TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 1,997
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
"Can't shoot a single bullet without free kitted Assassins third-partying me in succession."
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Did anyone else just have an off night in Marathon? Mine was a bloodbath: nonstop fights, third-party ambushes, and sneaky Assassin solos sending me back to the menu. While I'm happy to chalk that up to the random nature of competitive FPSes, matchmaking working itself out, and generally not being good at Marathon, I hadn't considered that the uptick in intensity could be related to this week's patch.
If you missed it, yesterday's Marathon update made a grip of changes to sponsored kit ammo, thermal scope effectiveness, and UESC bot health. That was the stuff I was focused on, but the Marathon community has honed in on a particular bullet point that I totally missed:
That would explain a lot. It seems like every time I dare to make noise now, be it a scrap with a bot grunt or shooting down a loot drone, another player shows up immediately after. The same kept happening on a larger scale in trios: two teams start a fight and before you know it another squad jumps in.
Sound changes are a hot topic on the Marathon subreddit today, which doesn't mean the adjustment is universally negative, but detectable enough that many think it feels off.
"Every match has become a third party fest now, you can hear gunfire too far away with how small the maps are. It was fine before, why was this changed?" wrote Reddit user Impossible-Finger942.
"I thought gunshot sounds were already kinda high. Now it genuinely feels like half the server congregates wherever the first shot is fired then the winner does PvE for 20min and pops the occasional Rook," added another commenter.
To echo that experience: I was also pretty happy with how far sound traveled before the update. You could reliably hear fights breaking out from around one compound away—far enough to pick up a scent of players you were already trending toward, but dampened enough that Marathon's modestly-sized maps still have some privacy. I'm hearing a lot more gunshots than usual now, so the range increase could be significant.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
"It's awful in solos, can't shoot a single bullet without free kitted Assassins third-partying me in succession," wrote Pirulete in another top post today. "I guess I just gotta play Assass...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
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Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Did anyone else just have an off night in Marathon? Mine was a bloodbath: nonstop fights, third-party ambushes, and sneaky Assassin solos sending me back to the menu. While I'm happy to chalk that up to the random nature of competitive FPSes, matchmaking working itself out, and generally not being good at Marathon, I hadn't considered that the uptick in intensity could be related to this week's patch.
If you missed it, yesterday's Marathon update made a grip of changes to sponsored kit ammo, thermal scope effectiveness, and UESC bot health. That was the stuff I was focused on, but the Marathon community has honed in on a particular bullet point that I totally missed:
That would explain a lot. It seems like every time I dare to make noise now, be it a scrap with a bot grunt or shooting down a loot drone, another player shows up immediately after. The same kept happening on a larger scale in trios: two teams start a fight and before you know it another squad jumps in.
Sound changes are a hot topic on the Marathon subreddit today, which doesn't mean the adjustment is universally negative, but detectable enough that many think it feels off.
"Every match has become a third party fest now, you can hear gunfire too far away with how small the maps are. It was fine before, why was this changed?" wrote Reddit user Impossible-Finger942.
"I thought gunshot sounds were already kinda high. Now it genuinely feels like half the server congregates wherever the first shot is fired then the winner does PvE for 20min and pops the occasional Rook," added another commenter.
To echo that experience: I was also pretty happy with how far sound traveled before the update. You could reliably hear fights breaking out from around one compound away—far enough to pick up a scent of players you were already trending toward, but dampened enough that Marathon's modestly-sized maps still have some privacy. I'm hearing a lot more gunshots than usual now, so the range increase could be significant.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
"It's awful in solos, can't shoot a single bullet without free kitted Assassins third-partying me in succession," wrote Pirulete in another top post today. "I guess I just gotta play Assass...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?