There is always a risk with a live service game, or any game with only competitive elements, that it enters the Cool For Some Zone. This is a space that exists within a given game and also around it, a place where you can pull off Sick Tricks as a result of movement tech not purposefully included in the game, but born as an incidental result of mashing buttons in just the right way. And until today, Marathon found itself in said zone, but Bungie have made the call to patch out the offending issue.
The issue in question is one that would essentially allow someone to propel themself forwards by quickly performing and then animation cancelling the Thief runner shell’s grappling device. In motion, it does seem like a neat thing to be able to do. In practice, it is only Cool For Some: those who can do it, and those who like to watch clip compilations of those same people. To be on the receiving end is less than ideal.
Bungie explain their decision to patch out this tech thusly: “One of our core philosophies for Marathon is that rapid repositioning and aggression must always have a meaningful cost. That cost can be an ability charge, heat buildup, or increased risk but it must exist and be understandable to an observer. Unbounded movement, while expressive and clip-worthy, is ultimately unhealthy for the pace of play we want to maintain for Marathon. To set expectations early, we will be looking at any future movement exploits through the same lens.”
Perhaps the key line is the last one, about how they’ll be keeping an eye out for similar exploits. It reads almost like a threat; Bungie have killed before, and they’ll kill again. Murder metaphor aside, it’s understandable. I’d hate to be on the receiving end of something I don’t have nearly enough time to practice to accomplish myself.
Outside of this bigger tweak, there are a range of other fixes, all of which you can read about in the patch notes. But Bungie have also shared an update on their current duos experiment. From tomorrow, April 1st, they’ll be disabling duo queues on Dire Marsh, and enabling them for Outpost, which will run for a week. Just don’t forget that these things take time. It’s a Marathon, not a sprint (don’t boo me, I need this).
