Bungie has officially dropped the first mid-season update for Marathon, and while we could go into detail on every change right here in the header, one change is clear as day: Solo players are finally getting some love. Two new gameplay features have made the barrier of entry for the average “Lone Wolf” runner a lot easier, so let’s dive into the new solo-only self-revive system and a new reinforcement protocol being introduced to help spice up the gameplay in Patch 1.0.6!
The Solo Meta Evolves: Self-Revives and Mercy Kits
A change that is controversial to some but exciting to others is the addition of the Depleted Self-Revive kit. This utility item is strictly locked to solo players. These Self-Revive kits only spawn during solo play and cannot be extracted in a run, as doing so will result in the item being auto-sold alongside any other items marked as “Depleted” you find in a run. Think of these as well-loved survival kits from before your run, they’re not as good as finding a normal Self-Revive kit, but they still get the job done and help you stay out there after an intense battle.
Alongside the Depleted Self-Revive Kit is a new Mercy Kit, if you’ve played Arc Raiders you’ll be very familiar with this system as this is a utility item that allows you to revive ANY downed Runner. This allows a game that can be seen as overtly harsh for some players to feel a tad bit safer and with more opportunities for a pacifistic lobby.
The C.A.R.R.I. Protocol Launches
ONI has launched the CyberAcme Runner Reinforcement Initiative (C.A.R.R.I.). This limited-time event is designed to help newer and mid-progression players out with rewards tuned specifically to them, allowing them to catch up to the “Cryo Archive” veterans, while still providing nice loot for those veterans already walking among us.
Runners who work together to survive will be rewarded with a new currency called “CyberAcme Commendations” that you can spend in the C.A.R.R.I. Armory. You can unlock these Commendations in different ways.
For those playing in a crew with others, regardless of being a premade crew or a filled one, you’ll receive Commendations for each contract objective you help your crew complete.
For those playing Solo, you’ll have some opportunities as well such as:
- Completing any individual contract objective
- Successfully exfiling while solo
- Successfully exfiling with others, even when they’re not on your team.
There’s also a new trinket of Enhanced rarity which can drop in all zones, and if you exfil with it you’ll receive bonus CyberAcme Commendations! But make sure to spend these while you can, as they only stack up to a maximum of 100 at a time. You can spend your Commendations on a rotating daily selection of Weapons, Salvage Crates, and Reputation Packs, as well as other rewards.
Shell Balances: Recon Buffed & Others Nerfed
This update also brings a significant tuning pass to the game’s various Runner shells helping keep everyone at a fair playing field, with the Recon being the clear winner of this balancing patch with new quality-of-life improvements to the shells tracking ability, so let’s dive in.
The Recon shell’s kit is now much more effective at distinguishing threats.
- Echo Pulse: Pings bot clearly tell you if a target is an enemy Runner or if it’s an enemy UESC AI. Additionally, Signal Jammers are no longer a hard counter to Echo Pulse pings; jammed players will still show up, though they’ll appear as a standard UESC navpoint to mask their identity.
- Tracker Drone: The drone is now smarter with a better turn rate that will actually re-evaluate its pathing if it loses its originally target instead of just floating around aimlessly. If it can no longer reach its original target, it will attempt to find a new target.
The Destroyer shell has been nerfed to combat the shells… well combay abilities.
- Thruster Nerf: The head cost for Thrusters has been increased by around 9%, meaning you’ll need to be more deliberate with your movement while running around.
- Riot Barricade: An exploit which allowed players to peek around corners has been fixed. This was allowed by toggling the Riot Barricade rapidly without it using any ability energy at all.
The Thief is also becoming a tiny bit easier to track and kill.
- Pickpocket Drone: Drone health has been lowered from 70 to 60 and thrusters are now louder allowing for easier spotting and removal for enemy runners. Drones are also now limited to only one Claymore attachment each now.
Now for the other shells in the game, we saw very slight changes here and there.
- Vandal: The Amplify cooldown has been lowered from 180 seconds to 150 seconds
- Triage: A bug where the Med-Drones would try to “heal” Pickpocket Drones has been patched.
- Rook: Stability fixes for the Signal Mask causing visual flicking when swapping shield implants has been fixed.
And Finally, The Season Pass Feels More Rewarding
The Season Pass for Marathon has been refreshed with a variety of new cosmetics for both free players and paid pass owners to obtain, allowing for a pass that many felt wasn’t worth the price to be a lot more bang for your buck. Free Players have a new Recon Skin and WSTR Shotgun Skin to grind for, while paid players have new Skins for the Thief, Assassin, and Destroyer shells, all of which have a sleek black and white theme.
Bungie is clearly trying to balance the game with this patch in a way that crosses the gap between the “hardcore” runner crews out there and the solo players who just want to play a match here and there without others. Will these changes cause Marathon to lose that hardcore edge some players loved however? Only time will tell.
For a full technical breakdown, feel free to check out the official patch notes from Bungie’s official site!
