitable paperwork that piles up afterward. Suffice to say, taking on a more formal role as an officer in the SASR hasn't been one of her top priorities, despite the many attempts made to promote her.

Max "Mozzie" Goose is her opposite. Affectionately known as a "show pony" there's no mistaking when he walks into a room. He can talk for hours about the wild stunts he's pulled… But at the end of the day it's his exceptional work ethic and ability to integrate with any team – as well as his unnecessary yet spectacular derring-do – that made him a candidate for Rainbow.

Now that they've officially signed up, they're in for an unwelcome surprise: for the first time they're going to be facing off against each other. As an Attacker, Gridlock will be deploying her Trax Stingers – originally designed to stop pursuing vehicles in their tracks – to add a new dimension to her team's control of their surroundings. And Mozzie, as a Defender, will deploy his Pest to make the enemy think twice about their intel gathering strategies.

Whether the two of them can work against each other as effectively as they have together remains to be seen. Regardless, they're set to bring a sea-change to the Rainbow team with their can-do Aussie attitude and unique sense of humour, which may turn out to be just what the doctor ordered.

Gridlock and Mozzie are joining Rainbow Six with Operation Burnt Horizon. For more information, follow us on Facebook and Twitter or join the discussion on our subreddit and forums! Visit our Rainbow Six Twitch Channel on February 17 for the full reveal of Operation Burnt Horizon, live from the Six Invitational in Montréal.

Y4S1 DESIGNER’S NOTES: PRE-SEASON

Posted: 14 Feb 2019 08:06 AM PST

We have a few changes that will have an impact on gameplay. We are currently in the process of making tweaks and adjustments to some of the high impact Operators, while we continue reworks for Operators like Lion in the background.

These changes will come with the Y4S1 patch, and will be available on the Y4S1 Test Server. Please note that not all changes are final, and we will monitor feedback during the Test Server.

ASH
Removed ACOG from R4-C
Ash is very popular, and very strong. Within the balancing team, we are challenging whether or not all Attackers have ACOGs by default, and feel as if Ash is a great place to learn what impact the removal of Attacking ACOGs will have. Also, her R4-C is currently picked 99% of the time, and this should help balance her weapon pick rate a bit more.

MAVERICK
Increase swap time between SURI Torch and weapons
His ability to quietly make a hole in a reinforced wall and quickly swap to a weapon to punish Defenders is difficult to counter, so we will be increasing the amount of time it will take for him to swap from the blowtorch to a weapon.

We investigated making the sound louder, but that will require audio work that we cannot complete right now, and is therefore on the backlog of potential future changes.

DOKKAEBI
After 18 seconds, phone calls from Dokkaebi will hang up on their own
Being in range of Mute jammers will prevent Dokkaebi from calling you
Walking into range of Mute jammers will hang up phone calls during the call
Our goal with these changes is to reduce the Defender's frustration when playing against Dokkaebi. By introducing additional options for countering her Logic Bomb will offer more choice for Defenders.

CAPITAO
Increasing area of effect size
Reducing damage per tick from 19 to 12
We are introducing an improved propagation system that will make the area of effect not to go through objects. We have been working in this new version for a long time and, finally, we are able to see it in action with Capitao's asphyxiating bolts.

This new system allows us to improve the area of effect and, consequently, to reduce the damage inflicted by the bolts. With these changes we want to shift Capitao back to his original intention, which is that of an area denial Operator. Currently, his asphyxiating bolts are being used almost like a frag grenade, so the damage reduction and area of effect increase should reduce the viability of these asphyxiating bolts being used as frag grenades.

We will also be using the Test Server to experiment with different methods for how the area of effect from asphyxiating bolts interacts with the environment. We are looking for ways to increase how dynamic this area of effect can be when encountering environments with variable heights. Here is an example:

https://preview-static19.ubisoft.com/resource/en-us/game/news/rainbow6/siege-v3/3-9b0c1eda02c8_344177.gif

CLASH
Removing Muzzle Brake on Machine Pistol
The Muzzle Brake on Clash's Machine Pistol is the worst choice in all scenarios now that it is fully automatic, so we are removing it.

LESION
Reduced Gu Mines damage per tick from 8 to 4
Lesion is currently very strong, and we believe that it has to do with the total amount of damage that Gu Mines can inflict to player combined with preventing sprint and defuser planting actions. In order to minimize that, we are reducing the amount of damage that a single Gu Mine can do each tick.

BREACHING CHARGES
Deployment animation is much faster
Damage on Attacker's side is reduced from 150 to 50
Damage area of effect on Defender side is increased
Lethal damage area of effect on Defender side is reduced
We wanted to make the breach charge safer and more comfortable for the attackers to use.

CURRENT STATUS
DEPLOYABLE SHIELD
We are reworking the Deployable Shield, which has always been difficult to place properly, and also offered very little insight into whether or not your body was protected. We are reworking how the Deployable Shield functions, and how it is used within the game.

SHIELD OPERATORS
We are aware that the current playstyle for ballistic shields heavily favors direct gunfights instead of teamwork and tactical positioning. We are looking to address it by slowing down the speed of aiming down sights while having a shield equipped.

LION
As mentioned in the intro, and in the Designer's Notes from Y3S4.2, the Lion rework is in progress. More details at the Six Invitational!

GLAZ
We want to bring Glaz back to the original intention of being able to hold an angle or corridor and lock it down without becoming a very strong entry fragger.

BLITZ
We recognize that Blitz is one of the more frustrating Operators to play against. Increasing the amount of time required for him to aim down sights with his pistol is one of the ways we hope to alleviate this.

Additionally, we explored increasing the cooldown of his ability and tweaking how we detect flashes, but both of these changes will require extensive audio/code work, and are therefore on the backlog to look into for the future.