Episode #3: WSTR Wasted; Inventory Update: 1.0.6.1

On episode 3 old_townsouth and Truebatman4444 discuss all the content that pertains to update 1.0.6.1 and current gameplay feel. old_townsouth and Truebatman4444 dive into current community sentiment revolving around the game with some banger ideas thrown into the mix! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Man, I almost hit the uh start streaming button again. Alrighty! Howdy everyone! And welcome back to Running Out of Breath, the one, the only Marathon Podcast. This is the place to be. This is episode four. I'm your host, Old Town South. I am back with my boy True the Dark Knight, Quad 4, Triple Four, however he he goes by all kinds of names. We back with episode three. I'm with him. We are coming off a high of having some good games tonight. And actually, Bat, this is the first episode ever where we we start recording right after we get through, you know, running matches and boy bat uh initial thoughts on tonight. I I don't I I don't know about you, but dude, it was I'm riding the high, baby. Vibes were good. We was with our boy Fallen, we called him up, he answered the bat signal, he joined us. I got a sick of Gucci, sick of sick of G, and sick of Waka Wawa. I got a sick G quest done, baby. Took us, I think, two runs. We, we, we, we put two teams in the dirt, we hit up Penwheel, we raided Penwheel, we got all the good loot, we killed anybody that crossed our path, and by God, we got out of there with about five seconds left on the clock.

unknown 1:39

Yeah. Woo!

SPEAKER_02 1:41

What an intro that was. Bat, take it away, brother. Well, how how were how you feeling then? Just just just just talk me through it, brother.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Um the match that we just left off on.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Let's do it. Go for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Go for it. Um, so um little self-revelation. I still suck. I'm getting better. Um honestly, the one thing I was struggling with tonight was positioning. Um at one point I thought we were gonna try to push, and I apparently went alone, not realizing, and got killed. Um but my teammates they clutched up. Um got the res. I got some stuff back just enough to help them finish what they had started. Um then we were able to kind of move on from there.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Yeah, you know, I in that moment, uh, I I remember that. I remember that moment pretty vividly. Um I had the volley rifle, I was kinda tunnel visioning a guy. By the way, for all the listeners, we were kind of fighting in the destroyed wing area, but like we weren't in we weren't actually in Pinwheel in the destroyed wing. We were like fighting a team that was holding that high ground. And um I looked away and uh there was a little bit of miscord uh miscommunication. But I bad, I'm gonna give you some credit. Don't be too hard on yourself, because you probably saw something that we didn't see. And I am the world's worst about that. Especially I guess that's the oh I don't know if that's the Overwatch coming out in me. I don't know. That's some other video game coming out in me where I just go s maybe Destiny PvP. I played r I played Titan I played like um Internative Loop Rush Ark Rush Titan in Trials of Osiris, so like maybe that's kind of that game coming out in me. Like I've it just sometimes I think I see and no, I do do it in Overwatch, especially when I'm playing Reinhardt and I play Tank. I I think I see a vision, but nobody but nobody else is in. They don't see they don't see what I see, and I push alone and I just make a bad mistake. I'm the world's worst about that bat, but I have no doubt, you know, that was kind of a poke and prod type of fight the way that was playing out. I'm just sure you saw something, man.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Um he had called out that there was that vandal and it was a white shield. I was like, okay, if I start putting pressure on from the left side, yeah, maybe they'll focus me and then you guys can catch them out in the open.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Who actually who actually tagged you down? Was it was was it that vandal or was it somebody that was holding the high ground?

SPEAKER_01 4:29

I I went to climb up and I got up on the roof, and she could hear me coming after I did my ultimate so that I could see where they were.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

But I went to like run between this like thing that's on the roof, and it wouldn't let me run through it, so I was stuck there. And I'm like, are you kidding me? And she just got me because I just yeah, map awareness, you know, obstacle, you know, lack of knowledge, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Um but yeah, you guys came back and you resed me. I picked up my volley after you killed the Vandal. Um, and then he had knocked two of 'em, the other two.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

God dude, claw the fallen was the Fallen was on the Doritos and the Mountain Dew tonight, but he was dropping people. He he was I was suppressing fire with the volley. Yeah. But let's keep it real. He turned the tide of that fight with that with that outlander. He was dropping the bodies. I mean, some he dis either you were him down to that vandal, and that vandal, he he was they were actually self-resing. I I finished that kill, but you know, like that wasn't my kill. I just finished what you guys started. Um but he he now the fight before that, um, I killed the I killed the destroyer that tried to push me from top, and then I I went with my with my bloodthirsty bully smg. That's worth five grand now. No, four, is it four grand or five grand? Five grand! Five grand!

unknown 6:13

God that thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

That's insane. It's it's crazy how many people I've downed with that gun. And I still have it. And then I downed, uh, and then the Vandal tried to push. Same thing. Uh I I downed the Vandal. I think that fight would have gone a lot differently, especially against the Destroyer. The thank goodness the Destroyer only had a green shield, and thank goodness the the following player that pushed me only had a white shield, and I had a purple shield. Or if that fight would have gone differently, that purple shield also really clutched up in the second team fight we were just discussing, because I got caught I got caught, man, several times. They had that high ground advantage. Same thing with me. I got stuck on obstacles, I didn't have good map awareness. I'm telling you, dude, anything less than that purple shield I was rocking, I would have been down. He I wouldn't have been able to have suppressed fire. He would have had to have resed me. It could have turned, it could have so easily turned against this man, but that was such a good run.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Fallout, Fallout, Fallen, light him up, up, up, light him up.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

He did. He did, by God, by God, he did light him up. Indeed. But I know you're gonna listen to this, brother. Great games tonight, man. Way to clutch and way to uh help me with the clutch. Like who is this guy we met, dude? Like, I was like, crap, I forgot to go kill those ghost vandals, and he was like, say no more.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

I got this.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

I got this. He popped his prime, he went off, and he just nuked him, and he came back like, hey, I'm here, I'm good. You know, hey, is I mean, he's just genuinely uh a just a good dude and a good player. I mean, I just another player we just we hit the jackpot finding that guy. So good stuff, man. Well, alright. Well, uh man that we got a lot of um we started we we we came out the gates pretty hot and heavy with episode three. We got a lot to talk about, buddy. Um re Tuesday was up was update 1.0.6.1. And I've got a note here that talks about the survival economy. Stacking buffs, depleted patch kits, and shield charges now stack at six was previously three. W's pipe it up, w's love it, uh love it, love it, love it. This helps so much. Uh I also am noticing the drop rates with the with the enemy AI, the the UESC. That that's even improved as well. Um, this feels good in the sponsored kit mode. This feels good in solos, just a absolute W W update, W change. Uh, any thoughts on that, buddy?

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Um I like I I am in love with the fact that they they went to six um just for the simple fact that now when I'm rocking either no backpack or a green backpack, I have room now to get the other stuff that I want. Um it I didn't notice how much it was like screaming to be done.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

To like make it to where it was the way it is now. Yeah, yeah. Until they did it. And now I'm like, okay, this is a game. This makes sense. I don't feel like I'm suffocating.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

I am with you. I didn't really realize how bad and how much we were suffering until the update. Like, like, like I can feel like I can kind of breathe. Like, you know, we was we talked about in episode one how tactical this game is and how on your toes you gotta be. Resources are constantly an issue. That's why people are, you know, usually always have a triage on their team. Man, this feels like it takes a little bit of pressure where triage doesn't feel as as much like we gotta have at least one. Like we kind of opens up a little bit more freedom. Just just W change. Um, I have no I have nothing bad to say about this at all. So now the next one is gonna get a little uh we're gonna get a little spicy with this next one. The the WSTR shotgun nerf. Um the two-shot nerf, Ziegler confirmed that the waster can no longer two tap a player with the blue shield or higher. Um Okay. So I'm in, I don't know, I don't know where I'm standing with this one, but I will go ahead and say I think uh I saw a clip, dude, on uh I saw a YouTube short where a there's a there's a guy I like to follow on there. Um actually I'm gonna give a shout out to him. If this ever were to reach his ears, uh I may butcher his name, J Jay Bowen Demand. So sorry if I said that wrong. Jay Bowen Demand, you know who you are. If this ever reaches you, shout out to you, buddy. You keep it real out there, you stay positive, you say, you call it like it is, good or bad. Love your content. Anyways, with that being said, um he he shared a he shared a clip where he was point blank at somebody. And I think they had a green shield, dude. He shot them. Obviously, the first shot fully connected, you could see that their shield popped, but dude, the second shot was just like a ghost bullet. And he shot them point blank and it did not register. I think this gun, dude, dead is a really strong word. I I'm I'm kind of close to that. I am not. We play we played a couple of matches of Outpost, didn't see a WSTR not one time. I sold the majority of mine because they're worth about two thousand credits a pop. If more if you've got attachments on it. I'm I feel like I'm kind of okay with this. Because we were in a heavy WSTR meta, dude, even after the first nerf. Like, people were still like they should they try to they they try to put a little bit of bullets in you with their with their primary, then they would just honestly try to close the distance, especially if they were playing a vandal, and they could do that that that extra slide and they just try to slide at you with a waster. And I you feel good if you were dishing it out, but man, if you weren't dishing it out, it it felt kind of bad. So um I think I'm okay with this. I you may have a different opinion. I think where this I'm gonna say one thing, one more thing, and then I want you to take it away. Where this will feel maybe a little bad, but again, it won't if nobody really uses them anymore, but this does like if you got a green shield going up against a blue shield, um, the way it was, if that green shield gets his shots in first, that blue shield player is going down. Now, the way it reads, if the green player fully connects both of his shots, but the blue shielded player, but the blue shield player's not gonna go down, but if the blue and then the blue shield follows theirs up with the two shots, green shield's going down. But you can also kind of say as it should be, as it should be, the blue shielded player should live over equal bullets. What's your take?

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Um I for one am happy that it is it is no longer a weapon that I will be choosing.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Yeah, I'm not bothered by it either.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Like, I honestly I'm gonna go in and sell them, all of them that I have because I I don't even want to look at it anymore.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Um I think it's gonna open up a lot better diversity with weapons, which I'm I have been seeing a lot of. Um you know, there's the the mitas, the the retaliator, the M77 is really strong. Um the bully, even though it got nerfed, is still just an amazing weapon. Um there's a couple that I still wouldn't touch unless I'm in a certain circumstance. But I I like this change. This brings the game more towards like what I would want to play. I don't like shotguns in the like to begin with in any game, right? Because I I just hate something about giving somebody uh a weapon that can you know one tap or two tap in a game is is nuts when every other weapon has to take skill to accomplish a kill.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Yeah, yeah. Um man, I w I I still gotta, you know, I had a moment in our stream, it was actually at one of our cryo archive runs, you know, that was we probably, you know, that was prime WSTR meta. Prime. Like the the first nerf hasn't even come in. And man, I watched that clip of me, dude, and like I put he had a uh he had a blue shield, and I put nearly a whole clip in him. He was a few bullets away from being dead, and it was a 1v1 between me and him, and he just turned around, pop pop, I you know, got me with the with the insanely at the time OP waster. It's just one of those moments, man, like it like now, the waster now, he probably don't down me. He probably does not down me, and we probably win that fight, and who knows? That was night one of cryo. I think I know how that story ends. We'd have died anyway. We'd have died anyway, because we didn't understand the the security clearance mechanic, but we would have won that fight, and that would have felt good right there. So, yeah, you know, uh closing thoughts on this. I uh I'm okay with this. I'm okay. I like the waster. Uh it's a gun that I I do have a I I would love to see a stat of like how many how many bodies I actually have with it. I'm okay though. If one wants to say did the is it an overkill, especially if there's ghost bullets involved, yeah, I that you know, I could see that definitely, but I'm with you. I'm oh I I'm okay with this. I'm okay with this nerf, and I'm okay with uh new metas forming and and more variety.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Um real quick, I just want to say that um even though they did that melee um nerf with the knife, extremely strong right now. Um I played several games yesterday where I didn't even have to shoot my gun once the entire game. I was just knifing people.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Um and some of them had you know green and blue shields, but I was winning the fight.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

With you with a free kit and your knife out. Yeah. That's awesome. I know you love that play style. So now, Bat, we're gonna move we're gonna segue into our next one. Um this is kind of one I had highlighted in our notes. Basically, Ziegler and Marathon, they are running a active test right now. I believe it is only tied to the Dire Marsh sponsored event. I may be wrong about this. I do not think this is regular Dire Marsh. I think it's just Dire Marsh sponsored. But what they are actively testing right now, and bat, this just jingled my bells, what I'm about to say, because I asked for this in episode one. I literally I got I got the receipts, baby. All listeners, go back to episode one. Couldn't tell you the timestamp, but somewhere in episode one, I literally said I would be interested in them testing, taking away one team in Dyer Marsh. They are literally doing that. W's. W's. I I I I hope they follow through with it. Uh it we're just in a test. It's it's not um it's not final. I just think this is an over-congested map. I you know, I got I got funny personal beef with this map anyway, but maybe it's because there's just so many players. I 100, I mean, some people say, well, well, I don't know if it'll make that big of a difference. I beg to differ. I think it will. If you win your first gunfight, so now there's only gonna be five. Well, now we're only talking trios here. If you win your first gunfight, congratulations. Now there's only now you've only got three full teams to deal with left. You know, rooks will come in, but uh versus it was still four teams, and you're you're just not gonna see uh third parties are gonna be a little less often. You're gonna have a little more breathing room with trying to kill the scorch warden. Oh, dude, the times it hurts my soul, bruh. The times where we've we've almost had the scorch warden dead, but we get third-partied, man, and it hurts. And that's with not a lot of time on the clock either. It's almost as if they were just waiting. But you and I both know it's gun gun volume, gun range is still really loud. And if you're within so many meters and somebody has a halfway $60 and up headset on, they're gonna hear your gunshots, they're probably gonna push it. Um Bat, uh, I think I already know your opinion, but uh uh thoughts on Marathon currently testing Dire Marsh sponsored one less team.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Um I unfortunately was hoping to run some of that tonight, and we didn't get a chance to, um, just because I wanted to see that firsthand. Um but one thing about Dire Marsh, and it wasn't as you know, prevalent when I was playing the sponsor kit uh Dire Marshall category. Um but the immediate spawn kills were not happening in the free kit. Um and I think that you know being able to focus on contracts is going to be such a good breach uh directional step that they're taking. Yes, preach. Because there's so many contracts in that you just can't get done because you're running halfway across the Map. And then there's people just waiting for you.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

Now there's been night I'm gonna I'm gonna interrupt you real quick. I mean we I can think of two nights where me and you have been just absolutely miserable trying to run I think it was a nuclear contract where we had to go get something from bioresearch. Go to quarantine and then it made you run all the way to quarantine and it just the we always we just always ran into PvP and it just we weren't playing the way we weren't playing the way we wanted to play. We were kinda just we had to go over there we just kind of felt more rushed and it just it made us go past we didn't want to go you're gonna always engage in USC and buddy I ain't gonna I went on a big it felt like a WWE promo where like I just was talking about how how hellish quarantine is like you go in there you've got the locked doors so you gotta like kind of do like the little mechanic to even open the doors well then on top of that there's mines everywhere well then on top of that there's invisible ghosts everywhere and they they gun you you have to reuse your resources because you're getting popped by the ghosts you're getting popped by the mines and then when you finally clear the area a team usually pushes you because they hear all the mines popping off they're like hey let's go over there I hear something they take that high ground they they kill you one at a time and if they don't do that they wait outside for you guns pointed forward me and you have had an awful experience with those contracts and quarantine I'm scarred I'm so scarred and I'm pretty sure that's why me and you don't like Dire Marsh we've just not had a good experience there I mean outpost I I am going WWE right now outpost is supposed to be the more challenging map it's a higher threat there's fire rain people bring in more difficult shields in that map it's supposed to be sweatier the loot better but we but we we just do better on that map we we almost we really do X feel more so than not I mean look at tonight look how we did I mean I've been freaking bad entire bars and that freaking quarantine I'm gonna have nightmares about that place oh I gotta breathe talk talk talk bad I gotta breathe um something else is you know not even just contracts but being able to go around and possibly get the resources that we need like the lenses that don't spawn at quarantine even though they say they spawn at quarantine. Don't and if they do it's don't ever it's like no you finally find one you get gunned down by somebody it's just God we've had such bad luck there man but um but something I wanted to add on is that there they actually did something else that's really smart is that by doing that this uh little test by taking that one team out not only do we have better chances to you know defeat the UESC without being third party collecting the resources that we need doing contracts guess what all of that helps say it's the carry system.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Yes so they're knocking out like three birds with one stone. Yeah I mean well said yes helps that beautiful because you're gonna earn so much more stuff yeah you're not gonna feel as pressured to do the lock boxes that spawn those UESC enemies.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

You're not gonna feel as much pressure we gotta wa we gotta lobby wipe we gotta lobby wipe because it's just the only way like I I really it's still going to be a little sweaty it's still it's it's dire marsh it's open there's still a lot to get there um but I just in my heart I think that one less team will make more of a difference than you really might think I mean that one less team might be the difference in if you get third partied or not when you win your team fight in maintenance in maintenance and then you immediately get pushed it seriously it might make the difference um now that's not to say that you won't come across a situation kind of like we had in one of those runs and outposts tonight where all of a sudden you're walking over to a point of interest and the entire lobby is fighting in that area.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Yes it's still possible of course yes but you know I mean one of the things that I don't do very often in Dire Marshall I literally never look for it because I don't want to do it um because it draws too much attention is those lockboxes. It just means that as soon as you're done hide listen as long as you're doing that you're gonna know if somebody's coming.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

I think we do I think we're doing a better job of that. I think we're just growing as players there was even a moment tonight where we wiped a team and then I think one of us said okay everybody be quiet and we literally was quiet we just listened We just were mentally ready for the next group of people to push us.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Didn't happen but we were we we were muscle trained we were muscle trained happened more than not yeah it has yeah it has it's just and you know I've even gotten to the point where like I'm I'm not sweaty in this game but I have turned off all ambient noises the music everything I just want like footsteps gunshots and rain.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

Do you feel like it's helping all I want to hear oh yeah absolutely I can hear footsteps a mile away um I don't know if you saw the when you were watching my POV on the one that I was trying desperately to clutch up on um I self-relezed twice but um when I went back up that ladder did you notice I was doing something weird I noticed you were uh you were really being patient you were really you know you were using your resources well you weren't rushing into anything uh I feel like for a 1v3 you really played it about the best you could um that's the but the main things I picked up on so the one thing about a ladder is they have such a distinctive noise that they make when you're when you're climbing them I saw a video and I wanted to test it tonight and I did.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Spam the jump button when you're climbing a ladder it takes you out of the little noise animation and it takes the same amount of time I did see you doing that. I did I did I did okay but he he was still like looting my bat one of your bags when I got all the way up there and then threw my thing at him.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

He had no idea I was there what dang I mean yeah I mean it makes sense because no hey I mean he was yeah he was looting my body one of our bodies and no he he he did not know you you got first shot on him you almost downed him too so that's that's another little helpful tip that I found so if you're climbing a ladder spam the jump button hey there you go you heard it here first jumping let's go man all right bat uh me and you uh we're about 30 minutes in on this one uh it's time to fly off the rails a little bit time to fly off script and time to time to free ball bat I am uh I'm seeing videos on YouTube from from some content creators that man have a platform like I mean they haven't they have a they have a bigger audience than me and you will will ever most likely see and uh you know man um I ain't gonna call out nobody you know I ain't about all that you're if I call out anybody it's gonna be positive it's gonna be like it's gonna be shout outs you know I ain't never calling out nobody no negative I ain't about that but um I'm just gonna say broadly in general man I'm seeing videos where people are saying like they'll the their their thumbnail will be this gang's dead marathon's dead marathon's dying bungee screwed up bungee dropped the ball bungee did this bungee did that I quit marathon you know yeah I I've seen I'm seeing all kinds of stuff and that people are people are still there's still a lot of people that's hyper fixated on marathon's Steam numbers um I gotta I I I gotta I gotta keep it real like you know the number the Steam numbers if what the videos I saw were true they're definitely not what I would hope they be I I saw a video like recently where the the Steam numbers were like like when the game first launched it like we we hit a peak of like 8800 players and now we're at we're at like you know 9,000 to 1000 players you know a like 80% you know a very significant drop um something to keep in mind something to keep in mind marathon was like in March like in the top five most purchased game over on PlayStation the Steam charts is still not PlayStation numbers and it's not I would assume Xbox numbers it's not um does is this game popping off the way that I really wanted it to at this current state right now? No it's not um I just wonder I I I sit back in my chair right now and I I really do wonder had this game not had a couple of things attached to it? And if it were not directly competing with another very popular extraction shooter right now I'm gonna I'm gonna bra I'm gonna go into detail with that ha three things about Marathon it just makes me wonder. I'm gonna throw in four things if this game was not actively competing with our creators a very good game if it did not if if it weren't for the whole art scandal that attached itself to this and I think still kind of plagues this game to a little bit of degree if this game did not if people if a certain group of people did not attach this game to the Destiny 3 killer that this game should be instead of Marathon it should be Destiny 3 and last but not least if it was almost any other developers named besides Bungie with those four things I just said that I would be so curious that alternate reality give it a different developer name it it's not directly competing with our creators the art scandal never happened and it has no ties to destiny I feel in my heart that people the the the the player like people would just eat this game up. But I feel like those four things keep a lot of people away and some of those reasons I mentioned are reasons people don't like this game and never really gave it a shot. There's a group of people that never gave this game a shot because of the art scandal there's a group of people that refuse to give this game a shot because it's not Destiny 3 there's a group of people that are all pro R craters and don't want to give this game a shot. And all those things I said are okay opinions to have by the way there's nothing wrong with with having any of those opinions. If you love our craters man play our craters if you wish this game was Destiny 3 I hear you I love destiny I love destiny I forgot what the the the the whole art scandal thing I kind of talked a little about that a little bit in episode one with my s with my little sister she's an artist that would suck that was slimy that was not good but I think I think they seriously I think they worked that out with that person. Um don't want to dive into all that negativity too too much but but I just wonder in another alternate reality if those four things were attached to this game what could be because yo we see the potential with this game we see how fun the gunplay is and how fun these moments can be and uh I got another big talking point I'm gonna say but I'm gonna let I'm I'm gonna slow down for a second. I'm gonna let you kinda say some things off what I said.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

In any any comment so far um so kind of at the beginning of um what you were going into starting this section um I'm actually kind of seeing the opposite like on my YouTube feeds. Okay let's hear it um I've I've been seeing a lot of people that are you know they're they're active with you know the updates they're actively trying all the different characters the different weapons they're learning all these different things that they can do in the game with these mechanics um and it's just been you know super positive. Now I have seen you know kind of some of the negative side where it's a lot of um content creators that are posting stuff like um you know I was a rook and I wiped the entire lobby in a slimy way. Okay. That sucks great for that rook but you know people are picking up on these you know nasty ways to you know exploit things um and honestly I I almost wish that people weren't posting that stuff like if you're gonna do it keep it to yourself like I don't want the entire 8,000 people that are playing this game all doing the same thing to screw me.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

And which I'm gonna defend I'm gonna defend marathon on this um there I think there's people that I think there is some people that want you to believe there's only 9,000 people playing this game. That's Sting numbers that ain't us that ain't me and you bat that is not our experience over on Play and we don't even queue with PC people. We have our settings to queue with PlayStation and Xbox players only that's not the experience we're having I don't know where that I don't know where that data is but I'm still getting lobbies fairly quickly. Here's the one thing I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna tap into this a little bit I still stand on what I said in episode one I will never be influenced by numbers I I don't really care I want there to be a lot of people sure I do sure it does kind of stink that there's only supposedly 9,000 players on Steam when at one point it was around 88,000 but there's a lot that goes into that by the way but you know the only I think the only thing that it that could trickle into the the lower the player count gets especially on PlayStation we will potentially start noticing those changes in two ways number one we'll start having longer queue times we'll we won't we we we just won't find we'll be we'll be waiting in lobby for longer two the other thing that's almost a little bit worse is we will notice our games will just be sweatier we may start playing people that's kind of above our our skill based matchmaking you know they're they are just better players than us but the game just doesn't have nobody else to cue us with that is the downside to if the numbers really were to start getting low but I can't live in that I'm just not I I I'm not gonna live in that mindset until it just kind of happens. But you know what if it were to get to that point guess what we could always take a break. We could always variety can be the spice of life and uh we can always you know take a little break and play other games but man until then it's not affecting us and I would still I would encourage anybody if you like first person shooters and this game looks appealing and interesting to you please don't let I hate to I hate to kind of come out of the gates fire please don't let content creators influence you to not try it because of numbers you make that decision decision and you you try it and see if you like it or not.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

Bat which guy um yeah I mean that's that's one of the things like I I don't think I've ever really seen a video come across my my stuff that they're like putting it down just because of numbers.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Um it it's it's always been kind of the things that you know bungee's actually addressing you know with the the updates and the changes that they're making those are the things that I hear like negatively being commented about. But the coolest part is that Bungie's doing something. Yes a lot of companies don't yes bungee sees a very good future for this game and I think that people need to give it a chance to see where they take it and just try to enjoy the game for what it is and what it will be. And I think that people have a different outlook.

SPEAKER_02 41:34

I hope so man I I hope some people I hope some ears that maybe listened listens to this maybe takes what you just said to heart a little bit. Bad do you feel like I've heard some some of the negative feedback I've heard is this game is too the learning bell the the the learning curve the initial learning curve is too difficult. This is too difficult of a game to get into I don't know bad if maybe maybe we're I I'll give a I'm gonna toot our horns a little bit here we consider what we're the nine to fivers we're the family feeders we're the guys that we get excited to be able to get to play an hour on a Friday night. We are not Johnny Sweat gets to play eight hours five days a week that's not us um we we represent the casual community however we do have a background bat of you know come some competitive games we you know we we we sweat it out in Overwatch we sweat it out back in the day with destiny raids trials of Osiris I've got some experience in that department we've got a lot of just FPS experience um I've you know we've been playing games a long time we've played single player games we've played a lot of games and maybe I to me the learning curve was not that bad sure it took time to learn what's biomass hey what's this what's unstable gel how do I do this upgrade how do I do up that upgrade now sure there were some some learning things to it yes bungee could absolutely do some things to give a little bit better tutorial yes they could that I I don't know maybe this ain't a fair for me to say maybe it's just a testament to we're just experienced gamers we're casual but we're experienced was the learning curve do you do you feel like the learning curve in the for a new player i is too difficult I'm gonna go on the limb and I'm gonna say that um it it's honestly not now that

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Doesn't mean that there isn't stuff that I am still learning about this game literally today. That's such as the ladder. The ladder hack. I learned that this morning. Um now there are definitely things that they could be like, oh hey, this is a possibility that you could do to make this easier on yourself. Um I want to kind of throw out there is that like so you're a brand new player to this game. Even if you have experience, I can guarantee you, unless you are a PC player that has had a load of FPS background, you are going to jump into this game and feel much smoother about everything than jumping into Apex. Capital, build on that a little bit. It's not the same style of game. You know, it's not an extraction versus a battle royale, which I've never said this. I thank God that this game is not a battle royale.

SPEAKER_02 45:19

Because I would lose it. I would too. Um button. I think there's there are moments where it kind of can feel a little bit like a BR, especially when a night like tonight, like everybody started converging in one area. But that that's not that's not that's not often. That's that's that's a more on the rare side, you know. Usually, yeah, yeah, that's that's the main thing I was wanting to say.

SPEAKER_01 45:45

Yeah, I mean it's it's still I would I would honestly say that, you know, at in that game and outpost, even though there are four teams they're fighting, that fight felt a million times different from what four teams fighting in Apex would be. Yeah, yeah. Just based on the quickness of the gameplay in Apex, yes. I will always have a better time in Marathon than Apex just because of the speed that the game is played at.

SPEAKER_03 46:19

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 46:20

If you want something that you know you have a chance to, you know, get into a fight with another team, but you're like, oh, there's all this cool stuff that I can like loot and I can take back with me if I exfil and it's slower paced. It can be quick. It can be quick, but nine times out of ten, especially when you're learning the game, it's gonna be slower. You know, it you're gonna be around the people that are about the same level as you and they're not gonna be, you know, rushing around you know, hauling you know a million things at a time, um, just absolutely destroying you. I think that that really becomes I wouldn't say an issue, but very noticeable, and I've been hearing this comment a lot at level 80 and above. As soon as you hit level 80, like any number based is out the window. Completely out the window.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

You could be getting launched with um, you know, a level 72 on your team and a level 136. And you could be facing people level 200.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

Oof, that's rough.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

At 80, it goes out the window.

SPEAKER_02 47:40

It goes out the window.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

That's that's interesting. Um so, and I think if I'm being completely honest with you, I think that might be the thing that is killing the game, if anything. Because all of these people that are, you know, playing it every day, eight to twelve hours a day, you're gonna be in the same lobbies as other people that are playing the game eight to twelve hours a day. You're gonna be with sweats because you are a sweat. Yeah, you are a sweat, yeah. And that's that's where the gameplay is getting difficult because people are seeing the same people over and over and over again. And whether or not you win that fight every time or lose it every time, I think that's kind of where it's coming down to.

SPEAKER_02 48:35

Um that is where the numbers are liking it. That is where the numbers can get bad. If the numbers were to get too low, that becomes the reality. You really you start running into the same people, and they may not even be in your bracket because the game just has nobody, you know, the game's having a hard time matching you with appropriate people. Uh but yeah, man, um, all interesting points. You know, we spend a lot of time on this podcast because we love this game, and you know, we we're pretty much pro, you know, pro bungee this, pro bungee that, you know, with almost everything. But uh, I'll tell you something uh we'll we'll we'll segue into this. This is not on the notes, this is me also freeballing. I'm I'm does it bother you a little bit? Because I got this little voice inside of me that's thinking, I'm not sure if I'm gonna like this when this happens. And this may be where I get a little, I I get it a little, I may start, I may show a little criticism towards Bungie because I just don't know how I feel about this quite yet. We're just gonna have to wait and see when it happens. But anyways, let me get to it. I think I know what you're talking about. I the idea this idea bothers me a little bit. We're spending this time back, we're we're engaging in all these battles, and we're we're getting all this loot, and uh a wipe is coming at some point in June. And I'm gonna tell you what bothers what's gonna bother me even more than I'm gonna lose my bloodthirsty my bloodthirst um uh bully that I've come to love so much that I've had a lot of good luck with. I it's gonna pain me that these upgrades are gonna go away. Because let me tell you something, Bat. Um finding these resources for some of these upgrades, uh, it's rough. It's hard out there for a casual. Uh it's hard out there for a casual. And some of these, like, these um the the the purple tier biolens seed, whatever the heck it's called, like that's a really rare find. Like some of these, some of these, like you can only like some of it you can only find in cryo, bruh. Some of these things are only in cryo archive, and that's you know, that is the end game content. I'm uh I I I think you already know what I'm about to ask you. Does it bother you a little bit that we we're we're we've come so far? We've we've we've unlocked all we've we've unlocked all these upgrades that's helping our characters, but it's potentially all gonna get taken away from us in June. Does that bother you?

SPEAKER_01 51:27

That has bothered me since day one.

SPEAKER_02 51:31

Okay, day one.

SPEAKER_01 51:35

Now there's one point to that that I think is going to be a good thing. Everybody starts at zero. The numbers are gonna come back because everything's even the better potential to you know. You know, there's a lot of games out there Um Call of Duty, um, Apex Legends. Um I don't know how Rators works, but it's probably similar. Do you know if they wipe?

SPEAKER_02 52:16

I don't know, but I would be curious for any of the listeners, please comment. Give please give us a rating, and please uh c with if you hey if whether if it's a one-star or five star, give us a rating, and also give us a comment uh if you know the answer to that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 52:31

Um those games all have one thing in common, and that's that you never lose progression. Ever.

SPEAKER_02 52:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 52:42

This game, you know, these these people that are you know streamers and stuff, they're always going to be ahead of you or me.

SPEAKER_02 52:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:53

But there's that chance that when it wipes we might be on the higher end of everybody. That's an interesting concept.

SPEAKER_02 53:04

It it is an interesting concept, and it's also an interesting concept. It doesn't allow the rich to just continu. It doesn't allow Exactly. It doesn't allow like we got a fighting chance. We i in the initial phase, in the initial like week or two, we got a little more of a chance against Johnny Sweat with 500 people in his Twitch in his Twitch stream that gets to play 40 hours a week. I mean, I'm serious. I mean, I'm serious, you know. Okay, yeah, so it will prevent that. So I'm gonna pr I'm I'm gonna present an idea here. Because I'm I because the the idea that all these resources are so hard to find, and these, and when you do the upgrades, like it really feels good. Like when I when I got flex matrix to tier three, where that literally makes my character run a little bit faster and jump a little bit higher, that was such a good moment for me and a fun upgrade because I had such a hard time finding the resources I complained about. It was either episode or episode two, like I complained profoundly. I went on another WWE promo about I couldn't find the thoroughweave lens, whatever the heck it was. I took me forever to find it. So it does bug me a little bit that um that's potentially all gonna get wiped away from us. I'm gonna wait and see. I'm gonna wait and see, but I would kinda like to present an idea. If such thing is gonna happen, Bungie, I would kinda like to see. I would I I would kinda like to see some way where we can get these resources a little bit easier. If you don't want to give us that, maybe come down on your prices a little bit more. Maybe instead of seven thorough weave lens, it only takes four. Um here's a really interest here's an idea I'm really intrigued by. Uh a trade system, you will ultimately have to give more than what you will receive. So if I have so if I have five enzyme replicators, but I need just one, I think it's called like bio bioseed something. It's the it's the superior tier seed, but I really need all I need. I've got all these enzyme replicators, but I just need one bio seed and I can't find it. I'd be perhaps willing to give up five enzyme replicators for that one seed. Does that concept kind of make sense? Like, if you really need something really bad, you can trade another resource that you have a lot of. You're gonna give more, you're gonna give more. That's the that's the that's that's the downside, but you ultimately it helps you because you get that you get that material material you need. Especially if they're gonna hit us with I I just and I feel like this could be something that's keeping new players away. I feel like this is something that could be help hurting retention numbers as people are kinda like like the people are kind of stressing about that, like me and you it's like, man, I'm gonna put all this work in, but it's gonna be taken away. So what's your thoughts on some of those things?

SPEAKER_01 56:20

Um to be honest with you, I feel that would probably be a good system, but I almost feel like they could do it differently. Um so as you know, in the upgrade system as you progress, the the tiered stuff that you need is higher. But it's a lot easier to come across the lower tiered stuff. Right, yes. So I would propose you know, I've I've finally unlocked everything um for like the first couple rows in every um faction, so I don't need biomass. I don't need unstable gel anymore. Those are nice to have for barters, but you know, let me let me turn in twenty biomass so that I can get you know, uh a green resin. Yes. Let me turn in five green resin for a blue resin. Yes. Let me turn in two or four. To get a biolens. To get a biolens. Yes. Make it easier so that we can you know, we still want to focus on getting those lower-tiered ones, but now we have an incentive to use them after they've outlived their purpose.

SPEAKER_02 58:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 58:08

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 58:09

Makes perfect sense. And it it's essentially, I mean, you you you essentially piggybacked off what I said. Like, hey, I have 200 unstable biomass, but I really need a green diode or whatever. Here's 20 biomass for five. They could even really make it harsh. Just two drone replicator drones. Yeah, I I forget all the names of the stuff. You know what I mean though. Hey, here's 20.

SPEAKER_01 58:41

Gun metal for wire.

SPEAKER_02 58:42

Here, here's here's 20 gun metal. Give me just two of this green tier salvage that I need.

SPEAKER_03 58:50

I like it.

SPEAKER_02 58:53

I like it. I like it. I like it. Because let me tell you. The sweats are gonna be the sweats. Yeah, it would enhance them. Yes, it would. But the sweats are gonna be the sweats. They're gonna get theirs. That would help us. That would help the nine to fivers that's feeding the family. That would help you and I. Um, if you're gonna take it away from us, I'm really interested, Bungie. Help us get there. Help us get there faster if you're gonna take it away from us.

SPEAKER_01 59:29

Um and you know, I I do want to kind of stress that, like, you know, as a casual player, I can't tell you how hard it is to find superior salvage. It is impossible. It's rough, dude. And as soon as I find one, I get killed. Every time.

SPEAKER_02 59:53

We don't make it out. Never, never fail. The PvP threat. This game, man, it it it it, you know, the more we talk about it, like I we're we represent the the ki the common casual, but and we obviously we have a competitive nature to us based off the games that we've played. I think maybe a lot of these things we're talking about is also some of the reason why maybe the numbers just aren't where we would hope they would be, and quite frankly, where Bungie would hope they would be is because, you know, I think there's a lot of room for improvement here. It's it it just kind of is a competitive game, which I'm gonna bring another idea to the table. I'm gonna bring another idea to it. We're all about ideas, man. And me, you know, and hey, I that would just jingle my bells to know when we were the first to come up with some with some of these ideas. Man, I'd even be interested in like a feature like Sea of Thieves does. Like, okay, hey, you love our game, you you love sailing around in a pirate ship, you you love doing your your bounties and fighting the skeletons doing all this, but you hate PvP? Guess what? We got a mode for you. You're not gonna earn as much loot. We're gonna take this, this, this away from you, but we got a mode for you called safer seas. You can jump in with your buddies, you can sail the seas, you can do bounties, you can fight bosses and all that. You're not gonna earn as much cash, you're not gonna earn as much materials because the pee it's not the full game, but we're gonna give you a little piece of the pie. Hey, bat, uh, give me some of that, maybe over here in Marathon. How you know there's some days, dude, where I'm uh, you know, I'm not locked in like I was tonight, but I kinda still want to play Marathon. How about, you know, later on down the road, we get a little bit of a PvE playlist. It doesn't have to be 24-7 to affect player economy. It can be kind of something that's on a rotation, but like uh, you know, uh uh a PvE lobby or or or something to the degree of um you'll see other players in this lobby, but it's friendly. You can't you can't kill 'em. And you know, maybe the resources are reduced, maybe, maybe something is reduced, but like a like a like a like a new or shoot! Just make a whole new map, potentially, that's on rotation. It's just a PVE. You increase the UESC threat, give us a boss to fight. Dude, the the I the they the the the ideas are are limitless. And I feel like that is actually attainable. I don't know if they would ever want to do that, but it is undeniable the the player count isn't where we would hope it would be. That does not affect me. We'll make it clear. I'm losing my voice. Too many WWE promos tonight. That doesn't affect me, but I would love to see it grow. And hey, if word got around that, hey guys, come enjoy this really fun, come enjoy this really fun game, but we gotta map. We gotta we gotta map where you ain't gotta worry about real players' thoughts.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:22

Um I like it. Um I think you hit the nail on the head with the um up upping the threat level on the UESC. Um even if they put out like more damage but reduced their target acquisition on real players, um, I feel like that would be a lot more um obtainable for a for a person to play. Um they could even honestly um they could take it in kind of like a Grandmaster Nightfall. Oh it's it's a map, but you follow it and you have to you know kill enemies here, kill enemies here, and then you get to the end and there's a boss, and then there's a chance to spawn, you know, three golds or three purples or three blues or whatever that's you know based on the level that you use on that map.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:34

That sounds exciting, dude. Give us a really hard boss increase. Why don't I work at Bungie? Yo, that sounds fun! Why don't I work at Bungie? Why don't you? Um, that sounds fun. Like, I I dude, like, I'm just not there's gonna come a time where me and you are gonna be ready for a break with this game. There's gonna that time, it will come. But guess what? Breaks are okay. Breaks are fine. We we break from all kinds of other games, but I am not ready to give up on this man just because somebody over at YouTube is saying there's only 9,000 players playing this game right now. There's no reason to continue playing it. Sorry if that comes off kind of mean, but I'm just I'm not I'm not I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid on that. Um we we're having a great time, man. And we're we're we're continuing to we're we formed new relationships. We had a blast tonight, and uh, yeah, man. I just it's it's been cool. It's been it's been good. It's been good. Well, bats, um, holy cow, man. Uh, we we did it again. Uh we we we've been going for an hour and five minutes. Um I I will always end with this bat, where can the people find you?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

Um someday I might actually end up expanding this little list, um of one but it is uh on Twitch at True Batman forty four forty-four. Real quick, I just wanted to say to anybody out there listening, if you have been listening to us, um, and you made it to the end, if you heard any of the ideas listed in this podcast, um I'm lazy and I'm not actually gonna send it to Bungie or anything. Um but if if you feel so inclined, you could you could always you know shoot it over there and put a timestamp and be like, hey, pay attention. Um and then if that happens, uh just just make sure to give us recognition. I don't I don't need to own it or anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:50

Hey, come give us a follow on Twitch. That's our payment. Absolutely. Give us a five give this podcast a five-star rating, baby. Yeah, come follow us on Twitch. Yes!

SPEAKER_01 1:06:59

All you come into my Twitch and say, dude, that idea's great. You're the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:07

Oh, it's gonna happen. We're gonna keep this thing rolling, dude. We're gonna eventually get somebody that says, I found you through the podcast. What it's gonna happen, and I can't wait for it. Uh, people, all the listeners, we've got like 22 downloads in episode two. We've got like 25 downloads in episode one. Thank you all so much. You have already exceeded our expectations. Um I'm just happy we're even here at episode three. Please, all of our listeners, keep keep put on more steam, keep it going. Please go over to True Batman 4444. Give that man a give that man a much deserved follow. If you're in it, if you catch him when he's live, he he go tends to go a lot live a lot on Fridays. Please tell him you're from the podcast. It would really, it would really make his day. Same for me. I am your host, Old Town, Old Underscore Town South. You can also find me on Twitch, Old underscore Town South. I tend to stream on the weekends, uh, and it's not consistently every uh weekend. Um a new dad got a lot of uh got a lot of obligations and responsibilities, but you will certainly every other Friday, every other Saturday, you will also catch me live on Twitch. It would make my it would warm my heart, make my day as well, for you to say you're from the podcast. We hope you all we hope you all have enjoyed the discussions tonight. We're still we're having a blast. We can't wait to see what the future holds uh for this game. And yes, I'm your host, old underscore town self. Love you all, stay classy, and we will catch you on the next one.