Note: Responses were received before the launch of Operation Steel Wave
The new free expansion about to be released sees the two new operators of Melusi and Ace be introduced to the game, while last season’s operators of Iana and Oryx enter the competitive operator pool.
As well as this, a casual-focused rework of the House map has been released alongside a number of operator balancing updates and, while not official, it's likely that the reworked Oregon map will be replacing Border in the competitive map pool.
To get some initial impressions on the newest changes to the game before the changes start to impact the professional tournaments we spoke to Justin "Lycan" Woods from Spacestation Gaming, Laurent "Crapelle" Patriarche from Fnatic, and Matheus "Budega" Figueiredo from Team oNe to get an idea of what we should expect.
Lycan with the US Nationals 2019 trophy.
What are your opinions on Iana and Oryx and how are they going to factor into the competitive meta?
Lycan:
Crapelle:
Budega:
What are your views on the new Oregon entering the map pool? How often do you think it will be played over the next three months?
Lycan:
Crapelle:
Budega:
Theme Park has now been included in the pool for three months. How well do you think it's been adopted?
Lycan:
Crapelle:
Budega:
What other changes if any to the map pool would you make?
Lycan:
Crapelle:
Budega:
What are your early opinions on Melusi and Ace? How would you change/balance them further?
Lycan:
Crapelle:
Budega:
A number of new balance changes have been introduced including new secondary gadgets, tweaks to Amaru and Zofia/Ela/Echo. Which of these do you think will have the biggest impact? Furthermore, now that Buck has not had his frags for a while, do you still feel that their removal was a mistake?
Lycan:
Crapelle:
Budega:
What are your opinions on the recent esport announcements around the world and what are you most excited for out of them?
Lycan:
Crapelle:
Budega:
What changes, if any, would you make to the formats?
Lycan:
Crapelle:
Budega:
Other Views
Here’s what some other members of the R6 community had to say about the above topics:
North American Pros:
The ex-caster and current player for Mirage of Rob "Flynn" Flynn on the changes in North America:
The two-time World Champion of Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski on the new operators:
Lauren "Goddess" Williams on the changes during the Soniqs' podcast:
The Oxygen Esports player of Gabriel "LaXInG" Mirelez on Ace's design:
European Pros:
The Rogue player of Maurice "AceeZ" Erkelenz on Amaru
The most successful player in R6 history, Niclas "Pengu" Mouritzen, on House:
And in response to Lycan's complaints:
The Rogue player of Leon "LeonGids" Giddens on House:
The Natus Vincere player of Luke "Kendrew" Kendrew:
Casters:
Derry "Dezachu" Holt on the new EU esports changes:
Ghassan "Milosh" Finge on the new esports changes in Europe:
Parker "Interro" Mackay on the update:
And his suggestions for Melusi:
The analyst of Alex "z1ronic" Dalgaard-Hansen on the possibilities with the new operators:
Streamers:
The Logic Bomb podcast on the House rework featuring R6S' Senior Level Designer Jeremy Dowsett:
yo_boy_Roy's video with Ubisoft going through the House rework:
George "KingGeorge" Kassa on the new operators:
CoreRoss' Mythbusters episodes on the changes:
Dillon "Get_Flanked" Clark on Ace:
Other Additions
As well as these new operators, map and balance changes, the Operation Steel Wave update sees the release of the new Tenkamusou Smoke Elite:
As well as the Duch Bojowy Zofia Elite:
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The new season is available to play in the coming weeks with these changes debuting in the new European League on Monday, June 22nd.