Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege News

Happy Holidays from the Rainbow Six Siege team! We have got a surprise for you!

The free Holiday Pack is available from December 22nd 2023 through January 3rd 2024!

The Holiday Pack contains 1 random unowned Operator or a Bravo Pack if all Operators are already owned. To get your pack go to the shop and claim the “free gift” item. The in-game news bulletin should also direct you there.

We hope you enjoy and have a great time heading into your new year.


Enjoy the Holiday Season with the Limited-Time Freeze For All Event!



The festivities continue until Jan 5th and winter descends upon Siege as Attack and Defense sides cease to exist with only a Free For All in the cold.

Prepare to survive the thrills of the Holiday season in a brand-new limited-time Event as we ship Team Rainbow members to the fresh Arctic Workshop map. You will be able to stalk your fellow Operators in a Free(ze) for All where even death won’t be the end as you respawn on the rooftops to rain down snowballs on your enemies!

Join Jäger, Ace, Flores, Valkyrie and Ying with their new Freeze for All bundles along with returning Snow brawl collections for your favourite Operators and a chance to gain exclusive skins through Event packs! Grab a free Collection pack upon login from the store during the event!


Discover the new Operation Deep Freeze features!



Siege continues to evolve in its brand-new season: Operation Deep Freeze!

Control the pace of battle with latest Portuguese Operator, Tubarão, and his new Zoto Canisters which are throwable devices which can stick to any surface, freezing it. They temporarily disable all gadgets while slowing and revealing their location to Defenders.

Deep Freeze also introduces a brand-new Ranked map, Lair, item trading with the Marketplace (beta), an updated Reputation system, balancing updates, and a new Versus AI playlist to polish your tactics and aim!

Get the most out of the last season of Year 8 by purchasing R6 credits in-game to acquire cosmetics for your newly unlocked Operator or to get these exclusive limited-time Freeze for All bundles!

Operation Deep Freeze has brought with it the full release of the Reputation System in a grace period. Here we'll be covering what the full release means for players, how it will continue to improve, and the actions we've recently taken to further protect players.

[h2]PHILOSOPHY & GOAL[/h2]

With the Reputation System, we are staying true to our core pillars:

• MITIGATE & DETER BEHAVIOR
  
• PREVENT & ADDRESS
  
• FEEDBACK & GUIDANCE
  

Following our core principles, we aim to shield our players against toxicity, curb in-game disruptions and negative behavior, encourage "pro-social" behavior, reform or remove toxic players, and more, while ultimately reinforcing the cooperative nature of Siege.

Our guiding philosophy with the Reputation System itself is that each player should know why they have a particular Reputation Standing, what they can do to modify their playstyle or interactions and improve their position in the Reputation System. We want to ensure that players have the proper tools available to them and the opportunities to make any necessary adjustments. This release of the Reputation System marks an essential step for us, and with player feedback being a crucial part of our strategy, we will be listening to your thoughts and concerns.

[h2]SEASON 4 - WHAT'S NEW?[/h2]

[h3]REVEAL RECAP[/h3]

Before we delve into the latest Reputation System update, if you didn't see our Operation Deep Freeze reveal panel, we've got a recap covering what's been added in Y8S4 and what to expect in the future.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]GRACE PERIOD[/h3]

The Reputation System has been released with updated features and UI, and an ongoing grace period. This grace period means that there will currently be no impact based on a player's Reputation Standing alone, giving players an opportunity to become accustomed to the updated system and to adjust any behaviors before the impacts go live. In the meantime, we will be monitoring the system, collecting feedback, and performing calibrations, ensuring the Reputation System is ready before the grace period is lifted. Note however, that this grace period does not affect currently implemented penalties such as communication penalties and reverse friendly fire that are already live.

[h3]REPUTATION CENTER UPDATE[/h3]

We've updated the Reputation Center to bring even more information to players. Now you'll be able to see your biggest opportunities for improvement, the impacts that your Reputation Standing could have (after the grace period), and more.

Two new sections in the updated Reputation Center are Tips and Guides. Here we're sharing tips that can help players to improve their Reputation Standing and on their way to becoming great Siege community members and players.



With this release you'll start to see notifications with information about changes to your Reputation Standing. Players will be notified of Reputation Standing adjustments, as well as any possible effects current behavior could have on their Reputation Standing in the future. As part of these notifications, we'll also share the impacts that a player could face once the grace period has come to a close.



[h3]NEW IMPACTS[/h3]

Once the grace period has ended, there will be a range of positive and negative impacts depending on a player's Reputation Standing. We will share further updates in the future regarding when the grace period will end.

Having positive and good behaviour could bring:

• Improved Renown gain.
  
• Increased experience points.
  
• Bonus Alpha Pack progress.
  
• Unique rewards.
  

Alternatively, negative and unwanted behavior could lead to:

• Reduced experience and rewards.
  
• Ranked rewards locks.
  
• Playlist locks.
  

These negative impacts have been specifically chosen to help players to rehabilitate and adapt their behaviors in order to have those effects reversed or removed later in their journey.

PLAYLIST & RANKED REWARDS LOCKS - [NOT ACTIVE DURING CURRENT GRACE PERIOD]

Players who find their playlists restricted will need to increase their Reputation Standing in order to make them available once more. This means that players who have the lock enabled will actively need to change their behaviors in the remaining game modes, resulting in those good behaviors being reinforced.

The Ranked rewards lock will behave similarly to the playlist lock, and those who receive a lock on the upcoming Ranked rewards will also have opportunities to rectify the situation. In the following season players who increase their Reputation Standing to Respectable, will have their previous rewards granted.

[h2]PROTECTING PLAYERS AND CREATORS FROM REPORT ABUSERS[/h2]

In-game reporting is incredibly helpful to our Player Protection team. Your in-game reports help to make our automatic detection more robust; they assist in investigations carried out by our Player Protection team, and aid in creating a safer playspace for everyone.

We do also want to reiterate to players that while in-game reporting continues to be an invaluable tool for our Player Protection team to leverage, players will not be sanctioned based on in-game reports alone.

We want players to know they can make use of the in-game reporting system, though we know that there are others looking to misuse these reporting tools as a method of abuse. Following your feedback, we've updated our system to better account for and to prevent report spamming. Critically however, players with poor behavior will still be able to be reported correctly, resulting in possible Reputation Penalties or game sanctions. In the future, we will continue to strengthen our validations while building upon and creating new safeguards, further increasing the robustness of our systems.

[h2]REPUTATION STANDING ACCURACY[/h2]

Currently, the Reputation System already takes advantage of a whole host of positive and negative stats including in-game reports, Commendations, Reverse Friendly Fire, abandon abuse, and more, with the use of safeguarding logic. While these have given us enough data overall to provide a fair representation of a player's behavior, we know that we can further increase precision with additional data points covering other common player behaviors. To this end, we're working on including more granular data to define a player's Reputation with even more accuracy.

[h2]CONCLUSION[/h2]

The new improvements we are introducing this season should greatly reduce occurrences of players finding undeserved reports on their Misconduct page, while also stopping illegitimate Reputation Penalties in worst case scenarios. If you continue to experience any issue with the Reputation System after this update, please report it via R6Fix.

You should expect to see additional adjustments and communications in the months to come around balancing, additional actions and protections, and Reputation Standing impacts, as we work to create a system that works best for everyone. We are always listening to your feedback and working on improvements to better reflect our goals; we want to make sure we're achieving the right results by rewarding positive and reputable players, while helping other players to improve their behavior.

As we continue into Y8S4 Operation Deep Freeze, keep in mind that the Reputation System will remain in a grace period. During that time, you'll get to see the impact of your in-game actions in the Reputation Center without having the effects applied. None of the impacts highlighted in the Reputation Center will be activated until this system is fully balanced and officially released, however, Reputation Penalties which are already live such as voice or written chat Penalties will continue to work as usual.

We want Siege to not only be a game of competitiveness and strategy, but also of joy and comfort. The Reputation System forms an essential component of our strategy to protect players, and we remain dedicated to our mandate of creating a welcoming environment for all.

Operation Deep Freeze sees new Defender Tubarão keep the competition hot. He stays cool-headed with his Zoto Canister gadget, which releases a freezing compound that will impair Operators movement and any other gadgets in its area of effect. Due to the “cold zone” left behind, any Operator footprints passing the area will be recorded. This gadget can disrupt both enemy and friendly gadgets, but with strategic placement, offers players an opportunity to regain control of a round. Tubarão is a two speed and two health Operator, with a loadout featuring an MPX or AR-15.50 as his primary weapon and a P226 MK 25 as his secondary weapon.

Get instant access to Tubarão and other rewards with the Deep Freeze Battle Pass including: a Bravo ticket, 18 Bravo packs, Operator and weapon skins, and 600 R6 credits back. If you are short on credits, look no further than the Premier or Signature packs for the best deal on R6 credits.

The Signature and Premier packs are the best way to acquire the Battle Pass for Operation Deep Freeze alongside exclusive skins and a 7-day Renown Booster! The Signature Pack provides you with 7,560 R6 Credits, exclusive signature skins while the Premier Pack grants you 2,670 R6 Credits to ensure swift progression through the Battle Pass and all the offerings of the season.

Competition heats up this season with the new Ranked map Lair. Lair is the base of operations for Deimos, and the map is designed for players to experiment with different playstyles as they navigate its multiple entrances and three floors. Each floor has a distinct and the exterior has unique entry points to all three floors. Just as Deimos created this facility to calculate his operations against Rainbow, players can strategize their navigation of Lair for success during matches.

Player protection efforts continue to grow with a Reputation System update, providing more information on what impacts player standing. This season introduces the Grace Period phase where players will be onboarded, learn more about player standing, and give everyone a chance to improve their standing without any penalties before the Reputation System fully launches. This builds on the Commendation System, which allows players to commend each other after a match and rewards players with increased Alpha Pack drop rates. For more information on the Commendation System, please visit: RainbowSix.com/Commendations

Players can go to https://rainbow6.com/marketplace/register to register for a chance to access the Beta of the Rainbow Six Siege Marketplace to sell or buy in-game items with R6 Credits. Additionally, two new features arrive this season: Versus AI and Map Training. Versus AI will allow players to do a match a against AI defender bots that mimic real players, while Map Training is an innovative tool to learn and master maps. Map Training will launch with seven maps to start, including the brand-new Lair map. For player comfort, the update will also add full controller remapping, controller deadzone customization, including Lean Behavior, a big feature for controller players coming later this season. Also coming to Operation Deep Freeze is balancing for Operator Mira, major updates to the Frag grenade, and two new Elite skins.

[h2]Announcing the next Streamer Charms![/h2]

Each season will bring the release of new charms, as well as the return of streamer charms from previous seasons!







Bravenika

Giselleglezv

Jenz

Scythe







Alfredoplays AnneMunition
Beaulo
Bighead
BikiniBodhi
Bnans Braction Drid FastAnne Gabbo Heideltraut
Interro
JerichoFive
JessGOAT
Jynxzi
Just9n KingGeorge
KittyR6 LagonisR6
Lil_Lexi
Lt Custard
Lusorkoeffizient MacieJay
Mag6 M3RYLAND
Matimi0
MrBboy45
Narcoleptic Nugget Nesk
PaladinAmber
Patife
Pengu RazaH REMGURI / 렘쨩
Rubsarb
SexyCake
Sha77e Shorty
shroud SilphTV
Tatted Tranth
Varsity
WhiteShark67
yo_boy_roy
z1ronic Zander
ziGueira GarfieldIsDoc Supr
RyyFyy FoxA
Nerdengenheiro
Rainbow6itacom
Minimichegga
JostRekt JustRyuk
Paluhh
Poxonlox
TheLionerYT
itsSpoit
Retalha
FooYa
IceCold
Athieno
Marciu
Rembeey rasco100
Vetelcito01
OneShooter




[h2]How to acquire charms [/h2]


These charms are only available by subscribing to the respective streamer’s Twitch channel with a linked Ubisoft account. For more information on how to link your Ubisoft and Twitch account, as well as opt in for Twitch Drops, please refer to this FAQ.



[h2]How to get involved [/h2]


We are always on the lookout for content creators that inspire and enrich the Siege community. If you would like access to the perks of being a partnered content creator, and your goal is to one day have a charm in the game, we would like to invite you to apply to the Ubisoft Creators Program.

Whether you're jumping into Arcade or getting your squad together for a Ranked session, the one thing that all players need is a reliable online experience. In this blog, we'll shed some light on connectivity in 2023, look at what we've achieved, analyze any unplanned downtime, and take a peek at what the Connectivity team is working on.

[h2]A YEAR IN REVIEW[/h2]
Firstly, let's take a closer look at some of the changes brought to the game over the past year that had directly impacted Connectivity, so that we can deep dive into some of the solutions put in place to improve the overall player experience.

[h3]UNPLANNED MAJOR DOWNTIME[/h3]
Downtime is likely to be the biggest concern for most players when it comes to connectivity. Downtime of a game's online services can have a wide array of causes, many of which are not linked to the game's servers themselves. Issues related to new features included as part of an update or the process and logistics behind patch deployment are just a couple of examples of triggers that could result in an online services outage. While our Connectivity team works to ensure our servers are ready for players at all times, we have multiple teams who are making improvements on their side too, with an aim to minimize these extra trigger sources as much as possible.

Below you will see the total unplanned major downtime for each month this year so far. We can see that while the most recent months of September and October have been a relative success, there are three main spikes throughout the year prior to this. Let’s inspect those spikes, why they occurred and how our teams responded.



JANUARY
January saw 15 hours and 54 minutes of unplanned downtime with a number of unique causes being identified, part of which was related to the release of Crossplay. The Connectivity team worked through both December and January bringing stability to the game and establishing areas where revisions or improvements were required. Each instance of downtime was also independently investigated by our teams, with steps taken on how to avoid or mitigate the effects of similar issues in the future. Changes made as a result of the investigations have since helped to reduce impacts from similar events.

APRIL
In April, we had 7 hours of unplanned outages across three separate incidents all again having a unique cause. In all cases, the Connectivity team was able to detect the point of failure which was causing players to be unable to connect, and was then able to make immediate or planned changes to our systems and procedures to remedy the issues going forward.

AUGUST
Y8S3 Operation Heavy Mettle was released on August 29th, and with this we encountered a major outage with overall downtime totaling 17 hours and 49 minutes. In essence, this outage was caused by a specific group of conditions arising, which led to our services being unable to handle the high amount of players attempting to connect at season launch.

To alleviate the issue, the team disabled systems that would deliver Rank information to players, while still allowing Rank calculations to take place in the background. This allowed players to connect, matchmake, and complete meaningful Ranked matches while the team continued their work to get the game services fully operational once more. The team was then able to reinstate the delivery of Rank information to the game once conditions were stable.

In response to this situation, teams were able to make both specific and systemic changes to help ensure that the same outcome would not be repeated under similar circumstances.

[h3]DDOS (GAME SERVER)[/h3]
When talking about game server DDOS, we're looking at DDOS that directly affects players as well as a group of matches hosted on the targeted game server. The team have previously implemented a feature to reduce the number of matches affected by these attacks, resulting in less players being ejected from matches.

Although the team has made progress in this area this year, we know that players still experience some issues with this. We see your feedback; we want to share that our work continues in this area and that the team will be making further changes in the future to help improve this situation.

[h3]SERVER REGIONS & PING TESTING[/h3]
When a player boots up Siege, it checks to find the server which will provide the lowest ping based on the player's current location. This functionality has allowed us to run live tests using new data centers, while gathering performance data. These tests are helping us to understand how activating new locations can not only improve connectivity for certain communities, but also impact the experience of all the other players.

During 2023, after such tests had been completed, the Connectivity team made two new server regions available (one for Korea and another one from Europe Central). We've found that these new locations have been a boost for many players, enabling them to play with decreased pings leading to an improved experience overall.

SERVER REGIONS - WHAT'S NEXT?
We've got nothing final to announce regarding additional new server locations as of right now, though we can confirm that it's an area the Connectivity team is putting a lot of resources into. In the coming seasons, the team will be running new internal tests, and we'll share more updates on this as soon as results become available.

In addition to testing new server locations, the Connectivity team is also working on updating and evolving its tooling. This will allow the team to pull more detailed information regarding their usage and ultimately facilitate decision-making when it comes to deciding which regions could benefit from additional resources the most.

[h3]CROSSPLAY[/h3]
Crossplay was implemented back in December and has been one of the biggest online changes to come to Siege. The feature has been a great success, though it's important to highlight just how this affected our online services in the weeks following release. During this time, we did experience issues leading to downtime which ultimately stemmed from the Crossplay feature. These issues were due to the challenges of deploying such a game-changing feature, while ensuring that all of our systems were ready to provide a stable experience with this additional load. Crucially however, the team was able to ensure that the feature remained live, while bringing stability to the game's online services, providing a highly awaited change that many players had been asking for.

[h3]TECHNOLOGY REPLACEMENT[/h3]
Over the last few seasons, our teams have been working iteratively to replace older technology which is integral to our online services. Some of this technology has been in place since Siege's early development, and as the game continues to evolve, there is a need to ensure that we still have state-of-the-art systems in place. Once complete, our team and players alike will be looking to gain multiple advantages, including decreased maintenance downtime.

[h3]COLLABORATION[/h3]
At Ubisoft we have a wide range of titles, each with their own Programming, Art, and of course, Connectivity teams. In the last year, our Connectivity team has found new ways to collaborate with such teams from other titles, including For Honor and Roller Champions. Since the new efforts were established, the data being shared has enabled us to mitigate online issues that might have otherwise affected players and has resulted in a significant positive impact overall.

[h2]LOOKING FORWARD[/h2]
The team has made multiple learnings over past seasons and applied a number of changes while working on others which will be implemented in the future. While some of these changes only represent remedies for a fraction of causes, there is no doubt that the steps taken will be beneficial moving forward.

To sum-up, here's a look at some of the areas the Connectivity team is currently working on:

• Putting strategies in place to minimize unplanned downtime.
  
• Reducing the impact of game server DDOS.
  
• Tightening collaboration with other titles including For Honor and Roller Champions.
  
• Testing for possible new data centers.
  
• Removal and replacement of old technologies used throughout the game's life.
  
• And much more behind the scenes.

This is just a brief overview of what the Siege Connectivity team has been up to, we hope that this article provides useful insight into some of the topics that are being looked at. We want to add that this is only a snippet of what this team is working on, and we'll share more on this topic in the future.

We thank you for providing feedback on your online experience as it's extremely helpful to the team and we couldn't make improvements without you!