If you’ve been playing Marathon and have been bodied by geared-out players, packing fully upgraded guns and purple shields, a new experimental game mode coming this week may be exactly what you’ve been waiting for.
Announced on social media by game director Joe Ziegler, this new mode titled ‘Dire Marsh Sponsored’ will force players to queue up with only the basic free sponsored kits equipped. What this means is players will have to scavenge better equipment from around the map, and that no initial advantage will be present for any player.
As Ziegler explains: “This is a new experimental queue that is focused on learning a bit more about our early gear ecosystem. In this queue all players will enter with a free sponsored kit and be challenged to use what they find on Dire Marsh to upgrade themselves and get out! Details below.”
To play this, you’ll have to play as either a duo or crew of three players, so no solo play allowed. The explicit things being tested by Bungie with this experiment, according to Ziegler, are: “how the game plays out with low fixed set gear conditions and caps”, and “how the zero to hero play works in low starting set gear conditions and caps.”
This marks the latest in a series of experimental modes, the first being duo queue which has ended up a mainstay ever since. The game, which reportedly has a staggering development budget of at least over $200m, has been throwing out a series of patches and bug fixes since its release. These include major changes to overpowered weapons and abilities, and an emphasis on a zero-tolerance cheating policy.