Bungie is no stranger to controversy over its live services and how it keeps them alive. Destiny 2 is a constant source of highs and lows, all based on major updates or the lack thereof, and now, Marathon, their latest live service extraction shooter, is getting a taste of that Bungie magic with their first major update. Alongside some welcome adjustments, there are a handful of nerfs that have the community experiencing a range of emotions from anger to outright confusion.
In Marathon’s first major patch, which you can find all the details on Marathon Hub here, several new changes were introduced. In addition to some fixes and balance changes around the ammo economy and sponsor kits, the major source of community anguish was a set of nerfs aimed at the AI UESC forces that patrol each map and terrorize players.
Here is what they had to say about the UESC changes.
UESC
*Reduced health of most UESC enemies and shield hp of UESC bosses by a small amount*
DEVELOPER NOTE: With this change we hope to alleviate some of the resource burden in both Solos and Crews when it comes to engaging UESC in combat. The goal here is to allow your bullets and meds to go further without reducing too much of the UESCs bite. We see the feedback loud and clear that players appreciate the friction that our UESC combatants provide and we have no plans to change that direction.
Most community sentiment is actually amusing, as people are upset that they are getting weakeend, as the Marathon community has established itself as a pretty hardcore set of players, and don’t want to see the game become too easy as a result of these changes.
“Was not expecting blanket UESC nerfs. Feels like an instant reaction to “game is too hard” complaints. Don’t love that, honestly, via Paul Tassi.
Ifrostbolt said “Not smiling over the UESC nerfs. I really liked how dangerous they were.“
Lastly, longtime Bungie community member Mactics said “Maaan why did they nerf the PvE? I grew to really love how much of a threat they posed, it made the game feel so challenging and interesting“
The larger Marathon community echoed this sentiment, with reactions ranging from hostility towards Bungie to others just wondering why make the change in the first place. We will see how these changes shake up the meta long-term, as work is still underway to unlock the fourth endgame map, Cryo Archive, as we speak.
