Ubisoft has officially lifted the lid on Operation New Blood, the next season of Rainbow Six Siege. It’s bringing a vast array of changes to the game’s ecosystem, introducing two new (kind of) Operators, and kicking off the global launch of the Marketplace. With a 25-minute video, Ubisoft broke down everything that players are going to receive at the core of Operation New Blood.
Prepare for Changes
Arguably the biggest component of Operation New Blood is the introduction of Striker and Sentry, two new Operators that are modelled on the ‘Recruit’ persona in Rainbow Six. These highly customisable characters are designed to be ‘introductory Operators’, being introduced as ‘Swiss-Army Knife’ characters. They won’t have unique abilities but they will have a slew of gadgets and weapons that they can use to remain versatile.
Ubisoft also confirmed that the in-game Marketplace is going live, but there are some prerequisites. Only players with 2FA activated and a LL25 account will be able to access the Marketplace and start trading with other players.
Elsewhere, onboarding and training elements have been buffed. An ‘Endless Drill’ mechanic has been introduced that’ll allow players to warm up more effectively before their matches. Similarly, Ubisoft has made the game’s ecosystem much more reliable and welcoming by boosting the anti-cheat and player protection systems, such as by pairing with Steam and using the VAC ban mechanics to ensure malicious operators can’t create multiple accounts to keep up their griefing.
In terms of balancing, both Fenrir and Solis have been hit pretty hard. They’ve had their gadgetry switched out and their abilities have been switched up a little. For instance, Fenrir’s F-NATTs only have two charges now, and Solis’ goggles can’t be used in Prep and they have a 10-second duration rather than 20 seconds.
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