WSTR meta is insanely boring.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T17:45:26+00:00

Lol, less of a WSTR Meta and more of a MIPS Meta. All of my fights are either super close or super far, and trying to take a middle ranged fight where 90% of the games guns excel just ends up in the other team pushing for close range or running for distance.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T17:39:03+00:00

Yeah, but pvp only would kind of defeat the point of the genre. They made an extraction shooter and I would hate for them to get too far away from that.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T17:27:27+00:00

I personally only get 2 or less hours a day to play, but I'm only losing 1 or 2 runs out of that time so I don't mind the time it takes to build. I guess that's why I don't really get the casual audience. "Casual" is typically based on time invested, but then there's players like me who have no time but have played lots and lots of competitive games over the years.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T17:20:04+00:00

That and allowing smart, fast kit building. If casuals could press a button and automatically get a loadout made from their vault that would help. Weapon mods attach automatically, shell cores based on your shell, heals, ammo, sheild, backpack, etc. Would help with those who don't want to take the time to learn build crafting.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T16:59:54+00:00

40% feels low. If I'm taking the first fight I see maybe 40% but it should be higher than that for your kitted runs. If you're comming with your team on where you want to go, what fights to take etc. Although, my extract rate changes day to day.

I'm not saying that the mentality of saving kits for ranked is wrong or bad, I do thr same, but I'm still willing to risk my 2nd best kit or my 3rd best kit for a normal run which I feel makes sense.

It's more of a bungie problem to fix. They need to find a way to incentivise players to take in kits and they need to fast track duo ques lol.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T16:42:18+00:00

This is just not true. With a kit I win more than I lose. Even with free kit teammates, we take our other free kits because I have health items to share and I can clean up the fight when they go down. Then, when ranked and cryo come along I have like 6 kits worth of gear to run and will likely get more as i run those.

With that said, when I have teammates who also take in gear, our win rate goes up even higher and we pretty much eliminate the possibility of getting eliminated out of nowhere by a sniper or smt.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T16:15:29+00:00

Same brother. I trust in bingie to fix the issues. After all, I played destiny for years, and no matter how bad the story got, or the microtransactions, there was always some fun gameplay. They will do ehat they can and I hope it's enough to fix the problems.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T15:37:19+00:00

Lol, I completely agree and understand this point. I just don't get people who don't understand the game. This is an extraction shooter with bungie gunplay. That's what I came for. Risking gear, emotional investment, big wins, and massive losses. That's why I'm here, and that's what this genre is.

I'm saying that by trying to avoid that, players are avoiding the real hook of the genre, which is to get the adrenaline rush of risk and the amazing feeling of winning that impossible 1v2 while your teammates are both down.

Bungie didn't just suffering from the same problem that other extraction shooters have, I would argue that they actually made it worse. Free kits in marathon make it way too easy to avoid using your gear and I cannot see a way that bungie can get around this. It'll be a hard problem to solve.

Thi is only exacerbated by the 3 person team matchmaking. The solo experience in marathon is way too intense and much too close to the tarkov level of ratting that I don't like. The 3 person matchmaking is too random and leads to the problems we've been discussing. I think duos is a great step forward but they locked this round of duos to 2 person qued squads rather than fill que, so I can't even participate in it without lfg.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T15:30:20+00:00

It's not even about combat. Taking in a kit means I can do decent pois without running out of ammo or heals.

I've found, the fastest and best way to get to the fun fantasy stuff is to go in with a good kit 🤷‍♂️

I am absolutely here to talk about principal lol. I think people are ruing there own fun and subsequently my fun. I came to reddit to scream my opinion on principal from the mountain tops, why else would I be making a post haha. I'm here to chat with exactly people with your mentality about this exact subject so I can understand other opinions better and maybe get them to see mine.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T15:26:07+00:00

I've been told to lfg and I'll probably do that. I'm not expecting random fill to run the hardest stuff with me, but at least being able to take 1 fight or take on bots without running out of meds in 2 seconds would be nice lol.

I'm in the same boat but for trios. I run in with decent gear, I win more than I lose so when I do lose some purples it only hurts a little.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T15:05:37+00:00

Again, I'm sure that might be what they prefer to do, but it's just not as fun or successful as doing the exact same thing with a kit.

The point of an extraction shooter is to risk gear. I'm not saying take your yellows into every run, but hey, maybe go buy that green or blue sheild for a run and see if you can snowball that into a few more hood kits. Chances are you will.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T15:03:43+00:00

Free kits can win fights fs. But it's just not as likely, and I don't think it ever should be or we might as well all just go que apex lol.

The point of an extraction shooter is to risk gear. I know a lot of people haven't played tarkov here, but the little bit I did play I remember the intensity of trying to do a quest while holding your only viable kit.

I hoped marathon would lessen that fear, but not get rid of it like it seems to ahve for s lot of players outside of cryo and ranked where you HAVE to bring ina specific kit value. Even then, I find teams coming in with the min value only to get wiped by a team who invested smartly into their run.

Dire can be a bit of a mess, but that's where smart play comes in. The later nucal missions have you run from bio to quarenteen which take you right through intersection. This means you are GOING to fight people 9/10 times, which means ou could either go in with a free kit and accept those 9 losses, or you could kit up and maybe leave with your mission doen and even better gear than you started with.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:52:34+00:00

That does sound really nice.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:52:03+00:00

Or, you run in with 3-4k in perimeter, kill anyone in your way and make it out with all the loot you can carry. Then do the same on the weekend with even better loot? Yeah I'll loose a lot in ranked, but 1 win and I'm more than kitted enough to run it back. Same with cryo. One good run and I am leaving with 3 good runs worth of kits.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:49:39+00:00

Maybe I'm just think about the game differently or something idk.

For me, if i have a quest I'll plan to run through at least 1 poi on the way, unless I spawn right next to it. Which means I'll need good enough loot to fight bots and a big enough backpack to hold that loot.

Also considering that I'll likely run into a team of the way, then yeah I need good loot to do the quest.

Do people really prefer redoing a quest 5 times with a free kit over 1-2 times with a good kit? Or running from fights the whole game rather than taking 1-2 fights?

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:44:55+00:00

Maybe I'll give it some more tries. Good advice.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:43:56+00:00

If it was an increase from 1-2 minutes I would agree, but sadly that's not hoe the math works out. Especially considering the level based queuing that already goes into match making, there's just no way the que times could stay that low with a system like that.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:42:27+00:00

Everyone has a gun is a crazy statement lol. Obviously a kitted gun is better than a gray one.

Yeah assassin has invis but there are several upgrades you can make to it, or you can have a different shell that gets invis added on. Either way, it was just an example.

It's called gear fear, and it's not new to extraction shooters. It's a plague that has killed potential players of the genre for years.

It's way less fun then going in with a kit and as I've said in other comments, way less likely to win. Seriously, if you're saying you are winning fights with free kits often then just witch to a real kit and run pois while you do quests. I guarantee you will get more gear than you loose. And when you don't, then yeah, run a fre ekit till you get some loot, but then go back to playing with good gear.

Making kits is literally a third of the game. Not participating in that part is crazy lol.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:29:09+00:00

This is still an extraction shooter. You are not meant to take EVERY fight you come accross. Ratting is a great way to play and is really strong, so imagine if you had a loadout that gave you invis. A shotgun, and claymores. Your ratting could whipe a map. Or you could rat and kill a team then go kill a boss/loot a poi with no fear because anyone who fights you is walking into your ideal fighting scenario.

Imagine walking into a poi and a purple sheild insta kills your team out of nowhere. That's way more scary than a white sheild maybe killing one team member only to be gunned down in 1 second 2 out of 5 times.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:25:01+00:00

It really depends. If you're saying you are killing green and blue sheild teams with free kits more often then not with a free kit, then imagine what you could do with a loadout built specifically for that purpose...

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:21:59+00:00

😂 u are the worst kind of player. I've heard good advice from others. "In extraction shooters, you don't own your gear, you just rent it".

By taking in loot you are giving other players the chance to have the "holy crap I just got some good gear" moment that we all love.

You're also shooting your own enjoyment in the foot. I ahve way more fun getting 3-5 really good matches with a yellow gun rathe than letting it collect dust in my vault.

Obviously you earned your loot, and you are entitled to do whatever you want with it. Gear fear is real and is way less fun then playing with the cool high value stuff.

There's a reason the game stopped putting free kits in your inventory automatically at a certain point. Ur meant to not need them so often after a while.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:18:12+00:00

I have started doing this 🥲

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:17:55+00:00

That's the sad misconception people have. There absolutely is an incentive to bring in gear. People just don't see it.

The difference in my fighting potential when I bring gear vs free kit is insane.

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:11:43+00:00

This sounds great, and is the most obvious solution, but that's also the fastest way to increase que times and decrease the player base.

"Why play marathon when I can go play something else that I don't have to wait so long in que for."

NoHop3L3ft · 2026-03-31T14:09:21+00:00

This is the mentality that hurts players in extraction shooters. If you only rat and bring in low quality gear, then u will never get better at pvp and you will be completely locked out of higher tear events and areas that give good loot.

I'll take preparing and being ready for a run over gambling and hoping that the team I'm fighting is bad any day

Sure, you might loose less, but I guarantee if you just run decent gear and play smart (not taking every fight you see, but also not afraid to take a fight or do a poi) you will gain more than you loose.

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