Ubisoft have decided to remove magnifying scopes from defender automatic weapons, a tweak that will affect the loadouts of Doc, Rook, Echo, Frost, Goyo, Castle, and Tachanka. The decision has been unveiled in today's Operation High Stakes reveal, which included a gameplay reveal of Rainbow Six Siege X's new defender, Denari, and the rest of upcoming updates.
Magnifying scopes are an important asset on defense, as all attackers have access to them. Giving defenders a considerable amount of magnifying scopes puts them in a similar position especially in maps where long-distance gun fights occur round after round.
On the other hand, though, players would abuse magnifying scopes to a point where these would drastically change the pick rate of an operator. For instance, Doc, whose ability makes him a healer and support operator, is often used aggressively as his MP5 has access to an ACOG. In Ubisoft's Designer's Notes for Year 10 Season 2, Doc had a pick rate of almost 50% on PC and above 60% on console. Another example of this is Goyo, who has access to an ACOG on his Vector.
Fortunately for some, and unfortunately for others, this is changing in Operation High Stakes. The removal of magnifying scopes from defender automatic weapons will definitely make defenders a bit more passive and players won't be able to engage in long-distance gun fights like they do now. However, this measure doesn't affect slug shotguns.
With slug shotguns not being affected by this change, this means that Sentry, Kaid, Goyo, Vigil, Azami, Alibi, and Maestro will be the only defenders who will keep magnifying scopes as part of their loadouts.
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