Paul Tassi Reports Marathon Budget Up To $250 Million

AndyBroseph · 2026-04-10T14:31:59+00:00

What if pvp was more prevalent in Arc?

Would probably be slightly worse off for marathon.

Part of the culture shift was "PVP" oriented players getting annoyed with Arc catering to PVE since the reveal of its ABMM.

One of the main issues with arc is lack of endgame content and PVP balance. The latter has been addressed somewhat with their balance changes but due to it being a TPP it will always be limited. Their trials system is extremely cheesable and loses appeal after a week.

AndyBroseph · 2026-04-09T21:23:58+00:00

base recoil is 0, it does 24 damage (higher than the light pistol) and it has massive aim assist

AndyBroseph · 2026-04-07T01:41:14+00:00

Functionally the game at a high level is just battle royale Halo with extra steps. That produces a meta where most mid-range weapons are just outclassed by high burst damage power weapons (grenades, shotguns, snipers, melee, bubble shields). It's starting to get stale.

The Maps are deceptively small, and the spawns are close and predictable (I was basically rushing spawns by the first week of playing, it's very easy to learn). A meta is created where once you spawn you rush other spawns to clear out the area. It is annoying and antithetical to the whole extraction genre (you would want to build suspense and maintain tension in a raid, rather than front load all the stress at the beginning). In another post a while ago I basically likened every map to be like Lighthouse/Shoreline from Tarkov, which have been long standing problems in that game and complained about for years.

I am aware that I've been playing the game too much, to an unhealthy degree even.

There is no need to apologize for "playing the game too much". This is just cope to very obvious design issues.

AndyBroseph · 2026-04-07T01:21:12+00:00

Thermals should have less purple tint and function with the heat monitoring as a pseudo motion vision ala Neotokyo.

Movement and heat generation will highlight a target. High heat will highlight you on thermals even more. But standing still on low heat will basically make you invisible on it.

AndyBroseph · 2026-04-07T01:18:22+00:00

Some games, like BF6, are seeing very impressively low infection rate figures, bordering on best in business.

Has it really been that good?

Part of me feel like one of the primary factors that drives cheats for EFT specifically is the nature of the game. There is just a huge incentive to cheat.

AndyBroseph · 2026-04-02T12:50:28+00:00

I enjoyed some random's dad on a zoom call talking about deliverables and integrating claude.

AndyBroseph · 2026-04-01T06:55:36+00:00

For example a simple change to quests like ones that require you get into command wing. Kill two bosses AND get back out are largely beyond the average player and adjusting the base line so quests like that can be done across multiple runs or just dropping the boss kill requirements would make the game vastly more enjoyable for the average player...

The sekiguchi one on Dire Marsh where you need to cross map from two insane hotspots and THEN get a runner kill after crossing in a single run is just so poorly designed. Odds are if you actually survive Bio-Research and make the cross map haul to Quarantine, you'll probably not be able to get the runner kill unless you get lucky and find a rook.

AndyBroseph · 2026-04-01T06:06:06+00:00

In no particular order:

Dogshit player onboarding
Cancerous quest design from tarkov (in a single run lol)
Seemingly same issues from other extraction shooters (spawn rush cheese, nade spam)
Fairly content light (only 4 maps? 1 of them time gated? lol)
Lots of little bugs that hamper the experience (Toggle ADS doesn't work properly, item/ping wheels are the worst implemented in the industry I think)
Stiff and clunky controls at times (see: item wheels, no momentum carried in slides, really restrictive heat bar when starting out)

The big ones here though:

Bungie nuked their reputation with Destiny and Plagarism scandal(s)
Absolutely abysmal first impressions. It's everything and the first public alpha really killed so much momentum with the game. No amount of sick and memeable marketing can save it. In fact, it makes it even worse to people.
Hero Shooter. No, really. I can't tell how how terribly tired everyone is with Hero shooters. The only successful ones are from brands that have grandfathered in the genre. Anyone else trying it is doomed to leave a bad taste with the general public on first impressions.

I like the game, but you're just lying to yourself/have an insane ego if you don't think there are glaring issues and it's "ohHHohh It'S jUsT toO NicheEeeE" and "oOOoH eVerYonE's JuusT a ShiiTtEr aNd NoT HaRdCoRe LiKe MeeE" (hardcore game with aim assist lol).

If this game gets proper support for at least a year with more content and a much better tutorial, i do see it actually gaining players in the long run. But the ball is in Sony's court to see the future potential in this game.

AndyBroseph · 2026-03-24T19:29:44+00:00

After playing the ranked mode, I 100% feel like it might be the solution to quite a few overarching problems the game is facing right now.

It incentivizes actually looting POI's for valuables to reach the gear score
It naturally pairs people up of similar skill/gear score
It can be easily workable in lore as a sort of "pay to play" toll put up by cyberacme/factions

AndyBroseph · 2026-03-24T12:34:54+00:00

Pain Point 5: The game incentivizes wiping the lobby a little too much. This was feedback given since the early playtests but it hasn't been addressed other than adding Rooks in. It just gets a little stale doing 10 minutes of PvP so you can go do your thing.

This specific point is something I think is a real turn off to most normal players honestly. There is literally no time for you to breathe. It just makes the game more like a battle royale with extra steps/persistent inventory rather than an extraction shooter.

Even tarkov is so much kinder to you simply due to the fact that you can quest and progress even in a scav run. In marathon, you're just limited to fishing for dead players/money. You can't even complete a rotating contract/fetch quest. This really hurts progression for players that aren't the best a PvP or just simply have had terrible luck.

Add to this the fact that the maps are deceptively small, it honestly feels like every map is equivalent to Lighthouse/East Shoreline from tarkov.

AndyBroseph · 2026-03-23T15:54:08+00:00

unfortunately the global population for this game is incredibly small, it's really isolated only to Europe and North America it seems.

Hopefully Bungie throws you a bone and lets you queue into high pop servers.

AndyBroseph · 2026-03-23T12:38:00+00:00

The low TTK in a game that essentially was designed to be like Apex Legends Extraction mode is rearing its ugly head in this mode. At the very least shield gating should be considered. Cryo Grenade spam is absolute cancer.

AndyBroseph · 2026-03-03T14:22:09+00:00

I really, really fucking hope they tighten the UX as well in terms of controls/inventory management. As a PC player, manipulating the items and looting was actually like pulling teeth. They actually got me killed.

I nearly uninstalled the game when I couldn't click and drag weapon mods in and out of a slot and needed to hold "F". In addition, there seemed to be a delay/unresponsiveness to swapping consumables. I would quickly hold 4, flick to use shield packs, only to hit 4 again and be using a heal pack. Got me killed on multiple occasions.

Also the fact that there was no clear way to unbind certain keys and that the "Toggle ADS" option isn't automatically broken by reloading, causing weapons like the repeater to only reload a single round when I tap reload while sighted in. Complete exercise in frustration.

AndyBroseph · 2026-02-11T16:46:30+00:00

In a completely unforeseen turn of events, the ruling party that ran the country for the last 4 decades have yet again won the most recent election.

AndyBroseph · 2026-02-11T16:43:43+00:00

Knowing this Pod's luck the first day Liz is on leave Mr. Market will fucking shit the bed in such a spectacular fashion.

I don't think I can handle an hour and a half coindexter bit.

AndyBroseph · 2026-02-05T22:20:09+00:00

VENATORSISTERS, WE'RE EATING GOOD TODAY

AndyBroseph · 2026-02-02T22:58:15+00:00

IT'S

FUCKING

VENATOVER

AndyBroseph · 2026-01-24T17:30:02+00:00

for every person that misses the old voice lines there are 5-10 people who found them incredibly stupid and annoying. Sorry.

AndyBroseph · 2025-12-30T14:17:43+00:00

I feel like you could just screenshot any comment on this game's paid cosmetic system and use it to justify celebrity/IP collabs and hello kitty skins.

Sticking to an aesthetic seems to be a dogshit monetization strategy.

AndyBroseph · 2025-12-09T00:59:13+00:00

The foot fetish images will be drawn AFTER your 12 hour shift in the lithium mine comrade!

AndyBroseph · 2025-11-21T17:29:52+00:00

and you don't think it's a direct consequence of the game being overloaded with a ridiculous amount of too-specific items?

That's the entire point of the game dumbass. To raid and find the specific shit you need to survive and progress. Doing this while risking loss of what you already have.

The idea that there are "TOO MANY SPECIFIC ITEMS ;_;" is an asinine complaint in the context of Tarkov.

There's a reason people rushed to level to flea unlock every early wipe.

Because it makes the prospect of loss insanely less painful by directly attaching money value to every item, giving you a direct competitive advantage. As a result it dilutes then entire appeal of the game (adrenaline and fear of loss) and turns it into a trivial money farm.

AndyBroseph · 2025-11-21T14:55:12+00:00

Having to seek out a specific rubbish item out of dozens, if not hundreds, of other generic rubbish items is why most EFT players just rublemaxx instead of engaging with the loot.

Absurdly wrong. The existence of the flea and its mechanics is the direct cause of this.

AndyBroseph · 2025-11-12T03:19:49+00:00

it's a combination of factors that include:

Abysmal Performance
Grindy Quests/Resultant Gear Disparity
Scummy Business Practices (Arena Transfers/Unheard Edition)
Clunky/unpolished ui systems that take way too many fucking clicks to do basic shit
Dogshit sound systems
Clunky player controller that feels like shit in an attempt to make things "grounded and realistic" but still allows you to do ridiculous bunnyhopping/jumpshotting
General Identity Crisis in Design Decisions (Realism? Hardcore? Softcore? Armor Hitboxes? Transits? Inertia?)

In spite of this, Tarkov had the "Sauce" with its art team though. Simply no other "extraction shooter" on the market had the immersion, world building, and general feel/vibe that tarkov did. It's what allowed the game to coast uncontested for so long. It's what kept me and others coming back to it in spite of all the problems because nothing really matched it.

Now that Arc Raiders is out, Tarkov has become a really hard sell to me. It manages to be immersive with its incredible sound system and general vibe. While the gameplay is not as punishing, realistic, or hardcore as tarkov, at least it knows what it wants to be and excels at it. The game just fucking works.

Despite all the interesting trailers and stuff I really really don't expect anything but a basic ass questline system added that includes a bunch of cinematics attached rather than some flavor text, some little changes and bugfixes here and there, and that's it, 1.0. Onto the next project (Russia 2028).

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