‘Marathon’ Closed Alpha Patch Notes: Significant Nerfs And Buffs

The Marathon Closed Alpha continues to be somewhat…controversial, either with conflicting feedback on the state of the game or the fact that so many potential players are stranded without codes even as its playercount continues to drop.

Surprisingly, Bungie is about to roll out a pretty significant Marathon patch, likely either today or tomorrow, that has buffs and nerfs past what they already said they were going to address. But will players have any meaningful amount of time to experience it when the Alpha is ending Saturday morning? That raises questions I’ll get into later. Here’s what’s happening in this patch:

Runners

• Runner health up to 120 hp from 100 hp
• Shield hp nerfed by different amounts based on rarity:
• Standard (Grey) – Reducing from 25 hp to 20 hp.
• Enhanced (Green) – Reducing from 50 hp to 40 hp.
• Deluxe (Blue) – Reducing from 75 hp to 60 hp.
• Superior (Purple) – Reducing from 100 hp to 80 hp.
• Prestige (Gold) – Reducing from 100 hp to 80 hp.

Since everyone has the same amount of health, buffing that while reducing shield HP will likely prolong at least some fights. For instance, Grey and Green shields will now give a net positive 15 and 10 more life, while Purple and Gold shields stay the same. I mean, 2-4x shield health is still hugely significant, but it’s pulling that gap together a tiny bit.

Guns

There will be no more aim assist or mouse magnetism at all on PC, and no toggle for it. That was easily the biggest complaint PC shooter players had about combat, but with zero assist, it remains to be seen how they will perform against console players, or how the skill gap may widen further between geared and not-geared players (geared players likely being better at the game at baseline). Perhaps how it should be, but perhaps a way to further alienate more casual players. Now, some guns:

• Long Shot Sniper – increased damage by 11%, which sounds wild for an already powerful weapon, but it’s based on the new health/shield changes.
• Overrun AR – The awful AR that comes in the standard Black Market kit will be 10% less awful with a damage increase.

My question here is that if this patch is rolling out this afternoon at the earliest and the Alpha ends 72 hours later, this seems like very little time to get used to these changes, and some people are still getting codes now, so they haven’t even experienced the first two-thirds of the Alpha before all this. It makes me wonder if it’s possible the Alpha gets extended, but if so, Bungie needs to issue way more codes than they have. No word on that, however.

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