Marathon Alpha Impressions

SnapShot said:
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disabling mouse magnetism isn't a solution. they clearly have ridiculously strong aim assist on controller, which will in return make mouse players have a massive disadvantage.
also, I wouldn't be surprised if it had bullet magnetism on top of that that will still remain active, as aim assist is a literal stat bonus you can equip.

Bungie's Halo 2 era gunplay simply isn't compatible with this genre... or the year 2025 tbh.
 
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kevboard said:
disabling mouse magnetism isn't a solution. they clearly have ridiculously strong aim assist on controller, which will in return make mouse players have a massive disadvantage.
also, I wouldn't be surprised if it had bullet magnetism on top of that that will still remain active, as aim assist is a literal stat bonus you can equip.

Bungie's Halo 2 era gunplay simply isn't compatible with this genre... or the year 2025 tbh.
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Well, since you aim faster and more precise with mouse than with gamepad, it makes more sense to give a certain advantage to gamepad here to compensate it.
 
yurinka said:
Well, since you aim faster and more precise with mouse than with gamepad, it makes more sense to give a certain advantage to gamepad here to compensate it.
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not like Bungie does it. the reason there was mouse magnetism in the first place is because their controller aim assist is basically auto aim.

Bungie's aim assist is the most over the top aim assist on the market. Halo Infinite's being a close second.

to put that into perspective:
Call of Duty players regularly complain about the strong aim assist in CoD. that is because CoD's aim assist is multiple times stronger than Apex Legends'.
Controller players still dominate the Apex Legends pro league in spite of that.

ok, AND NOW imagine if you made CoD's aim assist even stronger, and added an invisible circle around the reticle, within which the bullets bend their trajectory to automatically hit the enemy if he is inside that circle... that's Bungie's aim assist* (*in Destiny 2, which is presumably similar in Marathon as well)
 
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kevboard said:
not like Bungie does it. the reason there was mouse magnetism in the first place is because their controller aim assist is basically auto aim.

Bungie's aim assist is the most over the top aim assist on the market. Halo Infinite's being a close second.

to put that into perspective:
Call of Duty players regularly complain about the strong aim assist in CoD. that is because CoD's aim assist is multiple times stronger than Apex Legends'.
Controller players still dominate the Apex Legends pro league in spite of that.

ok, AND NOW imagine if you made CoD's aim assist even stronger, and added an invisible circle around the reticle, within which the bullets bend their trajectory to automatically hit the enemy if he is inside that circle... that's Bungie's aim assist* (*in Destiny 2, which is presumably similar in Marathon as well)
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And they are already going to implement changes this week during the alpha based on community feedback on this.
 
kevboard said:
not like Bungie does it. the reason there was mouse magnetism in the first place is because their controller aim assist is basically auto aim.

Bungie's aim assist is the most over the top aim assist on the market. Halo Infinite's being a close second.

to put that into perspective:
Call of Duty players regularly complain about the strong aim assist in CoD. that is because CoD's aim assist is multiple times stronger than Apex Legends'.
Controller players still dominate the Apex Legends pro league in spite of that.

ok, AND NOW imagine if you made CoD's aim assist even stronger, and added an invisible circle around the reticle, within which the bullets bend their trajectory to automatically hit the enemy if he is inside that circle... that's Bungie's aim assist* (*in Destiny 2, which is presumably similar in Marathon as well)
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Halo, Destiny, COD are all casual shooters. With little to no aim assist most of the target audience wouldn't be able to hit a barn door.

Then they'd have no audience.
 
So it doesn't have the same magic as Destiny did? I remember playing the alpha for Destiny from attending the E3 theater experience. Destiny was great because you could have a decent time playing solo. This doesn't seem to be the case. My biggest gripe is that doesn't feel epic. It feels smaller in scope. The enemies didn't get a real introduction. All I can think of are neon robo skins. This is something for someone who always plays with other people.
 
Northeastmonk said:
So it doesn't have the same magic as Destiny did? I remember playing the alpha for Destiny from attending the E3 theater experience. Destiny was great because you could have a decent time playing solo. This doesn't seem to be the case. My biggest gripe is that doesn't feel epic. It feels smaller in scope. The enemies didn't get a real introduction. All I can think of are neon robo skins. This is something for someone who always plays with other people.
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For me its not even close as the Destiny alpha/beta whatever it was called at the time I could not wait to sit down and play it over and over, I couldn't get enough

Marathon is like after maybe 10 rounds for me I have had enough and no desire to fire it back up

Maybe the game is offline for some reason this morning on a Saturday morning (I haven't checked) but its barely in the top 50 on Twitch viewed and has about 10% of its player base on Steam as compared to when it launched

And I know its a limited alpha I get that but people would really rather watch World of Tanks when its not having any kind of special event

Now I personally love WoT its way up there as one of my top played games ever but its in its 14th year and its not a fun game to watch (outside of special events or new tank reviews)
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
For me its not even close as the Destiny alpha/beta whatever it was called at the time I could not wait to sit down and play it over and over, I couldn't get enough

Marathon is like after maybe 10 rounds for me I have had enough and no desire to fire it back up

Maybe the game is offline for some reason this morning on a Saturday morning (I haven't checked) but its barely in the top 50 on Twitch viewed and has about 10% of its player base on Steam as compared to when it launched

And I know its a limited alpha I get that but people would really rather watch World of Tanks when its not having any kind of special event

Now I personally love WoT its way up there as one of my top played games ever but its in its 14th year and its not a fun game to watch (outside of special events or new tank reviews)
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I've not played this one as you know but our views on the Destiny alpha/beta could not be more different lol.

My biggest memory from that time was "This is it? It can't be all there is to it surely? No no there must be more to it, has to be........" that and the PVP in the Beta/ launch state was fucking truly awful. Anyone remember the Combined Arms mode with the Vehicles? Jesus that was dire.

Luckily I stuck with it as it turned out to be one of my most played games ever but they very nearly lost me completely.
 
clarky said:
I've not played this one as you know but our views on the Destiny alpha/beta could not be more different lol.

My biggest memory from that time was "This is it? It can't be all there is to it surely? No no there must be more to it, has to be........" that and the PVP in the Beta/ launch state was fucking truly awful. Anyone remember the Combined Arms mode with the Vehicles? Jesus that was dire.

Luckily I stuck with it as it turned out to be one of my most played games ever but they very nearly lost me completely.
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I couldn't wait to dive back into the alpha

I guess my problem has become I think I am over the whole loot loot loot and lose it all if you die game loop

I still love PVP just not worrying about losing stuff though in World of Tanks while you don't lose its still very expensive to run high tiered tanks into battle so in effect you can lose a lot of credits but not the same as losing gear
 
I just played a few matches. First game took a couple minutes to find players. But still early morning. Even the alpha states like 2-10pm pt are prime hours so there probably isn't that big a pool.

I'm looking at this as what it is not a fully fleshed out alpha between worlds, items, enemies, etc. The gameplay loops works for me, I'm still figuring it out. But the PVE enemies vs having to run into PvP encounters at any time does add a bit of tension. But I enjoy a more slower paced type of game like that. All very deliberate and calculated.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
I couldn't wait to dive back into the alpha

I guess my problem has become I think I am over the whole loot loot loot and lose it all if you die game loop

I still love PVP just not worrying about losing stuff though in World of Tanks while you don't lose its still very expensive to run high tiered tanks into battle so in effect you can lose a lot of credits but not the same as losing gear
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The game is certainly not for you,
but it sounds like you want the game to fail because you don't like it. It's way too soon to extrapolate the success of Marathon. they haven't even shown the end game loop, which is supposedly the best part of the game, by the streamers who have played it.

At least wait for the open beta a month or 2 before launch to jump to any conclusion. The game can evolve a lot from where it is now. For me, it's my favorite PvP game since Apex, but to be fair, I'm not into most PvP games
 
coachmcguirk91 said:
The game is certainly not for you,
but it sounds like you want the game to fail because you don't like it. It's way too soon to extrapolate the success of Marathon. they haven't even shown the end game loop, which is supposedly the best part of the game, by the streamers who have played it.

At least wait for the open beta a month or 2 before launch to jump to any conclusion. The game can evolve a lot from where it is now. For me, it's my favorite PvP game since Apex, but to be fair, I'm not into most PvP games
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How can you remotely think I want this game to fail when I have put in several matches and just even applying for the beta in the first place?

Yeah its not for me but to say I want it to fail because I don't like it is silly
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
How can you remotely think I want this game to fail when I have put in several matches and just even applying for the beta in the first place?

Yeah its not for me but to say I want it to fail because I don't like it is silly
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Why are you applying to join an Alpha of Marathon when you have disdain for the extraction shooter genre? It's a bit annoying hearing negative feedback for a gameplay loop that you have zero interest in to begin with. I don't like turn based games, but you won't seeing me criticizing Turn based games because I'm not the target audience

There are tons of issues you can point to with Marathon, but a lot of the criticism is from people who are angry that Bungie's next game is an extraction shooter. It's not coming from being objective on the merits of what the game is trying to be. To the point where you are trying to imply the game is DOA in a closed Alpha build
 
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coachmcguirk91 said:
Why are you applying to join an Alpha of Marathon when you have disdain for the extraction shooter genre? It's a bit annoying hearing negative feedback for a gameplay loop that you have zero interest in to begin with. I don't like turn based games, but you won't seeing me criticizing Turn based games because I'm not the target audience

There are tons of issues you can point to with Marathon, but a lot of the criticism is from people who are angry that Bungie's next game is an extraction shooter. It's not coming from being objective on the merits of what the game is trying to be. To the point where you are trying to imply the game is DOA in a closed Alpha build
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Because maybe he wanted to see what a refined Bungie extraction shooter was like? I wasn't fully sold on it until I played it. It could have gone either way prior.
 
coachmcguirk91 said:
Why are you applying to join an Alpha of Marathon when you have disdain for the extraction shooter genre? It's a bit annoying hearing negative feedback for a gameplay loop that you have zero interest in to begin with. I don't like turn based games, but you won't seeing me criticizing Turn based games because I'm not the target audience

There are tons of issues you can point to with Marathon, but a lot of the criticism is from people who are angry that Bungie's next game is an extraction shooter. It's not coming from being objective of the merits of what the game is trying to be
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I have played a lot of Tarkov and really wanted to give Marathon a fair shake

You want more criticism outside of the gameplay just doesnt click with me anymore?

Art style sucks but thats been beaten to death which even I could overlook if the hook was there

Speaking of it has no real hook (for me) at least not yet

No solo queues hurts a lot

No proximity chat is just stupid

UI is a cluster fuck micro management pit of hell for a controller user

I mean the game is ok but ok just isn't good enough to pull me away from my current rotation of games and for sure not good enough to get me to buy it a little over a week before Ghost of Yotei

Guardian Monkey said:
Because maybe he wanted to see what a refined Bungie extraction shooter was like? I wasn't fully sold on it until I played it. It could have gone either way prior.
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And I sure don't blame anyone who is enjoying it, the guns feel great

I honestly think there can be a very good game there
 
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Guardian Monkey said:
Because maybe he wanted to see what a refined Bungie extraction shooter was like? I wasn't fully sold on it until I played it. It could have gone either way prior.
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Absolutely fair. I just strongly believe a large portion of the criticism is coming from what people expected Bungie's next game to be. It's understandable if you really enjoy Destiny PvE that you may not be objective. Marathon could be the best extraction ever and there would still be a lot of Bungie fans upset with the direction they took with Marathon. If Bungie was a random AAA developer, the reception to Marathon would be much better, imo
 
Mattyp said:
The visual style looks terrible let alone its other issues, this is going to be DoA.

F2P is their only hope for a month or two to recoup before players forget about it completely.
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I liked the visual design when they showed it in trailers but it really does not look good in motion with these extended gameplay videos.

I wasn't optimistic because I don't think this genre is popular and even destiny fans hate Bungie these days… but this is looking more and more like a disaster.
 
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coachmcguirk91 said:
Why are you applying to join an Alpha of Marathon when you have disdain for the extraction shooter genre? It's a bit annoying hearing negative feedback for a gameplay loop that you have zero interest in to begin with. I don't like turn based games, but you won't seeing me criticizing Turn based games because I'm not the target audience

There are tons of issues you can point to with Marathon, but a lot of the criticism is from people who are angry that Bungie's next game is an extraction shooter. It's not coming from being objective on the merits of what the game is trying to be. To the point where you are trying to imply the game is DOA in a closed Alpha build
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Maybe because it's free so why not try it?

During the 360 days when it seemed every game had a demo, I tried tons of games I knew I'd never buy or even like such as Final Fantasy 13 or Battlefield shooters. But it's free to try to kill time and curious to see how good are the graphics or BF destruction.
 
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diffusionx said:
I liked the visual design when they showed it in trailers but it really does not look good in motion with these extended gameplay videos.

I wasn't optimistic because I don't think this genre is popular and even destiny fans hate Bungie these days… but this is looking more and more like a disaster.
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Those canned trailers and ultra high res promo shots of the characters posing were total bullshots. The actual game so far looks much worse (unless the final game really improves on it with 5 months to go).
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
I have played a lot of Tarkov and really wanted to give Marathon a fair shake

You want more criticism outside of the gameplay just doesnt click with me anymore?

Art style sucks but thats been beaten to death which even I could overlook if the hook was there

Speaking of it has no real hook (for me) at least not yet

No solo queues hurts a lot

No proximity chat is just stupid

UI is a cluster fuck micro management pit of hell for a controller user

I mean the game is ok but ok just isn't good enough to pull me away from my current rotation of games and for sure not good enough to get me to buy it a little over a week before Ghost of Yotei


And I sure don't blame anyone who is enjoying it, the guns feel great

I honestly think there can be a very good game there
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RE: Art style Did you enable HDR and change to DLAA from FRS? I just realized that was an option. Definitely makes it pop more outside.
 
An extraction shooter I'm forced to play with randoms.

I couldn't be any less interested in playing this, let alone paying money for it.
 
baphomet said:
An extraction shooter I'm forced to play with randoms.

I couldn't be any less interested in playing this, let alone paying money for it.
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Depending on the game, randoms might be okay if it does not involve killing each other teams.

I played with a lot of them in Fallout 76.
 
Played a few rounds. Game is cool so far but there's not much of a reason to put too much time into it since it's going to be wiped anyway.

I love the aesthetic. Visuals are nice and it runs well.

Soundtrack is incredibly good so far. Audio design seems great altogether.

Movement isn't exactly my favorite, but it's appropriate for an extraction shooter and not as clunky as others. Not a fan of stamina meters but it doesn't seem too bad here. Upgrades could change movement entirely.

Runner abilities seem useful but not broken so far. The cool downs are pretty long, so you can't spam them.

The faction missions are straightforward and the game doesn't seem to be too convoluted with bullshit so far.

No technical or performance issues other than rebinding crouch not working for me.

There's a Mouse Magnetism setting. Not sure if this is aim assist for mouse, or what. The amount of aim assist/bullet magnetism we're going to have to deal with in PvP will probably determine how much I enjoy this game. I don't like any of that bullshit. There's an option to disable Cross-Play but people still use controllers on PC.

The game thankfully has voice/text chat and the ability to auto-fill squad.

Overall really solid, especially for a closed alpha test.
 
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nikos said:
There's a Mouse Magnetism setting. Not sure if this is aim assist for mouse, or what. The amount of aim assist/bullet magnetism we're going to have to deal with in PvP will probably determine how much I enjoy this game. I don't like any of that bullshit. There's an option to disable Cross-Play but people still use controllers on PC.
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They are removing mouse aim assist next week.
 
Killjoy-NL said:
Those weren't hits.

MAG and Socom did rather poorly.

Resistance 3 only sold 180.000 copies at launch.

Killzone 3 only sold 2.8M copies, Shadowfall only sold 2.1M copies.

Warhawk sold ~1.2M copies
Starhawk sold ~1M?

Your memory is kinda revisionist.
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1million is actually really good at that time… Socom confrontation did well go back and look at game sales around that time the top games where selling 1.5-3mil
 
Killjoy-NL said:
Yes, good enough for Zipper to get closed.
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No it was Socom 4 that was the issue reason why is the game went casual. People who primarily played Socom liked the hardcore elements of it with no respawns and no down but not out.

Extraction shooters should be more hardcore and less casual…. I don't think Bungie or Activision understands extraction shooters. There's a reason DMZ failed….
 
themonk said:
No it was Socom 4 that was the issue reason why is the game went casual. People who primarily played Socom liked the hardcore elements of it with no respawns and no down but not out.

Extraction shooters should be more hardcore and less casual…. I don't think Bungie or Activision understands extraction shooters. There's a reason DMZ failed….
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Antwix said:
pretty much thought you implied that, but ok...
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I was actually referring to M.A.G. and Socom 4, both of which released after Confrontation.

Decided to double-check, so I went to look up Socom Confrontation (it has been a while) and not only was it not developed by Zipper (it was developed by Slant Six Games), it released with mixed reception, was missing promised features and was an overall technical mess.
I did enjoy the game at the time though.

But since I was talking about Zipper, my point still stands.
 
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I've been watching Cross play it, i was already going to get it but seeing the game play loop. I do think this will be a lot of fun, for those who are aware of what their getting themselves into. it's clicking with me the adrenaline , the methodical nature of how you need to move in a game like this.

I also think some people are still making the wrong impression of the genre. Talking to some people in the chat of Cross video people are suggesting that its too much down time or too boring, needs more PvP, add more players etc.

But i do think people need remember that the alpha is not the full game. Also the point is to gain higher level gear so you do need the exploration , not just for PvP players but to survive the higher tier maps, including the ones that will have the raids/or raid like elements however that looks like.

Would prefer more PVE elements though in the future as they grow the game.

Watching the game i do think there is a middle ground a good one for Casual players to enjoy the game and coming back for more. Last week i was a bit more iffy more on the side of this might not be for everyone, but i do think they will get a sizable audience from the jump.
 
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Killjoy-NL said:
I was actually referring to M.A.G. and Socom 4, both of which released after Confrontation.

Decided to double-check, so I went to look up Socom Confrontation (it has been a while) and not only was it not developed by Zipper (it was developed by Slant Six Games), it released with mixed reception, was missing promised features and was an overall technical mess.
I did enjoy the game at the time though.

But since I was talking about Zipper, my point still stands.
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You have to understand multiplayer isn't what it is now… The bugs in Confrontation where insane but it was an awesome game and it had plenty of servers that where full. Socom Confrontation actually got brought back to life a few years ago even though servers where down by a small group of people. Even after Socom 4 came out everyone was still playing confrontation the game was soooo good after several updates. But yes you had a lot of cheaters and bugs in the game but it was still a great game that was a complete mess when it launched.

I just want a tactical shooter like Arma that has a 8v8 no respawn and absolutley no DBNO shooter with multiple game modes….
 
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themonk said:
You have to understand multiplayer isn't what it is now… The bugs in Confrontation where insane but it was an awesome game and it had plenty of servers that where full. Socom Confrontation actually got brought back to life a few years ago even though servers where down by a small group of people. Even after Socom 4 came out everyone was still playing confrontation the game was soooo good after several updates. But yes you had a lot of cheaters and bugs in the game but it was still a great game that was a complete mess when it launched.

I just want a tactical shooter like Arma that has a 8v8 no respawn and absolutley no DBNO shooter with multiple game modes….
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I know how it was. I was playing online multiplayer hardcore at the time, ever since PS2.

The game was awesome, but that doesn't mean it was a hit.

People always seem to think that their enjoyment of a game makes it objectively good/successful.
 


Also still stand by this should've been a single player or we should've got a campaign for this though. Cause i played halo read some of the books love the lore of that game , and love the Destiny lore with the flower game.

But Marathons lore seems far more intimate/personal then those other 2.
 
clarky said:
Its a limited closed Alpha you twonk. Come back when theres an open Beta, then we can talk numbers.
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Yeah, i get it but we all know it's in trouble. I loved bungie dude and I was excited to see this. I just feel I'm living in reality. I'm sure the game will get some form of a fanbase but it's not going to be a smash hit. If it is ill be surprised.
 
DenchDeckard said:
Yeah, i get it but we all know it's in trouble. I loved bungie dude and I was excited to see this. I just feel I'm living in reality. I'm sure the game will get some form of a fanbase but it's not going to be a smash hit. If it is ill be surprised.
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I think it looks decent. Most People on who played it and are into these type of games seem to like it..

I'll be on the beta and make my mind up then but seems good to me. Needs work in some key areas obviously but looks to be in better shape than D1 was at Alpha, and that was 2 months out from launch.
 
AAoiSCb.png


Even the very limited alpha players doesn't want to keep playing after a couple of days
 
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