I can't even believe it happened.
Blackbeard, a Navy Seal, joined the team on a dusty May day in 2016, just a few weeks after Rainbow Six Siege launched with a disastrous launch. Blackbeard was the second attacker to be added after the launch of Rainbow Six Siege. Together with his defending counterpart Valkyrie, he brought Siege's roster up to 24. Blackbeard's unique gadget was a rifle mounted ballistic shield which negated headshots when viewed from the front. It was immediately controversial. Headshots are the king of Rainbow Six Siege. It's one game where they're guaranteed to kill with one shot. So you can imagine why an operator who could ignore this risk and still have few downsides was everyone's favorite.
Blackbeard has been the subject of many calls for nerfs or bans. He was even called to be deleted. But he is still on the roster, and he's remained relatively unchanged after eight years, and 50(!) Operators later, Blackbeard is still able to block headshots for free and win fights he doesn't deserve to win. But that will soon change. Blackbeard 2024 still has the ability to block headshots and win fights that he doesn't really deserve to win, but this will soon change. Ubisoft released its long-awaited Blackbeard remake this past weekend.
Ubisoft's "rework" meant that Blackbeard was a completely new operator. He still uses the same rifles, but his rifle-shield has been replaced by a full size riot shield. This makes Blackbeard an official shield operator, just like Blitz Clash and Montagne. His shield is also special. The top can retract to allow Blackbeard use his primary weapons while still protected. It can also softly breach walls (a Siege first). It's an impressive trick, and I'm sure that new Blackbeard will be fun after playing with Ubisoft a few times last week.
Screw Fun
The fun isn't my problem. What irritates me is that this Blackbeard could as well not be Blackbeard at all. This is a very different experience from when Ubi reworked Tachanka, making his machinegun the primary weapon and giving him a launcher. In that case, Ubi did an excellent job of making Tachanka a viable presence while still maintaining his identity. What happened to Blackbeard was more of a complete replacement, except for the name.
His role has changed dramatically from "guy that holds angles and wins direct firefights" into a "bullet-sponge who risks getting shot every time he slowly draws his gun." It's like Overwatch 2's Tracer becoming a tank over night, or Valve remembering Team Fortress 2 long enough to replace Heavy's minigun by a flamethrower. The pairing is ugly, even if you ignore the mechanical shift. Blackbeard's desert camo is still there, but the all-black shield and goofy skull emblem look unrelated. This Blackbeard looks like a whiteout job gone wrong. He just looks wrong.
The worst thing is that no one cares about Blackbeard any more, even eight years after his death. He's not very popular, and players don't seem to care enough about him to ban him from Ranked. He also doesn't take up much space. I've never said that he was a great fighter, but he can be frustrating at times. Players are better at reacting by calling out his location aggressively, surprising him with flanks and simply aiming at his gut instead. Blackbeard 2.0 is probably better and will fit better in modern Siege. However, this trade feels like a bad one.
After working with the same rifled shielded beard bro (and being around him) for most of my adulthood, my brain is still struggling to accept that the Blackbeard of my childhood will end up in the same live service limbo of pre-nerf mercy and the entire CS:GO. Blackbeard, a symbol of Rainbow Six Siege in its early years, will soon be lost. It's a shame that long-running video games are deleting their past in the name of balance.
It's even worse that the more vestiges from old Siege Ubi chip away, the less content it has left to resell us as a "Siege OG style throwback"--a fleeting preservation that dangles nostalgic like a carrot. This is not how live service games are supposed to age.
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