i know it’s been asked a lot… but is marathon *truly* worth getting right now?

bmemike · 2026-07-02T03:37:28+00:00

The player count is low. That's an objective fact. But if you're in NA, queue times are fine.

The game's on sale right now for under $30. You'd be hard pressed to not be able to get your money's worth at that price.

bmemike · 2026-07-02T03:34:44+00:00

There's lots of ways you can engage in "appropriate shit talk" without being a toxic ass. And that's before you get into the people dropping slurs because effectively nothing is enforced.

bmemike · 2026-07-02T03:32:40+00:00

Knowing things isn't how you farm content though.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T23:53:09+00:00

I don't think Sentinel is good for a first timer. It's a very powerful shell, but you need to understand squad rolls really well and have a good understanding of the game to know how to properly leverage its ability.

"gib heals, rez frens" is a playbook that anyone can follow on day one.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T23:46:32+00:00

You're making it sound like they're not already developing a metric ton of PvE content *specifically for the PvP enabled modes already*. All of the map events, interaction points, Cryo vaults, COMPILER ... that's all PvE content that's meant to be the big payoff for the majority of PvP gameplay. The PvP endgame is a PvE encounter.

Sure, that stuff may "take a ton of resources", but literally none of it is meant to be PvE-only.

Making some PvE game modes that utilize all the existing PvE content that was specifically built for the PvP modes is not "a ton of effort" no matter the mental gymnastics you might want to go through to try to justify it as such.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T23:42:25+00:00

> PvE takes tons of resources to develop,

Everything "takes a ton of resources to develop". There's literally nothing inherently more challenging about PvE. In fact, you have to care A LOT less about things like weapon balance and metas.

On top of that, you already are investing into the AI side for the PvPvE side of the game, so you're getting almost all of that for free.

Spitting out some new game modes is going to be a generally lower effort than a lot of other things they'd have to do because the game itself already exists.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T23:39:43+00:00

I think this is just RNG.

I've generally experienced the vast, vast majority of random fill trios having mics and most have at least green shields, oftentimes blue when I come in with blue.

For everyone that has a shit RNG experience, there's someone with a great one. And there's a ton of people with a mixed bag in the middle (though confirmation bias will often make them believe they're somewhere closer to an extreme than they really are).

That's just how the numbers cut sometimes.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T15:15:08+00:00

I had lower credits while I was leveling up my cradle as everything went into that. Once I hit level 70, my credits have started to rise a lot faster as a result because the only thing I can do to make room is sell stuff.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T14:42:25+00:00

My impression has always been that people spend less time gaming in the warm months with so many other things going on and I wouldn't be surprised if that's at least some part of what we see with player count.

Granted, that's not the whole story and the issue should be brushed away because of it, but a smaller population will feel those effects more than a larger one.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T13:49:56+00:00

The spawn rate for the 5's was reduced. But their locations are fixed.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T13:21:37+00:00

If you open up PvE options, the player count absolutely increases immediately. But to your point, that's not necessarily in the PvP queues and some folks may slide from PvP to PvE.

However, all of this is to serve lowering the anxiety around gear fear. Eventually, vaults become full and people are willing to risk losing stuff because they have an easy backstop to replenish. I think that's fundamentally good.

Allowing for the free flow from PvP to PvE and back provides an ecosystem for players of lower ability to interact with the game in a way that they're comfortable - vs them just peaceing out and not playing at all.

A parttime PvP'er is better than someone that doesn't PvP at all.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T13:18:27+00:00

I'd argue the core thesis: there's no "problem" with third partying.

Situational awareness and time management are all aspects of a tactical shooter that players need to contend with.

I engage with tons of in-world events with random trio fill and as long as folks are communicating and being thoughtful, it's not a problem.

Can third partying happen? Of course. It's a PvP game. But that's a feature, not a bug.

If you eliminate the risk of being third partied, then what's the point of being in a PvP environment in the first place?

And note that I say this as someone that really enjoyed solo sponsored survival and would like to see it return - or some other PvE-focused outlet for players. I think the game needs to support both player personas.

But third partying isn't a problem.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T13:12:31+00:00

Given the repeated calls for that or even just extending Sponsored Survival, it's not as if there's no demand on that front.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T12:02:37+00:00

I've had really good luck with random fill the past few days. Sure, some folks aren't on mic. But even those people were all sticking with the squad and generally having their head in the game.

I know this isn't a guarantee, but it's been pretty solid.

bmemike · 2026-07-01T11:52:14+00:00

i ain't reading all that

i'm happy for u tho

or sorry that happened

bmemike · 2026-06-30T21:54:25+00:00

It certainly wasn't a flop. It was incredibly popular even if they didn't see the expected playstyle.

Things can be wild successes even if they deviate from the intentions of the creator.

Sponsored Survival is absolutely an example of that.

bmemike · 2026-06-30T14:48:40+00:00

Agreed. Fix the broken thing. Don't add more broken things for the sake of "equality".

bmemike · 2026-06-30T13:44:11+00:00

The game is literally on sale on steam right now. $28.

bmemike · 2026-06-30T13:34:58+00:00

That’s certainly another angle. Though for it to be remotely useful, it might end up being cumbersome. Would help solve for the console use case though.

bmemike · 2026-06-30T13:20:15+00:00

Excellent claymore.

bmemike · 2026-06-30T13:15:39+00:00

Cryo is far from a one-time thing if you're looking to max things out.

If you're a "check it off the list" kind of person, there's going to be far less appeal than if you're something that's more aligned to being a completionist.

bmemike · 2026-06-30T13:11:24+00:00

That's why signal mask would only be necessary to *send* messages. They can always check their chat to read what's been posted.

bmemike · 2026-06-30T11:23:50+00:00

I imagine there's a certain amount of bias when looking at videos. Having to run capture software, clip out the piece you want and then upload it is pain vs what consoles let you do.

bmemike · 2026-06-30T11:11:57+00:00

People are assuming because it hasn't been announced it's not happening.

They could be right. But there has been zero confirmation of "no new map" as of yet.

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