You knows what's worse than infiling with runners that have no mic?

When you're in Outpost or Cryo in the midst of a good run and I guess one player gets really good loot or something and decides to cut their mic in the middle of a game, start and run to an exfil while we're dealing with bots or other runners.

I would gladly put my entire wallet or vault up to know they're being targeted by every player on a map making them a hazard for someone's team.

We need a system to punish other players in this already delightfully punishing game, and a bounty system should not only be implemented but left for the community to run.

Because some of these runners are absolute trash and deserve the difficulty turnt up to 11 if that's how they want to play.

Hey everyone!

I’m pretty new to Marathon, and completely new to extraction shooters and PvP games in general.

My gaming background is mostly single-player shooters — Halo, Half-Life 2 (one of my all-time favorites), S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Metro, etc. I love exploration, sci-fi, atmospheric worlds, and good gunplay.

Here’s what I absolutely love about Marathon:

- World, lore, and visuals: Incredible art direction. The whole setting is right up my alley.
- PvE: The NPCs are fantastic. They’re neither brain-dead targets nor bullet sponges. Fighting them is genuinely fun.
- Factions and quests: Love the whole system. It gives me a reason to explore and learn about the world.
- Gunplay, shells, and progression: All great. Combat feels amazing.

But here’s what I either dislike or just don’t understand yet:

- Loot and inventory: Honestly, I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with all this stuff. I just extract whatever I find, sort it by value, and leave it sitting in my stash. I don’t even bring my own guns into runs.
- Loadouts: I mostly use free sponsored kits and whatever weapons I find during a run.
- Money: Haven’t spent a single credit yet. No idea what I should be buying or why.
- PvP: Holy shit, everyone is a rat. I spend a minute loading in, five minutes running around, and then some invisible bastard deletes me from behind a corner before I even realize what’s happening.
- Extraction: More rats. People camping exits, ambushing you, absolute chaos.

And that’s the weird part.

I genuinely enjoy the core gameplay. When I’m actually fighting UESC, exploring, or completing objectives, I’m having a blast.

But it feels like there’s this massive wall between me and those 30–60 seconds of genuinely awesome gameplay.

Load in. Run across the map. Try to figure out where to go. Avoid getting murdered by other players. Maybe have a great fight. Die to some dude hiding in a bush. Repeat.

I feel like I’m spending more time trying to get to the fun part than actually having fun.

So, a question for extraction shooter veterans:
Am I playing this completely wrong?

Is there something fundamental about the extraction shooter loop that I haven’t figured out yet? Am I supposed to be using my stash, buying gear, actively hunting other players, or approaching runs with a completely different mindset?

I really WANT to love this game, because so much of it is genuinely excellent.

I’m just struggling to understand the parts that are apparently supposed to make the whole thing work.

Any advice for a complete extraction shooter noob?

Every "solution" posted in on here talked about how the game should have less player on player interactions. When that's the best part of the game.

Why not focus on making losing less punishing rather than focusing on making it impossible to lose?

What are the ethics around this?

I wanted to study and use the art style but just from reference isn't enough and drawing these manually would have killed what I wanted to do with them eg use in edits it would have just been time consuming for something that already exists.

I vibecoded (yeah I know it's not a great start) a graphic realism art generator. It makes the 2d graphics we see throughout the game and yes I obviously used reference from the game art.

It's not commercial or anything just something to play around. It's very editable, aside from random generation, you can draw, move, change color, context etc it exports as png or svg with transparency so you can use for edits and whatever. Claude doing wonders imo, and this is free plan so I did it over days waiting the limit to reset.

It's only on browser as of now. Maybe I'll make it an app. Not sure if something similar already exists. It's not perfect but I'll be reiterating on it.

What do you think. I know people get hostile at the mention of AI and art so I had to ask.

The recent Arc Raiders update ironically got me back into being interested in this game again, I love the idea of extraction shooters, but I suck at them.

I killed somebody last night who didn’t see me as a Rook on Outpost, and it was hype. Looted blues and purples and I felt that extraction shooter high that this game can offer, only to be murdered within the last few seconds at the final extraction. Welp.

I know I suck at PvP interactions, so when I play Arc, I tend to do my thing around the outside of the map, do some PvE, then try and pick up scraps in high value POI’s and dip through a raider hatch. I LOVE the tension and almost horror elements of Marathon, playing solo is thrilling and the suspense is great, but every run for me ends with a wet fart when I fail to extract, making it all sort of feel pointless.

Faithful Runners, do you think if Bungie added more ways to safely extract that it would be worse for the game, or more welcoming for rats like myself who can’t really compete in gunfights? I think Outpost is the worst for this by far, I still don’t even understand how to use the restricted exfils, and the guarded one as a solo is insanely hard, and final is just asking to be murdered. I can’t help but feel that having more ways to safely exfil would make it way more welcoming for new players, thoughts?

• Abilities are too impactful
• Maps are too small and/or open
• There are too few things to do on maps
• There is not enough extract-able/sought after loot on the maps
• We make too much noise and move too fast, 3rd partying is inevitable
• Invisibility and scans should not exist

Will the NuCal pass and stuff carry into next season? Or is it unique to this season? What other reasons are there to play before the next major update?

If this is your attitude, play solo, and don’t fill on Trios. Title is a direct quote from a player who I got matched with three times in a row, in response to me asking in chat why he’s running directly into a fight the second that he spawns on Outpost with a free kit.

TDLR: three questions, plus I feel completely miserable playing Marathon, even though I want to be positive. Also, don’t buy Marathon until done proper research.

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great day and enjoying the game if you are playing it.

1. “A game for everyone is a game for no one.” Then why are so many players recommending it to random people?

I see online where a person will ask, “Hey, I was looking for a new game; here is what I like…” I do remember there was a person like that, and they were asking for a semi-casual multiplayer, Battlefield, or CoD-like game. Some of the comments were like, “Hey, I think you should try The Finals”, which would make sense, but then there were comments that said, “Hey, Marathon sounds like a game for you.” I am not trying to drive away players from buying Marathon, as, hey, who knows, they might think it’s perfect, but at the same time, based on what they described, why would you say Marathon? This also seems to happen with friend groups, but I don’t know any information about those people, so I can't say anything. It seems many players recommend games that they like and never recommend a game that they dislike to someone else. This doesn’t seem to be only the Marathon community, but just the gaming community in general too. Recommending a game should be because you think that the game will be enjoyable and has enough value for that specific person, not based on whether you personally like the game or not. I disliked Destiny, but I would still recommend it to someone if I thought they would like it. I loved World of Warships: Legends (over 2200 hours, 7-year veteran, Jean Bart being the first Campaign ship bought), but I wouldn’t recommend it to many players. Could someone please explain this, as I would love an answer. 

Why I don’t like the statement “A game for everyone is a game for no one.” is a whole other long writing, so I will leave it to this: I agree that games should be made with an intended audience, but that statement seems to lead to many negative consequences, as I think it’s used to defend the wrong things.

1. Why do you think the “hate”/criticism is forced, if you believe it? 

2. What problems do you seem to notice about the game, if any?

Sorry, but I don’t feel like writing much more, as I think Marathon has completely exhausted me and made me feel so miserable that I don’t want to write much. I'm not trying to rub the negativity on other people, as I genuinely hope people buy, play, and enjoy the game. I have a lot more to say, not all negative, as I have had some wholesome moments and stuff, but again, I don’t feel any motivation.

If you are interested in Marathon, just as I was, first looking at the trailers and videos, thinking, “this looks so sick”, do research first and especially don’t fall for the trap of “Marathon is actually good once you learn it”, or “Marathon is good, just no one wants to admit it”, and buy the game, pushing all the warnings and criticism aside, all because of wanting to listen to those players. Marathon can be a fantastic game for some people, and it has its own special dedicated niche player base, but I personally might have experienced the most miserable 112 hours of my life playing Marathon. I personally loved the art style (in general), the music was interesting, and the gunplay feel/feedback (not the combat) was extremely satisfying, as is normal for a Bungie game. The community can be great, but there is also the side of the community that will be toxic (not the behavior of aggression) towards you, calling you a “f*cking loser” 10 seconds into a run (that game I jumped off the platform on Outpost, killing myself; right after he said that, I was running a free kit, and normally I wouldn’t be so sensitive, but I was feeling extra miserable that day, even though I had exfiled most of the games before, and the guy just laughed before I left to the main menu). Ok, here are some more positive things: after playing solo for a while, I realized that most people just wanted to complete some contracts and do their own thing half the time, so I decided to collect extra self-revives or mercy kits and try to down enemy runners, and then revive them afterwards, sticking with them if they wanted to. I was able to save a few runners from bots and was able to make a Rook friend for an Outpost game after he tried to kill me initially; then I killed him with a claymore and a knife hit, and he finished self-reviving right after I finished a bot and did the up-and-down crouch thing, in which he tried to shoot me again, and I killed him again with a claymore and a knife hit, so I had to revive him with a mercy kit. Later in the run, we both went to the final exfil and extracted together. I was also able to find a pretty good group of two in trios (random fill). They had blue shield, and I was running a free kit; then they formed a group with me and asked if I could bring in better gear, like some green stuff, so I grabbed the one pre-made blue kit I had, and we played three matches together, killing two teams in two of the games, and got some great gear. I had said “sorry for not being the best” after a match, which I didn’t know at the time, but I did the most damage, with Vandal dealing 300, Triage dealing 400, and me as Assassin dealing 800 damage, and the only good play I made was flanking an enemy Triage and Thief after their Vandal died, and my team was fighting and holding the second-level door with Triage and Thief outside (this was at Station, Perimeter) and I decided to go to the third level catwalk to try to flank the two enemy runners, which I got some good hits in and finished Triage with my gun and help my Vandal finish the Thief running away. The gameplay is miserable, but the rewards that you can get are what make the game addicting.

Before recommending Marathon to anyone, I would say to do research and don’t end up like me, wasting $40 with a totally miserable experience of 112 hours. I do think people can definitely enjoy it, but just be prepared. I want to love Marathon, and I want it to succeed, but I feel miserable playing it, and I understand some reasons why it failed (this doesn’t mean I agree on a personal level with the complaints). 

I also feel like it's so hard to engage with the Marathon community; it’s always, “maybe this game isn’t for you”, or “skill issue”, or whatever else. I wish this community was better, this doesn't mean they have to agree with my views or anything, but be more welcoming, kinder and engaging.

I don’t want to one of those people who is extremely negative, but I just wanted to vent.

I hope everyone has a great day. Sorry for the very long vent. I might come back to discuss more when I feel better.

Cryo feels like it's in a good place at the moment. Recon nerf has helped massivley imo and people have even switched up to Thief and Sentinel.

Guns wise there are lots of different options to use and each gun has it's pro's and weaknesses. Granted there aren't many Drrvish's (w devs for this change) around but even then I've found myself using different guns rather than the same old Bully paired with Misirah.

The only issue that remains is the invevitable 3 team stand off that can occur in some games. I don't think there'll be a way around this, people are always going to play cautiously and try to 3rd party.

Is there anything you guys think should be changed or are you happy with current Cryo?

Title. I appreciate the slew of rotating and event options... And I understand why sponsored survival is such a slow rotation. But why is just normal sponsored a weekly rotation? I feel like it would benefit from rotating daily or even every 2 days.

Hey everyone,

I'm currently playing the Nightfall update on PS5 and looking for a reliable squad to run matches on Perimeter.

I play as a Thief and run a high-capacity 16-slot storage build to vacuum up raw materials, tech salvage, and biomass. I am Level 41 due to the early game XP boosts, but I am still very new and learning the map layouts!

I don't use a mic, but I heavily utilize the Thief's X-Ray Visor to ping enemy outlines, spot high-value crates, and alert the team through walls. I also run a backpack jammer so I can stay stealthy and help get clean revives during chaotic fights.

Looking for a chill crew who wants to stick together, cover each other to the exfil gates, and farm resources.

• Platform: PS5

• Playstyle: Casual / Stealth / Resource Farming

• Communication: No Mic (Heavy Ping Wheel usage)

Drop your PSN id below or DM me if you want to squad up!

I expect this to be an unpopular opinion, but I think the intentional pacing of the contracts in S1 (level gating priority contracts to faction level) was better than the current model.

It made what little story they provide flow much better and forced you to hop around factions and intersperse standard contracts into the process. It also paced overall progression making it slower to power level a specific faction.

With how much easier the contracts themselves are now, I think it’d be healthy to bring back the level gating. Contracts just felt way more “designed” in season one than just the one big blob of contracts it feels like now.

Obviously the contracts are pretty meh overall now that we’re doing them for the 3rd time, but that first play through them was quite excellent imo.

The very specific situations where it’s useful don’t outweigh the potential for griefing, and it isn’t close. I’ve never been griefed this way and even I know it’s stupid to have a team based looter shooter where your squad fills can hang you out to dry and take your shit.

So I really enjoyed the first month or 2 pre-wipe but then WoW midnight came out and raided with my IRL buddies.

ARC raiders frozen trail tickled my extraction itch again and im thinking about marathon. Is it worth hopping back in? Or is it genuinely in its death throes?

Anything crazy different? I enjoyed random trios and playing as rook the most

Haven’t played since the PvE Cryo event and when I felt confident to hop into Dire Marsh I got my shoes taken frequently. Should I download it now or wait until season 3 and grind when everyone has nothing to have a somewhat fair chance to stack up?

Is not the first time this happens to me, and look I get everyone is trying to do their part and that this guy was white probably with free kit but the other triage and me were greens with pretty normal loot and still after doing pretty much nothing during 2 different teamfights he just vacuums everything without even looking if it was useful.

So this is a tale of how a free kit went in and got 2 purple weapons, blue shield among other stuff without even sharing or caring for their teammates who literally carried the fight.

I dont really mind leaving him some good loot but come one guys, you gotta share and stop doing this selfish behaviours, we are a small community let's just enjoy the game and spread love.

That said, glad about the match it was good fun fights.

I don’t know about you guys, but I think the lack of progression is what made me switch from a solo player to trio fills.

Back in season 1 I only played solos and it was very fun, but at the same time it felt very challenging to progress through all the factions and unlock VIP for many of them. It felt strange because I was a high level, but I would see other similar levels with almost maxed out VIP factions while I only had close to maybe 2 at the time.

Moving forward to season 2, I decided to make the change to trios and started random filling, and holy smokes the difference was night and day. I went from barely having a couple of factions VIP to almost all my factions being VIP all off of playing trios instead of solos.

What I didn’t know in season 1 is that trios share contract XP, so if your two other teammates complete their contracts, you will earn reduced XP for each contract completed for whatever faction they were completing it for. Basically this allows for 3 players to either grind the heck out of one faction, or earn xp for 3 factions at the same time. Let me tell ya, I never went back to solo after this, even after these changes to the bot aggression which are great, it’s still not enough to pull me back because the lack of progression is massive.

So my solution is why not allow solo players to pick more than 1 contract? Seems like an easy solution and wouldn’t affect the fairness of the game whatsoever since trios are already able to work on 3 seperate factions at a time. Shoot, even if they want to make it a bit more fair they could make the second contract selected by the solo player reduced xp and potentially an easier challenge to make up for the reduced XP.

I've heard a lot of criticisms about how Bungie handled priority contracts in season 2 and am hoping to get more specific answers about what people want from them. Here's what I believe so far from what I've heard:

Do players want new priority contracts? Obviously yes. Though realistically I think we won't be getting many for the Symbiosis update and the 2027 update will be more focused on the new quest system being added.

Do players want priority contracts to be changed? Also yes. While I'm mostly content with them I understand why some players want changes to be made. Co-Evolution 2/5 relies too heavily on rng with player spawn, item spawn, and runner spawn. Priority contracts shouldn't involve or rely on enemy runners.

Were the Night Marsh limited contracts disappointing? I think most people agree they were. They weren't bad but contracts were repetitive and offered little story for completing all of them. Could be wrong but I think most players don't even know about the unique contracts and rewards for completing them because they got bored of the repetitive ones.

Do players like Cryo Archive contracts? This question I know the least about. Personally I like the idea but not how they're handled. Some of the descriptions are too vague and shouldn't require looking online. I like that some can be completed in Vault Breaker but some are broken. The Vidmaster challenge should reset every season not every week.

Do players want priority contracts to not return after completing them? I feel like this answer should be an obvious "no" but the way some people talk about them makes it seem like their answer is "yes" for some reason. Replaying contracts is optional but increases your faction reputation faster. If anything you should be able to replay priority contracts if you complete all of them during the season.

Do players want some priority contracts to be removed? This should never happen, these contracts are important to the lore and Bungie shouldn't vault any content in Marathon. New players should always be able to experience the full game.

So Ziegler did an interview and he spoke a little about Marathon development.

There's a lot of folks who dreams about how good the Cross Marathon was, before Ziegler "butchered" it. But this is the reality, they took so long to ship the game because they didn't knew the direction they wanted to follow.

TLDR: assassin duo nurse my destroyer into flatline, loot my bag and move on with their run.

Crewfill into a team with 2 assassins.
I got downed by bots at pinwheel shortly after flatlining a rook right outside red key room (that they left me to kill).
Assassins open pinwheel, smoke it and get in without killing bots, which is how I was downed.

They loot it all, then smoke some more to kill off bots. All while I’m waiting for a res I guess I’m not owed. They wait for my shell to flatline then invis loot it happily.
I lmao and leave the run. Watched a calm show after, moving on with my life

Solo outpost run. Compromised command room key from the red room. I got it from the player I downed in there but such is the way in the red room.

Easily the biggest haul I’ve had so far since server slam. I have never been so nervous at exfil. I panic stabbed a thief who grappled in at the last 5 seconds but we both made it out.