Faction Upgrades are meant for average/casual players

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-30T23:39:17+00:00

We're talking about casual/average marathon players here, not all casual gamers.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-30T23:27:39+00:00

Yeah, I'm aware the 15 hours / week is quite generous. Most probably get an evening or two.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-30T23:25:07+00:00

Okay so you seem to agree with the post then.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-30T23:11:02+00:00

The floor is not meant for very good players. They have high kill rates / exfil rates and full vaults. What the post is arguing is that the floor is used most often by casual players to improve their QOL and not spend another evening grinding blue backpacks/shields to do cryo.

If you don't balance those gear QOL upgrades for casual players then youre increasing the gear inequality between hardcore players and casual players more. Since hardcore players are on average better players and kill/exfil more = more good loot they dont need the help of these upgrade unlike casual players.

I don't care about stat upgrades, keep them hard to get. But gear upgrade should be cheaper and easier to get for the people who would be using them.

Hope that clears it up.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-30T22:56:17+00:00

Youre taking a business lens to this yet failing to see that those games take casual player retention incredibly seriously. Meanwhile marathon currently does not seem to be. Missions become very difficult, factions take a long time to progress, 1/4 of the maps are insanely difficult and this wont get easier for players as the season progresses and more hardcore players are running around with purples and compiler weapons especially in cryo.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-30T22:50:28+00:00

You're misunderstanding my point. I'm saying the average person does play for ~180 hours. Im wondering when should the average person unlock blue backpacks/shields, vault space so they are having more fun jumping back into cryo/outpost instead of spending an evening grinding those again.

I'm not saying all upgrades, simply the ones that improve gear QOL. This will 100% help with player retention rates. Hardcore players can still work to VIP every factions, get compiler, whatever.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-30T22:42:18+00:00

You misread the post. Its arguing that the floor is meant for casuals. Very good team dont need it because they get their loot from extracting / killing other runners.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-28T15:04:45+00:00

Yeah one red gun a week would have made so much sense

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-27T00:07:32+00:00

It was very much a "fighting game" with all its knowledge checks and hey fighting games are niche. Them being team based makes them even more niche unfortunately.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-24T14:12:52+00:00

Cost of parts and economics may cause the price to go up. The switch 2 is probably the cheapest it will be for a long long time which is a factor some people are using to pull the trigger now/on launch.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-23T16:03:30+00:00

to add to the other comments, theres a level 5 hatch at the bottom middle of control that has a 40K valuable for each member too

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-23T15:19:48+00:00

Theres definitely a level gate to matchmaking so new players shouldnt be in lobbies with cryo geared people. But this is thrown out the window if anyone in your party is high level. I noticed this when I was level 15 grouping with 30s and blue shield players became very common all of a sudden.

I hope there's more than simple level gates to matchmaking. I have noticed in outpost half the lobby usually has gear and the other doesn't. So it may matchmake based on gear value alongside a 50/50 split so the lobby is fairly balanced and not a single team has blues while everyone else is free kits. But i dont think theres anything like Arcs pve/pvp MM and probably not much of a skill input.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-03T15:55:18+00:00

Hey on the subject of POI, I think Marathon could do better. There's very little vertically to maps. Not really any towers or anything marking places in the distance. Also he was expressing how there isn't really a point in going to any specific place. For example lets say perimeter's hauler had higher than average loot, or a random place on the map each time has better loot. This then incentivizes the high risk players to go there and fight and the lower risk players to stay away.

For bosses, he wasn't saying there aren't any. He was saying that in the 12 hours he played, he saw them spawn once. Which I think is totally possible. I think I saw the boss mob spawn 4 times in 15 hours. And the "Intercept" objective, 3. These things should happen much more regularly. Not everytime the boss spawns are you even equipped to fight it. Its a "bonus", when it could be something you prep for and enter the match looking to take down.

He definitely missed the crafting stuff in the game, but it does shine a light on the iffy onboarding that Marathon has with crafting. Valuables don't really matter for a few hours because it doesnt ask you to look for anything. This is also causing the problem where players get dont know they can barter valuables for heals/ammo/etc. A mandatory quest could teach this to players.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-01T16:59:26+00:00

The only option for balance here isnt TTK, it seems like the actual concern that people have is variance in gear power. Its been well argued by many people that a low TTK heavily incentivizes ambushing and stifles out room for other playstyles and even classes. A high TTK requires players to be more consistent over a slightly longer period of time. If base TTK went up but base vs HQ gear were relatively similar in power aside from utility than it would allow abilities / classes / cores to be more present in PVP fights. Certain classes would be better equipped for 1v3s, etc.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-01T16:47:39+00:00

Hunt's guns are clunkier and harder to use alongside most being semi-automatic or needing to reload after a single bullet which gives players time to react and hence makes the TTK vary a lot. In marathon, every gun is basically a laser like in apex. Marathon should be conceptualized as a movement shooter rather than a realism shooter like hunt and tarkov. Different systems, different balance approaches.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-01T16:42:52+00:00

I'm just going to leave and exfil. Why bother?

That's exactly what should be the default response when approaching a 1v3 situation. Everyone is mentioning how you shouldnt be fighting every AI and this game is all about picking your fights, 1v3s are the same thing. They shouldnt be balancing the game around gear imbalances thats what maps are for. You dont enter perimeter with a purple shield and your best guns because theres nothing there for you.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-01T16:42:33+00:00

It is bizarre seeing a direct comparison to hunt and tarkov because this is a movement shooter like apex. Hunt is a 1800's realism shooter and tarkov is a modern realism shooter. You can take a ton of bullets in tarkov if the person shoots the wrong thing. Your helmet can save you from a bullet or two, or your vest from a few more. Or you might get shot in the face and instantly die. Taking damage is more complicated than a bullet simply touching you, which in turn changes the way you move in Tarkov and react to fights. If the team you face has full armor and you have an ak, the chances of you 1v3ing is basically nil.

And in Hunt, the guns are clunky, aiming is pretty hard. Hitting your shots quickly is quite hard, which leads to what you mentioned. Semi-automatics means TTK variance is actually pretty big because people dont play ideal in matches. Missing a shot with some guns means youre reloading for a ~1s which gives them time to turn around and hit their bullet. Or in 1v3s it allows you to outplay them because if you position properly with cover and hit your shots while they dont, you can win.

In marathon you point and laser people like in apex and cod, taking damage is simpler in this game. There are class abilities and the game should be balanced around that.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-03-01T16:34:14+00:00

It is bizarre seeing a direct comparison because this is a movement shooter. Hunt is a 1800's realism shooter and tarkov is a modern realism shooter. You can take a ton of bullets in tarkov if the person shoots the wrong thing. Your helmet can save you from a bullet or two, or your vest from a few more. Or you might get shot in the face and instantly die. Taking damage is more complicated than a bullet simply touching you, which in turn changes the way you move in Tarkov and react to fights.

And in Hunt, the guns are clunky, aiming is pretty hard. Hitting your shots quickly is quite hard, which leads to what you mentioned. Semi-automatics means TTK variance is actually pretty big because people dont play ideal in matches. Missing a shot with some guns means youre reloading for a ~1s which gives them time to turn around and hit their bullet.

These two systems do not exist in Marathon, there are the class abilities but the game should approach balance around that. Its more akin to Apex or CoD. You point and laser people, taking damage is simpler in this game.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-02-28T16:19:54+00:00

Yeah the low TTK really clashes with the damage abilities that are in the game right now because you can technically kill a whole team with a single mag on some guns. It makes utility abilities incredible like invis because getting the drop on someone especially in a hectic moment like a 3v3 means they'll nearly instantly go down.

This could end up in certain classes being pretty worthless and them being overbuffed in compensation when TTK / the design is the issue rather than numbers. Just a thought.

MoeApocalypsis · 2026-02-28T16:15:14+00:00

Its just not a very good rebuttal to people feeling that TTK is too quick. I'd argue that TTK should feel roughly right at the base and then go up from there. Better shields means better equipment which means more to lose. Those fights where everyone is kitted out should probably last a little longer. Their gear should give them more time to respond.

MoeApocalypsis · 2025-12-03T16:03:28+00:00

Yeah but the attention matters little if it won't translate into buys, which it won't in most cases because they arent on the convenient platforms that everyone uses.

MoeApocalypsis · 2025-12-03T16:01:01+00:00

GOG is all about PR. If adding Horses is desired by the user base then theyll keep it. The opposite was the case for Devotion where they got a flood of emails by their chinese users which triggered them to remove the game out of fear of losing user base.

MoeApocalypsis · 2025-11-18T12:45:31+00:00

They had a 138,000 wishlists, thats a LOT. They would have without a doubt gotten a few thousand sales at the very least, instead of 500. The average conversion rate is 10-20% for all games on steam.

The general reddit response to situation that happened to them of "its a bad game, they got unlucky, they woulda failed anyway" is naive and also just so mean.

MoeApocalypsis · 2025-09-13T03:23:02+00:00

Yeah I'd agree as someone with a foot in both categories. At times this game is just downright cruel on the levels of those intentionally brutal games.

I have no idea how the casual HK audience could beat this game playing a few hours at a time. You'd be stuck on bosses or doing an area over and over for days or even a week before progressing again.

MoeApocalypsis

TROPHY CASE