Several huge changes for Rainbow Six Siege were announced during the Six Invitational tournament that include a Pick & Ban game mode and free operators for players.
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The Six Invitational is the professional gamers’ chance to shine on the big stage and take home the top spot, but it’s also the perfect time for Ubisoft to reveal info about changes and improvements that are on the way while bringing in new esports viewers. Ubisoft did just that during the event with a detailed list of what’s coming.
The video below showcases some of the changes along with an explanation from the developers to help make sense of all the changes, some of which are exclusive to the Pro League and others that will affect all players.
Pick & Ban
The most notable of the changes is the new Pick & Ban mode, a system that’ll allow pro players to ban away problematic operators that they don’t want to play against.
Each team will be able to ban two operators for a full match by choosing one attacker and one defender. Once banned, these operators can’t be picked by either team. Both teams will be able to see who the other team is picking prior to the droning phase with each team having the ability to change out a character based on the information.
The new Pick & Ban mode is one that’ll add another layer of strategy and mind games to pro games, but it’ll eventually be available for normal players to use as well. It’ll be made available to pro players during Year 3 with the system supposedly trickling down to Ranked matches later in the season.
Free Operators and Attachments
Another huge change that’ll affect players who don’t have all of the operators they want just yet will come in the form of multiple free operators.
Beginning with the new Year 3 DLC season that starts on March 3, each version of the game aside from the Starter Edition will have all 20 base operators unlocked for free. Those who do have the Starter Edition will now have six operators unlocked as apposed to the current system that allows four operators to be available.
In addition to the operator changes, attachments are also being made free as well. This means that every attachment for weapons that have already been released or will become available will be free to players to allow for further free customization.
The premium operators that release with the DLC will still have to be purchased with Renown or real-world cash like they currently are.
Map Buffs and Reworks
– New Maps and Operators.
— Rainbow Six Siege (@Rainbow6Game) February 18, 2018
– Pick and Ban System.
– Hereford Base Map rework.
– Map buffs starting with Clubhouse.
– A new and improved Pro League format.
All this and MUCH more will be coming during Year 3. For now, let’s take a look at the new Hereford Base ? pic.twitter.com/NnPZKvQvSD
Rainbow Six Siege’s maps will also be undergoing changes in Year 3 with several maps receiving “buffs” and one getting a complete rework.
Hereford Base is the map that’ll get the full rework, a preview of the update being shown through the game’s Twitter account. The 35-second video shows off the new Hereford Base along with a brief list of the changes coming in Year 3.
These “map buffs” that are coming are adjustments to the existing maps such as the removal of a door or the addition of a wall. The Rainbow Six team discussed the buffs in the Pick & Ban video while saying that the drive behind the changes was to make sure they’re “improving the meta to make sure our game modes withstand the test of time.”
Longer Pro League Season
Last on the list of changes is one that applies directly to the professional players with the Pro League season being extended to six months.
“The intention with Year 3 of the competition is to increase our commitment,” the Rainbow Six Siege team said in the previous video.
To do so, “more layers” are being added to the Pro League. One of these layers will come in the form of an extension of the Pro League format that’ll double its duration from three months to six months.
“That allows every team to actually compete every week, one against the other,” the video continued. “That means that every match is being streamed, every fan can actually follow their favorite team, and it makes the competition much fairer and more stable as well.”
Four new tournaments are also being added in addition to a second Majors competition.
Look for more details on all of these changes to come from Ubisoft soon after the Rainbow Six Siege Six Invitational has fully concluded.
