Rainbow Six Siege Operation Heavy Mettle is significantly altering the Quick Match and Unrated playlists, making them viable options for casual players and for those who want to enjoy all Siege content without restrictions.
The Unranked playlist will now be called the Standard playlist to better fit the game modes offered in Siege. The Standard playlist serves as a middle ground between competitive matches and more casual modes like the Arcade and Quick Match playlists.
The new Standard playlist will no longer feature the map and operator ban phases, allowing players to enjoy all Siege content without restrictions. Overtime will now only feature one round to lower the time of Standard matches.
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Quick Match is receiving significant updates in Operation Heavy Mettle to make the games faster. The timers from the planning phase to the action phase are all being adjusted for faster-paced games. The matchmaking algorithm for quick matches is also being updated, allowing players to find games faster.
Players can expect to encounter enemies closer to their skill level in the new season, as a soft reset to the Quick Match playlist will balance the experience.
Defending players will have new options to streamline the defense experience. The new pre-setup option deploys reinforced walls and creates rotation holes at the start of the round, eliminating chores that normally occur at the beginning of rounds.
Attackers also have a new system called Attacker Protection, which introduces a 10-second invincibility phase at the start of the round, making it easier to approach buildings.
The Arcade playlist is getting a minor update, too, in the form of a new game mode: Weapon Roulette. Weapon Roulette is a Team Deathmatch game mode with a twist. All players start with the same weapon, but it changes after a short period of time. The mode allows players to experiment with weapons and attachments in a low-stakes environment.
