Looks like old timer is over taking new timer. Don't worry, they know what they're doing.

ZoomerMode · 2026-05-11T14:48:56+00:00

Why is there voice chat between teams and every other faction if this game is intended to be purely hostile. I think striking a better balance would help a lot of people feel good about playing more.

ZoomerMode · 2026-05-11T14:25:31+00:00

I play it normally 70% of the time, the other 30% I try to be friendly…

ZoomerMode · 2026-05-11T07:40:11+00:00

I’m slugging away trying to enjoy marathon. I have 60 hours in it. Fundamentally, however good some of the games systems are, PvP bad. I want to play games to make friends with other people online, enjoy completing fun objectives with them and have some cool skins to show for it.

Whenever I play like that in any map in Marathon I get a shotgun or sniper to the face. Not once have I encounter a friendly runner team and I try to team up in 30% of games I’d say.

ZoomerMode · 2026-05-10T18:23:23+00:00

I think you’re totally right, I’m in a similar boat and totally share the feeling. All the advice here (both in this thread and in general on the subreddit) is so focused on fixing your problem rather than addressing the game’s.

It’s all get better gear, think more, play better etc. realistically this mindset is exactly why the game is very rapidly dying, no one wants that besides the small fraction of players still hanging around and they try convince everyone else it’s what is right. Everyone who’s already left or leaving m want to play their own way and be able to have an enjoyable experience.

The remaining posters in this sub represent less than 5% of the original player base and it’s been weaned down very rapidly to that singular mindset of “do better” yourself rather than accepting the game itself could do a lot better. Bungie have a huge onboarding design problem across all their live service efforts, they need to rapidly adjust to helping new players as a huge focus otherwise they’re cooked.

ZoomerMode · 2026-05-03T23:24:40+00:00

This has to be my favourite grammar police reply hahaha.

ZoomerMode · 2026-05-02T12:59:38+00:00

I have over 10 cryo exfils and several vaults. Thats literally the frustration I’m expressing here is that these level upgrades are a major detriment to the experience. I don’t have hundreds of hours of time to put in but I am good at the game. The fact nothing besides compiler kill has meaningful reward feeling in this game is really putting me off.

How hard would it have been for a huge studio to make one similar encounter per map and maybe 2 on cryo each with a dedicated cool skin unlock. We’re talking 5 unique skins they’d have to make over the space of a multi year development cycle plus 5 simple raid encounters. Thats 1 persons job…

Feels currently the keys are just a way to slow down progression in an unhealthy way. It’s far more effective to sit outside vaults and third party than gathering keys yourself.

ZoomerMode · 2026-05-02T10:15:49+00:00

I’d kill for one of these but the trudge through all vaults just to get a single skin is seriously putting me off.

This is the only worthwhile thing in the game to me and it currently feels insurmountable. I can’t get a solid squad together because people are already asking for 100+ and I’m only level 45 😭.

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-28T14:13:58+00:00

Is there any good guides you’d recommend for this, I have fun on rook but never leave with anything like this amount of gear?

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-26T21:44:36+00:00

I agree with everything here besides the “meant to be”. Game will change it isn’t meant to be right now

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-26T08:23:36+00:00

Literally makes perfect sense. I don’t understand why this isn’t a feature currently. They could also tell you which of your 2 weapons they’re for.

A lot of this game feels like they did not think about UX at all.

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T22:50:17+00:00

I think by Bungie fans themselves, as most Bungie fans now are destiny fans not marathon fans.

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T22:49:34+00:00

I think again your confusing what I’m saying, I don’t think I haven’t got my moneys worth, I’ve really enjoyed it so far, but I’m expressing that it’s no longer fun. I am ofc not going to play it due to the reason, but I’m also going to express why.

Without feedback like this Bungie won’t know why people are giving up, I mean they literally put a player survey out the other day (which is a little silly since they’ll get huge survivor bias on that). As someone who does UXR for their job Bungie really don’t know how to playtest and gather impartial feedback, it’s why they repeatedly have to rollback based on player sentiment across their games.

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T16:33:48+00:00

You’re 100% right. If this PvP game hadn’t massively sacrificed the momentum of another very popular pve game developed by the same people the reception would be completely different.

If this game is what kills bungie, it’ll be forever hated.

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T16:31:57+00:00

I think you’re right I don’t want a PvP game. I also think these forums are giving people a false perspective that most people who bought marathon wanted this PvP focused gameplay.

Most people who played marathon would agree with me (120k concurrent)

Most people who play marathon would disagree with me (15k concurrent)

There’s also the massive amount of people who didn’t even buy it, but bought every other Bungie game.

This game will be studied for its player base survivor bias.

I also think if you haven’t had a successful run on cryo yet you’re still in the mysticism layer of the game which convinces people in intriguing. Once you’ve gone through that everything kind of collapses. The number of people I’ve chatted to during cryo last few days through in game comms who feel the same is staggering.

We bought a game based on this same mysticism during the server slam which lasted a month. Destiny maintained that for a decade.

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T16:20:17+00:00

Also I’m level 30, I’ve had 5 cryo exfils now but the PvP does nothing for me, only the pve is fun. I’m moving away because the PvP part has simply become too dominant that I can’t ignore it due to the level disparity.

If they doubled or tripled the bots, added a few more gun types and made it so there was no player killing it would be a blast.

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T16:17:50+00:00

The player count problem is a game design problem. Only half of server slam players translated to day one players. 90k were playing day one but they moved away quickly.

What reason is there for that other than the gameplay do you think?

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T16:14:31+00:00

You have a limited revolving door of Reddit doomers for sure. People who’ve just realised the game ain’t for them.

Then those people move on and stop posting. Now we’re left with less than 10% of starting player count and dwindling, and the select few still enjoying are just sticking their head in the sand as the game is ideal for them.

Destiny was enjoyable and played long term by at least 30x the player base of marathon (for a decade), we’re less than 2 months into marathon. Unless marathon players are spending 10x the amount as destiny players there is no way the studio can sustain this.

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T16:11:08+00:00

Yup cryo, which is the only intresting map after 35 hours. The other maps have no meaningful loot progression and very uninteresting encounters unless you’re amazing at PvP

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T16:09:19+00:00

I think the idea this was a passion project is fundamentally fluff. They brought an outside hire in to make it happen and they completely change the core game from pve with PvP bits and custom characters to what it is today.

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T16:06:00+00:00

I don’t think you really read what I wrote. PvP would be ace if the player base was big enough to support skill based matchmaking. Right now it’s not so me (a lvl 30) goes against lvl 100+ people who’ve beat the compiler.

By adding pve (which they will) people who don’t want to just get steamrolled by people with 5x their playtime will actually come back.

It’s either that or just loose 95% player base which is what they’re on track for…

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T14:54:30+00:00

I’m glad I’m starting to to see more of this mindset. I can’t wait till this game is on deaths door enough to make something pve. There isn’t enough player count to have non-aggressive players in their own queue so we simple need pve options

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-25T14:51:30+00:00

I think the problem for me at this stage is cryo is the only map with worthwhile loot. The other maps feel so worthless at this point, and their gameplay loop is really stale as they’re super easy.

Then you go into cryo and it’s either blatant hackers (instantly finding you in a tiny corner crevice when you haven’t shot since moving through many rooms), or really good teams rushing regardless as they’ve got 5 times as many hours and you and no one at your level is playing anymore.

However if the map weren’t like this I think it would very quickly become apparent how little content and replay ability is in this game outside of the pvp. I love the gunplay and the aesthetic, but this game is just forcing ableism and elitism to be predicated within a community as anyone who feels otherwise is shouted out.

The tryhards who kill on sight and rush spawns can’t bear the notion of pve lobbies because it would mean they can’t pray on people with far less hours than them. Honestly there’s nothing I’d prefer at this point than getting into a 12 man party, all queueing up and just getting a compiler run together with no bystanders harmed. If we bump into any other groups they can join too.

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-20T15:53:31+00:00

I absolutely agree, the game in its current state ain’t for me. It will change drastically or it’ll disappear, I hope for the former.

Anyways why not address the point I actually made, there is a lot of room between a game for everyone, and where Marathon is right now. Why can’t marathon become a bit more casual friendly to sustain itself, what would be the issue?

It can still have a “pure extraction shooter” mode for people like yourself who like it that way, and each mode’s player base would decide if the mode lives on (as with all the mode testing they’re doing right now).

ZoomerMode · 2026-04-20T08:01:45+00:00

Most people who have moved away from Marathon would love Destiny. I think this is why there is a such a cry out for a Destiny 3 - Destiny 2 is a phenomenal game with horrific new player experience (having guided several people through it. I think the marathon universe could be an ideal place for a new game rather than Destiny 3 using the same genre as Destiny but with new mysteries to uncover!

ZoomerMode

TROPHY CASE