[2023] CLASSIFIED: Balancing Team - Year 8 and Beyond

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

CLASSIFIED: BALANCING TEAM - YEAR 8 AND BEYOND
BALANCING PHILOSOPHY & OBJECTIVES In Rainbow Six Siege, every operator is an expert, with a focused proficiency that gives them strength: very strong in the right situations but with flaws in the wrong ones. Our balancing philosophy is all about providing you with the right set of tools to confront very specific situations: for any situation you encounter in the game, there should be wide (but also limited) solutions.

This year, we aim to reduce the strong jack-of-all-trades operators to ensure every decision you make has a thoughtful process behind it. We also want to continue to enhance the game's tactical playstyle by working towards balancing solutions which emphasize the importance of our operator's gadgets.

You will find more details on our vision and plans below, as well as a rundown of our priorities for the rest of Year 8.

YEAR 8 AND BEYOND
ATTACHMENTS, ADS & FRAGS We are aware of current community concerns surrounding the 1.5x sight. While your attachment choices should be meaningful, it shouldn't drive your operator pick. To this end, the Balancing team has been working over the past few months on new vectors to balance our operators and their loadouts.

Right now, both Frag Grenades and the 1.5x sight are highly utilized and can have a large effect on the success and presence of an operator. Swapping these between loadouts is a short-term solution, and we are currently taking the time needed to polish a larger set of changes that will bring more sustainable balancing levers, allowing us to make less "binary" changes in the future. The team is actively working on a solution for this complex and entrenched issue in the game's meta.

OPERATOR BALANCING & TACTICAL GAMEPLAY We recognize that a number of operators such as Iana, Azami, Warden, Solis and Blackbeard, don't feel right at the moment, and of course Recruit shares a similar position. We are in the process of prototyping effective solutions to make these feel balanced and worthy.

In an upcoming mid-season update, we'll be making a number of short-term adjustments to help boost operator presence and variety, or to reign it in where needed. In parallel to this, we have longer-term plans in the pipeline for our weaker and more powerful operators. These plans will help to reinforce the tactical gameplay that Siege is known for, bringing the focus back to gadgets and utilities. With this, running and gunning will come with increased risk and difficulty.

There is a considerable amount of work to be done until we can bring all those solutions to the live server due to the nature of some of these changes. In the meantime, we continue to bring you balancing updates by selecting topics which, on one hand, allow us to make the necessary adjustments to the meta and work towards this goal, and on the other hand, aren't taking too much time or resources away from these longer-term plans and priorities.

COMING UP IN YEAR 8 AND MORE
Y8S3 - GRIM BUFF (PART 2) - KAWAN HIVE LAUNCHER With part one of Grim's buff released in Y8S2, it's now time to look at what's next. In Y8S3, we will enable Grim to switch the firing mode on the Kawan Hive Launcher, with the alternative mode making Kawan Hives bounce off of surfaces rather than sticking to them. The update will increase Grim's versatility, giving players the ability to bounce Kawan Hives around corners and removing the line of sight requirement. This change completes our current vision for Grim and we're looking forward to seeing how players make use of this evolution.

Y8S3.3 - FROST'S WELCOME MAT REWORK After internal play sessions and a release on the Test Server, we felt like there was still work to be done on the Frost rework, and so we have made meaningful adjustments for the final release.

WHAT HAS CHANGED?

• Increased self-revive time
  
• Extended and made the debuff more severe after self-reviving
  
• Allowing teammate revive, cancelling the debuff activation

These changes make self-reviving from a Welcome Mat a much more dangerous and rewarding feat. It will allow Frost players more time to react, and this coupled with the increased debuff, will make sure that players don't want to fall victim to the traps. At the same time, with a teammate revive being an enticing option, Frost players are still going to find those "double kill" opportunities.

We'll be releasing this rework during Y8S3 and carefully evaluating Frost's performance throughout the season.

WHY DOES THE WELCOME MAT NEED A CHANGE?

Currently, if an attacker falls victim to a Welcome Mat, a player is left trapped, out of options, and effectively removed from the action. We don't want players to feel helpless in any situation; an operator should always have options, even if they are limited. With this being the case, we feel that a change to the way that Welcome Mats work is needed, in order to improve the experience for stricken players. With this change we're enabling players to take action, giving them the ability to remove themselves from the Welcome Mat, however, during and after their attempted escape, players are going to feel vulnerable. Critically though, with the usual sound cues and the addition of blood trails, the huntress can still be ready to take care of her foes.

Y8S3 - FUZE'S CLUSTER CHARGE Fuze packs high fire power but can still feel limited in many circumstances. To improve Fuse's usability, Cluster Charges will be able to be deployed on Deployable Shields and Osa's Talon-8 Shields, providing new strategic possibilities for players to find and utilize.

Y8S3 - SHOTGUNS We'll also be reworking all shotguns in Y8S3 (excluding the BOSG 12, TCSG12, and ACS12) with the goal of bringing more consistency to the weapon type. This change will make aiming down sights more rewarding, while decreasing the effectiveness of hip-fire. You can find more in-depth information on this change {LINK REMOVED}here.

Y8S4 - SHIELD REWORK We want shield operators to feel strong, while taking away the feeling of powerlessness when facing off against them; In a one-on-one situation, a player should feel that they have a chance against a shield operator, and on the other side, a shield operator should not be bullied without consequence or risk. Changes such as removing hip-fire while the shield is out will help to remove frustrations on both sides of the battle, and reinforce the idea that with a team around them, a shield operator can be a true force to be reckoned with.

YEAR 9 - AZAMI'S KIBA BARRIER Kiba Barriers have allowed Azami to become one of the strongest operators in the defender lineup, giving her the ability to control areas and create angles which are difficult for opponents to deal with and see. We'll be making changes to decrease the robustness of her gadget and to give attackers the option to play more aggressively against her. Once these changes are ready, we'll be testing and evaluating them with community feedback, ensuring that they are effective and balanced.

CONCLUSION Community concerns are our concerns: we are refactoring and making proactive changes behind the scenes to answer the feedback you are sharing with us to make siege this unique tactical shooter experience we all enjoy.