Rainbow 6 - North Star |
| Posted: 24 May 2021 09:55 AM PDT  Rainbow Six Siege is introducing Year 6 Season 2, North Star! When some of our beloved Operators end up in a difficult situation, only the best of the best can come to the rescue. Introducing Thunderbird, a free-spirited pilot from the Nakoda Territories in Saskatchewan, Canada. Possessing a quiet strength, she uses the Kóna Healing Station to help the fallen on the battlefield. This season, players can expect balancing changes to Melusi, Smoke, Mira, and Nøkk, a redesign of the scoreboard, and much more. New after-death gameplay will also be featured on the Test Server. Read the Patch Notes below for more information. View Patch Notes[rainbow6.com]  |
| Y6S2 PRE-SEASON DESIGNER'S NOTES Posted: 24 May 2021 06:37 AM PDT  In this latest edition of Designer's Notes, we'll go into more detail about the balancing changes that'll come with North Star and the Y6S2 patch. This season, we have quite a wide range of balancing tweaks and overall reworks (with a number coming exclusively to the Test Server for, well, TESTING). There's a ton to cover below, so scroll on for insights into the reasons behind these changes. BALANCING MATRIX AND TOP OPERATOR BANS WIN DELTA VS. PRESENCE   Please note that we are using presence to gauge the popularity of an Operator. This notion had to be introduced to reflect the implementation of the pick & ban. Presence definition: pick rate of an Operator when not banned. Win Delta: The Win Delta is aggregated from Operator's Win Deltas per Bomb Site. OPERATOR BAN RATE   MAJOR REWORKS GAMEPLAY AFTER DEATH (TEST SERVER ONLY) Starting off with a big topic, we first want to make it clear that Gameplay After Death will not come to Siege's Live servers this season. Instead, we want to give you an early look at this rework on the Test Server for two important reasons:
First, what is the intention behind Gameplay After Death? Put simply, we want players to feel invested in their team's success, right up until the last second of the round. We want players to be able to feel their impact on the match outcome. In doing so, our goal is to keep players interested and engaged, even after their operator has been eliminated. This means less downtime, and a greater range of gameplay opportunities in Support mode. Ultimately, it's essential to us that this is balanced so that players remaining alive in a match is always the superior option. Even if this change means that getting fragged will be a bit less punishing than it was before, it should still be something players actively avoid, given the threat that loss of utility and support poses. In other words: one of the things we want to make certain of before releasing this system is that it is never a valid strategy to initiate careless fights early in the round and not worry about dying. We are very aware that this change will likely affect the whole game's balance. Operators whose abilities revolve around observational tools in particular will need to be rebalanced as we take this new system into account. We've already begun this task and will continue doing so with the help of your feedback. We know that this feature will bring a fundamental change, but it is a change that we believe will continue to sharpen the Siege experience. After all, you can't rework an operator without breaking a couple mounted LMGs. What are the changes? We have added a number of gameplay elements for players on both sides to aid them after their operators have died: ATTACKERS
Specifically for Defenders, we have added new tools to help counter the threat of Attacker drones:
DEATH EXPERIENCE
Our main focus was to help players understand how they died and keep them in the action. We feel it is important for players to understand exactly what happened in order for there to be an opportunity to learn. Thus, the camera will now look towards what killed the player for a few seconds (note: this can be reduced to two seconds in Custom Game settings) without slow motion or a sudden close-up on the opponent. Then, players can watch the replay to get additional details if needed. Depending on their needs, players will be able to skip through this death sequence as quickly as they want in order to get into their cameras and help their team. We also wanted to make sure the amount of intel shared during the sequence was fairer. In this way, only relevant details to a given frag will be shared with eliminated players. For example, when dying to a Kapkan trap, players won't be informed of how much HP Kapkan has, or where he is. ELIMINATED OPERATOR ICONS
This will guarantee that lines of sight are not unfairly obstructed, that gadgets, defusers or prone operators can't be hidden in them, and will make it easier for players to identify which operator was eliminated. BULLET HOLES
Now, players will have to shoot a soft surface multiple times in order to create a hole big enough to peek through, providing those being peeked upon a fairer chance to identify and react to this threat. Please note that bullet holes in thin materials like window glass, barricades, and the inner cores of props are not affected by this change. Speaking to barricades specifically, they were excluded from this feature as they work differently than walls. That being said, even though removing bullet holes from walls is a huge step toward addressing the issue, we are acutely aware that bullet holes in barricades will still pose a similar concern. We are currently working on a solution to address this for a future update and will keep you informed as we have more to share. HP REPLACING ARMOR (TEST SERVER ONLY)
To streamline this and establish clear health pools for all operators, each armor class has been assigned a different HP total. This should make it easier for players to accurately judge the impact of an offensive play and coordinate accordingly, taking the mystery out of armor values. Please note, this is a TEST SERVER ONLY change. As this rework nears completion and the team uses this additional time to finetune and tweak it, we wanted to give you a chance to try it out on the Test Server. We're excited to hear what you think! SHATTERED GLASS
At its most basic, this melee hit will make it impossible for players to see through the shattered glass of their device as it will turn opaque, requiring them to adapt their strategy on the fly. This means opposing players will have more options at their disposal when it comes to dealing with one. Will you use an explosive to guarantee the utility's destruction? Risk exposing yourself to shatter it with a melee hit and throw off enemy intel? Avoid it entirely? In addition to the basic act of shattering, different gadgets will react differently to this rework. For Mira's Black Mirror, shattered glass will hinder the vision of players on both sides of the window and will now explode when the canister is destroyed. This will make aggressive windows in heavily reinforced spaces easier to deny, although well-protected windows will still favour the Defenders given the risk associated with approaching a window. As for Maestro's Evil Eye, even after being shattered, he will be able to use it as a microphone and can still open the device to use its turret functionalities. This should help even out the risk vs. reward of Evil Eye placement as this new counter will require Maestro players to be more thoughtful with their placement or risk losing part of its utility. Finally, Bulletproof Cameras are expected to survive longer in matches, albeit with their glass shattered. Since they are now melee-proof from the front but can be shattered with this melee, opposing players will have to make the choice of burning explosive utility to eliminate them, leaving them operational-yet-shattered, or spending time looking for the right angle to destroy them. SMOKE PROPOGATION
This helps improve the experience of facing him, as Attackers will be able to better predict the impact and effect of a thrown canister. Not only this, but it should eliminate a number of exploits that made certain bomb sites easier to defend, requiring a more dangerous playstyle that risks denial in order to achieve similar results. In addition to changing the behavior of this toxic gas, we've modified the way that its damage is tracked, dealing flat damage over time for the whole duration that someone is in the toxic cloud's area of effect. We have also added a new sound for when the canister detonates. This means that even though Smoke's gas no longer defies the laws of physics, it will remain a formidable deterrent for approaching Attackers. MUZZLE REWORK
Now, these two attachments fill more unique roles. The compensator focuses on helping to control horizontal recoil, making it a great choice for weapons with noticeable swing. For the flash hider, the focus is on vertical recoil and limiting vertical spread of bullets. These changes allow players to more closely tailor their loadouts to the needs of the weapons they're using. We expect that this will make some weapons feel easier to control than before once players begin experimenting, so as always, we will be closely monitoring performance and stats, and will adjust as needed. OPERATOR BALANCING ASH
Likely surprising no one, Ash is currently positioned with the highest presence of any Attacker or Defender on the Balancing Matrix. Not only does she have the highest kill-per-round ratio among Attackers, but her Breaching Rounds offer a great deal of flexibility and utility in the heat of combat. At the end of the day, Ash is a great all-around pick who unfortunately outclasses some of her contemporaries. In order to bring her more in line with other frag-forward operators like Iana, we have reduced her available Breaching Rounds and increased the recoil of her R4-C. For context, this recoil increase is less intense than that of Jäger in Y6S1.3, but we still want to hear what you think after getting your hands on it on the Test Server. Now, on to the Breaching Rounds. As you may recall, this reverts a change from Y5S4 that granted Ash an additional one. The original intention for this was to balance out the utility meta and increase the pace of the game in the wake of rebalances to projectiles in attack and catchers in defense. Now, with new denial tools like the GONNE-6 and the brand new rework to Melusi's Banshee (more on that below) that reduces the need to burn a Breaching Round to reliably eliminate it, we feel that this change is no longer necessary and by reverting it, it will make other operators more appealing. FINKA
Coinciding with the announcement of Thunderbird, our latest operator and owner of a healing gadget, we wanted to make some adjustments to Finka to bring her gadget in line with Thunderbird's and Doc's. Specifically, we felt it was important to make sure their healing effects were consistent with one another. Now that the additional health of Finka's Adrenal Surge is no longer tied to an active timer, this should help to make it less of a situational tool, encouraging more active usage of it. NØKK (TEST SERVER ONLY)
Population targeted by this change: Casual, Top Ranked and Pros. Following up on our last set of tweaks to Nøkk's HEL Presence Reduction Device, we wanted to take this experimentation a step further by drilling down to its effect on laser-based gadgets. Now, while use of the HEL will allow Nøkk to bypass proximity gadgets, laser-based gadgets will still pose a threat, activating as normal. Between this and the removal of noise reduction on her ability, we want to strike a healthy balance between stealthy counter-intel utility that rewards smart play, and her becoming the embodiment of everyone's favorite extraterrestrial hunter from the 80's. The use of her HEL should be interesting to use, but not so effective that it bypasses all opposition. As a reminder, this is a TEST SERVER ONLY change. We will turn it off before releasing the new season to continue working on her. As with the previous change, we have tested this change internally and are interested to hear your feedback so we can iterate as needed before deploying such a notable change to the wider community. MELUSI
We promised that we were listening to your Melusi feedback! It's no secret that bulletproof gadgets can be difficult and costly to deal with, so adding in the disorienting effects of the Banshee, Melusi had quite a strong gadget on her hands and her extremely high presence in the Balancing Matrix reflects that. In order to better balance its strengths and its weaknesses, we've added a new mechanic to this gadget. Banshees will now deploy in a closed, bulletproof and melee-proof state. Once a player activates a Banshee, it will open up, revealing its Core, which is its weak point. The Banshee Core can then be destroyed with gunfire or melee attacks, giving players multiple options for approaching and eliminating one outside of relying on explosives. This should help to alleviate some of the frustration caused by this gadget, while still rewarding strategic use of it. Since Attackers need to activate the Banshee to reveal its weak point, thoughtful positioning will be more important than ever to unleash its full potential. VIGIL
We don't mean to spoil a change coming a little further down this page, but the SMG-12 is getting a buff. That's great news for Vigil, as its improved recoil and high fire rate will make it a more desirable kit choice, especially when you take his role as a roamer into account. In order to make sure his loadout doesn't become too stacked, however, we have increased the recoil of his K1A slightly. We feel this is a fair compromise for the increased firepower of the SMG-12, but look forward to hearing your thoughts. ZERO
Who says Twitch's drones should have all the fun? To add additional utility to Zero's Argus Cameras, they now come equipped with an identical resource management system. Not only will this give him better gadget denial value, but this should help incentivize more creative camera placement as players seek to maximize their survival. Specifically, we have noticed that his cams are often destroyed soon after deployment, so while we look forward to seeing more strategic placement, we expect this to keep the increase in denial capability in line. This increase in utility is offset by a long cooldown, so players will have to pick their shot carefully to make the most of it. Even so, this addition should help introduce a new layer to Zero's strategy for newer players and veterans alike. WEAPON BALANCING BEARING 9 (HIBANA, ECHO, THUNDERBIRD)
While Hibana and Echo are relatively close to the center of Win Delta on the Balancing Matrix, their fragging potential could use a buff as we have noticed their kills-per-round fall. By making the Bearing 9 more reliable and consistent on its horizontal axis, this should give both operators the push they need, while also equipping new operator, Thunderbird, with a quality loadout. For Echo in particular, this also increases the viability of running a shotgun and SMG combo loadout. SMG-12 (VIGIL, DOKKAEBI, WARDEN)
As noted before, Vigil, Dokkaebi and Warden will all be getting a buff in the form of reduced recoil for the SMG-12. Its high rate of fire is a force to be reckoned with but it has historically been quite difficult to tame. By reducing the recoil, we feel this should help to make it a more desirable choice, especially for operators like Dokkaebi for whom this is her only close-range option. GENERAL BALANCING AREA OF EFFECT
Sometimes, it can be difficult to accurately judge the effective area of a proximity-based gadget when placing it. We would much rather players worry about realizing their strategic plans than second-guess whether they should place their GRZMOT Mine a little more to the left. To help illustrate their effective range, a visual effect - this is no change to power level - has been added to some operators' gadgets at the time of placement. This should place more of a focus on creative and strategic deployment as players are able to more quickly and efficiently visualize their gadget's effect on the map. --- Try out the latest Rainbow Six updates on the Test Server and earn an exclusive charm through the Bug Hunter Program[rainbow6.com]. Follow us and share your feedback on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook[www.facebook.com] and on our forums[forums.ubi.com].  |
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