Austin Davis

@RyGilliam We had a great time today

4 successful Cryo runs and 4 successful exfils today and ... I'll talk about this more on the pod this week, but I think I genuinely hate Cryo. Marathon clears GOTY no problem for me, but I think this map is like everything wrong with the game rolled up into a single experience

@wheatlyftw @JesseKazam You could always push people, if you’re pushing in close quarters why would they not pull out a shotgun? You also have the ability to run a shotgun so I’m not sure what the issue is. Smart play isn’t just aiming good, it’s taking good engagements, and avoiding bad ones.

@JesseKazam frustrating fucking things possible in this genre and game free kit darsh has been a joy specifically because I'm allowed to push people again. entering a building and taking duels and winning off of smart play and aim was fucking soul healing after playing outpost and cryo

The WSTR shotgun legit makes me not want to play Marathon. In a game all about variety and build crafting it just feels so flat and boring to have almost every player in the game running that shotgun. I understand the argument “if shotguns aren’t good close range than they are useless” but it feels like we are on the other end of that. Closing distance is so easy and the shotgun is SO good, why would anyone use anything else? And if everyone is using a gun because they feel like they HAVE to, then idk if I would call that balanced.

@MacticsG1 Incredible runs today for my team

damn is cryo bad this weekend? im seeing everyone say they are getting slammed

@VTRaven @th3jmanx No way, marathon and d2 play completely different outside of gunplay. In no world would d2 sandbox be fun for an extraction

The more i see, the more i think Marathon could have been a gamemode in D3 to more positive reception. Think how Division has the Darkzone and Survival mode (which survival is making a return! fuck yes!) Marathon already uses many destiny assets such as mechanics, code, animations etc. Marathon maps could have just been D3 patrol zones. Then have a mode that repurposes those patrol zones into an extraction shooter mode. You get to double dip the use of the map. They could have just let you keep your extracted loot for PvE, and you a special currency based on the value of extracted gear, that you can use to just buy in gear for your next run. It wouldnt be so far different from how marathon works now because of how little vault space you have already, you buy in resources like grenades, meds etc so often anyways. It would allow for tons of double dipping of weapons, maps, abilities, etc to increase content value in D3 while also giving a reason to bring back factions to destiny which people have been wanting for 6 years now

Marathon will likely continue to wean away from being solely an extraction shooter (i.e. the BR style sponsored kit experimental playlist). Halo had campaign, sweaty PvP and social PvP/forge. Destiny had strikes/RaDs, Crucible and Gambit (lolz). If Marathon is to be a 10 year franchise, then it must follow the success patterns of Bungies predecessors. Extraction should be just one pillar of a more in depth universe of player options.

@NiftyN00b @Johndan1660585 Destroyer isn’t the tank class it’s the bull rush/active combat class. Vandal’s skill expression comes from her ability to move around a skirmish and get great angles. She’s designed for repositioning, flanking, and getting unexpected angles through verticality.

@Johndan1660585 There are so many reasons mostly listed above and Destroyer the literal tank class has better combat movement then vandal and can also keep up with vandals movement when rotating. makes vandal worthless in many ways

TERRIBLE this is barely a buff, they coulda reduced microjet heat cost, they coulda let us shoot and aim while sliding, they coulda allowed for a power slide cancel with a jump to carry momentum and height, the fact that Destroyer is still the best movement and a tank is DUMB, please give a meaningful buff to vandal, like recon got a crazy good buff

@IFrostBolt The fog serves as cover so people can’t just sit in an elevated position plinking away at people trying to cross no mans land. very cool implementation of environmental conditions that actually do something.

I’m bummed that there we no changes to the fog on Dire Marsh and Perimeter.. I don’t know how much longer I can engage with those maps :/ It’s a shame because Dire is my fav map. Most of the time I can’t really appreciate the visuals & I can’t see shit. Thermals getting nerfed kind of puts us all on the same level. It isn’t a fun lv to be at tho

@marathonaire @BobNetworkUK I think this is not targeted at end game players. Major pain point im hearing is upgrades take too long, I think this is supposed to speed up mid game.

@BobNetworkUK Im talking about the rewards, the entire salvage pack system is useless unless theres a gold one. I have full stacks of every salvage from green to purple

bully still bis primary, copperhead changes are inconsequential, 13 blue weapons that arent modded properly, nothing to do in the event if you are in end game, half the gold mods are still useless, no sign of changes in the near future for underperforming weapons, grenades :(

@jimbobie123 @PiggyKropotkinn @Blundarian Free pocket sucks, just accept you lose what you go in with.

@PiggyKropotkinn @Blundarian Add a free pocket and make them game more oppressive after 15 mins. Seeing a lot of new people get downed by grey shield uesc first 40 hours or so.

They’re already arguing for SBMM in Marathon on the subreddit lmao

UPDATE: FREE KIT FRENZY - EXPERIMENTAL QUEUE - DIRE MARSH SPONSORED Thank you to all of you who participated in the Duos Experiments we've had over the past few weeks. We're currently working on making duos a real feature in Season 2 and are diligently working on delivering that to all of you who are eagerly awaiting its return. ABOUT EXPERIMENTAL QUEUES: The experimental queue is a time limited queue that allows us to preview features in development with you, often with a less-than-complete feature set. This queue allows the Marathon development team to learn and obtain feedback that helps us deliver a more completed feature set down the line. For the sake of queue health and focus we only run one experimental queue at a time. Once we have learned enough to understand our next steps for this feature, we start work on finalizing the feature and move on to the next experiment. Your participation in any experiment is greatly appreciated and is very helpful to us in developing features down the line. THE NEXT EXPERIMENT: What happens when you bring a knife... to a knife fight? For our next experiment, starting Wednesday, 4/15 at 10AM PT, we will be enabling the Dire Marsh - Sponsored Queue. This is a new experimental queue that is focused on learning a bit more about our early gear ecosystem. In this queue all players will enter with a free sponsored kit and be challenged to use what they find on Dire Marsh to upgrade themselves and get out! Details below. DIRE MARSH SPONSORED Details: The experiment will run for approximately 2 weeks, from 4/15 @ 10AM PT to 4/29 @ 10AM PT. We may change the end timing depending on anything we discover along the way that might warrant us to make an adjustment. --You will only be eligible to enter the queue if you (and your crew) have a free sponsored kit (white tier) equipped. --You can enter as a premade duo (crew fill off), premade trio, or crew fill into a trio. --The queue will only be for the Dire Marsh Zone. --To enter this queue, you can select "Dire Marsh Sponsored" from the zone list. What we will be observing and looking to understand: --How the game plays out with low fixed set gear conditions and caps. --How the zero to hero play works in low starting set gear conditions and caps. --Any technical issues that arise. There are many other changes and additions coming on Wednesday 4/15 PT as well so stay tuned to learn more from the Marathon Discord, and across all the social channels for MarathonTheGame / MarathonDevTeam. Thanks everyone. We appreciate your passion and all the commitment you have to providing us feedback and helping us learn more to evolve Marathon!

@Pijinnn_ I rarely run into “ultra” sweats. I don’t even know what that would mean, the meta is kind of ass and it’s annoying to get killed by the goo gun/nade spam, but usually when my team dies it’s rarely a case of “we couldn’t have done anything better” (unless goo gun is involved).

Some feedback on this weekend in Cryo (I'm not even remotely a sweaty pvp player but I get it's something I can improve on) Terminal hack RNG - it sucks having some runs with multiple terminals and some barely any in intro spawns Spawn rushing - it's bound to happen regardless but some spawns are more easily pushable within minutes of the round starting with little to no risk. That paired with poor terminal rng feels bad man Trip wire hit detection - sometimes depending on slight movement differences these get triggered Matchmaking - it's a tough call but as player skill and gear creep is hitting just now it's starting to feel helpless to keep up with the ultra sweats I encounter in Cryo regardless of my attempts Thoughts?

@ViagraPussy Yes

Did yall get sent the Marathon Survey as well?

@ZeromuSPlays @PaulTassi Sbmm doesn’t work for extraction shooters.

@PaulTassi Tweak matchmaker algo so it has some skill based calc so people are less likely to end up in stomp lobbies as often. A few things. But that doesn't change the tip top player experience. They're already playing enough and fragging enough to do everything anyway.

May not be what people want to hear, but I do not see any way this doesn’t happen. They need more sales and players, that’s just a fact. Though very hard to pull those players in given that it’s known as the super hardcore extraction shooter now

@Mapocolops If they aren’t playing now this wont make them play, and it is a waste of dev time. Don’t lose the audience you do have for an audience that doesn’t exist.

So when I said a PvP arena mode would fix me I meant it but also there is a perfect lore friendly way to lock that shit in right now and it's with Arachne. Here's a super serious concept mock up I am throwing out there. There are no priority contracts with this aura farming mfer after your introductions with him. Give Arachne specific priority contracts for a Sacrificial death cult fight club mode that is TDM/Objective based PvP, where the Runners go to sacrifice their shells to appease Arachne. Set loadouts, power weapons/equipment spawns in the arena. The Arena is walled off POIs that rotate between our existing zones each week. Either we run 3v3v3 think Multi Team Battle from Halo, or we open up a 6v6 for 2 teams. Or just go all out on a Battle Royale for ultimate appeasement of the Arachne gods and the whole Zone is open, and a bloodbath ensues. I genuinely believe this should be what we have as an offering instead of the Ranked playlist in Marathon. I know that Red and White colour choice is intentional, Bungie...SHAXX IS REBORN IN THE BLOOD OF OUR RUNNERS WELCOME BACK CRUCIBLE

@MikaRBW ROOK

How are people making 100's of thousands in marathon? My wallet stays pretty much the exact same around 60-100k. A couple bad runs and boom I have to buy a bunch of stuff and the wallet goes down again. Even just the cost of meds and ammo is hard to get back

@Evologixx @MacticsG1 I think level based MM does protect the newer players and stops high levels from just camping the low level quest objectives

@MacticsG1 The ONLY thing matchmaking should consider in an extraction shooter is ping. Randomness is what makes or breaks these type of games. Level based matchmaking as well needs to go. Why in an endgame activity is level considered. Its a pinnacle activity for a reason.

Completely disagree with this. The best feeling in the entire game is loading up with a homeless kit and outplaying the daylights out of a triple purple shield stack for the rags to riches heist. Doesn’t happen often but would be impossible if it matched based on kit value.

@MathRockSucked @ShmurdaBenny He was running double wstr so no primary lmao

@ShmurdaBenny Wow you could have swapped to primary for extra bullet reg opportunities, stepped back from the ladder instead of being greedy for kills, typical streamer!!!!

This shit is actually mindblowing, the single worst desync/hitreg example i've seen in game yet 😶

@EndlessGl Too many queues not enough players - wont work. Will hurt the main game

Okay, so I think people are thinking about a casual mode for Marathon all wrong. We do not need PvE for a mode to be casual. We can have casual PvP modes, like medium scale no-risk TDM or mini-BRs on the maps that already exist. I really don't think we need PvE modes for casuals.

@Meepulous77 @giancar73012035 Lol safe pocket

@giancar73012035 Brother, it doesn't have to be casual. The argument is that a lil wiggle room, like a safe slot for 1 item goes a long way. It was obvious when Arc did it, it turned ppl onto the genre. I like Marathon, but its obvious that just a little player friendliness changes perspective.

So basically, you’re telling me that no AAA game can be hardcore; everything has to be extremely casual to please the dad who only plays for an hour a day. A major update could do a lot of things, like improve matchmaking or offer free trails.

@DMTool1 @giancar73012035 The PVE would be unengaging and boring. It is essentially a d2 patrol with PVP tension.

@giancar73012035 They truly should add a pve mode. Many bungie fans are scared to death of competition. It would be a massive boost. Leave the game hardcore in the main mode though.

I hope Bungie doesn't try to make Marathon too casual, because most of the complaints I've heard are just about skill issues or people who are on a losing streak and think that means they've hit a wall.

@PorkPoncho How do you fix the matchmaking without ruining the extraction element? If it’s geared to make you die 50% of the time what’s the point? You can’t do ABMM - that obviously ruins the game. I think this is just part of extraction shooters.

Cryo Archive feels genuinely oppressive right now. I don't know how they fix this but the matchmaking seems so out of control for higher season level people. Yes "git gud", "its endgame" etc etc but these are the sorts of things that make the potentially long term Marathon players (and therefore customers) fall off hard. Right now its just teams of hardcore players running around with the sole objective of stopping people from actually experiencing the vaults and then the compiler. I don't think the actual map and its AI need to be changed but something about the matchmaking has to. If they want to keep people hooked, they need to feel that the complier kill is achievable because right now its miserable for many who aren't playing this game for 8 hours a day. No I don't think a PvE version is the answer at all. I know both @Skarrow9 and @RyGilliam touched on this as well in their own tweets and videos. Hope Bungie can pull something off here.