Running Out Of Breath - A Marathon Video Game Podcast
Podcast hosted by old_townsouth talks all things and topics related to the extraction shooter Marathon!
Running Out Of Breath - A Marathon Video Game Podcast
Episode 2: The "Mercy" Patch (Update 1.0.6)
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Join old_town and Truebatman4444 in the 2nd episode of Running Out of Breath podcast as they discuss all the changes that came with patch (Update 1.0.6). The boyzz also discuss the runner implant visual displays and grenade spamming.
Howdy and welcome everybody to Episode 2 of Running Out of Breath, a Marathon Podcast, the one and only place. To get your marathon podcast listening ears on, Bat, it's good to already be here at episode two. And by the way, everybody, couldn't do this solo. Had to bring him in. Just couldn't resist. We could not. We this episode just could not happen without my good buddy the bat. Bat, I'm gonna kick it off with you, man. How has things been? I'm just gonna go ahead and say this. And I've been talking, I'm talking so fast, my heart rate's up. I'm out of breath right now, buddy. So yes, uh how has the matches been? I have been a part of some of those with you. What are ya? Well we'll we're we're we're gonna talk a lot tonight about the the new patch that dropped, which by the way, spoiler alert, up point update 1.0.6 is what I believe it's called, is being honestly a banger so far. Bad initial flash reaction to this patch. What do you think?
SPEAKER_03Um over the weekend, Saturday, Sunday, um bad. Super bad. Um with with the last you know pre-patch. Um just I was having so much trouble. Um couldn't ex-fill, couldn't get what I needed, losing all my gunfights. Um Tuesday came around and I X-filled every single game.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_03Don't know what happened. Don't know why.
SPEAKER_00Um don't know why this game seems to be that way, huh?
SPEAKER_03It literally, um, it's it's either feast or famine. Yeah, yeah, for um. But yesterday was the first chance that I got to, you know, experience the patch with everybody else. Um for what it was worth when they um introduced the free kits. And we'll talk about that later. But um so far, yeah.
SPEAKER_00If you want to dive into that, right? Hey, we can just, hey, we got a little script to go by right here, but we me and you, what we do best is we bounce off each other and we just free ball. By God, let's just bat let's just go right into Dire Mar sponsored. Um I have in my notes goes live April 17th. Oh, that is incorrect. That went live April 15th, because we played it yesterday. That um, it just didn't feel right cutting the next uh podcast episode until we kind of ingested, you know, um digested most of all this, you know, new content as possible. Uh flash reaction. I am absolutely digging the uh Dire Marsh sponsored kit game mode. I would love to see this thing make it I I would love to see this thing stick around, to be honest. Maybe not like all the time, because I know they're probably worried about Q times, which rightfully so. We need Q times to be at their best. But dude, this is I don't know about you, brother, but this is something I would love to see like in rotation. Like, I don't know. Uh I don't have any good ideas to the table right right here, just just thinking out loud right now, but like every other weekend or something, but i it would be good you played it yesterday. I know I know some of the the breaks didn't go our way. I think uh of the four mat four or five matches we played, we X-filled like twice. But you know, man, even in those matches where we did not X-fill, buddy, one of those, we had two team wipes. We just my fault, dude. I keep making us go to quarantine because I can't find I can't find that thorough weave filament, whatever it's called. I just need one! Maida needs me. Maida needs me, and I can't clutch up. I can't find it. I've failed them. I have failed the the Mars Rebellion cause. I'm not a I'm not a good rebel. I'm not a good contributor. But anyways, man, I said a lot right there. Uh how are you? Man, how are you how are you feeling about how are you feeling about it?
SPEAKER_03I I have been a free kit um lover since day one. Um I love the Zero to Hero aspect. Um and I don't like taking in stuff that I've earned just to lose it. Now that's obviously kind of you know taking a back burner right now with the the free kit lobby. Um but I did find something out today, just a little bit ago. Um did you know that we can cue that in in duos? No, new information.
SPEAKER_00I did not know that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, just found that out today.
SPEAKER_00Oh, baby, dude. It's uh it's on like a chicken bone, baby. Me and you.
SPEAKER_03That's all me and you, dude. I can't wait. Um, I have been seeing it everywhere, and it seems like it is a super positive um outlook, and it it is literally exactly what you something switched, something changed. You may not X-Fill every game, but people are now having a chance to win their gunfights, and that is important.
SPEAKER_00Preach. Um have the chance. Yes, sir. Uh zero investment, beginner friendly, an opportunity. We need more players in this game. I would love to we we just we the we need players. We need players, we need more players, and uh a a good way to a good way to break them in with this game mode. I wholeheartedly reg agree with you. I feel more confident in gunfights because I know we're on more we're on level playing field, especially if we take a fight within the first five to ten minutes of the game. Yeah, it's going like they have probably not found anything hardly at that point. We don't have to worry about the snail. Me and you, we got a bone to pick with snipers. Although I'm gonna say before I go on a little tangent about snipers, dude, it felt good that perimeter match we had where we queued with um, I don't remember his name, but it's another cool player we met. Don't remember his name. Fallen. Fallen, yes. Shout out to you, Fallen, if you're out there, if this ever reaches your ears. Appreciated the runs with you, buddy. Uh dude, that was the first match where I'm like, ooh, ooh, I'm kind of feeling myself a little bit with this sniper. Like I actually had some downs, man, with it. Again, ah, you know, that that fight didn't go our way. A third team got involved, and it turned chaotic really, really quickly. But uh I I did have a good sniper match finally, so that was cool. But on Dire Marsh now, it's very nice to know you're you're most likely not gonna get tagged by any snipers. An even greater percentage are not gonna get tagged by a thermal user sniper. Like that's it's just probably not gonna happen. Um that I failed to see where um thermals, uh I'm I'm I'm gonna let you take the floor on this. So thermals are not a thing unless you have one. What wanna take wanna take that one?
SPEAKER_03Um, so to my understanding, after I read through the patch, because I like in the game um I read through it, and it it states that um thermal attachments will no longer drop and they will no longer be lootable within the game. So eventually, at some point, they're all gonna be phased out, and we won't be seeing them anymore. That's yeah, yeah. That is my take and my understanding, which I'm all for it. They're strong. They're strong. You know, the only map that I know of that that you don't need it is Outpost.
SPEAKER_00But dude, even there's moments in Outpost where it can be nice, dude.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, no, great. But it's not necessary to see through the fog. Yeah. Which they just added even more to perimeter.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's in perimeter now. Nightmare. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That I was I I'm gonna I'm gonna say uh that's one thing I Okay, I see you, Bungie. I see you, Bungie. I I know you're trying to mix it up a little bit. I was a little disappointed to see the fog. I don't know if people were asking for this. I was definitely not asking for this, but that's just a funny little opinion me and you have. We have we have B from the fog. Um I can see why they did it.
SPEAKER_03I like because the scouts and the snipers, they're still prevalent on perimeter, just not as much. I think they're hoping for more close quarter combats on perimeter. So that was probably their outlook, and I'm I'm not mad about it because now I can run a little easier. But man, if I'm fighting out in the fog, I get real mad.
SPEAKER_00Because it sucks. Bat, let's dive into something else. This is we're going, we're we're going off the script with this one, but it is a apparently uh apparently it's a hot topic. It's a spicy topic. And uh me and you, we all about some we we kind of about all about them uh spicy topics. So uh without further ado, apparently there has been some uproar about the new runner, correct me if I'm wrong, Bat. The the icons of like the mods. You know, you've got your you've got your the implant, thank you. You've got your cores, and then you got your implants. So Bungie in the in patch, uh let me scroll back up. Impatch um w 1 uh 1.0.6 updated the the visual art of the of the implants for the the the head, the torso, and the legs. Um I'm gonna kinda I I I'm gonna I'm gonna go against uh there there's kind of a saying we have down here in the old old south. Um I'm gonna go against the grain a little bit with this one. From what you've told me, this is majority hated. People are not vibing with these changes. I mean, is it the greatest thing in the world? No. Could it be better? Yes. Do I like it better than the old one? Hot take. Yes, I do. For me though, um context, I'm 32, I'm turning into an old fart gamer. Uh I with the old implants, I literally bat had to kind of sometimes I had to close one eye to see, especially if I'm looting in the heat of a moment. I sometimes bat with the old with the old visuals, I had to kind of close one eye and see like, okay, is this a leg? Is this a body? Is this is this a head? Now I can just now I can there's no doubt about it. I can see that is a torso implant. That is a leg implant. Uh it the I the changes is they don't bother me at all. But you know, if I don't know, if most people don't like it and if if enough if enough noise is made about it, I'm sure Bungie will probably do something with it. They'll try like another art style. You said yourself on Reddit you was seeing a lot of cool ideas being brought to the table. But I think my uh cherry on top is I there there maybe there's more meat on the bone for a better art style. I could get down with that. I get down with that, that there's better that there's better ideas and better art styles out there for that. And I I'm open to change with that. I will stand on though, for me personally, I like it better than the old one because I can just see better now. I can just tell the I can just tell what the implants are now. What's your thoughts on all this, uproar?
SPEAKER_03Um Well, real quick, I want to ask, so what do you think you notice first? Is it the shape or the icon?
SPEAKER_00For me personally, uh it's the icon that I notice first.
SPEAKER_03For me, it's the shape. Okay. The the head being a circle and the leg just being a uh like a cylinder. It's fine. Um I I do think that the artwork is a little bit on the childish side, which I think is where most where most people are coming from.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_03Um but yeah, on Reddit, I mean it is it is literally every other post. It is people just complaining about it. They're posting up their own little like graphic designs that they have with it. Um and they're like, you know, bungee, don't pay me, just fix it. I find it hilarious.
SPEAKER_00That is funny. Um I I kind of feel like if if it gets enough noise, they'll they'll they'll they'll re they'll revamp it again, I feel like.
SPEAKER_03In in all honesty, I preferred the old one myself. Okay, cool. Okay. I think they could have tweaked a couple of things and kept it the same way. Um I think they could have used a bolder color to enhance you know, like the s the square on the head. Yeah, yeah. Make it a different color.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Make the arms because it was just it was white all across the board, and then the specific area was filled in for which mod it was. Sure. Make it bolder, make it stand out more. And then if you wanted to change the shape, triangle, circle, square. Super simple, easy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, cool, man. Uh good idea. Uh, good ideas, man. Break brought to the table. Uh I'm down with that. Uh for for me, I think the ultimate hill I stand on is just make it to where I can tell. Make it easy for me so I so I ain't gotta s make it to where I can keep both my eyes open. I ain't gotta squint my eyes. Now, I ain't the best, I got glasses, I I can't see. I ain't got no 2020 vision up in her. But uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. As long as they make it, whatever, whatever changes they revert, or whatever the direction they decide to go with it, as long as I can tell the difference, that's really all I ask for. So that we're gonna go off script again with this next one. I now me and you haven't talked about this one at all, so I'm really about to throw a curveball at you. I have seen a few YouTube videos and a few um content creators talking about their disapproval for grenade spamming. I So it's a thing, like in the game right now, when you really think about it, if you have fifty grenades and you bring in a gold or a purple batpack in You never have to shoot in theory, if you're willing to risk, you could throw however many grenades a purple or a gold bat pack would it probably would fit close to fifty, honestly. You could throw fifty grenades at somebody. Apparently, what's going on that is in the higher tier lobbies it's like meta and it's like a rough meta. Um this ha this is not an issue for me and you. I well I'm gonna well take it. I'm gonna I'm gonna dial that back. I'm gonna speak for me because you may have a different take. I'm gonna speak for me. I I am not seeing this in our lobbies, but we are the mid-tier. We're not the beginner, but we're not the high end. We're something in the middle. I feel like it's probably what our lobbies are. We're not seeing this. Um I I I see a very a very healthy amount of grenade usage. Like out when we fight an enemy team, they might throw two max two max at me. But me and you also don't grind cryo archive, and I'm hearing that's where it's the worst. We did have a game, and I will say though, this probably is an I I can this probably is a little bit of an issue because I saw it one time. It's when me and you played um it's when me and you had that really good game on Outpost, and we queued up with a with a random, and he was do you remember that really chill guy? Like, I'm the polar opposite, like I'm high strung, I'm like high energy, like, let's go, guys! And he was like, Alright guys, let's do it. We're we're doing a good job. Hey, hey, hey, I murdered him. Let's go into that. He was so he was so monotone, chill, dude, and I'm like the polar opposite. It's kind of funny looking back on it, but yo, me and you and that dude, we got into pinwheel. We I used my drone, I scouted the area, I located where the enemy team was. They like all three had purple shields. They had just infiltrated command wing, pinwheel, they had the juicy stuff, and we put 'em in the dirt, baby. We put 'em in the dirt, sent them back to spawn, took their gear. It felt good. And I still have that that that bloodthirst bully S and G that I jacked from that dude. Yo, I think it's worth four grand now. It's so it's it's cold. It's cold, dude. Um, like that dude had it, he had it, he had that thing kitted so well. He had like a a nano, a blue nanosuppressor on it. He had like a fast mag on it, and then he even had like a barrel of some kind to make it e the bully's already pretty steady. He had like another the uh superior tier attachment to make it even steadier. My point being though, I got I went I went way off the rails with that. Um a lot of our keys to success with that fight was we scouted them with my drone, we knew where they were, we even knew what shields they had, so we had information. And uh I was pounding them that uh with uh like with heat grenades and the what's the scatter grenade called? I love it. Flash, I yeah, dude. I had like two of them, and I had like I had like two heat grenades, and buddy, I was la I was that little um choke that they were trying to come out of to fight us, I was just pounding them with those grenades, and that a lot of was was one of the things that helped us win that fight. I feel it did at least. So what do you think? Um, with all that being said, I know I went kind of off the rails with that one, but apparently, according to some content creators, people that's a little bit on the higher, that then not not kinda is on the higher echelon, are they saying grenades are like grenade spamming's an issue right now. Uh what do what what do you what do you think?
SPEAKER_03Um, I'm starting to actually see it a little bit more often. Um not probably anywhere near as bad as cryo, but I've had a couple games lately where I've had six grenades thrown my way by one person. Okay. Um I have also been the guy that has done the spamming in uh in Dire Marsh. It's actually really fun. Um, it really it really sucks to be on the on the on the receiving end, but yeah, it is nice that you know you have that option to just go in. But could you imagine going into a game of cryo with just you know the cheapest weapon, you know, the the bolt punch, fifty credits, and then you just have a gold backpack full of flushettes. No other grenade, just flushettes. Yeah. Because on hit it heals you. Y you would literally just run around throwing grenades in every single direction. I've actually I love Jones. I know, alright? Um, I don't know how they Could battle that besides doing like you have three attachment slots for your backpack, and that's it. That could be a good one. So you would have to choose Yeah, you could pick, you know, like your your armory crate or your ammo crate, and then like a bubble shield, and then two flushettes. And that's how they would lock it.
SPEAKER_00I personally am okay if they if they want to do a cap, that's probably what they're going to do. Um I'm ultimately okay with it. Um a person that's a millionaire that can that has a vault full of gold and purple backpacks that can afford all the grenades they want and come in and just constantly spam them. Probably not healthy for the game. Uh I don't know if that's a hot take. I don't know. Uh you can argue the other side of you could argue the other side is they're taking away freedom. They're taking away freedom. Uh, because we do need grenades, we need grenades. Grenades helps us fight um grenades helps us fight these difficult AI. It helps us fight wardens, it helps us helps us fight purple and gold shielded enemies. Like they really, you know, it we've never fought the compiler, but I've seen where EMP grenades are like almost necessary to to fight and kill the compiler. So I think where I stand is if they are um if they decide to if they decide to put a cap on it, that's cool. That's fine. That's I I'm fine with that. Don't don't don't don't make it too harsh, though. Like I I'd still leave a little leave some wiggle room for so if somebody really does want to go fairly heavy on grenades, get give them that freedom. So I guess I'm kind of in the middle with it myself.
SPEAKER_03I I would be okay if they cap it. I think you know, if they if they kind of went the direction that I was talking about with like a lock, that's gonna take a lot of development because of the different stages of backpack and how many slots there are. Sure. And then figuring out how to make it so that even though those are dedicated slots for grenades, I still want to put stuff that I'm picking up into those slots. So that might be a bridge that they have to come across too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure, for sure. Well, good stuff, good conversations, man. Um man, me and you, we just we're gonna pop, we gonna pop, we're gonna pop off tonight. The carry initiative. Uh, first of all, I'm gonna clap it up. Um I I I really, man, it's beautiful. Like a lot of things that they brought to the table with this patch. One of the major ones being carry. Uh instead of hunting for loot, you can now earn Cyber Acme commendations for being a team player. You will get these by helping your crew, completing contract objectives alongside your teammates, solo success, solo players get them for completing individual objectives and success successfully extracting, and the diplomacy bonus. Haha! This one's interesting. This is the big one. You get extra commendations if you extract with players who are not in your original squad. Oh man, dude. Um, I see their efforts to. You know, there's a I I can think of two games right now. One I've played, one I have not played, where a lot of cool social moments can happen in games. One of them is Sea of Thieves, and the other one is R C Raiders. Apparently, over in R C Raiders, that's a little bit more uh friendly. I again again uh listeners, bear with me. I have not played R C Raiders. Bear with me. I have heard to the Grapevine There it's not like wipe the it's not wipe the lobby mentality over there. It's more like, hey, there's some pe it's a little more, hey, there's another team. Let's teabag, see if they're friendly, and let's team up with them if they teabag back and let's go fight a boss together. You know, it it's a little more friendly over there. I and and then Sea of Thieves, you know, you can have those moments where you meet another galleon of pirates and you can team up and you can go raid a fort together, or you can just have the game does a pr the those the game, especially Sea of Thieves, does a really good job at encouraging funny social moments. Um Bat I feel like that's sort of Bungie's little st attempt to maybe include more of those cool social moments like that. Kind of adding on to that, we now have the uh oh, what's it called? It's the um let's see here. It's it's like it's called Mercy. Is it called a Mercy Kit? Yeah. So we have Mercy kits now, and they can also be purchased through the uh the carry store, because I bought one from it. And if anybody doesn't know, the the the mercy kit allows you to revive an enemy runner. So like if you're if you're queuing his trios and you uh in a rook, like somebody in your team guns a rook down, you have now the opportunity to create an interesting social moment. You can revive that rook and just see what happens. He might join. I guess in a perfect world, the rook would join you, the rook joins the squad, and now you're a four-player strong squad, and you can all share the loot together, you can share the love together, and if the rook X-fills with you, you're gonna get more carry, like commodations and and and XP. But dude, I'm loving it so far. I'm loving the rewards. You can get self-revives, you can get the mercy kit, you have like an opportunity at a uh at a at a um I I'm I'm a sal almost said supply. A salvage, kind of like a care package. You don't know what you're gonna get, but it you know, it might be the thing that you need. I dig it. I dig it, I really like it.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah. Um the carry initiative is honestly, I think it's peak. Um as far as like rewards and like how they're wanting to go about it, I think it's it's a really cool concept. Now, for someone like me in particular, I am more of an introvert. So um interactions with random people don't necessarily scare me, but I have trust issues, so it's a little bit harder for me to approach them. Um I don't hate it in this game because fortunately the community, which we talked about in the last podcast, yes, um, is actually really good here um comparatively to some other games. Every once in a while you're gonna you know have someone that's salty. They might call you out a little bit, but honestly, even someone like me, I brush that off and I go to the next one. Um I think they're they're really trying to do a good job at making sure that you know contracts and stuff are not only prioritized um versus lobby wipes with the with the care initiative or carry initiative. Um but I think the way that they went about it was a very tactical, um strategic play to get people to kind of see the game for what it was intended to be. And I I I think that that was a very, very smart move on Bungie's play. They're like, hey, we're gonna do this, but actually, this is what we wanted from the start.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. Good observation there, man. Uh I like it, I dig it. Um hope they hope they keep things like that coming, and who knows uh what what what interesting experiences or encounters it could it could lead us to. But I'm gonna double down on something you said. Yes, I'm gonna give another shout out to the marathon community. God bless them, for those that's hanging on, for those that's for those that's playing the game. Um I do just most of our experiences have continued, have continued to be positive. We've made I've made I have made two more I have added two more friends to my friend list since episode one. Um like I am now developing a list of people like we got I got a rotation of people now. Like if me and you are on and we need a third, like I I got people like that I can actually reach out to like hey yo, you want to join us? Like I don't think I've ever had that hardly in a game before, so I I'm I I'm sure that's a lot of thanks to our personalities and me and you, you know, initiating a lot of conversations and everything and just being good good good humans and good good gamers, but still, hey, it's nice to know our good deeds are actually paying dividends, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um I I do want to kind of touch base because this is a bungee game. Um, you know, with like Destiny, they were really known for their LFG system. I don't think that's necessary with Marathon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I mean it's just kind of doing the work itself. Yeah, I mean it's just it's doing the work itself.
SPEAKER_03Cause you don't you don't really have to like reach out and try to say, hey, I really need your help with this. It's especially with this new carry initiative, it's hey, I joined this match. How's it going? Um, you got some contracts you want to work on? Let's knock 'em out. If we get some, you know, fight on while we're on the way, that's awesome. Um, hopefully we do well. If we don't, okay.
SPEAKER_00Well you and I, me well, you and I clap clapped up Bungie in episode one for making contracts like shared XP. Like, hey, if I hey, hey, yo, if we if we help old underscore town south complete his Traxxas contract, we're all gonna get a little piece of that pie. And now there's even more incentive to talk, work together, uh, because now the carry initiative. Uh now you get more, you know, if if if you if I help Jim Bob do his Syak uh contract, I'm gonna get a piece of that pie. I'm gonna get some Syak XP, and I'm gonna get some carry commendations, which will benefit help me. And, you know, with with I can go buy something. It's just it's good. It's good, it's a good team team-oriented mindset system. I dig it. I really, really dig it.
SPEAKER_03Um I don't know if you had mentioned it, but there is also um the reputation packages with the carry system. So you can take each faction and buy that little package, and it gives 500 um XP toward that specific faction. I really, really like that. Yeah, it's not a lot, but it helps.
SPEAKER_00The buddy at something.
SPEAKER_03I went up a whole level in Traxus the other day just because I bought one of those.
SPEAKER_00There you go, man. I mean, hey, there you go. Um I am st I would still be interested somewhere along the line. Now, it might would mess with the uh I know they're thinking of it from an economy standpoint, like they don't want things to come around too easy, but I still would be interested in some way too if you're like me right now and you just can't find those thoroughweave lens. Uh it says they're in quarantine, but they're not there. They're just not.
SPEAKER_01I keep dying. And my teammates are dying with me because I'm saying, come with me.
SPEAKER_02I keep really at the point where I just want to be like, we're not going to quarantine anymore. I'm sorry, you're never getting that done.
SPEAKER_00Screw your third screw. Screw your flex matrix upgrade. You ain't planks in on nobody. We're going to healthy ponds.
SPEAKER_02Eventually you'll find it in one of those bioprinters on some map. I don't know where, but you better start praying.
SPEAKER_00As we ain't going to work. I am sick and tired of going to that place. For one, there's mines everywhere. There's claymores. You're I my she I always have to use resources because I'm getting popped by freaking UESC claymore. And I'm getting popped by those UESC ghosts that they put on the high ground up there and they give them snipers. They're down in me. And by God, when we finally have the room looted, you better believe that's when the team takes that high ground. No! They don't come through the doors, they either wait for us on the outside of the building, guns pointed forward, or they take that stupid high ground and they shoot us from above. And they then they just they usually kill one person, and then they just use numbers advantage after that.
SPEAKER_03And you know, on the off chance that you make it out of there, I guarantee you you're gonna walk outside, and that stupid little robot that's floating around in the sky is gonna attach its little tentacles to you. It's happened to me four times.
SPEAKER_00Why because it will be there in that moment?
SPEAKER_03It'll be there. It's always there when I don't want shooting those down gives you that Traxus XP. So that's another thing. Like, if you don't want to give away your position in the game by doing the tads or shooting down that that floating thing, you can use that carry initiative to get that extra XP that you would be from doing those by purchasing those packages. Again, a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Yes, yeah, it's it's good. They they really I mean they did uh that that I mean that was the clap up was well deserved. They done a good job with that. We didn't clap them up for the uh for the for the free kit runs, but that was that's really good too. I mean, this this has been a good patch. I've really overall. I know people are not vibing with uh with the implant artwork, but I mean it seems like that's the only pooper. Uh really. I mean everything else is seeming and maybe it mean me and you have personal beef with the fog on perimeter now. But other than that, man, it's kind of a banger. Like it's pretty good.
SPEAKER_03Um, they they absolutely slapped with this this patch. Um, and the free kit lobby is is my favorite thing by far.
SPEAKER_00So moving on to our next section, we'll talk about we'll we'll address real quick the the recon changes. They uh the the two biggest things that they done to her was the spider drone is better now. Uh I believe it travels a little bit like base kit, it travels a little bit further and it tracks better. I have noticed it. Uh they they did good. I don't think it's like uh like a drastic meta shifting, you know, oh my god, you've got to use the spider. Not that type of change, but it's better. It's good. So I'm happy they did that because Recon was the first runner shell that I used when I started playing Marathon. I used I used Recon all through the beta, and I used Recon all through like the first two to three weeks of of this game. Pretty much all through March. That's like almost the only character I played. The biggest hands down though, the biggest change they made to her is you can now when she uses her prime, but I call it ult, but that's just because me and you we we speak in Overwatch turns, but in marathon terms, when you use your prime ability, she can now differ differentiate runners, like ping runner pings from UESC pings. I have tested this, it's good. Uh it is good. You can you you can even see like they took it a little step further. You can even see what type of armor they're or like what kind of shield they have. Like if if they're having if they have a blue shield, you'll see they have a blue shield.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so they took that kind of from the uh the thief. It's probably not like outlining them, but it's got it above their head.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's not like from what I now only I used it only about two or three matches, but to my knowledge, it it's not like outlining them, but the pings, it's a more distinguishable ping. It's like, oh, like that's a shield. Like that's that's uh that's a real player right there.
SPEAKER_03It's probably a little closer to the the TAD system, actually, but it's it's much more easy to d differentiate.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah. So uh good job, uh good job. Uh Recon. I think Recon was one of a little more of the underwhelming runners in the game, but but still not bad. Not bad. But maybe like perhaps there's definite there was definitely better options. But uh this helped her. This this this this patch really helped Recon. Now I'm gonna dive into something else. I wanted to talk about this in episode one, and quite frankly, just didn't remember to talk about it. Solos. Solo Q. I like solo queue. I do not like maybe this has just been maybe I'm getting unlucky, maybe this has just been my experience. I like solo queue. I do not like how ratty it plays, though. Like we think sometimes trios plays ratty. Yo, Solos is so worse. I almost can't relax. Like I'm like I can't. And I uh little little background, just a little brief little sidetrack. Uh I I kind of have trouble with my ears. Like I I kind of have it's gotten kind of better lately, but I I watch how often and how loud, like how often I wear headsets and and how my volume is on headsets, and something I appreciate about other games is I don't have to wear a headset, I can just kind of lay back and just listen to the regular audio. This ain't one of them games. You you you've gotta wear your headset in this game. You've got to you've got to be able to hear those subtle audio cues. And man, um what I uh uh going back on the recon changes, I think this is gonna help solo queue because when you're approaching a building now, you still gotta be careful, you still gotta make sure you have your ultimate ability, your prime ability. But if you feel if you feel like there's some readiness going on, you can pop that power. And now, unless they're running, unless they just happen to be using a um it's called a uh like a it's some kind of signal, a block signal, uh signal jammer. Signal jammer, unless they're they're just happen to use a signal jammer in that moment, which that's just unlucky on your part, if they are, that's the only that is the current, to my knowledge, only counter to recon's prime. So, uh assassins are they seem to be a little bit, especially before the recon changes, assassins were kind of an issue in solos, like everybody was playing Super Raddy, they were they were using Assassin. Sometimes they like they were like not evil shotguns, yeah.
SPEAKER_02They're just it's not corners of the nice.
SPEAKER_00I would always encourage anybody, have your fun with the game. Have your fun, do your thing. That's not for me. Um, I just can't I just can't make myself go to go to maintenance on Dire Marsh, camp in a corner, and just sit there for minutes on end until finally that one unlucky person comes up to maintenance looking for some salvage or whatever, or doing a contract, and boom, you just got them down. That's not fun for me, but let me tell you something. A lot of people play that way in solos. Yeah. Um, I'm happy Bungie has made efforts to address that. Hopefully it'll help. I think it might need a little more help later on, maybe some other adjustments to help the rattdiness. Would you like what you talked about, though? It is a ta I I gotta be careful when I say ratty because it is a tactical game. It's this is not Halo, it's not Destiny, we're not guardians, we're not using our space magic, we're not throwing flame swords at people floating in the air. Um the the this This is tactical. This is kind of a tact tack game. And uh, but you know, I don't know. There's just a difference. To me, there's a little bit of difference like tactical, and just I'm camping invisible in a corner, and I've been sitting here for ten minutes waiting on some unlucky soul to run by.
SPEAKER_03So I my gaming career kind of started with um racing games and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 the OG. Banger. I am a run and gun guy. Period. I hated nothing more than a camper. If you are someone that used to camp in Modern Warfare 2, Solos in Marathon is your game. Come over to Marathon, baby. Now, one of the things that I did want to touch base on, I don't know if you were heading that direction, but I I have played solos a lot um since the patch, and I have been successfully ex-filling almost every time. Good, good. I don't fight a lot during those solo runs. But one of the things that they did add, and I I I love it, it's my favorite thing in the world, is depleted self-revive kits. You now have a chance to res yourself in solos. Yes. I've had several fights where we traded. I had a s uh a depleted kit and the other guy didn't. Saved my run. That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00Beautiful. Love it, man.
SPEAKER_04I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it.
SPEAKER_00Love it, love it, love it. So, yes, man, we've um we've had some really good points tonight, man. This is this has been good. Uh uh, we love we like this overall. We we like this patch, love what they've done. A little recap of everything. We like what they've done with with recon. We love the carry system. We uh we love uh Dire Mars sponsored. Wanna see that to come? I would love to see it to come to perimeter. Would love to see it. I I I'd even like to see it to come to outpost. Why not, right? Why not? Come to outpost sometime. Uh please, bungee. Please. It's okay if you don't make it 24-7 all the time. That's cool. I'm okay with that. But please bring bring that back occasionally. Make that throw throw that into the uh rotation somehow, some way. Because even even us at like in our level 60s, like we're s we're having fun with that. And we're coming out with stuff. We're we're making money, we're making credits. So uh keep it, keep it coming, keep it coming. Well, Bats, um, any uh I bet I think we're um coming up on the end of this one a little bit sooner tonight. Uh any any any wrap-up thoughts, uh how uh how runs have been going, uh any any any cherries you'd like to throw on top of this uh on episode two?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um actually there's a couple of things I'd like to to pinpoint real quick. Um we didn't really talk about we we talked about the bully um and the SMG accuracy, I believe. Yes. Um one thing that I haven't had a chance to test out myself, um, which I would really like to, because I did try them out in the beginning, and I haven't really changed tried them since because they didn't like the charge time was too long for me. But the rail guns, um, they they did some changing, and I I'm looking forward to trying them out. Um personally, I I would like to get one and try it sometime.
SPEAKER_00It says uh I have a little note about that. V VO V00 Zeus and Ares RG got massive buffs, reduced charge times and bigger mags. Um are they finally viable or too risky for the average run? Yeah, I mean you uh you hit the nail on the head. Looks like they've increased the mags and uh reduced charge times, so I'm with you on that. It would be interesting to and they hit like a freaking truck, dude. So Exactly. They hit like a truck if you get tagged by one of the things.
SPEAKER_03And we we kind of talked about it um with one of our new um friends on their Fallen. Um but we had actually just went into a game, it was the very first one, Trios fill, um, and Fallen was the one that joined us. When we X-filled that game, it did the stay together feature. And we ran the rest of the night for that. And it was just because he it it f like forced him to stay with us. He could have left. Yeah. But he was a really cool guy, and he stayed with us until we were done with our runs that night. I personally liked it. What what were your thoughts?
SPEAKER_00I like it too, because it's just like you you I I really can't say it any better. It it f it forced him to stay with not forced, but it temporarily brought him. It brought him to us, and he ultimately made the choice to stay with us. But uh, yeah, man, um it and you know, sometimes people accidentally, I'm the world's worst about it. I I want to know more, I want to get to know somebody more, or but I accidentally leave the lobby. I I'm bad to just muscle memory. Yeah, I I I keep pressing X, and I next thing I know, I'm like, who was that I played with? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a it's a way to kind of get people connected. And hey, guess what? Great news. You you don't want to cue with the people you just play with, don't cue with them. Leave. Leave the lobby. Um another shout out to that guy. I forgot. I I for I I forgot about something that he did. We had a couple of runs with him, and then we decided that night to end it on Outpost. Let me tell you guys something, all you listeners out there. This is just a testament to like uh the the the the good positive vibes of people we've encountered so far playing Marathon. This dude took a chance on me, baby. He said pre-lobby, guys, I'm gonna bring a gold shield in for y'all. And me and Bat was both like, no, no, no, no, no, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're good, we're good, man. Like, don't do that, don't do that. Because you God knows how how difficult them gold shields are to come by. At least for us it is, you know.
SPEAKER_03Um I've never seen one.
SPEAKER_00I've never seen yeah, me too. I've never seen I had never seen one until that one. And yo, he, you know, God, Bat, you know then things are not easy to come by. And this guy is not our inner circle. He did not know us, he had just met us. He took a chance on me, and he was like, one of y'all have this gold shield. And bad ki bat kindly said, Old town, take it. Pass it to old town. So I took it, and baby, that whole run I rocked that gold shield. We did not die. We eck we successfully X-field. The shield safely returned to him. He still has it, but it's the thought. Because so many things could have gone wrong that game. And he had to have known that. He had to have known that this could go sideways real quick, and I'm gonna old town ain't gonna clutch up, and he's gonna lose this shield. He took a chance, man. Love to see that. He did not have to do that. He did not have to do that, but that was that meant a lot. That was cool. That was really cool.
SPEAKER_03Um, something that I he was really cool about, and I th I think I might have initiated it a little bit, but he was super like, oh yeah, okay, that that's cool. Um one thing that you could always ask somebody, like, right at the start of a run, um, is is if they're trying to fill out their codex. So, you know, stuff that you're ex-filling with that's you know, purple valuables or even blue valuables, see if it's something that they don't have yet if they're interested in filling their codex. Yes, it's great to get the coins from it. But some people are out there just for that. And I know I am. I had a game earlier, I opened a safe, the other two people weren't with me. As soon as it was done, they ran in, stole everything.
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_03That's rude. Okay. Like, I found the safe, I took the the chance to initiate it. If I want to leave something in there for you, I will. And I do it all the time. But let me have first dips. If it's something that I want or that I need, please let me look.
SPEAKER_00Unwritten almost like an unwritten rule a little bit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. Um I remember in the last podcast you talked about how you were the one that basically put all the rounds into that warden. That was the one time you felt greedy and you're like, I want to open that first. That's mine. It's the same with all the other things in the I follow you now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, same concept. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03If you're doing a loot box where you hit the thing and you spawn in all the UESC, if you're the one that hit it and you're the one that did all the damage, let them look first. Like, yes. Don't just don't be a goblin, okay? It it is rude. It it does hurt the game a little bit, I'm not gonna lie. Yes, it's it does. It's really bad to try to be rewarded and then all of a sudden it's taken from you. That sucks.
SPEAKER_00The worst encounter I've had was you was with me. We queued up with a guy, he was kinda he wasn't on the mic, he was really kinda beaten to his own drum the whole match. He would kinda he would run off, he'd get downed. Me and you would have to run over there, we'd have to revive him. But this little turd, me and you, we won a Q V3. We put all three of this these other runners in the dirt while he sat there dead because he got killed by them a hundred meters away. And we were in quarantine, he was done making his way almost to um he was not far from algae ponds, honestly. Uh he died somewhere like in the middle between quarantine and algae ponds, and we went over there, we killed that whole enemy team, 2v3. Hindsight's 2020. We should have just took the initiative and we just should have looted those bodies. But I went, you know, my instinct kicked in, just who I am, try to be as a person, as a gamer. I didn't even loot the bodies. I just went over and revived our teammate, and then uh I went to one of them bodies, and when I opened up the bag, there set five materials that I really at the time I really needed. Oh, this dude comes over. What does he do? He didn't contribute to the fight at all. He took it. Just vacuumed. He just vacuumed it up, man. So that was uh that moment did not feel good at all. Luckily, that's really been the the the big one for me that stands out. So I would encourage anybody. It's just one of those funny things. Like if you're all if you're running with a team and they you can tell like they did more work than you did. Like you you were died you you died immediately in the gunfight and they clutched up and they win the gunfight. It's definitely it's not in the rules or anything like that, you know, but it is definitely a kind gesture to kind of let them who did the who did the heaviest lifting, let them have first dibs first. Um now, totally different vibe. If you're running with a team and you, you know, you're all your friends and you're communicating like, hey yo, bat, I killed this dude, but he he got he got something unique. Come over here and get on this. You know, we you we do that all the time. Like, hey, yo, yo, yo, come over here and come I know you need this, come get this. That's that's different. That dynamic we're friends, that dynamic's different. But if you're playing with randoms and you know deep down in your soul they did more work than you did at a boss or or fighting, killing an enemy team, let them have first dip. Vice versa, hopefully, vice versa. Like if you if you do most of the heavy lifting, you know, hopefully me and you back can be the pillar that we can spread that mess that that positive message, you know, like, hey, you know, let the person that does the most work take take first stab, take first stab at the at the loot, and then you come in afterwards. But also, like, somebody needs to be somebody needs to be the unsung hero. Somebody needs to keep watching. Right. How often, Bat have we died not killing a team, killing a warden, looting the bodies, and then we get gunned down by that third party, you know? Somebody really should make a point, even if it kind of hurts, and you have to be the person that does it. Literal sacrifice of you not getting as many as many credits and as many loot, but you maybe being that person, the unsung hero that sees that third party pushing in, and then you start shooting and you alert everybody, team, team, team, team, you know.
SPEAKER_03So uh I'm it it it it's becoming kind of like a like a cardinal rule now. Two loot, one up. It's been happening a lot lately, and I think it's a good thing. Um because you know, those those two people that are looting, they have that little bit of comfort blanket to to get what they need done.
SPEAKER_00I like that. Well had you had you word that two two down one up.
SPEAKER_03Two down one up.
SPEAKER_00I like that. I like that. Yeah. I think that's the rule me and you will officially always run by. Uh we'll always be two down, one up, you know, one person guarding, one person watching out, um, while the others comfortly, you know, with a little more ease, loot. So that I think I would uh I've got a few more things and uh I think I can tell you you got something else you want to say. Uh Bad I I think I would like to just use this podcast as a platform to just to to spread the message of yo, marathon community, keep this positivity going. Keep the good communication going with the randoms, keep getting on the mic, keep communicating, keep being good humans, keep getting like key like let's go, baby, like keep keep keep it up, man. Like I'm I'm here for it. I love to see that, and and we're gonna we're always gonna advocate for that here. Um Bat well you got something I can tell you want to say what you got.
SPEAKER_03Um I was just gonna say uh real quick on that. Like it that is honestly one of the reasons I keep coming back to it. Um over something like Overwatch. If my guys aren't on and I'm half in the solo queue and Overwatch, it's it's rough. It is so rough. Um But in Marathon, it's really not. Like, it it's such a world of difference.
SPEAKER_00It's it's nuts. Me, me and you literally I went re I w I re-listened to our episode one, and me and you both was like, it's weird, dude. Like like it's it's weird, it's so weird how nice people are being crazy.
SPEAKER_03Um but on on another note, uh you talked a lot about uh recon with the tuning, but we didn't talk about FIFA Vandal. Ironically, real quick, I don't play any of those characters, so I literally have no idea like what these buffs and nerfs did for these characters. Um but I think it's cool that they are tuning things. Um that concept can sometimes be lost on on game developers, but I think that Bungie is is really paying attention to Marathon, and they are really trying their best to make it the game that both satiates, you know, the the looter extraction shooter crews and staying true to what they want the game to be while trying to make everybody happy. I think they're doing a really good job at that.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir, and yeah, the Thief and the Vandal um updates, that kind of guy. I've been so hyper focused on the recon. I think that's the one most people have, but that I got tunnel vision on that one. Um so apparently with the thief one is they kind of tweaked the the pickpocket drone. I have never tried this, but boy, I wish I would have. Apparently, you could put multiple claymores on a drone. Why didn't I think to do that? Because that would have just made my day if I could have been off.
SPEAKER_03Dude, I've watched those videos over and over and over and over again, and not once did I ever think to look at you playing thief and go, hey, I want to try something.
SPEAKER_02Not once did I ever think. I didn't either.
SPEAKER_00I mean I used the gun all the time. I never did I thought, hey, I should put a can I put a claymore on this thing and just entertaining to watch, and I'm like, I would never pull it off myself.
SPEAKER_03So I never even thought about it. But yeah, I wish I would have jumped on that train with you, because that would have been funny.
SPEAKER_00That would have been funny. Well, apparently now uh you cannot carry multiple. Maybe you can carry one claymore from what I how I'm reading it.
SPEAKER_03It does say multiple.
SPEAKER_00Does say multiple, but it doesn't say any. True. So hey, I'm gonna hold it to that. We will be doing that next time. We will be doing that. Yeah. Uh and apparently the uh I have noticed this. Uh it's louder now. Because I noticed teams are when I'm using it, teams are turning around more now. They're they're shooting at me because they can hear me now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um I experienced that a little bit ago, actually. I could hear it clear as day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So they definitely uh nerfed it nerf buff for everybody else, nerfed the thief.
SPEAKER_03Which I'm glad to see because she was super oppressive in like the last week and a half.
SPEAKER_00I almost main thief these days, and I like this change because it does not feel good on the receiving end. It does not feel good. So I like I I I I actually W change. I I like this. Even though it's a nerf to thief, I I like it. Um and last but not least, we got uh a Vandalbuff. Uh the amplified cooldown was dropped by 30 seconds. So I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Which is uh kind of insane. Big time, you know 30 seconds is a lot. That's a lot. That's an eternity. That's the difference. Like, do you win a gunfight? I mean, that that's that's that's a lot, man. That's a big button. Like a drawn-out gunfight. Yeah, thanks. Jeez, dude. That they but I didn't I didn't really did they think did they think Vandal was like underperforming that bad?
SPEAKER_03I have a feeling, I mean, right when it launched, it was noted that she was um one of the more difficult characters to kind of get a grasp on. So they might be trying to make it so that it's not as difficult. There are three, maybe four shells that I can tell you that are dominant in Marathon right now. That is the Assassin, Thief, Destroyer, and the fourth one I would mention would be triage.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's those. You don't see the other ones. Like, hardly ever. But Vandal is starting to come into a lot of games, I've noticed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I have too. I think the l I think like probably the the one performing the the most underwhelming one, especially before the buffs, was probably Recon. And then it may have been like Vandal after after Recon. So which I like it was I've had fun with her, even before the buffs, like I like Vandal.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was stated that that like Recon was labeled as as the worst one. And I actually watched a video on a guy that was like he started playing the game and he chose Recon because he liked you know the powers and everything. And he had to listen to all these people tell him that, hey, you're you're playing with the wrong, you know, the wrong character, this character sucks, try somebody different, you know, the powers are not where they need to be, and he learned how he needed to play the character his way. And he started winning his gunfights, he started X-filling. And he's like, now that I've stayed, I'm going to reap that benefit because now they're gonna start buffing him.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I mean literally That's cool. Recon was my main for a while, so like the buffs feel good because I can decently play Recon because I that's all I played for a while. So yeah, I not to that extreme because I've started deck diving into other characters, but like, yeah, dude, the buffs feel really good, man. Um well uh dude, this has been a uh this has been another man. I I like I've said uh I If we get to 45 minutes, we we did good, buddy. We've made it to an hour and six minutes of me and you just like no awkward pauses, no anything necessary needed. Like me and you, we have just we have just been a pitch perfect man, bang, bang, bang, bang, right bouncing off each other. So, Bat, I do not want to forget to say this. Please, please, please. Uh, for all the listeners, where can they find you on Twitch?
SPEAKER_03Um, my name is gonna be the exact same as displayed. Um, True Batman 4444. Um, I don't stream very often, but I do try to stream with other people as much as I can so that I'm not just sitting there silently because I don't like talking. And I I I am somebody that bounces off of other people. Um if they if they're not around, I get really, really quiet. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And that's fair. That's fair.
SPEAKER_03It is, I mean, even we have some fun times.
SPEAKER_00Yes. That's uh, I mean, that would like that would make our day. Like, I mean, obviously, yes, we want the uh we would love for you guys to give us a good rating on Spotify. Dude, that feels weird saying that. That feels weird, bruh. Apple podcast. Woo! That feels weird saying that we're on the platforms now, baby. Uh I ain't gonna- I'll keep it real, everybody. Like, anybody and everybody, of course, yes, we would love a five-star. We would love a rating. Yes, of course, we would love a comment, and you know, we'd love all that. But I will keep it real. I think what almost we would love more is the idea that you found us through this podcast. Come say hi to us in our Twitch streams, because we we will and it would honestly probably incentivize us to go live more often. It really would. Yeah. So uh you can I am your host, old Old Underscore Town South. You can also find me over on Twitch, Old Underscore Town South. Uh, my profile picture is me and my poodle. Can't miss it. I'm sitting there with my sunglasses. So, bat, um, gonna send you out the door here, man. This is a good one. Looking forward to uh getting some more runs in with you, everybody, all of our listeners, all of our downloads. Thank you guys so much. Keep that gravy train rolling, baby. Keep keep put on put on more steam. We look forward to doing episode three with you all. But for now, we will conclude it. This is running out of breath, the one, the only, the place to get your marathon podcast. Listening on, baby. Have a good night, everybody.