Ubisoft has just announced the latest update to Rainbow Six Siege via the aptly-titled Midseason Reinforcements update, which will deploy tomorrow across all platforms. The new patch comes as the first non-operator based update the game has received since Year Two kicked into gear, nicely slotting itself halfway between the Velvet Shell Operators and the next expected operator duo slated for May. The focus of this new midseason reinforcements patch seems to be strictly operator balancing, as the patch almost exclusively dolls out buffs to a select few Rainbow Six operators and their respective weapons or abilities.

The biggest impact will be a buff to Glaz, the sniper operator who was found to often be left out of most squad lineups at the Six Invitational. Ubisoft evidently took this as proof that the character needed a buff, and gave Glaz an an impressive thermal scope which negates the effects of defensive maneuvers like smoke grenades. It's worth noting that this thermal aid can't see through walls, so Glaz still needs a somewhat direct line of sight for this to work. The official patch notes actually credit Rainbow Six operator Kure Galanos for the idea, nicely tying things in to the canon universe with operators from different Rainbow Six titles.

The studio also announced that technical test servers would be arriving in the coming weeks, allowing the developers to have a live testing environment as they integrate new features into the game. The first test server will feature one-step matchmaking in an effort to improve the wait times and matchmaking errors which have plagued the game since its launch in late 2015. Twitch will also be getting the next Elite Skin, with her exclusive victory pose featuring a nice cameo from her trusty shock drone.

Here's a general rundown of the rest of the tweaks that the Rainbow Six Siege Midseason Reinforcements pack is bringing to the table:

  • Doc can now overheal teammates to 140, as opposed to 120.
  • Buck is getting an additional magazine for his Skeleton Key shotgun.
  • Red Dot, Reflex Sight, and Holo Site Reticle Sizes are all being decreased.
  • The DMR's trigger rate has been lowered to prevent automatic firing.
  • Echo's MP5SD2 now does more damage at medium range.
  • Thermite's 556XI now has reduced recoil.
  • Caveira's Luison now does reduced damaged dropoff rates in relation to distance from her target.
  • Capitao's PARA-308 is also getting reduced recoil.
  • An exploit resulting in winning teams receiving no ranked MMR points has been fixed.
  • An Abandon Match penalty has been added in Ranked for those who quite during the final killcam.

In addition to the above changes, the update also brings several bug fixes into play:

GAMEPLAY FIXES

  • FIXED – There is an exploit that results in Ranked games awarding 0-5 MMR after a win.
  • FIXED – Hit registration and kill cam show a headshot without the proper bonus point with a neck shot.
  • FIXED – The player cannot detonate a Nitro Cell if they are put in a DBNO state while holding it and then revived.
  • FIXED – Weapons will become invisible when the revive animation of a player or hostage is interrupted.
  • FIXED – The feedback for cooking a Frag Grenade is not replicated in support mode.
  • FIXED – The camera clips through an Operator when they go down stairs while in prone.
  • FIXED – The compass does not move, or shows the wrong direction, while the player is rappelling.
  • FIXED – Crouching under a deployable shield while it is being placed will allow the character to sometimes clip through it.
  • FIXED – The smoke grenade effect passes through floors.

GAME MODE FIXES

RANKED

  • FIXED – In some cases, playing placement ranked matches do not count towards total placement matched needed to obtain a rank.

TERRORIST HUNT

  • FIXED – Jackal will sometimes not activate a Nitro Cell when walking near it.
  • FIXED – Extraction animation played at a specific point causes AI to remain stuck running in place.

OPERATOR FIXES

SHIELD OPERATORS

  • FIXED – Shields are not protecting Operators from explosive damage.

BLITZ

  • FIXED – Blitz has spent additional time at the range, thus reducing the draw time on his weapon after triggering his Shield Flash. There is no longer a 2 seconds delay before Blitz can fire his weapon.

FROST

  • FIXED – Frost is unable to place her traps near a window.

ECHO

  • FIXED – When hit by a Yokai sonic burst, the camera mode can't be used for the duration of the disorientation effect.
  • FIXED – The Yokai drone resets its initial camera direction every time Echo accesses it.
  • FIXED – The Yokai drone will sometimes experience the wrong collision detection when it is sticking to the ceiling and will result in a "losing signal" error.

MIRA

  • FIXED – Breaking reinforcement panels placed around indestructible pillar will leave gaps between the wall and reinforcement.
  • FIXED – The One Way Mirror plant event is triggered twice, making the sound too loud.
  • FIXED – Sometimes Mira cannot place Reinforcements next to the One Way Mirror.
  • FIXED – The frame of the One Way Mirror switches to the place where the second Mirror is being deployed for a player who has joined in progress.
  • FIXED – Breach Charges and Exothermic Charges are not destroyed if a One Way Mirror is placed on the opposite side of the same wall.

SLEDGE

  • FIXED – Sledge's model is corrupt during gameplay when viewed by other players.

MONTAGE

  • FIXED – It is possible to shoot Montagne's pistol with his shield extended while doing a specific action.

LEVEL DESIGN FIXES

BARTLETT UNIVERSITY

  • FIXED – Destruction on the ceiling of the Piano Room above the fire place can only be seen from one direction.
  • FIXED – Players can clip through the 1F Dining Room outside door and can be killed by enemies.
  • FIXED – A player will get stuck in a wall when entering from rappel in 1F Dining Room.

CLUBHOUSE

  • FIXED – Defenders are able to clip into the outside shed by vaulting over a deployable shield.

BANK

  • FIXED – Objects on shelves disappear and deform upon LOD drop.

USER EXPERIENCE FIXES

  • FIXED – The Square button on PS4 loses functionality on the highlighted items on the Shop tab if the user tries to buy with square button and returns.
  • FIXED – The screen remains in continuous loading when accessing the Ubisoft Club Challenges in-game and in the Uplay client.
  • FIXED – Full screen mode on a customization item can only be accessed once per item.
  • FIXED – Certain charms contain placeholder icons.
  • FIXED – Some Operators have lower resolution texture in their headgear pictures and in the character model preview mode. (This is an ongoing process, and additional Operators will be touched on in future updates.)

Some fans were disappointed that the Hibana bug isn't listed in the patch notes, prompting Rainbow Six community developers Justin Kruger and Craig Robinson to state that the issue is taking extensive work to resolve. As it stands right now, sometimes Hibana's X-KAIROS detonation shells fail to activate, effectively undoing her special ability and severely compromising the game plans for team's who don't also have Thermite on-hand.

There's still a decent amount of time before the scheduled Hong Kong-based operators come into play this May, and many fans are still letting Alexandre Remy's comments about Rainbow Six Siege eventually incorporating a roster of about 50-100 operators sink in. If true, this means Ubisoft will be supporting new seasons of Siege content for the foreseeable future, and that means this will be far from the last midseason reinforcements patch to drop from the studio.

What do you think about Rainbow Six Siege, Ranters? Is there anything else you'd like to see the patch address?

Rainbow Six Siege is currently available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The midseason patch will drop March 15, 2017.

Source: Ubisoft