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[Sakura]

How difficult or expensive is it actually to keep the servers for a game like that running? I just checked out Killer Klowns again, and honestly, it's pretty rough for Easter Sunday. But they're still not pulling the plug.

Server costs honestly aren't that expensive. I'm pretty sure Sony just uses AWS, and you can see their pricing, plus Sony probably gets a better rate. The problem is the cost of maintaining the game with additional content, maps, seasons etc.
If Marathon ended up peaking at 10k CCU as the new baseline, it would probably be more expensive to pay the salaries of just 2 or 3 employees to keep working on the game, than it would be to pay for servers that can handle a CCU of 10k.
Of course, if you aren't making new monetizable content, then you are just spending money in perpetuity on servers for a game that makes no money.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Turning the ship around is possible...

 

[Bernardougf]

Turning the ship around is possible...

That would involve among other things changing the godawful esthetic of the game which they will never do. And it is a fundamental flaw of this game.

 

[Cakeboxer]

That would involve among other things changing the godawful esthetic of the game which they will never do. And it is a fundamental flaw of this game.

I also think it's absolutely hideous, but in multiplayer games i don't see it as a problem. You're not sightseeing or using the camera mode, you're constantly focused on other things and don't really notice it.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

That would involve among other things changing the godawful esthetic of the game which they will never do. And it is a fundamental flaw of this game.

I disagree. I don't think the aesthetic matters much here. It looks better than most of the most popular PvP games on the market.

 

[Bernardougf]

I disagree. I don't think the aesthetic matters much here. It looks better than most of the most popular PvP games on the market.

There are many reasons Marathon is not a success and this is one of them, the fact that you or others liked dosent change the fact that is one reason others may never look at this game seriously.

But like I said they will never change it so... good luck I guess

 

[Mengy]

I disagree. I don't think the aesthetic matters much here. It looks better than most of the most popular PvP games on the market.

That's very subjective, some people love the look, many don't. The point is moot as the aesthetic isn't changing anyway, its too late for that.

They could make the game less sweaty and hardcore though. At least add some modes targeted towards more casual players. That could help greatly.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

There are many reasons Marathon is not a success and this is one of them, the fact that you or others liked dosent change the fact that is one reason others may never look at this game seriously.

But like I said they will never change it so... good luck I guess

I just think when you compare it to other popular "highly replayable" games, it looks fine. Minecraft, League of Legends, Fortnite...multiplayer gamers clearly don't require the same aesthetic as single player gamers.

Bungie could overhaul the visuals. They don't do it because it's not worth the effort

 

[EPG_Every_Platform_Gamer]

Are they effective?

Depends on the type of player you are.. if your camping in a dark corner waiting on a guy to unknowingly walk into one and to scare the bejesus out of him.. then ye.. I guess. I have not died outright from a claymore but its more an annoyance.. Putting them in spawn points or exit gates is kinda cheap.. But i guess to each their own.. Its the age old campers argument I guess.. but people buy the game so have a right to play how they want but when it ruins others experience its an annoyance, but valid for said users I guess, just not for us.. If someone runs away from a gun fight and strategically places them to bait you in and you get caught.. that's fair. But putting them near exit gates or spawn points is a cheap tactic. This game would be so much more epic with a PVE only mode.. a place new players can play to learn the ropes and practice effective strategies to then go on and play in PVP lobbies.. It can be very frustrating to do a perfect run but get killed at the last minute at extraction due to some dude camping at the extraction point.. but again its part of the game and a viable strategy for some gamers. There is a steep learning curve in Marathon which may turn a lot of more casual gamers away... But it is a great game with great gun play and over time should only get better and better.
The shells need more choice and the skins all look to similar, hopefully we will get some better shells to stand out in game and look cool. Have you played it? Would of been better as free to play but Sony/Bungie obviously made a choice to sell it vs making free to play. Maps do feel a little small too, hoping in time we will get some bigger maps. On CDKEYS its pretty cheap and well worth the asking price of £25 odd quid. LOL even the AI seem to be putting claymores in certain parts of the maps, Dire Marsh has a few areas with claymores so need to be extra careful. A stand out is the sound design, you can literally hear everything and its awesome. Very easy to hear players walking, running, healing and to tell AI and Runners easily apart. Lets see, Loving the game so far, but need some gamers to actually play it with. Usually play with my girls.. but tend to easily get annoyed and very competitive, so kids can only take so much of my ranting..

 

[OuterLimits]

So many games getting a holiday/weekend boost but Marathon not even in top 50 with 28k players(rank 68 currently).

The situation is bleak considering console player numbers are dreadful as well.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

4 pm completed hour
(All time peak was launch day 88.3k)

Compared to yesterday (Sun vs Sat): 29.4k vs 31.6k (-2.2k or -7%)

Yesterday's low 13.7k. If the rate holds, low tonight will be 12.7k. Late night low CCU will hold up better on non-work/school nights

We'll have to see wait for rest of day to finish, but Sundays seem to top out during Euro hours. So the 29.4k peak might be the final number. It's possible

Steam Rankings
Daily Active Users 70
Global Top Sellers 36
Weekly Top Sellers 32 (was 26 last week)
Top Rated Games 5,415 (84.80%)

Reviews dropped again decreasing 0.07% which is a lot considering it happened in one day. Here's where it ranks in Steam rankings with games +/- 0.01%

 

[Timberwolf25]

Is it better to slowly bleed out and die an agonizing death or to perform Seppuku and go out the honorable way?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Is it better to slowly bleed out and die an agonizing death or to perform Seppuku and go out the honorable way?

 

[cormack12]

I need some charts, line graphs and such

 

[falconhoof]

Hunt hit 36,201 peak CCU today.

The question is can Marathon take back the throne? It's gonna need to find a few thousand players to do so based on yesterday's numbers.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I need some charts, line graphs and such

Chart below.

Fun side math estimates for all.

If the 29.4k CCU holds up today, Monday might be as follows using past trending, which two methodologies have held pretty true.

Week over week Monday comparison is about -20%
Sun to Mon transition is about -14%

WoW LY Mon peak 34.2k -20% = 27.4k
Sun to Mon transition peak 29.4k - 14% = 25.3k

So tomorrow's peak estimate could be about 26k-ish. We'll see.

 

[Conflict NZ]

Chart below.

Fun side math estimates for all.

If the 29.4k CCU holds up today, Monday might be as follows using past trending, which two methodologies have held pretty true.

Week over week Monday comparison is about -20%
Sun to Mon transition is about -14%

WoW LY Mon peak 34.2k -20% = 27.4k
Sun to Mon transition peak 29.4k - 14% = 25.3k

So tomorrow's peak estimate could be about 26k-ish. We'll see.

Based on the 33.8K peak at 3UTC yesterday today looks like it's going to be in the 31.5K range, and tomorrow is still Easter holidays in Europe (today in OCE), there might not be a big drop until tuesday.

 

[ByWatterson]

I look at the somewhat low numbers as something that can actually improve the game. This will push Bungie to add stuff - I would love to have a coop mode with worse loot and less risk for example. That could pull people in too

Literally all it needs is an arena PVP mode with no gear loss.

It's so absurdly simple a need that I'm embarrassed for them they didn't think of it.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Literally all it needs is an arena PVP mode with no gear loss.

Defeating the entire point of the game.

It's so absurdly simple a need that I'm embarrassed for them they didn't think of it.

It would be such an admission of desperation, and the fact that the game they made it's actually the opposite of peak.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Based on the 33.8K peak at 3UTC yesterday today looks like it's going to be in the 31.5K range, and tomorrow is still Easter holidays in Europe (today in OCE), there might not be a big drop until tuesday.

Oh good call. Forgot about that, although USA peak might still override Europe holiday hours. Who knows. But Tuesday will definitely be a better number anyway since it'll be gamers getting back in fresh after their usual server and gameplay update.

 

[I wasn't selling any]

Literally all it needs is an arena PVP mode with no gear loss.

It's so absurdly simple a need that I'm embarrassed for them they didn't think of it.

Bungie be like:

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Literally all it needs is an arena PVP mode with no gear loss.

It's so absurdly simple a need that I'm embarrassed for them they didn't think of it.

Defeating the entire point of the game.

It would be such an admission of desperation, and the fact that the game they made it's actually the opposite of peak.

I'm too lazy to see what modes Tarkov, Arc and Hunt have, but by the looks of it if Marathon added PVE and/or traditional PVP modes that would help. There's people begging for PVE mode.

Only problem is if any user boost now dilutes the core extraction mode making it worse. If adding some additional modes makes the user base rocket up then it wouldnt affect extraction gamers as there would be plenty of extra gamers to go around. But if it barely moves the needle but now splits the base 50/50 or 60/40 or 40/60 etc.... that means less even fewer gamers for the game's core loop.

 

[kpopSuperstar]

Defeating the entire point of the game.

It would be such an admission of desperation, and the fact that the game they made it's actually the opposite of peak.

There will be no point left if they don't do something though, we are heading into the dire straits with Marathon.

 

[KimDongHwan]

The game is performing worse than what Sony and the rest of the GaaS chasers hate: the disgraced and awful single player games

 

[Zacfoldor]

Don't forget that Bungie tried to force us into crucibles for years despite nobody wanting to do them. Pre sunset they hid The Recluse behind the biggest toughest crucible grind. For some reason they always want us to PvP. I think they believe the PvP content is more likely to be evergreen. That is why they made this game they hate PvE and know that is where the quantity of hard work lies and so they made a genre where that isn't a big issue.

Gambits in Destiny 2 are really good. This isn't as good as gambits imho. It has a lot more depth but the game type doesn't allow my specific skills to shine and it isn't for me and it is a shame. It has too high of a barrier to entry. If I am excluded imagine who all else is.

 

[ByWatterson]

Defeating the entire point of the game.

Not at all - if gear creates advantages in Arena, but you have to risk losing it to get the good gear in the first place. So you go to extract, etc. All you need is incentives on each side of the coin fueled by success in the other.

Seasonal wipes would remove gear fear or outsized advantages. Throw in tiered lobbies, ranked, and this could all be an amazing symbiosis.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Don't forget that Bungie tried to force us into crucibles for years despite nobody wanting to do them. Pre sunset they hid The Recluse behind the biggest toughest crucible grind. For some reason they always want us to PvP. I think they believe the PvP content is more likely to be evergreen. That is why they made this game they hate PvE and know that is where the quantity of hard work lies and so they made a genre where that isn't a big issue.

Gambits in Destiny 2 are really good. This isn't as good as gambits imho. It has a lot more depth but the game type doesn't allow my specific skills to shine and it isn't for me and it is a shame. It has too high of a barrier to entry. If I am excluded imagine who all else is.

Game studios try to force in PVP because that pressures lots of gamers to buy mtx to show off their character skin and/or P2W to get better gear or perks to be more competitive.

A gamer playing PVE or playing offline MP modes against cpu bots does their own thing. They have fun playing the game too, but will likely have zero interest paying mtx since all they are doing is playing against the cpu.

I never cared for Destiny games (tried the Xbox One demo and didnt care), but when Destiny 2 became F2P I tried on XS. Game looks pretty good, 60 fps, good gunplay. Maybe I'll give this a try.

I noped out. Here I am practicing goofing around the starting area jumping around the rocks and killing the starting bots they toss at you and suddenly I got some random gamers joining in too jumping around. I then bolted to get away from them into the first cave to face waves of enemies and then bailed completely. No way I'm playing a persistent online game with random dudes joining.

But they want gamers to engage and group together as parties so they pressure themselves to buy mtx.

 

[Mengy]

The game is performing worse than what Sony and the rest of the GaaS chasers hate: the disgraced and awful single player games

This shouldn't surprise anyone though?

Bungie made a narrowly focused very expensive game for a very small niche, whereas most single player games are designed to appeal to very wide audiences with a variety of difficulty levels and often even modes of play. The outcome really shouldn't be surprising to anyone. Its why I don't understand what Bungie's strategy was for the new Marathon, because surely, as experienced game devs, they knew this going in?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

This shouldn't surprise anyone though?

Bungie made a narrowly focused very expensive game for a very small niche, whereas most single player games are designed to appeal to very wide audiences with a variety of difficulty levels and often even modes of play. The outcome really shouldn't be surprising to anyone. Its why I don't understand what Bungie's strategy was for the new Marathon, because surely, as experienced game devs, they knew this going in?

They probably went balls deep thinking their Destiny success and Bungie branding would carry the load. So shooters fans would join in and any Destiny fans looking for a new game to grind would transfer over to Marathon.

No Sony exec is going to do anything about it since they were bought for $3.6B and they are supposed to be master GAAS overseers, so the execs trusted they could do no wrong. They would had seen Marathon in progress when they bought them in 2022 and liked what they saw. So they would always get the green light to continue making it.

On paper, every gamer could see a mile away a shooter game focused on hardcore gamers, extraction and polarizing art style is going to be totally different than wide appeal games like COD or Fortnite with tons of modes including cpu bot only mode making giving the option of PVE matches. Even Destiny 2 has tons of MP modes. So the smart thinking (like any industry) is if you got a product that has limited sales potential, you dont go apeshit blowing the budget. A modest potential game should get modest budgets, while the biggest people and budget resources go in tandem with giant potential.

Yet here we are. Big money spent over years (I think the game got started dev around 2019) which has been greenlighted the whole time. Not surprisingly, it's been low sales potential results. And massively trending down too.

Just to show how odd it was, not only is the game skewed to hardcore gamers, but the first big content drop they got (Cryo) was aimed at even harder core gamers! And initially the game didnt even have solo mode, and the current Ranked and Cryo are trios only. So the focus the whole time has been sweaty mandatory team based gamers with a giant budget. That would be like a movie studio spending $200M+ for a documentary destined to make $30M if lucky. You wont even see that in movies where budgets can be wild, but some reason you do see crazy business plans in gaming.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

10 pm completed hour. Looks like it peaked out the past 20 mins
(All time peak was launch day 88.3k)

Compared to yesterday (Sun vs Sat): 31k vs 33.8k (-2.8k or -8%)

Yesterday's low 13.7k. If the rate holds, low tonight will be 12.6k. Late night low CCU will hold up better on non-work/non-school nights

Based on past trending methodologies of negative growth rate %'s, tomorrow's USA peak could be about 26-27k. Still a holiday in much part of Europe, so who knows what Euro peak hours will be.

Sunday vs Sunday: 31k vs 39.8k (-8.8k or -22%)

This is the first time the day after cryo day (Friday and weekend days) all went down in the same week.

31k today is all time low peak. Previous low was this past Weds at 32.8k. So it's already down -1.8k or -5% vs Weds peak low.

The game has been out for a full month and is down -57.3k or -65%.

Steam Rankings
Daily Active Users 70
Global Top Sellers 32
Weekly Top Sellers 32 (was 26 last week)
Top Rated Games 5,415 (84.80%)

 

[Conflict NZ]

10 pm completed hour. Looks like it peaked out the past 20 mins
(All time peak was launch day 88.3k)

Compared to yesterday (Sun vs Sat): 31k vs 33.8k (-2.8k or -8%)

Yesterday's low 13.7k. If the rate holds, low tonight will be 12.6k. Late night low CCU will hold up better on non-work/non-school nights

Based on past trending methodologies of negative growth rate %'s, tomorrow's USA peak could be about 26-27k. Still a holiday in much part of Europe, so who knows what Euro peak hours will be.

Sunday vs Sunday: 31k vs 39.8k (-8.8k or -22%)

This is the first time the day after cryo day (Friday and weekend days) all went down in the same week.

31k today is all time low peak. Previous low was this past Weds at 32.8k. So it's already down -1.8k or -5% vs Weds peak low.

The game has been out for a full month and is down -57.3k or -65%.

Steam Rankings
Daily Active Users 70
Global Top Sellers 32
Weekly Top Sellers 32 (was 26 last week)
Top Rated Games 5,415 (84.80%)

Really impressive how the peak just dies as soon as Cryo is closed. They must be considering just leaving it open full time at this point.

 

[Timberwolf25]

Really impressive how the peak just dies as soon as Cryo is closed. They must be considering just leaving it open full time at this point.

If it was open full time, it would be a steady decline everyday instead of small upticks when Cryo opens before it dips again.

At this point, the faithful are hoping/coping that some will stick around til the next season drops and praying it will be a banger that will miraculously bring people in.

I would consider this a bigger flop than Concord if it gets murdered before S2 due to the pedigree of Bungie and the financial investment to acquire them.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Really impressive how the peak just dies as soon as Cryo is closed. They must be considering just leaving it open full time at this point.

No doubt. It spikes the first cryo day then tanks on these ranked days. Today really tanked by evening time. Looks like US gamers after dinner didnt give a shit when it's ranked only. Then cryo day pops up next week and gamers jump on again.

I suggested from the beginning to leave cryo on 24/7. They did increase it one day moving it up to Thursday.

The hardcore gamers could play cryo as much as possible all week, and the normal lobbies (though less people) should skew to weaker lobbies so the weaker gamers would face fewer expert gamers with stacked gear. So the joe normal gamers should quit less due to getting curb stomped.

If implemented weeks ago, it would probably make a difference (IMO), but fast forward two weeks and the CCU has dropped from the mid-50k range to now low-30k. So might be too late now as the user base getting spliced would make the lobbies too thin.

 

[TheLikou]

This shouldn't surprise anyone though?

Bungie made a narrowly focused very expensive game for a very small niche, whereas most single player games are designed to appeal to very wide audiences with a variety of difficulty levels and often even modes of play. The outcome really shouldn't be surprising to anyone. Its why I don't understand what Bungie's strategy was for the new Marathon, because surely, as experienced game devs, they knew this going in?

They didn't expect an niche audience. It was pretty clear that some companies put a bet on the genre being the next big one. Turned out ok for Arc Raiders, but it's not the big next thing for everyone.

 

[ByWatterson]

Game studios try to force in PVP because that pressures lots of gamers to buy mtx to show off their character skin and/or P2W to get better gear or perks to be more competitive.

A gamer playing PVE or playing offline MP modes against cpu bots does their own thing. They have fun playing the game too, but will likely have zero interest paying mtx since all they are doing is playing against the cpu.

I never cared for Destiny games (tried the Xbox One demo and didnt care), but when Destiny 2 became F2P I tried on XS. Game looks pretty good, 60 fps, good gunplay. Maybe I'll give this a try.

I noped out. Here I am practicing goofing around the starting area jumping around the rocks and killing the starting bots they toss at you and suddenly I got some random gamers joining in too jumping around. I then bolted to get away from them into the first cave to face waves of enemies and then bailed completely. No way I'm playing a persistent online game with random dudes joining.

But they want gamers to engage and group together as parties so they pressure themselves to buy mtx.

I've gotten a really nice 25 hours out of Marathon, but I'm getting tired of it for reasons similar to those you mentioned about Destiny.

Matchmaking is so sweaty that it makes probably 90% of runs fruitless, either in gear or contracts. And engaging with PVE creates PVP risk. It's just hard to know what to do at any given time.

Unless you go in with a team. Supporting your point.

 

[TheLikou]

Defeating the entire point of the game.

So... like Fortnite?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I've gotten a really nice 25 hours out of Marathon, but I'm getting tired of it for reasons similar to those you mentioned about Destiny.

Matchmaking is so sweaty that it makes probably 90% of runs fruitless, either in gear or contracts. And engaging with PVE creates PVP risk. It's just hard to know what to do at any given time.

Unless you go in with a team. Supporting your point.

There's always a debate in competitive games if matchmaking should be added, and what kind and how rigid it is.

I admit I loved curb stomping other gamers in old ass COD games too. But for sake of having a retaining user base and making games more fair, I'm actually ok with SBMM. Just dont make it so rigid whisking gamers to new lobbies every match bogging down the menus like the game is trying to reset every gamer in the algorithm down to the last decimal place every match.

Just make the games have a wide enough net to give lobbies a range of gamers, but not too narrow (boring sweat lobbies) and not too wide (curb stomping opportunities).

In games like Marathon or any shooter which involves uber loot drops and stealing each other's gear makes the matches even wider in scope. It's bad enough if any game allows skilled gamers to dominate a game, but if you allow those good gamers to also tack on premium gear or steal other's it makes the divide even bigger. So of course normie gamers will bail.

In other kinds of shooters, everyone gets similar gear and perks to pick their own loadout so that part of the game is pretty balanced. And gamers have 5-10 loadouts too to rotate in match. I do the same. I got my 2-3 standard loadouts, my anti-sniper loadout (smoke bombs) and for an oldie like World at War, my anti-tank loadout with bazooka or satchels. And nobody can steal each other's gear.

As for your comment about adding a traditional MP PVP mode I agree. I'm not sure why all these extraction shooters cant add a bunch of common modes to add variety and give gamers easy to understand modes, it cant be that hard. Many other games have MP cpu bot modes or hoard/survival mode etc... But I guess they want to differentiate themselves, they dont want to add TDM or CTF. In shooters, sometimes you just want to rotate modes like TDM, Domination, or BR.

 

[Moridianae]

No doubt. It spikes the first cryo day then tanks on these ranked days. Today really tanked by evening time. Looks like US gamers after dinner didnt give a shit when it's ranked only. Then cryo day pops up next week and gamers jump on again.

I suggested from the beginning to leave cryo on 24/7. They did increase it one day moving it up to Thursday.

The hardcore gamers could play cryo as much as possible all week, and the normal lobbies (though less people) should skew to weaker lobbies so the weaker gamers would face fewer expert gamers with stacked gear. So the joe normal gamers should quit less due to getting curb stomped.

If implemented weeks ago, it would probably make a difference (IMO), but fast forward two weeks and the CCU has dropped from the mid-50k range to now low-30k. So might be too late now as the user base getting spliced would make the lobbies too thin.

Still going with an average of 5% decline per day going forward? I would think it'll eventually level off, even if it's on the lower end of 26k maybe? I dunno.

 

[ByWatterson]

There's always a debate in competitive games if matchmaking should be added, and what kind and how rigid it is.

I admit I loved curb stomping other gamers in old ass COD games too. But for sake of having a retaining user base and making games more fair, I'm actually ok with SBMM. Just dont make it so rigid whisking gamers to new lobbies every match bogging down the menus like the game is trying to reset every gamer in the algorithm down to the last decimal place every match.

Just make the games have a wide enough net to give lobbies a range of gamers, but not too narrow (boring sweat lobbies) and not too wide (curb stomping opportunities).

In games like Marathon or any shooter which involves uber loot drops and stealing each other's gear makes the matches even wider in scope. It's bad enough if any game allows skilled gamers to dominate a game, but if you allow those good gamers to also tack on premium gear or steal other's it makes the divide even bigger. So of course normie gamers will bail.

In other kinds of shooters, everyone gets similar gear and perks to pick their own loadout so that part of the game is pretty balanced. And gamers have 5-10 loadouts too to rotate in match. I do the same. I got my 2-3 standard loadouts, my anti-sniper loadout (smoke bombs) and for an oldie like World at War, my anti-tank loadout with bazooka or satchels.

As for your comment about adding a traditional MP PVP mode I agree. I'm not sure why all these extraction shooters cant add a bunch of common modes to add variety and give gamers easy to understand modes, it cant be that hard. Many have MP cpu bot modes or hoard/survival mode etc... But I guess they want to differentiate themselves, they dont want to add TDM or CTF. In shooters, sometimes you just want to rotate modes like TDM, Domination, or BR.

You got me thinking. You know what this game could REALLY use?

Runner bots. Give casuals a chance to shoot at gear-laden pushovers once in a while.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Still going with an average of 5% decline per day going forward? I would think it'll eventually level off, even if it's on the lower end of 26k maybe? I dunno.

Ya, I'm going to stick with it for now. Doesnt look like it's stabilized yet. But what makes the down trend weird looking are the cryo days. The game is still trendng around -20% week over week daily comparison. So some days will have bigger or smaller drops. Cryo day seems to do the best, but then the game catches up and loses a lot of it back over the next few days where the overall trend gets back to normal.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

You got me thinking. You know what this game could REALLY use?

Runner bots. Give casuals a chance to shoot at gear-laden pushovers once in a while.

Totally. COD games dont have bots. But you know what? I think everyone would agree, stomping those AI grunts in Titanfall games were fun. And actually helps win the game even though they were worth I think only 1 pt each.

Runner bots with gear would be great to mix it up. It doesn't even have to be persistent CPU bots every match in their own trios. It could be. But also it could be random runners who come and go like a Diablo treasure goblin. This fucker is can be hunted by anyone in the game. Find and kill the guy and he leaves good loot.

They can even help out casuals by purposely spamming him close to the weaker teams.

 

[Conflict NZ]

As far as I can tell this is about to be the worst Marathon has ever been at 0400UTC, beating the previous worst day by over 5K. We might see significant drops post holiday.

Previous 0400UTC Low: 28.5K

Current 0350UTC: 23.2K.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

I've gotten a really nice 25 hours out of Marathon, but I'm getting tired of it for reasons similar to those you mentioned about Destiny.

Matchmaking is so sweaty that it makes probably 90% of runs fruitless, either in gear or contracts. And engaging with PVE creates PVP risk. It's just hard to know what to do at any given time.

Unless you go in with a team. Supporting your point.

That is why I just can't even let myself explore the game. I said it before I don't run from something difficult, I don't hide from challenge but I don't need to seek it out and even if the runs were 70% fruitless that still would suck.

I want to win we all want to win, so it's why for pvp I prefer a 50/50 chance given most normal pvp games are two teams so you're never really going to go on losing sprees and it feels worth the time.

Extraction and br are genres where technically you could very well lose nonstop, to me in battle royale unless you're first it's a loss, and most matches everyone is losing. Feels like such a fruitless waste of time. Because even when I won a few BR modes it was not worth the annoyance I went thru to get a win, won a couple times and was good to never care about playing BR ever again. Couple hundred hours in battlefield and not a single minute in redsec.

So yea, losing isn't fun, losing your shit is even worse and this game does both lol I still really believe anyone that likes extraction likes their balls stepped on also

 

[StreetsofBeige]

As far as I can tell this is about to be the worst Marathon has ever been at 0400UTC, beating the previous worst day by over 5K. We might see significant drops post holiday.

Previous 0400UTC Low: 28.5K

Current 0350UTC: 23.2K.

Past days with peaks at 33-34k had lows at 10k+. I think one night it bottomed around 10.5k. If the peak today was 31k it should be mathematically possible to drop below 10k tonight. Just a matter if gamers still on Easter Monday holiday around the world can prop it up late night.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

That is why I just can't even let myself explore the game. I said it before I don't run from something difficult, I don't hide from challenge but I don't need to seek it out and even if the runs were 70% fruitless that still would suck.

I want to win we all want to win, so it's why for pvp I prefer a 50/50 chance given most normal pvp games are two teams so you're never really going to go on losing sprees and it feels worth the time.

Extraction and br are genres where technically you could very well lose nonstop, to me in battle royale unless you're first it's a loss, and most matches everyone is losing. Feels like such a fruitless waste of time. Because even when I won a few BR modes it was not worth the annoyance I went thru to get a win, won a couple times and was good to never care about playing BR ever again. Couple hundred hours in battlefield and not a single minute in redsec.

So yea, losing isn't fun, losing your shit is even worse and this game does both lol I still really believe anyone that likes extraction likes their balls stepped on also

To me, extraction shooters will appeal to gamers who one part like shooters (of course) and one part like rogue type games. And you kind of need both. You got one life (normally), you find random loot, and everyone kind of knows youre going to lose at some point and lose your gear. But the fun loop is trying again and rebuilding. That assumes someone likes that loop.

Imagine in most other games you get killed. Instead of starting from the last save point, youre character in an RPG or action game loses gear. Now you got to find that awesome sword or shield again or pay gold to rebuy it off a merchant. Not a fun loop for most, but there would be crowd who likes it..... survival hardcore mode gamers. You die and your save file gets deleted.

I like shooters. I also like rogue-ish games (I played the original Rogue game on a friend's PC myself). BUT, I dont like playing a game that has both. But maybe I'll like it if I give it a try. I still got ARC installed but havent itched to try it yet because the premise itself despite a cool art style doesnt resonate right off the bat.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

To me, extraction shooters will appeal to gamers who one part like shooters (of course) and one part like rogue type games. And you kind of need both. You got one life (normally), you find random loot, and everyone kind of knows youre going to lose at some point and lose your gear. But the fun loop is trying again and rebuilding. That assumes someone likes that loop.

Imagine in most other games you get killed. Instead of starting from the last save point, youre character in an RPG or action game loses gear. Now you got to find that awesome sword or shield again or pay gold to rebuy it off a merchant. Not a fun loop for most, but there would be crowd who likes it..... survival hardcore mode gamers. You die and your save file gets deleted.

I like shooters. I also like rogue-ish games (I played the original Rogue game on a friend's PC myself). BUT, I dont like playing a game that has both. But maybe I'll like it if I give it a try. I still got ARC installed but havent itched to try it yet because the premise itself despite a cool art style doesnt resonate right off the bat.

Yea I'm not the world's biggest rogue fan either, I will play them if it's a game that interests me enough but I don't love that genre either I feel it's become a cop out type genre, or a lazy genre given its all so repetitive.

Arc is interesting to me because I had 2 buddies that were playing and I liked the atmosphere, there was a part of me that was really impressed by the surreal, weird eerie atmosphere, and I love pvp... But what did me in is a few wipes after getting what I thought was cool stuff, sitting and sorting out my garbage shit to take with me, roll in and get stuff and lost it... Thought fuck that. It's just not a good feeling.

Now some may say souls is like that, but it's so not even close... Losing souls is truly miniscule compared to losing hard earned guns and shit.

This game is wild man the way it has so many defending it and so many shitting on it I have to say it's truly one of the most polarizing games ever.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yea I'm not the world's biggest rogue fan either, I will play them if it's a game that interests me enough but I don't love that genre either I feel it's become a cop out type genre, or a lazy genre given its all so repetitive.

Arc is interesting to me because I had 2 buddies that were playing and I liked the atmosphere, there was a part of me that was really impressed by the surreal, weird eerie atmosphere, and I love pvp... But what did me in is a few wipes after getting what I thought was cool stuff, sitting and sorting out my garbage shit to take with me, roll in and get stuff and lost it... Thought fuck that. It's just not a good feeling.

Now some may say souls is like that, but it's so not even close... Losing souls is truly miniscule compared to losing hard earned guns and shit.

This game is wild man the way it has so many defending it and so many shitting on it I have to say it's truly one of the most polarizing games ever.

I think for me, I dont care for extraction/loot shooter is because the nature of the game itself and watching videos you got a shooter game + a micromanage-y loop where you got to hurry up and search and equip or drop stuff before someone comes around the corner and shoots you. So it's kind of like an RTS in a way.

Not my style. When I play shooters I just want to focus on killing or picking up a random gun off the ground if I run out of ammo. For rogue-ish games I play they are turn based so I can take all the time I want move, attack or mess with inventory.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

I think for me, I dont care for extraction/loot shooter is because the nature of the game itself and watching videos you got a shooter game + a micromanage-y loop where you got to hurry up and search and equip or drop stuff before someone comes around the corner and shoots you. So it's kind of like an RTS in a way.

Not my style. When I play shooters I just want to focus on killing or picking up a random gun off the ground if I run out of ammo. For rogue-ish games I play they are turn based so I can take all the time I want move, attack or mess with inventory.

Yea that also drives me nuts, like the concept of quickly scouring for garbage of sorts while having the pressure of being killed is zero fun. I think it may be an age thing, I get some guys older dig that but yea that aspect really bugged me. I'm the same when I play shooters just want to get in and battle.

Trials in destiny was sweaty as fuck and I hated it at times also but that reward was heaven, finally getting to the lighthouse was a feeling like no other to claim that week's weapon and it was yours forever, THAT is fun and that is what made sweaty fun. But that's why I loved it only on the weekends, I was happy come Monday when trials was gone for the week

 

[rkofan87]

Who is they in this scenario? I am fully convinced this is the game Bungie wanted to make. Top to bottom. A studio who has two prior GaaS titles with various scope behind them.

should have just made Destiny 3 instead of trying to reinvent the wheel

 

[rkofan87]

Again how hard has Sony chased it?

Concord was a no name studio fail. Ok.

Helldivers is a sequel from a barely AA studio that did well and this forum loves.

Last of us 2 MP morphed into a larger thing then shut down. No loss.

Bungie bought FOR GaaS.

What did I miss? Herman's shitty horizon games? GG has been dead since Killzone was abandoned.

Sonys "lotto" was Bungie, hence the larger dollar acquisition. The safer bet would've been Destiny 3. Which lets be real you've admitted you're just pissed you didnt get Destiny 3, and instead the studio made a passion project that isn't to your tastes or likings after playing it for a few hours.

Is that all in focus?

my man you are starting to sound like Men_in_Boxes