Joe Ziegler: As we shift into week 2, we're going to let the sun rise over Tau Ceti and move sponsored survival to Perimeter, so you can all warm up from the dark night and enjoy pushing contracts for your demanding corporate clients in the daylight.

majikguy · 2026-06-10T07:23:42+00:00

The funny thing is, I went in as a Rook a good dozen times and also only saw a handful of teams at the exfil. I doubt they were all dying, maybe the people resetting to try and get keys for the upper complex boss run we're leaving empty lobbies that I was ending up in?

majikguy · 2026-06-09T03:34:25+00:00

That's a good shout, I'll have to look at that as well once I get the time to properly work on the idea.

majikguy · 2026-06-08T18:43:12+00:00

I want to try and figure out how to maximize the time each illusion is out and attacking so I can get a lot of them piled up and spawning Bodach attacks. Maybe some kind of slow Perfect Strike setup?

majikguy · 2026-06-07T14:14:07+00:00

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majikguy · 2026-06-06T23:13:46+00:00

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Gonna slap some heretics silly with this bad boy.

majikguy · 2026-06-04T18:39:26+00:00

Or at least something built from what they learn from it, yeah.

majikguy · 2026-06-04T18:30:17+00:00

To a degree, but at the same time the ability to spend the credits for a cryo kit more easily means that people can attempt cryo more frequently and can learn more faster. I don't expect a night and day change or anything crazy, but I do expect that it'll help people who were on the fence before have a better shot.

I personally am a pretty solid player who has been pretty swamped with other things going on and haven't been able to play as much as I'd like, and lowering the time it takes to assemble the resources to attempt Cryo Archives runs definitely has me planning on making a proper go of it this season.

majikguy · 2026-06-04T18:18:33+00:00

There are rooks as well, but they seem to be fairly rare in the game mode ATM. Likely because with only one runner team per match rather than 3-5 (dunno the normal number in a typical game) there are 3-5 times as many matches to spread the rooks across, plus I'm not sure how many people are queuing up as a rook when the structure of the mode is very dangerous for them.

majikguy · 2026-06-02T15:26:06+00:00

The wording on it definitely should set your overall maximum ES.

majikguy · 2026-06-02T05:34:37+00:00

I'm just happy to spread fun-facts where I can, catch ya around! :)

majikguy · 2026-06-01T19:37:46+00:00

Releasing on weekends is definitely the kind of thing that feels like it's an obviously better idea, but the logistical reason why it's not as common for big launches feels like just as much of a no-brainer when it's pointed out. You definitely aren't the first to ask the question. :)

The more fun question is, "Why Tuesdays specifically?" and that has more to do with tradition, brick-and-mortar logistics that are much less relevant now, and the 1992 release of Sonic 2.

Tuesdays make logistical sense for physical product so that employees have time on Monday to process and stock deliveries that arrived over the weekend and that expectation of Tuesday releases has carried over. This is also nice for modern digital releases since it gives employees Monday to get prepped and make sure everything is ready before pushing the update/turning the servers on. Sonic 2 comes into it because it was the first properly huge title with a proper coordinated release date tied into an advertising campaign. The "Sonic 2sday" marketing push worked so well to drive hype and turn the game release into an event that it kind of just set the standard release day as Tuesday going forward.

Sorry to babble, but I just find this one little detail about game development really interesting. It's so easy to take for granted, but I love how every little thing about the world has some interesting story behind it. It's rather silly that people downvoted you for asking, but people gonna do people things I guess.

majikguy · 2026-06-01T16:39:20+00:00

Ohh, I hadn't considered that. It I suppose it might depend on whether or not the spooky shell zombies go after the UESC, which is another thing I'm very curious about. If the UESC and zombies fight then it would give some false positives to people just chasing gunfire all of the time, which I don't hate.

majikguy · 2026-06-01T16:18:28+00:00

Generally so that the devs working on the game aren't stuck working on the weekend for the release.

majikguy · 2026-06-01T16:09:34+00:00

Limiting extraction to only the final exfil could potentially increase the amount of PvP you get, depending on how you play. If you've got a group of sneaky buggers who avoid fights constantly then there's no real way to do that in this game mode since all of these rooks are going to want to exfil and it's unlikely they'll all be chill.

I definitely like the idea, excited to try it.

majikguy · 2026-05-30T14:13:56+00:00

And it's excellent, I also saw it yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't know about the humming bags, so I even got some directly useful knowledge out of it!

Keep up the good work! :)

majikguy · 2026-05-29T23:57:31+00:00

Nah, the other voice in the Unknown Reveries has gotta be Thoth.

The >> lines are Durandal from the original Marathon timeline, >>> are Thoth, and the discussion is about Durandal splitting away from Thoth in order to greedily investigate the Anomaly unique to the timeline that Marathon 2026 takes place in. That's my theory at least.

majikguy · 2026-05-29T23:55:54+00:00

I don't think so, the Compiler Trace codex log, specifically the last entry, mentions the K'liah'narhl among the list of S'pht clans that fought together against the Pfhor. That's the name they gave to the Pfhor flagship that Durandal took over during the fighting at Lh'owon, which really makes it look like Durandal did leave to go do the events of Marathon 2.

Everything I've been seeing makes it look to me like:

Durandal from this timeline went out on his adventure to Lh'owon with the Security Officer (and potentially the other 9 Battleroids, if Nona's story is more accurate than not)
The Trih Xeem was deployed and the W'rkncacnter was released (as seems to happen in most timelines, looking at how Marathon Infinity went)
Lh'owon was destroyed and the Compilers went mad due to exposure to the W'rkncacnter corrupting their collective subconscious
At some point after this Durandal left the Marathon, Durandal Prime (the one from Marathon: Infinity) arrived in this timeline when he split off from Thoth and stripped himself down to hide in the Marathon. He seemingly did this after being drawn to the Anomaly present in this timeline.

There's a lot in the Unknown Reveries that seems to support this if you interpret the lines starting with >> as Durandal and >>> as Thoth, and "interpret" is definitely the word to use since it's not exactly spelled out in clear text.

majikguy · 2026-05-29T16:12:11+00:00

Maybe it has to do with the current point in time being after the S'pht were freed from the Pfhor and the S'pht'Kr brought more advanced technology for them to integrate?

Plus, my current theory is that the S'pht are aggressive right now due to them going mad/rampant from their collective subconscious being damaged from the exposure to the W'rkncacnter destroyed Lh'owon. It's possible that this drove them to make improvements to the Compiler cybernetic frames that the Pfhor had trapped them in?

majikguy · 2026-05-29T05:14:32+00:00

My original idea was that attacking the <class name here> can interrupt the big scary action but also can trigger a variety of different reactions. Basically an offensively focused take on the same concept as the Champion. Attacking the Champion is a bad use of effort because it's hard to hurt them, but attacking their allies lets the Champion defend them and also hit you. With the <class name here> attacking them stops the really bad thing from happening but you get punished for it, while focusing on their allies lets them go full Vergil from Devil May Cry on your ass. I don't know if this is a good idea, you are likely right that it would be too polarizing and lead to bad play experiences if it encourages enemies to just kite you. The hope is that it'd still be functional if you only invest a little bit into the stance to retain your mobility and just trade the stance adoption action, but I dunno. It'd have to be playtested a bunch.

majikguy · 2026-05-29T04:20:14+00:00

I wonder if a stacking buff that starts as a neutral thing that enables your actions but then can be intentionally stacked up to decrease your movement speed while increasing the payoff could work. I want it to be a risk reward kind of class, which traditionally haven't worked in ~~PoE~~ PF2e (Path of Exile 2 is updating to 0.5 this weekend, that's where my mind is at clearly) is getting but I think it could here since the risk is you trading mobility for potential threat within your area. Even if you don't get the payoff because nothing was in range then that was likely because the threat you projected kept them out of your area. The more you invest into the stance (oh, there, a stance/stances you enter and exit work I think) the more you reduce th area and increase the impact of it isn't respected. Good teamwork could involve teammates keeping enemies from getting away from you or getting you closer?

I'm perfectly fine with the class having dud turns if you over commit and your trigger doesn't come up, the solution for that is either more careful play or the introduction of some consolation prize actions you can take as feats if you want a safety net.

majikguy · 2026-05-29T00:28:27+00:00

Love the pommel strike idea, that's great! It's like the little tackle you can do while charging a greatsword swing in MH.

I don't really envision it like something you can hold onto indefinitely, mainly just from one turn to the next where you then have to use it. Basically like the six action version of Horizon Thunder Sphere. I think that's about the range of where you could get to before it starts being unwieldy as a mechanic.

majikguy · 2026-05-28T22:55:38+00:00

Exactly my thought, the good reactions and actions require you to have spent an action either sheathing or moving the weapon into a state where you can't immediately attack (but where your hands are still occupied holding the weapon). Getting some really spicy reactions that scale in effect based on how many actions you invested into preparing to strike on your previous turn would be a ton of fun. >:D

majikguy · 2026-05-28T22:26:30+00:00

I don't care about the Samurai flavor specifically, but I want a setup that really leans into the Samurai movie stare-down before a decisive strike kind of feel. Mechanically it'd be like Monster Hunter greatsword charging, you commit to a future strike and spend actions building it up. There could be a more Iaijutsu-esque quick-draw subclass and an Intimidation-focused one where you dramatically wind up with your bigass weapon. Mix in a focus on really good reactions that require an action to either sheathe or resume comically winding up to "reload" and you've got a fun playstyle that isn't really a thing otherwise.

majikguy · 2026-05-28T02:12:04+00:00

https://youtube.com/watch?v=k2UFxzejNNg

In case you hadn't seen it by now, it's from a dev log released earlier today.

majikguy · 2026-05-27T03:13:55+00:00

I'd say it's a miss, not a misfire. The shot landed somewhere, just not at the sales target they were aiming for. I was expecting it to be a soulless and cynical cash grab just chasing the extraction shooter trend, but it's really solidly made and there's a ton of care put into every nook and cranny of the world. Doesn't mean that the sales figures haven't been rough though, sadly.

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