The Marathon server slam is underway, and a number of issues have been pointed out, though the balance between PvP and PvE is proving prevalent. Much like Arc Raiders, Bungie's new FPS offers encounters with rival players and in-game enemies, but people are having trouble finding firefights in the former, and the devs have made note of the problem.
The UI, voice chat, mouse input, and some hardware issues make up the rest of the list. Most are actively being worked on, with "some great leads" on the sporadic voice issues, and the team welcomes feedback, particularly through the Discord server.
"We've seen reports that PvP isn't frequent enough overall," reports the Marathon Development Team Twitter account, before providing some advice: "Perimeter (Beginner) intentionally infils fewer Runners - head to Perimeter and then Dire Marsh for a greater challenge."
The team issues a warning not to get overconfident, either. "The UESC are deadlier than you might think and will wipe you off the map (thus limiting the lobby's PvP opportunities) if you let them swarm," Bungie adds.
Players are highlighting potential issues in the responses. "Unless you know where the other teams are spawning, you won’t get much PvP because you won’t hear them shooting," says one fan. "Maybe the fog of war or the sound system is limiting PvP and the fun."
The limited use of your senses comes up in other comments, as does comparisons to Arc Raiders. "I like the idea of the fog of war thing, but it makes the map feel claustrophobic and limited," another reply states. "The scope of Arc Raiders makes you feel like you're an ant in a huge playground."
The frequency mixed with harsh difficulty spikes is creating a difficult environment. "The Marathon PvP feels so sparse if it wasn't for the UESC robots you wouldn’t need to fire your gun at all," a player on Twitter comments.
"I got jumped by a boss, he kept turning invisible and fucking ZOOMING around me, I died so insanely fast and I had good gear too," one person states. "I also had a match where they all swarmed inside of Hauler and cornered me in a bathroom."
This weekend probably won't see substantial balancing changes on this front due to time, but it seems like something Bungie will need to revisit before full release. Then the devs can try prevent players from killing the powerful enemies too quickly, because these problems never fully go away.
