Rainbow Six Siege is about to close out its ninth year of updates with the Operation Collision Point seasonal update. While there isn"t a new operator or new map attached to the content update, a reworked Blackbeard with a slick new shield, matchmaking upgrades, crossplay across all platforms, and more features are incoming from Ubisoft.
Following the update, Blackbeard will no longer have his iconic gun shield; instead, he will become a shield operator. Unlike other shield-wielding characters in the game, though, the new bullet-proof Hall Adaptive Shield Blackbeard carries now lets him use a primary weapon. When aiming down sight with the shield, it quickly retracts to let him shoot. A bash action is also included that lets Blackbeard breakthrough soft walls.
Shields, overall, are getting some balance changes, though. Using a melee attack on a held-up shield will now stagger the operator more consistently, and the more it hits, the more the intensity of the stagger. The shield suppression effect that kicks in when being shot will now trigger with fewer shots, too.
Moving on, crossplay is incoming as an option for players, letting PC and console pools matchmake together. PC If a combined party includes even a single PC player, the matchmaking will only put them against other PC players. Other matchmaking improvements include team re-balancing prior to matches, cancellations when cheaters are detected, and moving console players spoofing with mouse and keyboard controls to PC matchmaking pools.
Ying is being nerfed, making her gadget"s flash detonation happen with more of a delay compared to now. Next, Sens is being buffed, letting him toggle the light barrier at will while also blocking more gadgets that previously allowed players to see through it.
Ubisoft also uses artificial intelligence to facilitate chat moderation. Messages with disruptive language will now be flagged to the developer or removed entirely, while continuous messages in that tone will mute the player for the rest of the match. If the AI system detects messages with disruptive tones in multiple matches, the player will get hit by a 20-match mute.
Rainbow Six Siege Year 9 Season 4: Operation Collision Point is currently slated to release on December 3, 2024. Ahead of it, a test server will go live to let Ubisoft test out the reworks and changes ahead of a public release.