There is new story. Some of it comes from new contracts, but not much of it. Most if it - as ever - comes from the environment, activities, and exfiltrated items/codex entries.

I'll catch up with that when byf makes a video I guess.

I know what y'all mean about re-doing the contracts, and I wish there was just a whole new set, but I am just looking at them as more interesting standard contracts than we had int he back half of the first season. Something you throw on to mix up gameplay on a run. On the bright side, level progression is much faster and there are far fewer faction notes to unlock so doing the contracts do not determine your character ability the way it did in Season 1.

Really, as I often think it is, the question is if you like the game itself enough to want to play. Progression and Collection is not going to compile you to play a game past the inherent pleasure of play, the way it does with Destiny 2, or other forms of gambling.

However, as I played and started unlocking upgrades, it kinda hit me that I just don’t think I want to do that again. Especially with the contracts just being the same from the first season.

Wow. That is pretty lame. So there is no new story?

However, as I played and started unlocking upgrades, it kinda hit me that I just don’t think I want to do that again. Especially with the contracts just being the same from the first season. Sure, there are some new ones, but I don’t think it’s enough for me to want do another 100 hours this season.

I could have sworn they said that priority contract progress wouldn't be reset, I thought they were just going to add more to the end or something. Pretty disappointed that I need to redo all these early ones to get back to where I was last season, and then potentially again the season after that. If that keeps up with my playtime as it is, not sure I'll ever be able to get to the end of these.

However, as I played and started unlocking upgrades, it kinda hit me that I just don’t think I want to do that again. Especially with the contracts just being the same from the first season. Sure, there are some new ones, but I don’t think it’s enough for me to want do another 100 hours this season.

No real bad feelings from my end—the game is tons of fun, I’m just not sure there’s enough for me to want to do it season after season. I had more than my $40 worth of fun already. I’m not totally out the door yet, by I’m definitely not feeling the pull like I was.

Things I want to know:
How MANY Rooks?

The start of Season 2 also brings a new experimental mode to Marathon from June 2 to June 9. As mentioned in our recent post, we want to explore more survival experiences for different moods, like if you want to go full sweat or would rather lean back and chill. This new experimental mode lands somewhere in between, and is a more PVP-lite and low risk way to play Marathon than typical runs.

In Sponsored Survival, a single crew will infil onto the new Night Marsh zone. They’ll start as the only players on the map and can explore, loot, and blast their flashlights without fear of repercussion... from PVP enemies anyways. The UESC will still be there in full force, as will some new enemies that lurk in the shadows.

After a certain period of time, backfilled Rooks can enter the map and begin their own scavenging excursions. Perhaps they’ll remain lone wolves, or maybe they’ll team up with each other or the sole crew on the map—everyone's goal is survival, and how you get there is up to you.

In this mode, your one and only ticket off the map is to survive to the final exfil. Each match has an 18-minute run timer, and once it hits zero, the final exfil will spawn. Everyone will have a limited amount of time to book it over and prepare to make their exit. Once there, the decision is yours: Will you negotiate a temporary truce and exfil as one, or turn your weapons on each other in the dead of night?

This asymmetrical mode changes the dynamics of a run, taking the heat off of the lone crew for the first few minutes of the match, while also keeping some of the fun, social unpredictability that Rooks bring to runs. Crews are required to bring a Sponsored Kit loadout to play, which keeps the stakes low for the crew, while also giving Rooks the peace of mind of knowing there’s no fully kitted-out teams on the map.

When you play as the crew, you can use queue fill to find teammates, or disable it to play as a duo or solo. While this mode is running, other Rook queues will be disabled and all Rooks will filter into Sponsored Survival.

Like our previous experimental modes—Duos Queue and Sponsored Queue—Sponsored Survival gives us a chance to test the waters with a different way to play Marathon. Each of these experiments has the potential to inform future experiments, core ways to play, or permanent additions to the game. We’ll also be testing a PVE mode in the latter half of Season 2, with more experiments to come later, such as perhaps a more purely PVP-focused mode.

Shoutout to everyone who’s participated in the experimental queues so far, and please keep your thoughts and feedback coming.

TL;DR version: One team spawns on the map, rooks will join shortly thereafter. There is only one exfil that spawns after 18 minutes.

I’m also off on the 2d (although it’s for medical prep that might interfere with gaming, but I’m hoping to play a bunch) and would be down.

Do not hesitate to send me an invite if you see me online, I’ll be playing on and off all day.

Would love to run around Tau Ceti with you again.

I will play again at some point. One of the things I like about Marathon is the reset cadence. It greatly decreases the FOMO that Destiny always generated.

But not Mac.

0/10 Bungie forgot their roots.

Season 2 comes with a few new things and a number of QoL changes.

Not sure if the free trial is exclusive to PlayStation, though…

But not Mac.

0/10 Bungie forgot their roots.

Season 2 comes with a few new things and a number of QoL changes.

Not sure if the free trial is exclusive to PlayStation, though…

Not sure if the free trial is exclusive to PlayStation, though…

This looks cool.

Spooky!