This week has already produced a burst of small-but-significant developments for Rainbow Six Siege, and there's more. Today, we learned that deployable bulletproof cameras are coming to the game, along with a rework of the movement system and buffs to Echo—and they'll be available on the next test server, along with several other changes.
We don’t yet know how the camera works, but it’ll probably behave along the lines of the already existing Valkyrie cameras, and be available exclusively to the defending side, although it is possible it could be available to attackers as well.
How Ubisoft is planning to prevent these new secondary gadgets from completely supplanting Valkyrie’s usefulness to the team is also unknown, as it seems these bulletproof cameras will be a direct upgrade from her distinctly non-bulletproof ones. Perhaps these new cams will feature a limited field of view, or be heavily limited in where they can be deployed. Along with the new camera, Ubisoft is also reworking all 'Observation Tools' in the game, cleaning up the UI of all the cameras and drones to provide a better user experience.
The dropshotting change in particular seems incredibly important.
Echo will gain a second Yokai drone and buffs to the recharge rate of his sonic bursts, a change which will hopefully make him a more attractive option, given his pickrate among defenders is currently second only to the undisputed worst operator in the game, Tachanka.
Also coming in the update are some changes to the core formula of the game, namely a change to dropshotting and the addition of a new Pick and Ban system, as well as a rework of movement speed.
The dropshotting change in particular seems incredibly important. While previously a player could retain near-perfect accuracy while avoiding incoming fire by rapidly going prone, the new system will force players out of their sights while transitioning into the prone stance, which should help to prevent the use of this frustrating tactic. The changes were accidentally added to the previous test server, but this time they’re being added intentionally.
Above: The new dropshotting changes in action, as seen on the previous test server, via Reddit poster Medisniper.
The Pick and Ban system, meanwhile, is less likely to affect the majority of players, as right now this change is only planned for custom games and pro league matches, however Ubisoft is considering adding it into ranked as well. With this new system each team will be able to ban one operator, preventing them from being picked by either team for the rest of the match. The system should bring some variety, and potentially shake up the must-pick status of hard breachers like Hibana and Thermite.
The final change is one that was hinted at in an earlier AMA: Ubisoft will be adjusting the speeds of all operators in the next patch, with three-speed operators becoming slightly slower, and one-speeders becoming slightly faster, as well as all operators receiving a slight speed buff when running with their secondary weapons. This change should help to reduce the dominance of the faster operators, and bring all of the operators closer together in terms of overall viability.
All of these changes, along with the ones already detailed in the mid-season design notes, are set to go live on the next test server, which you can sign up for here. The changes (which are all subject to change during testing) will be hitting the main servers with the next major update. Read the full test server notes here.
