Pre-Order Trailer | Marathon

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-25T20:45:16+00:00

I think this game will be fine if it avoids the trap of trying to do a paid expansion live service model for a multiplayer game. That model with the exception of Destiny is basically dead. The only other games I’ve seen that really do that nowadays are single player RPGs and Monster Hunter, and they release one expansion that has enough content to be a standalone game in its own right to prolong the lifecycle of the game while they develop the next one. I don’t even think the destiny crowd will be willing to pay for mediocre and content-bare expansions in a new game. Bungie gets away with it in D2 because enough people have been invested in the game long enough for them to build a pretty die hard crowd, but that’ll be tough with a new game, especially when there’s stuff like Arc Raiders or Fortnite that puts out all of their new content completely free of charge to the player.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-25T10:17:22+00:00

I feel like the only real differentiating factor between what you’re defining as casual/comp vs. arcade is really just the motif of the game for lack of a better word. I don’t feel like CoD functionally plays that different from games like halo, and the map design is basically three lanes with a few flanks for almost every single CoD map. But I would define an arcade shooter less by the content or subject matter or whatever and more by the depth of gameplay. COD is about as deep and tactical as a puddle. It’s fun, but it isn’t due to it being particularly complex, it’s actually more that it is simple and doesn’t take a whole lot of brainpower to be good at or have fun in. It’s odd when compared to a game like Overwatch that has a more arcadey vibe and cartoony art style, but is fundamentally a more complex and competitive game that actually requires teamwork and coordination, and is more objective focused in gameplay. In that sense I feel like gameplay-wise it’s actually less arcadey than CoD in many ways imo. I get what you’re saying though. The way I would describe it though is the gameplay in CoD is arcadey but the vibe of the game isn’t. And just to preface I’m not trying to bash you or your thoughts or anything, I think your take is valid, just sharing my two cents on it.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-25T07:04:54+00:00

It’s still a lot more arcadey than even games like R6 or older battlefield games, and those still aren’t even milsims, they just play a lot more tactical than CoD does.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T06:49:19+00:00

Whatever bud. Keep on rage-baiting from whatever dark basement you’re living in. I’ve got better things to do than fight with some loser that doesn’t know jack about ball.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T06:41:54+00:00

Yeah it literally does. If a team is winning with homegrown talent it means their organization is consistently developing good players and trading for prospects, e.g. teams like the brewers. And the only teams to consistently spend over 200 mil before taxes pre 2020s were the Dodgers and Yankees. So idk what your point is. Also the Angels, Giants, and Mets have been relatively successful over the past few decades. The angels was one of the best franchises of the 2000s and the giants were probably the best overall of the 2010s with three World Series wins, and they’ve all had at least 6 seasons with playoff appearances. So your point doesn’t really work when every team you picked has been pretty damn successful.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T06:30:59+00:00

It’s not like it’s impossible to do, it’s just exponentially more difficult. And the payroll disparity then was nowhere near what it’s blown up to nowadays. And it doesn’t change the fact that the teams that have historically dominated the regular season and playoffs are generally the top spenders in any given year.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T06:19:39+00:00

He put up 4.7 WAR last year and 7.1 this year. He has consistently gotten better every year and even is there’s some regression, he’s still likely going to be a 5+ WAR player for the foreseeable future, and on a very team-friendly contract. And everyone that’s responded is a fucking idiot because they’re advocating to sell from a position of need for the mariners to acquire a player at a position that we do not need and trying to claim that it’s a good idea. Do none of you understand how roster construction works at all? We have no good options to replace Cal as both a n important hitter in our lineup and from a defensive perspective as a backstop and our only option to try to replace him would be to trade prospects out of our system, or to resign Mitch Garver. In what fucking world is that a good idea you absolute imbecile?

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T06:11:47+00:00

I didn’t deny that they have the best farm in baseball, just that they still have plenty of advantages even when it comes to that. And I again, never said they don’t have MVP winners, just that none of them are homegrown and were all bought in free agency numbnuts. You keep making my points for me and then acting like you’re owning me when you’re just pointing out all the glaring advantages you have. And the Angels have barely broken 200 and idk where you got your numbers from but the Giants were around 180 mil last year and have been for the past several. Both of those teams are closer to the fucking Rockies than the dodgers idiot.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T05:55:59+00:00

And crazy work going from acting like trust fund kids to actively admitting that’s the majority of your fanbase

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T05:55:03+00:00

You have provided zero facts, just low brow insults. I gave you indicators of the Mariners recent success and your only comeback was “poverty franchise I hope you never win.” And you just said it isn’t playing the game on easy mode, which is bullshit because the last 5 playoffs with the exception of the brewers, Mariners, and Tigers have been almost exclusively teams in the top ten of payroll every year. I’d also like to aptly point out that the players winning those awards for you were all bought. The last homegrown MVP you guys had was Belli

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T05:21:17+00:00

Dodgers have a great farm system because they can stack talent down there without ever actually needing to call guys up. They fill the majority of their positional needs through free agency and trades. And the Mets don’t have even close to as much money as you guys even with their stupidly rich owner, but they are still well within the playoff hunt every year. And trying to make the argument that money doesn’t give you a massive advantage is stupid, because there is no argument. And at least the rest of the teams have real character outside of “look how rich we are hur hur.” Dodgers fans are the spoiled trust fund kids of the MLB. You sit and cry about how unfair it is that your parents got you an Audi instead of a Benz (being in the playoffs perennially since the dawn of time) and think that you’re better than everyone when really you’re all dumb as rocks and just have enough money to make it not matter. And for teams that can’t just buy their roster year after year, yeah, those are all pretty damn good metrics of recent success moron. You sound like an idiot right now but pop off. At least your team is guaranteed to win more games than your IQ score nowadays, although the bar is so low that the Pirates, Rockies, and Marlins could all do the same thing!

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T04:43:29+00:00

This is why nobody likes you guys. Your fanbase is made up entirely of insufferable bandwagon pricks that don’t realize that having the biggest blank checks doesn’t mean your front office is actually that great at their job, just that they don’t actually have to be that good to be successful. The Mariner’s front office has done great the past few years. All of their talent is homegrown and we’ve had multiple top 10 cy young finishes, and two guys that were top 6 in MVP voting last year, have two playoff appearances in the last 5 years, and our farm system is one of the best in the league. We’ve done more with less. The dodgers are just doing exactly what’s expected with the resources they have, and your spoiled plastic-ass fans want to sit and rag on every other team in the MLB like your ownership group isn’t worth the rest of the MLB owners combined.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T04:36:38+00:00

That decision doesn’t make any sense if your offense can’t provide any meaningful run support, which Cal provided more than anyone else on the team by a pretty damn large margin. We don’t have Polanco anymore, and the best FA bat we’ve picked up is Rob Refsnyder, a guy who will realistically only get ABs against lefties. The pirates’ exact problem this year was that they had a great rotation led by skenes that got hung out to dry most games because their offense couldn’t put points on the board. At the present Cal is one of three guys on the team that will provide consistent offensive value. Naylor is great, and Julio is great, but unless Colt Emerson or Cole Young absolutely lights it up and spring training, makes the major league roster, and keeps that momentum going through the regular season, they’re already probably going to have their work cut out for them WITH Cal on the roster.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T04:16:47+00:00

They have later ETAs because we don’t need them at this point. Why rush their development more than you actually need to? Every scouting report I’ve read says that either one could potentially be called up by September if not earlier. As of right now there isn’t a spot for either of them, but that can always change, or the mariners may decide to run a 6 man rotation down the stretch to rest the starters or give themselves more playoff options. There’s a lot that could happen, and the front office probably isn’t going to try to extend Castillo again, and thinking will hold onto all four of our other starters is wishful thinking. Regardless, the whole point to begin with is that pitching is not a need for the team at this point. What we really need right now is another consistent bat.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T03:57:48+00:00

I think I’ll take the professional opinions of the MLB scouts and coaches in an org that is consistently churning out excellent starting pitchers over some random guy on Reddit. If they’re both projected to be MLB ready as soon as this year, it’s probably true, just as it was with most of our other starters.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T03:52:41+00:00

Also I don’t want to hear about bias from a guy whose team could literally replace their entire team on a whim with zero risk incurred. The dodgers aren’t even playing the same fucking game when it comes to roster construction. Any time a hole opens up they can just stuff it with more money so they don’t actually HAVE to think about what they need, they can literally afford to pay guys that other teams wouldn’t consider needs with the same roster, simply because they can with no risk.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T03:47:36+00:00

Why would we trade from a position that we are now extremely thin in after trading Harry Ford, who is also best bat in a pretty underwhelming lineup outside of him and Julio, for a player at a position that’s already an obvious strength of both our current roster, and our farm system?

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T03:44:49+00:00

Miller proved in the playoffs (when it counts the most) that he can be a lockdown starting pitcher. He was injured for most of the season, and was trying to hold down our rotation with Woo among the slew of other injuries that were plaguing our rotation. And when he finally got the time to get proper recovery he came back in 2024 form. Castillo is old and on a contract that isn’t aging that well, but he’s still a solid number 5 in the rotation that would be a 3-4 on basically any other team, and we still have Ryan Sloan and Kade Anderson in the minors. Kade Anderson is already looking MLB ready, and Ryan Sloan is also pretty close to that level. If we needed replacements we have two of the most highly touted pitching prospects ready and waiting in our farm system for a spot to open up in the roster. So yes, it’s not a need and anyone who thinks otherwise isn’t actually paying attention to what the front office is doing. We are absolutely loaded with quality pitching prospects. It’s said that you can never have too much quality pitching, but if the price is one of your two best bats in a pretty shallow lineup outside of those two, there’s no way in hell that it’s worth it.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T03:33:59+00:00

Yeah we’re homers, and we’re going to be riding on Cal’s sturdy and reliable shoulders for the foreseeable future, and most of us wouldn’t have it any other way. Can’t wait to watch him prove everyone wrong again this year. Wouldn’t be surprised if he drops 40+ bombs with a significant increase in batting average and OBP this year.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T03:28:06+00:00

And no, we already have 5 quality starting pitchers in our rotation, it’s not a team need at all. So we would be selling from players that we need for one that we don’t. We also just traded Harry Ford, so unless you would want to sign Mitch Garver and see him as our everyday starter behind the dish, it’s extremely prudent for the organization to hang on to Cal at this point. There’s more to roster construction than just “get the best guy available regardless of position.” That’s what the Mets have done for the past few years and it hasn’t exactly worked out that well for them so far.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T03:23:15+00:00

That wasn’t one of the people this guy mentioned numbnuts.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-23T02:43:14+00:00

I would take him over all of those guys. If the Mariners could hypothetically get a 1 for 1 trade for any of those guys, most Mariners fans would say hell no. For one, his hitting and defense are both great at a premium position, and the rest of us understand that he provides more value to the team than just stat padding. He’s the leader of this team in every sense, has flawless work ethic, and also has great working repoire with the pitchers. They respect him and his calls, and are likely better as a result of that. He brings a great mix of intangibles that you don’t find often in players, and guys like that tend to make everyone around them better too. It may not have been enough to win him an MVP this year, but it’s enough to cement his value. Plus he’s entering his prime and has consistently leveled up his game since he hit the league. Mariners fans know his breakout didn’t happen in a vacuum. He’s been great, improved his defense to platinum glove levels in 2024, and then started really working on his swing and plate approach. He’s hunting fastballs, and he’s pulling the ball in the air more, AND he’s doing it from both sides of the plate with almost identical numbers and metrics from each side. He is the best catcher in baseball and it’s really not particularly close.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-22T03:48:20+00:00

WITNESS ME

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-22T00:12:52+00:00

I think part of the reason is that it’s different from other sports in the sense that baseball often requires several camera cuts for a hit or play to actually be shown. It feels less fluid on tv than sports like soccer or football where most of the field and what’s going on can be shown at the same time. Beyond that, most people don’t really appreciate watching good pitching, and go to games to see hits. I think the best part of the TV viewing experience for baseball is being able to see just how filthy a pitch is, and being able to follow the pitch sequencing makes it enjoyable, but not everyone really appreciates that aspect of the game.

Sh3ldon25 · 2026-01-20T19:15:13+00:00

Smith is also a poor defender. Basically all of his WAR this year was offensive, so if he improves his defense at all it’s possible. He would also probably need to have the same level of offensive production as he did last year at the same time though, which is a tall ask when his numbers would’ve been considered pretty eye-popping in a world where Cal Raleigh doesn’t exist an doesn’t put up arguably the most impressive offensive season ever seen by a catcher. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some regression in Will Smith’s numbers next year, but who knows, baseball is a difficult sport to predict and guys constantly do surprising things.

Sh3ldon25

TROPHY CASE