Bungie Addresses Marathon Difficulty Curve, Tells Players That Over Time, Recovering From a Bad Loss Will Get Easier

If you played the Marathon server slam, you might have found Bungie’s extraction shooter a challenging experience. It’s designed to be a “dangerous climb,” as the developer behind Halo and Destiny calls it, but Marathon’s difficulty curve can be overcome.

Part of the challenge comes from the very nature of Marathon as an extraction shooter. If you die, you lose all your gear. And not just what you looted while out on the battlefield, but what you brought in. And given how easy it is to die in Marathon, at least as it was in the Server Slam when players were just getting started, it could feel like a brutally punishing video game.

Could people bounce off Marathon because of this? Could some find its steep learning curve too hard of a climb and seek fun elsewhere? Might the Server Slam have separated the wheat from the chaff, leaving Marathon’s actual launch tomorrow, March 5, with a loyal, hardcore fanbase, but few casuals to swell its playerbase? (Check out our guide to when Marathon unlocks in your timezone to find out the exact release times.)

Bungie offered some words of reassurance to players in its latest blog post, and as a Marathon Server Slam player who struggled for motivation at times after yet another crushing failed extraction, I found comfort in them.

While pointing to Marathon’s seasonal model, and how all players will start each season fresh after a sweeping progression wipe, Bungie said everyone will find themselves under “the constant threat of death in a world more lethal and powerful than you are.”

From there, the idea is to improve your base stats and gain access to better items in the Armory by completing contracts and progressing your faction upgrades. In this way, Marathon isn’t just about extracting with better loot. You need to play the long game and think of the bigger picture. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so to speak.

“Over the course of the season, you’ll complete contracts and progress your faction upgrades, granting you access to stronger base stats and better wares in the Armory,” Bungie explained. “It’s not just about what you loot, it’s about raising your power floor and the options available to you. Over time, recovering from a bad loss will get easier, and crafting your ideal build will be more accessible.

“As you master survival and grow your available resource pool, you’ll be able to take on increasingly challenging contracts, zones, and enemy Runners. Climb the Ranked ladder, prep for high-stakes Cryo Archive runs, and secure the most lucrative loot and prestigious rewards of the season.

“Then as the season comes to a close and the feeling of ‘$@%& it let’s ball’ settles in, roll with your best loot knowing a fresh start for everyone, with more to discover and a new climb to master, is just around the corner.”

I’ve seen plenty of debate about Marathon’s difficulty curve in the wake of the Server Slam, with some suggesting the game could do with a balance tweak here and there. The enemy AI feels particularly powerful, so one wrong turn can end your run in the blink of an eye. Some say this will become less of a problem as players bring more powerful gear and items into the fray. Others think Bungie needs to make ammo more readily available to cope with the challenge (you run out of ammo a lot in this game). And I haven’t even mentioned other enemy human players, who are, usually, even harder than the AI.

“It doesn’t surprise me that some people quit the game after one hour because to understand it you need at least 4-5 hours to know what each thing does, and the UI doesn’t help at,” said one player who called on Bungie to add a tutorial.

Bungie has acknowledged player debates about all this, including the ultra fast TTK. It will be interesting to see if Marathon launches with a balance pass. Until then, perhaps we can take solace in the fact that all players are in the same boat. We can all suffer Marathon together.

We’ve got plenty more on Marathon, including one Bungie developer’s commitment to “fontslop.” Check out IGN’s Marathon review so far to find out what we think.