Rainbow 6 Siege community frustrated that Smoke will be vulnerable to his own gas

Earlier today, Rainbow Six Siege released the Y7S1.2 Designer's Notes. These include various changes to operators such as Blackbeard, Ying, Nomad, Oryx, or Gridlock. 

Ubisoft's announcement included various controversial changes. First, developers are thinking of giving attackers not one but two claymores. Many people have complained about it on social media, arguing that this gives attackers much power. It will be easier to cut rotations or doors, and even control the defenders' aggression by making runouts/jumpouts very risky plays.

Believe it or not, this isn't Ubisoft's most controversial proposal. The headline of the day comes from a conflict between the game's lore and the developers.

Read more: Rainbow Six Siege operator guide: Iana

Smoke will be vulnerable to his own gas

You read that right, yes. Ubisoft is planning on making Smoke vulnerable to his own gas, the gadget that he produced with his own hands. If the change makes it through, we will see it in the game in a matter of weeks.

On paper, this change means nothing. Smoke rarely plays from inside his smoke canisters' gas, as it is thrown at attackers — not at himself. That is useless most of the time.

However, it means that Smoke players won't be able to be so aggressive with their canisters, as sometimes the smoke could act as some kind of coverage. 

Why are R6 Siege players mad at Smoke changes?

On paper, this isn't a huge change so why is there so much controversy around it? Well, there's a reason. 

Rainbow Six Siege is a game full of lore. The characters' stories are deep and quite detailed. Some operators have had special features in the game just because of their background.

Two examples of it can be found in Zofia and Echo. Zofia's famous withstand ability — which was removed from the game in Jan. 2021, three years after her release — allowed her to revive herself when injured. She could do that thanks to her willpower and the love she felt for her family.

Meanwhile, Dokkaebi's calls initially didn't reach Echo because they had worked together in the past, hence Echo was immune to her gadget.

Should lore decide on balancing R6 Siege operators?

We can understand people getting mad about this change though. Smoke is an operator that is a chemistry expert. He wears a gas mask on the battlefield. He has never been vulnerable to his gas before and, considering he has been in the game since the very first day, such a tweak won't be welcomed by Siege's old school players.

Regardless of what we have just mentioned, our answer is no. Lore shouldn't be above the in-game experience. Although developers should try to give the best experience to players while trying to be loyal to the operators' backgrounds, if that presents a problem to the players' experience, it must be tweaked.

It is cool to see features being implemented because of the operators' background. It is a bit dumb that an operator like Smoke is vulnerable to his gas. But the priority is the game's state. Regardless of the background, we prefer a better in-game experience than lore deciding what's good and what's wrong. Otherwise, the game won't improve.