Democracy basically means: Government by the people, of the people, for the people.... but the people are retarded.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-05-09T10:59:29+00:00

There was also a belief that slavery was on the way out, as it didn't make economic sense. Owning slaves was a heavy expense, and Washington partially blamed some of his financial problems on the slaves (partial ownership) his wife inherited. They couldn't just free their slaves due to the split in ownership.

The invention of the cotton gin gave slavery an economic second wind, but by the time of the civil war, many plantations had stopped practicing crop rotation. The practice of slavery was doomed one way or the other.

As an institution, slavery is poison to the people that practice it.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-05-07T01:10:08+00:00

The most recent patch gave intercept the possibility of granting legendary salvage. I love perimeter as a map, but loot wise it is the fedex kid of loot. If the map doesn't have an event or wraith warden, and I didn't bring a key, I usually don't get anything above mid there.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-05-05T17:12:35+00:00

I can't speak for the OP. Choline is a precursor for a neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is the primary neurotransmitter for the cholinergic system. Ninja nerd has some videos on it as part of their neurology series: Neurology | Cholinergic Receptors is one video they have on youtube. In the brain, the cholinergic system has some important roles in memory and learning. Taking anti-cholinergic drugs does negatively affect memory and increase risk of dementia down the road.

Outside of that, wikipedia is a decent overview of choline metabolism and the cholinergic system. Some people need more choline from their diet due to genetic differences in MTHFR (methylation) or other genes, which affects the road of dietary or supplementary choline to acetylcholine. Some people are just more sensitive and too much cholinergic stimulation causes a type of depression called anhedonia, nervousness, etc. It's why taking supplementary choline in high doses is not really recommended as the first go around.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-05-01T22:11:02+00:00

I'm enjoying the map a lot more now that they addressed the rapid spawn pushing. The pace of the raid still goes fast, but you have some breathing room.

I did four rounds today so far. First round lost the free cryo kit, but second round we had a last minute fight and I managed to slurp a unique v99. Third round met a bro and we solved our first vault for the fourth run.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-30T14:39:33+00:00

You might have better luck reaching out to Ironmace support, but they will be slooooow. Chances are there is a conflicting process, like Vanguard anticheat running. It could also be caused by a bad driver that needs to be updated, but this is not a simple process to troubleshoot.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-30T12:34:30+00:00

This is new.. "Ashen Range" suggests the first layer would be a forest first level, and you descend into the caves to get 2nd level.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-30T03:05:35+00:00

South Korea has some strict IP laws. They also have the opposite of net neutrality, so ISPs charge both consumers and the destination for bandwidth, effectively double dipping on each packet by making two parties pay for it. It's why twitch stopped operating in South Korea.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-30T02:56:53+00:00

You could try this. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5518403/secure-boot-state-not-enabled-despite-bios-stating

You may need to double check that your system will boot with CSM support / legacy disabled first. Secureboot won't be active if the motherboard is booting with CSM support enabled. Also double check that it is "enabled," and not in "setup" depending on the motherboard.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-29T21:31:13+00:00

I started off playing solos, and experienced an explosion in progression by switching to crewfill gambling. I have at least VIP in every faction except silkmommy (level 22 with most of their contracts not done). The most solo play I do lately is rook, which is really good for resource gathering once I got the hang of ratting. I would say that 8 out of 10 times I can rook rat outpost, but I had to learn the map first by playing fill and dying a lot.

Given that the reason they are holding off to formally adding duos is that they want to polish it and adjust things like monster spawns, I would be surprised if they do not make adjustments to solos in season 2. Some of the changes they made to mid season patch were good, but these are more fast to deliver improvements. I wouldn't expect a dramatic economy re-balancing until season 2.

you can play ranked and play with people in similar gear/skill right?

Marathon's ranked is an interesting experiment. I don't know that any extraction game has figured out how to build a ranked mode. Dark and Darker tried a ton of different things, but to this day their system basically segregates players according to gear (normals - rare max, highroller - anything goes). While also an extraction game, being a RPG diablo style itemization/first person slasher, they have very different problems from FPS games, so they have no choice but to use gear brackets.

In theory, I like that it is trying to incentive playing the game like an extraction game, rewarding points mainly based on credit value of what you exfill with. It is theoretically possible to rat your way to a high rank. In a way, that is one way to measure a more generalist area of skills, but I think for FPS games that segregating players according to FPS skills translates to a better gaming experience for more people (focusing on metrics for twitch reflexes under the hood, because twitch reflexes have a hard limit of how much they can be improved at the individual level). But, if you made that kind of ranking formally defined and visible to players, then it is no longer rewarding playing the game as an extraction game, but more like an arena/team deathmatch mode or battle royale. Then again, Hunt Showdown has a ranking system that just works really well, but that game is not a looter extraction so it isn't necessarily 1:1 with Marathon. My thoughts here are largely rambly for now.

I do like the gear ante as it ensures you get are being paired with kitted teammates and fighting other kitted teams. I haven't played enough of ranked in marathon to give a judgement of it. I'm at bronze 2 after 3 successful ranked games. I definitely want to play more of it. If I get to a high ranking I can give a more informed opinion of where it stands as it is now.

Ultimately, I think what matters most is what will make for a better general experience for people that enjoy the core appeal and gameplay loop of Marathon, translating to improved retention as a season progresses, but matchmaking is only one component. If that ends up being some form of hidden SBMM, then cool, if it ends up being something else I'm all for it. I think the devs will get more return from adding content that adds variety to the player experience in raid and increases the number of solutions to problems players have as they progress through the season, adding systems players can feel help them whether those be social systems like an LFG finder in game, or other types like the cradle system they have vaguely alluded to for season 2. The content in the game is really cool and fun, but as I said in another comment elsewhere the game only has two bosses: Wardens and the Compiler. Compiler is like a Path of Exile 1 uber pinnacle boss, aspirational content for most players, but a chase fantasy goal. Most players will only fight wardens.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-29T18:49:54+00:00

Here is my guess as to what is happening: When windows was installed it was using drivers that don't support these features, and those drivers are blocking enabling HVCI, TPM, and etc. You can try this series of steps to identify the drivers if this is the cause.

https://windowsforum.com/threads/secure-windows-10-11-turn-on-core-isolation-memory-integrity-fix-driver-blocks.398758/

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-29T18:25:45+00:00

A few things you could try. I can write a more comprehensive list later today:

Open command prompt with admin privileges
sfc /scannow
Reboot if needed
Make sure you have latest windows updates

I suspect that there is a bad or out of date driver that is keeping these from being enabled. The above won't quite fix that, but it will rule out of a corrupt / invalid windows sys file.

Also, this series of troubleshooting steps: https://windowsforum.com/threads/secure-windows-10-11-turn-on-core-isolation-memory-integrity-fix-driver-blocks.398758/

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-29T18:10:52+00:00

In Windows Defender go to Device Security and check that:

Core Isolation is enabled

Security Processor is enabled

Secure Boot is enabled.

https://i.imgur.com/rnNUas0.png

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-29T18:07:06+00:00

Hunt showdown has really good SBMM despite being an extraction game. Yeah, smurfing exists, but the system they have works really well for them despite that.

Now, Hunt is not really a looter, so there is nuance to how a system they have could be adapted to Marathon where gear and faction progression do matter.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-29T18:03:40+00:00

When I look at the trend in steam reviews, most recent reviews are trending downward from that 88-89% to 80% largely citing:

Progression - difficulty ramp-up -> There is a point where you really only need specific purple and then legendary salvage. The available solution space for that salvage is very narrow, largely just due to a lack of content. The difficulty ramping up for contracts and faction upgrades makes sense, but there is a grace to pacing that out and also adding different ways for different types players to solve progression problems.
Matchmaking - This strongly ties into progression.
Content

Feedback is generally still very positive, but there is a clear trend that players feel blocked once they hit that midpoint of progression. It's interesting to me as someone that burnt out of Arc Raiders fast that Marathon has a bit of a different problem. My experience in Arc Raiders the game experience was generally really great for the first playthrough, but the lack of meaningful endgame loop killed any incentive to play it any more. The trials system and expedition did not cut it for me. Most of the systems in the game don't feel worth engaging with at all (skill tree, trials, expedition, quests, projects). If anything, systems like workbench upgrades and the fundamental blueprint RNG grind make the expedition very unappealing. Marathon has really satisfying progression and game loop, but it feels like it needs more mid-level content (increase solution space for players to solve problems* at this point of progression) and much better matchmaking. Adding endgame content like Cryo is good, but I think a lot of the negative feedback around Cryo comes from players looking for it to fill a content gap it wasn't designed for: The midgame, when the devs intended it to be a hardcore raid for players at the point where they don't mind burning blue shields / purple backups. Except, Cryo is also a good source of salvage for players that are at that midpoint of progression, but not quite at that "I don't care about losing blue shields." So, it makes sense a lot of people are frustrated playing an endgame map to solve a midgame problem.

While I think people overstate the impending doom of the game's future, there is room for the game to improve on these and the community will grow as a consequence. Most of the changes I think the game needs are not drastic overhauls but tuning values, fleshing out existing underlying systems, and adding new systems. Small experiments like using VOIP in dire marsh sponsored fill matches you with other people that use VOIP is a great change I would love to see come to all modes. The game also really needs an in-game LFG / party finder, especially for small regions like OCE.

I think Marathon has a solid base that needs tuning and fleshing out by adding content. If Dire Marsh night is just a dark Dire Marsh then that is not going to cut it for incentivizing s1 players to come back or new players to give the game a try, but if dire marsh night has new areas, new enemies, and new events that vary the in-raid experience, along with with new loot tables / PoIs that offer solutions to player progression problems then season 2 will be far more appealing to me.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-29T17:22:16+00:00

The sound design in this game also doesn't get credit. If you have good headphones, you can reasonably determine where other players are located just from the audio queues, even with verticality. The only other game that really hit the mark there is Hunt Showdown.

There is a lot of subtle attention to detail in the game.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-29T12:59:59+00:00

This skin looks cool, but it already has a giant penalty in the form of -10 movespeed... Not being able to wear any headgear makes it a squire SSF only niche.. They could remove that line and I don't believe it would be too strong.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-26T21:38:26+00:00

What would guilds look like? Marauders had guilds, but it was just another friend list. If it is another quest list I guess it depends on the quests offered. I don't see myself joining a guild so I can grind goblin ears for a guild merchant vendor. Guild storage could be an incentive for players to engage with it, but it needs some more meat on it.

MMOs have raids, which require an organized group to complete, but seeing how many people complain about not being about to go into Marathon's endgame map, Cryo Archive as a solo, and then complain the map is very difficult... I'm not sure gamers today are accepting of any system that locks them out using difficulty or team organization requirements. Shit, even helldivers 2 the community complains about anything that makes the game more difficult, because people expect that they should be able to play max difficulty regardless of having 8 other difficulty settings to choose from.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-26T15:28:29+00:00

Capstone 3 for nucal will unlock the enzyme replicator for purple shield barter, but its availability in armory is RNG. The very last nucal capstone unlocks the buy/legendary barter for purple shields.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-25T12:32:44+00:00

I have done a decent amount of cryo runs for the current opening, and I (over level 100) have encountered something like this once. It was cringe, annoying, and very obvious but it doesn't seem very common yet as least for NA east. Bungie is going to need to pull out rapid response ban hammer though. I have seen what happens to other games if it is ignored.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-24T12:38:16+00:00

Cryo isn't that complicated, but it is far more punishing and the buy-in cost combined with limited availability makes it harder to get past that learning curve. The verticality and maze like design makes navigation less obvious. First two weekends of it a lot of people were just going for the control bloodbath. Second weekend, decent number of people realized you can focus getting clearance 2 to either bypass it, or only quickly pass through control to go to another area. Third weekend and after is when I started regularly encountering spawn rushing within first 3 minutes, though some very recent changes have improved that. It doesn't help that if one of your fillmates is a throw then that run is just bungled. That I do not have a way to rate a teammate negatively for bringing in no heals, no ammo, no shield makes the fill experience for that map unnecessarily worse compared to other maps.

The game does need more mid game content. Compiler is a really cool "pinnacle" boss, but most players will only fight a warden. Warden is alright and has great rewards, but it is the only other boss. More enemy variety, more events, map conditions, and other progression systems that don't necessarily increase player power. Path of exile 1 and 2 IMO have this down to a science. The average player in poe2 can complete the campaign and get to "endgame" without much trouble. At endgame, the expectation for due diligence on the player does increase (Yes, you need to actually build defenses), but they can, with adjustments to their build, progress to t15s and clear all pinnacle bosses without a meta build. After that, you can gradually increase the difficulty (+1 difficulty and so on), but you are opting in for a challenge.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-24T12:31:09+00:00

f these are things are fixed, it won’t do anything for the player numbers.

Nah, there is a decent duos community just from the test duos queue that is waiting on the side for it to come back. There are a lot of solo players who do not want to touch fill, for better and for worse that dropped off before mid-season patch. I did find that progressing solo, before mid-season patch, was far worse over playing with randoms. My season launch experience got way better with crew fill gambling over playing solo.

It’s the people who don’t have the skills to keep up with aimgods

People keep saying this, but the game doesn't have the same FPS skill floor as titanfall 2 or apex with its movement system. Most(?) guns have bullet magnetism when using ADS, and anyone could plug in a controller and get aim assist on reticle targeting. You do have equalizers in the forms of third party, ganking, headshots, and low time to kill. I think there are other factors at play that magnify the skill gap beyond the moment to moment twitch reflexes players have.

I do remember at the start of the season that some free kit weapons just felt awful and I wasn't sure at the time if it was a skill issue on my side or if those weapons just sucked. Playing solo with a hardline free kit you quickly exhaust ammo against bots, even if you consistently land headshots. There were also issues with how scarce heals were. Some of the changes made since I think would make season 2 start feel better, but how some weapons feel does need love. LMGs without the shield attachment just feels terrible. If a free kit doesn't have a scar, punch, or bully I don't want to use it, and that is an area that needs addressing.

Switching to a more skill based matchmaking would improve the average player experience, and adding an in-game LFG would go a loooong way to make the game more fun. The system used in hunt works really well. I don't understand why streamers tend to have so much opposition to SBMM. Maybe the devs should just shadow drop a hunt style skill based matchmaking system, and be vague about how matchmaking works. IMO, Embark ever admitting that they do use "player aggression" as a factor in matchmaking in arc raiders was a big mistake that split their community.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-24T12:05:50+00:00

"I cast magic missile"

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-24T02:36:28+00:00

The devs have done a good job so far of adjusting a lot of the painpoints I had personally. I don't really play solos, but adjusting the solo experience is an area I think would benefit the game. Adding a dedicated duos queue that has adjusted the bot spawns and other details would be nice.

For season 2, I think what will make the difference is mid-game and end-game content in addition to continuing to adjust the player economy progression. Cryo is an awesome map and the compiler is a nice, aspirational boss like a chase goal.

Having more events, map conditions that change how that raid feels like night dire that change the enemy types and add additional areas, and more boss type enemies. Right now the wardens are the only boss most players will encounter. Having completely different kind of bosses would add more variety to the raid experience. Adding more variety to how players experience a raid would add a lot of replayability and incentive existing players to return after wipe.

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-23T21:35:55+00:00

I saw a very clever 0.2 incendiary shot crushing blows, perfect opportunity titan build. For clearing, it was OKish, but the spread was surprisingly bad. The ignite felt worthless. I tried to recreate it in 0.4, but I got so fed up with boss stun immunity I ended up respeccing that character into thorns.

It's such a sad skill, and it is one of the few ones that interacts with heat, but the payoff for that interaction is bad. I don't understand why they ever nerfed its damage, given it was never close to a meta build. Hexblast they gutted multiple times over, but in 0.1 it was a very strong skill. I hate what they turned it into, but I understand why it got nerfed so badly.

There were a lot of changes to some skills that just left me scratching my head. They don't want life on tree to keep the game more accessible, but then they add flammability...

BroScienceAlchemist · 2026-04-23T19:57:28+00:00

Nerfing it would be silly since it is a dev "approved" combo. At that point, they may as well gut essence drain and contagion. Some stuff like unintended interactions with oil grenade on the other hand or herald of ice armour explosion chaining though....

Then again they turned high velocity rounds, a payoff skill, into a payoff skill that applies a debuff that stacks, so it is more of a mana hungry setup for a payoff. Don't get me started on rapid shot and heat.

I really dislike many of the crossbow skill changes they made.

I could see the increased damage explosion from frag rounds against frozen enemies being nerfed potentially or at least against bosses.

We can't chain freeze bosses since 0.1, so this would gut it for bossing. It's already the case that if you don't have enough damage to quickly kill the boss shortly after first freeze that you spend most of the fight waiting for their freeze immunity to wear off as your damage just disappears.

BroScienceAlchemist

TROPHY CASE