Rainbow 6 - Top Issues and Community Concerns

Posted: 19 Aug 2021 08:45 AM PDT

Updated: August 18, 2021

We will be updating the following list regularly to outline the status of certain issues that are currently pressing for our community. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and should only be used as a reference to give a general idea of where our focus currently is.

GAMEPLAY TOPICS - ACTIVELY UNDER INVESTIGATION

Improved Flash Detection + Consistency

We're happy to be bringing our new Flash Detection solution to Season 3! Our aim with this improved detection is to enable players to trust their tools by providing consistent results from their gadgets, be it from Stun Grenades, Ying's Candela or Blitz's Flash Shield. We want players to have a better idea of how their flashes have affected the enemy so a lot of the guesswork can be taken out of these encounters. This has been achieved by simulating light bouncing off objects in the immediate environment and taking into account factors like the player's distance, location, and angle from the explosion to determine the duration of the flash effect.

This improvement to flashes is available in the Y6S3 Test Server, so don't hesitate to give it a try and let us know what you think - we'll be keeping an eye out to make sure that operators remain balanced in the wake of this change.

Status: Available at Y6S3 launch!

Enemies Are Too Hard To See With Certain Skins Equipped

Certain operator skins can cause players to blend into some environments. To help increase their visibility in the heat of a match, we're adding the option to enable a rim lighting effect on operators. We feel this change adheres to our art style goals and will be a welcome change to anyone who's been fragged by a camouflaged enemy, as it should help players better separate enemies from the environment.

Even more importantly, your feedback is essential here. We want to hear what you think about the intensity and general feel of rim lighting. While we're excited to get this feature into your hands, we're open to tweaking it in order to make it the best it can be, so let us know what you think.

Status: Available at Y6S3 launch!

Flinch Animations in PvP

We know that flinching and the intensity of those animations has been an ongoing topic of conversation. We're happy to announce that we've found a reduced flinch level that we think players will like. Of course this is a topic that requires your input. Give this change a try on the Y6S3 Test Server and let us know what you think! We are open to making tweaks to further improve players' experiences around flinching animations.

Status: Available at Y6S3 launch!

DBNO Kills

Putting in the work to get an enemy into a DBNO state but having a teammate (let's call them DeeBee) ultimately get the point for the frag can be frustrating. Beginning in Y6S3 (check it out on the Test Server), it will work as follows: Let's say you put an enemy into DBNO state and DeeBee frags them from that state. You will get the kill point. DeeBee will be awarded with an assist to reflect the difference in effort between these actions.

There is a caveat, though. In order to ensure players are receiving the clearest and more accurate intel possible, the DBNO scoring event has been removed and the player who dealt the final points of damage to the enemy (whether they were the one to put them in DBNO or not) will be the one shown in the kill feed. This is intended to prevent players from gaining unfair intel when they down an opponent who isn't in their line of sight and should better reflect their direct actions in the match, although as noted above, it will not be reflective of the points earned.

Status: Available at Y6S3 launch!

Friendly Fire – Team Gadget Launcher Damage

Currently, causing damage to an ally with the impact of a placeable gadget (e.g. Mozzie's Pests, Lesion's Gu Mines) does not bring anything tangible to the gameplay experience and is instead used as a form of toxicity. As a result, we've removed this form of damage. Other gadget interactions that cause damage as an end result (for example, C4, Impact Grenades, Breaching Rounds) will still cause friendly fire damage in the same way that they had previously, triggering the Reverse Friendly Fire system.

Status: Available at Y6S3 launch!

Screen Shakes

We're aware that screen shakes can be overwhelming, uncomfortable, and can be particularly intense when the effects come from multiple sources simultaneously. In response to this, we've reduced the effects of screen shakes coming from explosions, while removing screen shakes from certain gadgets completely (take a look at our Y6S3 Designer's Notes for more information on the specifics). Our intention is for this to create a competitive environment where screen shakes are experienced in expected scenarios, but are not overbearing.

Status: Available at Y6S3 launch!

Customization: Elite 2.0

We know that many players are excited for Elite 2.0, so that they can mix and match items that they've earned. We're releasing our first iteration of Elite 2.0, in which equipping an Elite will equip all of the pieces of that set (victory pose, operator card, and gadget skin) as they do already, though players will have the ability to swap out the headgear for another in their inventory.
This is just the first step in our customization goals with Elites, and we'll be sharing more on this in the future.

Status: Available at Y6S3 launch, with additional updates over the coming seasons.

Scoreboard

We've heard your feedback on the updated scoreboard that was launched in North Star, and we've made some tweaks. We want to ensure that the information that's most important to you stands out and is more easily readable in a pinch. Although we are happy with these new changes, we welcome your feedback on this new iteration!

You can see the incoming changes compared against Y6S2's scoreboard in the images below:

Y6S2

Y6S3

Status: Y6S3.2

Loadout Reset

We continue to actively investigate the loadout reset bug. It's known that the issue tends to occur for some players during in-game events, though we have found that the occurrence is not unique to those events. We're currently analyzing additional reasons for the reset, and we're working on a solution to the issue.

Status: Ongoing

GAMEPLAY TOPICS – NEW ADDITIONS

As the topics above near completion, we're beginning to set our sights on additional changes that we believe will have a positive impact on player experience. We wanted to give you an early look at what we're beginning work on and will share more details and timing for these in subsequent Top Issues updates.

No Bomb Site Icons After Dropping The Defuser

Currently if a player drops the defuser, the bomb site icons are removed from the display and will only reappear once the defuser has been picked up. We know that removing this information from the attacking team can cause confusion, and so we're looking at how we can change this so that the bomb site icons remain visible, helping players to not lose sight of the objectives.

Squad Management

At the moment, players do not have tools to manage their squad as they'd like. In the future, we would like to add options that will enable players to change the leader of a squad, and easily remove players from the squad.

Disconnecting From A Squad Doesn't Cause Proper Removal

When a player in a squad disconnects from the game, it doesn't always result in the player being removed from the squad as expected. We're looking into the cause of this and are working to implement a fix to make this work as expected.

PERFORMANCE AND PLAYER BEHAVIOR

Cheating, Hacking & Toxicity

MMR Rollback 3.0

We previously mentioned that we were targeting a Y6S3 launch for this change and are happy to reveal that we're on target! We will be pushing an update to our MMR Rollback system at the launch of this season, which will ensure that fair players keep their hard-earned MMR, such as when they win against a cheater. Also, with an update to the timing window for rollbacks, players will find the system more reactive as it addresses relevant matches in a given season.

We will be sharing additional information about these changes as the season launch approaches and look forward to hearing your thoughts on this change.

Status: Available at Y6S3 launch!

Stream Sniping

We know that streamers and players need additional features to help protect them in-game, and to that end we are working on a fully featured solution. Streamer Mode brings with it some security hurdles to guaranteeing full anonymization (i.e. in-game anonymization, global account privacy) that we must solve in order to fulfill the scope of features that are expected.

We are planning to provide a server-side version (i.e. visible to both teams in-game) that will allow players to scramble some of their information. This will be delivered during Year 6 Season 4. Further updates will then follow and be released iteratively over the following seasons to continue building on the feature and offer even more protections against stream sniping.

We plan to provide a detailed roadmap for this functionality before the release of Season 4 to break down these iterative steps and make sure you know what to expect and when.

Status: Targeting Y6S4 for first iteration

Cheat Detection & Automated Data Bans

In 2021 alone, we've banned over 69,000 cheaters as we continue to strengthen the cheat detection tools available to us. As shared in our recent Reddit AMA, we are increasing our investment in anti-cheat, adding additional layers of encryption to make cheats harder to create, and improving the threshold of our data ban system to gives a little more leniency. On this topic, we're confident with these automated bans, as we continue to make sure that cheaters are detected and sanctioned, while being confident we're not risking false positives.
Towards the end of August, we'll be sharing a more detailed and data-focused update on our anti-cheat efforts to give you more information on our battle against cheaters and cheat makers.

Status: Ongoing

DDoS On Consoles

We're aware that DDoS is still an issue affecting players on console. We recently pushed additional network protections for specific datacenters that have made a significant difference in the amount of attacks and the number of player disconnections resulting from these attacks. So far, we are very happy with the numbers and we will continue to roll out these protections gradually once we do our usual sanity checks that there are no unwanted side effects. We will also provide an updated analysis very shortly, detailing the recent protection improvements.

In addition, we're actively working on an improved method of detection which will help to identify more players who are using this cheating method. Already, we can see that the improvement is providing us with promising results.
Our efforts will continue in this area, with our next steps including the implementation of automatic sanctions once we are happy with the accuracy of the detection model.

Status: Ongoing

Mouse & Keyboard On Consoles

As shared in our recent Reddit AMA, this is very much an ongoing R&D project and we do have dedicated people working on this. Our goal is to ensure that these spoofers do not provide an unfair advantage for players while ensuring that we keep accessibility for disabled players in mind. We continue to actively work on this and will be running tests over the coming months to validate our approach. We will share more information on this once we are comfortable with the results of our detections and can move on to the next phase - taking action against unfair use.

Status: Ongoing

Preventative Sanctions

Preventative Sanctions will continue to be a focus for us in the year ahead, but in order to prioritize the development and timely release of MMR Rollback 3.0 and Streamer Mode, we've made the decision to shift our team's focus. Priority calls like this are always difficult, but we feel the trade-off of getting these features in players' hands sooner is worth it.

We plan to redirect our priority to Preventative Sanctions for Year 7, and will provide updates as we have more to share.

Status: Ongoing

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Updated: June 16th 2021

GAMEPLAY TOPICS - ACTIVELY UNDER INVESTIGATION

Smoke Canister Gas Propagation

The propagation of the gas from Smoke's Remote Gas Grenades was often problematic, appearing on the other side of undamaged walls, floors, or ceilings. We've reworked the propagation system for the gas itself, meaning the toxic gas will no longer travel through unbroken, or unopen boundaries, though it will spread through walls, floors, or ceilings where gaps have been created. We also changed the sound that the Remote Gas Grenades make upon detonation, making it much more distinct.

Status: COMPLETE. Available at Y6S2 launch!

Bullet Hole Peeking

Single bullet holes are often used to gain an advantage, and we recognize that the difficulty in spotting such holes from a distance can cause frustration for some players. With the changes we're implementing to tackle this, single bullets will no longer create an isolated hole through a wall or barricade (this does not affect weapons with more destructibility), though firing multiple bullets or meleeing a wall will cause a larger hole to appear, as is the case at the moment. This should help reduce the frustration caused by singular bullet holes while still allowing players to make use of destructible surfaces.

Please note, bullet holes in thin materials like window glass and the inner cores of props are not affected by this change.

Status: COMPLETE. Available at Y6S2 launch!

Improved Flash Detection + Consistency

The goal here is to make flash detection more reliable and to give players confidence in this type of utility by improving its consistency. Basically, when you throw a flash, we want you to know how this will affect your opponents and the environment. The solution that we're working on simulates the light bouncing off objects in the immediate environment, and the results we're seeing are encouraging. We're currently evaluating the strength of flashes and are excited for players to get a chance to test this change soon!

Status: Y6S3

Enemies Are Too Hard To See With Certain Skins Equipped

We know that certain operator skins are well-known for blending into some environments, and this has led to situations where players felt they were at an unfair disadvantage. Our solution is to add a rim lighting effect to operators. So far, we're quite happy with the results and feel it is cohesive with the art style of the game. We are in the process of aligning on the colour of the rim lighting, and ensuring the effect is consistent across the game's many unique cosmetics.

At the end of the day, we want players to be able to choose the cosmetics they want without gaining an unfair advantage of any kind.

Status: Y6S3

GAMEPLAY TOPICS – NEW ADDITIONS

As the topics above near completion, we're beginning to set our sights on some additional changes that we believe will have a positive impact on player experience. We wanted to give you an early look at what we're beginning work on and will share more details and timing for these in subsequent Top Issues updates.

Loadout Reset

We're aware that loadout and customization reset issues are prevalent for some players. While we have noticed the issue occurring during in-game events, we know that the issue is not exclusive to those. We're investigating the issue and working towards a reliable reproduction and solution for this.

Flinch Animations in PvP

The flinch hit reaction has been a prominent topic across the player base, and this an area that we feel can be improved. We're investigating this topic and and will share updates in future editions of this blog.

DBNO Kills

Getting an enemy to a DBNO state and not receiving a point for the kill has been a source of frustration for players. We're looking at this, as we feel that the player who downed the enemy should be awarded with the kill point if the enemy is taken out. Not only would this be more rewarding for the initial player, but this could remove a cause of toxicity from the game.

Friendly Fire – Team Gadget Launcher Damage

We are currently looking into the impact of hitting an ally with a gadget (e.g. Lesion's Gu Mines) or a launcher's direct hit (e.g. Mozzie's Pest), so that it no longer deals direct damage or results in a points loss. We are considering this change because such interaction does not bring any additional value to the gameplay experience, while also adding a form of unnecessary toxicity.

Following this, our intended plan is to remove the various damages caused when these situations occur. However, damage related to the end result of a gadget's deployment (e.g. actual explosion of a frag grenade) or launcher's actions (e.g. explosion of Ash's Breaching Round) will still inflict damage to allies and will still be considered within the Reverse Friendly Fire system.

PERFORMANCE AND PLAYER BEHAVIOR

Servers & Connectivity

During Neon Dawn and Crimson Heist we have seen connection based issues having a negative impact on players, and this is an area that we continue to work on at a global level, as we aim to resolve issues at their root.

In order to improve player experience, we've implemented a number of changes and shared our results in connectivity updates here and here. These changes have included migrating PC and PlayStation users to better servers, relocating the data centers for Japan and Australia, and launching a Middle East data center. Looking to the future, we have set a number of next steps, including global server migration on Xbox, working with partners to improve performance of the Middle East data center, and migrating servers in the South Africa data center.

Cheating, Hacking & Toxicity

Automating Data Bans

In our last Anti-Cheat DevBlog[rainbow6.com], we mentioned that we were working on building new cheat detections based on statistics to uncover our most disruptive cheat users. While this process was originally performed manually to stress test and validate its accuracy, we're excited to announce that we've updated it to be automatic. This mean that sanctions for cheaters identified through data-based detections will be delivered faster, reducing their impact on the community!

Implementing this automated process allows us to work in parallel and strengthen our collaboration with BattlEye. In the coming months, we will continue to develop new models and detection opportunities to increase our velocity on this front.

MMR Rollback

We are continuing to evolve the MMR rollback system by improving reactivity and minimizing negative impacts on honest players. The goal of MMR rollback is to help players who were in an unfair match. That being said, we know that it is frustrating for honest players to have their MMR rolled backed for matches where they won against a cheater, and we are working to address that.

We will continue to tweak the design as we work towards a clear and fair system. We are not able to share an exact timeline right now but are aiming for Season 3; stay tuned for more updates!

Preventative Sanctions

This past year we have been working on the implementation of preventative sanctions, one of the first visible aspects of the reputation system. In the future, by detecting patterns of griefing and harassment, we will be able to preventatively activate sanctions, allowing us to quickly deal with repeatedly disruptive players and reduce the frustration associated with them.

One of our first integrations for preventative sanctions will be oriented around Reverse Friendly Fire, and we will then expand the scope to other issues. We believe that this new way of controlling regular abuses will greatly contribute to the detection and prevention of disruptive behaviour. As with other topics above, stay tuned for more updates!

Abandon Match Penalties

We have increased sanction penalties for abandon-related offences, which players will notice with the launch of North Star. Paired with the recent improvements to match cancellation, we expect this to help discourage players from match abandons and limit the overall impact on committed players.

DDoS On Consoles

Over the last two seasons, we've made valuable progress in our fight against DDOS attacks on console, mitigating the effects of attacks. In addition to this, players who use this method of cheating are being banned, and our detection of such actions are constantly being improved. We will continue to look for methods of continued improvement as we seek to protect players from DDoS attacks.

Status: Ongoing

Mouse & Keyboard On Consoles

This subject is still a project priority, and the team continues to make progress. We appreciate your patience and look forward to sharing more in the future as we continue to refine our approach.

Status: Ongoing

Stream Sniping

We know you're expecting an update on protections against stream sniping, and we know how important this is to you. Since our last update, we've been very actively investigating several avenues for deploying a system that would counter this situation, all while providing an acceptable layer of security, but we don't want to set inaccurate expectations.

As a six-year-old game, Siege has a lot of technical debts, some of which go against anonymization or don't take into account the problem of stream sniping. This is unlike contemporary game releases which are often built from the start with streamers in mind. This means that the process of ensuring true anonymity is complex and not limited to the Siege team, but the team remains focused on providing a solid solution.

This also means that we don't have a timeline to share at the moment. We want everything to be right to match your needs, which will continue to require validating and testing of our approaches to ensure they're viable. Of course, we will continue to communicate on our progress.

To the many great creators in our community: we understand how profoundly disruptive it is to both your gameplay and content creation experience when you are targeted by stream snipers. We agree that it's unacceptable and we ask that you continue to bear with us as we seek actionable solutions in and outside of the game to resolve the core reasons snipers are able to do what they do.