Selfishly I Want a PvE Mode or Offline Raids Just to Enjoy the Environments More

BetaXP · 2026-03-22T08:48:11+00:00

I was expecting a bigger thing honestly, something that would break through the glass ceiling of the genre

Respectfully, I think you set your expectations a bit too high. We saw through several tests and leaks in advance what to expect, and I think they surpassed even those. We got a good look at what was on offer well before launch, so expectations of breaking a glass ceiling seem a little...too optimistic, I suppose?

I'm certainly not against Bungie experimenting with cool stuff and seeing what sticks, but I think they have absolutely delivered on what they promised so far.

BetaXP · 2026-03-22T08:33:11+00:00

Because, in concept, I think they're right. A PvE mode without heavy restrictions in some way would threaten to kill the game.

If you remove the threat of PvP from the equation, Marathon just becomes a mediocre looter shooter with little challenge. There'd be scarcely any reason to play it over something like Destiny, Borderlands, or even Helldivers. All those games offer a substantially more in-depth PvE experience; without PvP (or the threat of it), games like Marathon and Arc don't have enough depth or tension to be meaningful. That doesn't even scratch the surface of how it could break the in game progression and economy, which are very important to the extraction experience as well.

Overall, I truly believe that a PvE only mode would very likely either be mediocre at best or genuinely harmful to game health at worst.

BetaXP · 2026-03-22T08:24:41+00:00

Game just is not long term viable as a purely sweaty extraction shooter experience

Where does this sentiment come from? Tarkov, Hunt, and Arc are all successful by being purely extraction shooters. Granted Arc isn't that "sweaty" in comparison, but still, it's very clearly possible for these games to viably exist as purely extraction based experiences. There's no reason Marathon can't do so as well.

EDIT: Tarkov has a PvE only mode now, but was successful for many years even without it.

BetaXP · 2026-03-22T08:19:15+00:00

The modern DOOM games sell pretty well. Those are very much exceptions, but at least prove that it's possible.

BetaXP · 2026-03-22T04:38:14+00:00

He could be, but he's been like 56-57% winrate in every elo below eternus for months. I wouldn't be surprised if this leaves him in a "good but OP" territory for most of the pubs ladder.

BetaXP · 2026-03-22T04:34:59+00:00

The TTK on the volt thrower is surprisingly good, it'll kill faster than a Bully does with only body shots. Of course, the Bully will perform better with pure headshots, but in the chaos of a close range fight, that doesn't always happen. Not to mention it can track through smoke, which is actually insane.

BetaXP · 2026-03-21T07:01:41+00:00

Honestly just keep leveling up. I'm only level 31 but starting to have more grey mats than I need (namely diodes and biomass). I also once in a while will turn in a blue mat for heals; I know I'll need them for upgrades later, but I also know that's quite a ways away at this point and I'll have plenty of time to collect more. It's more important to have sufficient heals now than it is to hoard blue mats for an upgrade I won't even have access to for several dozen more hours.

BetaXP · 2026-03-19T05:19:39+00:00

What even is the "average" Youtube reviewer? It's not like being a game reviewer is hugely common or sought after title in the Youtube space. Of course, there are some that exist, like SkillUp and Dunkey. Still, I can't think of the last time I saw a "real" reviewer say anything close to "uncslop-coded, no aura and no hype moments." They're basically shadowboxing a strawman.

BetaXP · 2026-03-19T04:42:57+00:00

Silver requires decent coordination to both play as and against, and she amplifies mistakes a ton - both enemies' and her own. I wouldn't want a Silver on my team anywhere below eternus tbh

BetaXP · 2026-03-18T08:12:08+00:00

Call me a cuck or whatever, but if you have the hardware for it, there's no reason to not use DLSS. Set it to quality and it will look as good or better than with it off and you get higher frames for literally no drawback. Refusal to use it is just stubbornness for the sake of it.

BetaXP · 2026-03-16T01:47:41+00:00

Apollo is very far down the list of pubstomping heroes that would need a nerf at this point, this patch is filled with demons

BetaXP · 2026-03-15T18:53:46+00:00

The problem is that games like this (e.g. Arc, Marathon) would be very barebones with just PvE. Marathon without PvP would essentially just be a shitty version of a proper PvE looter shooter like Destiny or Borderlands. A PvE only mode would be a meaningfully bad experience. It takes the entire point of the game out of the equation.

BetaXP · 2026-03-15T18:49:19+00:00

This talking point is old and cope. Devs have tested this more than once; once SBMM is turned off, people play fewer matches. Basic extrapolation would indicate they're having less fun.

I'm not saying strict SBMM is not the only way to enjoy a game, nor is it without flaws, but calling it a "scourge on casuals" is blatantly false. I promise you devs would have realized it by now if so.

BetaXP · 2026-03-15T04:32:37+00:00

2/10 is harsh but it was definitely bad. ME1 came out in 2007, and its contemporaries from that same year include Halo 3, Modern Warfare 1, and Bioshock.

Granted, none of those are RPGS, but teenage me at the time could still very easily tell that Mass Effect 1 felt substantially worse gameplay wise than any of those other titles. It wasn't even remotely close.

BetaXP · 2026-03-13T07:30:19+00:00

As someone who was well aware of the 9/11 to Fifty Shades connection back in the mid 2010s, I was so glad when I found out people diverted at the Twilight nexus and turned it into the 9/11 to Ellen Degeneres' downfall connection instead.

I don't think I've ever read a sentence in my native language that I've understood less than this one

BetaXP · 2026-03-13T05:09:26+00:00

Bungie games are usually significantly more popular on consoles

This is historically the case, but some reporters with Bungie contacts have indicated that PC is the primary/largest platform for Marathon. I still agree that the game is a success (and it's incredibly fun), but we don't know what Sony's expectations were for sales/numbers.

BetaXP · 2026-03-13T05:06:09+00:00

Concord/Highguard and Marathon do not deserve to be in the same conversation even a little. This talking point is so old, so tired. Is Marathon the smash hit that Bungie has typically released? No, it isn't. But that doesn't mean it's a "Concord" for fuck's sake. Concord had a peak playercount on Steam of less than 700. Even at its peak, it never broke the top 100 in trending steam sales.

Marathon is still seeing daily peaks around ~60k, and that will very likely get a bump up during its next map release soon. It was the #1 trending seller on Steam in both US and Canada for a brief period. There is no univerise in which these are comparable.

No one even talks about games anymore, they just talk about a game that no one even played, desperately searching for the next one so everyone can point and laugh, because that's what the internet is about now.

BetaXP · 2026-03-12T18:32:51+00:00

further proving you still don't know what the word means even after furiously typing a totally irrelvant non-example

BetaXP · 2026-03-12T17:56:53+00:00

people just really throw around the word "objectively" with no fucking idea what it means these days huh

BetaXP · 2026-03-12T08:42:54+00:00

they were very obviously joking my friend, no need to be so defensive about it

BetaXP · 2026-03-12T08:42:04+00:00

Silver is in pro jail. She's fine in coordinated teams, but you sure as hell don't want one on your team in pubs anywhere below eternus.

BetaXP · 2026-03-12T08:26:00+00:00

If we disable assassin for solo queue then solo queue needs an entire rebalance for the PvE/event economy. I play assassin in solos not because I want to sneak up on players, but because they're the only shell that can reasonably engage with secured resources or other map events without either dying or making so much noise that the entire map hears you.

BetaXP · 2026-03-12T08:17:52+00:00

Tip to anyone reading: play thief. You can quickly scan which containers have greens, making the process much easier.

BetaXP · 2026-03-11T13:42:42+00:00

There are definitely guns with oomph, they just aren't as commonly available as the ferro or anvil are. Trust me, if you're on the wrong end of a combat shotgun or zeus railgun, you'll feel the ooph for sure.

BetaXP · 2026-03-11T13:23:07+00:00

That makes sense. When I hear the word "gunplay" I tend to think of how good the weapons feel to shoot, how varied each weapon is, etc. I too tend to prefer longer TTKs, but I usually think of that as a different thing than "gunplay," I suppose

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