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May 2018 saw the release of the Operation Para Bellum update to Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege - the best competitive shooter on the market - and along with two new operators (Maestro and Alibi) and new map (Villa), it also brought with it the first official map buff for Club House.

That was for Year 3, season 2. For Year 3, season 3, we have the just-revealed Operation Grim Sky update which will include an entirely reworked map for Hereford base - the original prototype map for Rainbow Six Siege.

Related: Our Thoughts on Rainbow Six Siege's New Italian Map & Operators

The goal with the map is to address issues with balance for competitive play on Hereford, but with the layout and path changes, comes an entire redesign to the theme and aesthetic as well.

Players can expect a new layout and the map as a whole will be bigger, meaning that each floor will have a larger surface area. Level Designers have also added new stairs to improve movement between each floor, increasing the viability of rotations. However, the new Hereford Base will still retain its “soul,” making multiple nods to the old base. Level Artists also took this opportunity to update the map’s visual identity and color palette, giving each floor more personality.

Improving old maps is increasingly becoming essential since we're two-and-a-half years in with Siege and there are already 20 maps and 40 operators. To keep the map rotation sane, especially in ranked and competitive play, the learnings of the dev team should be taken advantage of to improve what's there and not just be additive. But don't fret- there's new content coming with Grim Sky as well in the form of two new operators, one of which seems to confirm previous leaks about a new hard-breacher.

From two different CTUs we have:

• The first Operator is a Defender from Great Britain. She’s a tough police officer who’s an expert on mob behavior and snatch-squad tactics. She knows she belongs on the front line and she won’t tolerate any nonsense.
• The second Operator is an American Attacker, a specialist with a remarkably sharp mind when it comes to tactical operations. He has seen the worst in Kabul. Despite it all, he fell in love with the city. Legendary for his surgical precision, he remains an enigma within Rainbow Six.

The Operation Grim Sky key art tease offers a rough look at each operator, the first of whom seems to have a shield (the first for a defender) and one that some players speculate could be used to block attackers from entering a door. It's quite the role-reversal if true and could change the meta swiftly in certain objective locations. As for the attacher, get ready for a more precise hard breack. The unnamed American operator (perhaps joining Blackbeard and Valkyrie as new Navy SEALS) may be capable of cutting out a section of reinforced walls. We'll find out more soon though with the full reveal coming August 17-19 at the Six Major esports event in Paris.

A few gameplay enhancements are also making their way into Operation Grim Sky. Following a lengthy test phase, we’re bringing forth much-anticipated modifications to address the weapon sights misalignment. But that’s not all! In our constant pursuit to improve the game and the player experience, an adjustment with the Operator Idle Pick as well as dynamic resolution scaling for consoles are also on their way.

With the Hereford remake (that comes with a "high chance of rain") and Theme Park, why all the dark and gloomy maps, Ubi?

More: Rainbow Six Siege Now Bans Players for Using Slurs in Chat

Source: Ubisoft