Marathon’s mid season one update is here, and has brought with it some staggering changes to the state of Bungie’s extraction shooter. These include the removal of one of the game’s funniest strategies, a nerf to arguably its most powerful weapon attachment, and a reason to help enemy players you find out in the world.
The update, which is broken down in a new blog post, is chock full of changes. The headlining one being an introduction to C.A.R.R.I, an in-game protocol that rewards players (both in crews and playing solo) who help out others during a match. These can be spent on salvage packs or reputation boosts for the game’s factions.
By assisting players completing contracts, or extracting alongside them, players can earn commendations. You can also team up with players you extract with for future ones, essentially making this an in-game friendship building tool.
Those who prefer killing other players will be happy to hear that new Arachne-themed shell cosmetics are now earnable in the Codex. There will, as you’d expect, be one for each shell. So pull that knife out and get to work!
As for more lootin’ and shootin’ changes, 11 new unique deluxe (blue) weapons drops have been added to Perimeter and Dire Marsh. These are less powerful equivalents to the unique weapon drops you may have found in Cryo Archive, and should prove nice surprises for mid-game players looking for handy weapons to take into harder maps.
Thermal sights, which have proven exceptionally strong since the game’s launch, are another hub for massive changes in this patch. You can no longer loot them at deluxe (blue) rarity. The thermal range has been reduced by 20m, and the aim-down-sight assist has also been reduced while using it, in addition to the usual ADS penalties.
Also, some sad news for lovers of hijinx. Players had been pilling on multiple claymores onto a single pickpocket drone, and driving them into other players for quick and easy kills. With this mid-season patch, only one claymore can be placed on a drone at a time, thought as the promotional patch shows, this can still absolutely knock a player if in its proximity.
For solo players, depleted self revive kits have been added. These are automatically sold on exfiltration, much like the health and shield kits you can loot by the boatloads already. There’s also a mercy kit, which lets you revive downed runners. Lovely.
Finally, for the major changes, the Recon shell has gotten some substantial buffs to their kit. Both their echo pulse and Tracker Drone have been reworked to be a lot more powerful, with the pulse able to better track enemies while the drone is better equipped to chase down and damage enemies when thrown out.
Bungie has also added a selection of new cosmetics to the paid and free versions of the season one battle pass. Those who make their way through the pass will be able to find new cosmetics for different shells, weapons, and more. This came after some complaints were raised that the initial version of this season one battle pass was a tad underwhelming.
All in all, it’s a fairly significant mid-season patch. Whether or not those more collaborative changes manage to foster a friendly sub-community in a game that has already garnered a ruthless reputation will be interesting to see. As will the balance changes to various shells and weapons, which are clearly aimed at addressing major complaints from the games’ most dedicated players. Here’s hoping it’ll keep folks keen in what was reportedly a very expensive game to make.
