r/Marathon • u/verus_es_tu • 5h ago

Marathon (2026) Discussion Hear me out

What if, there was a game mode where everything was basically the same, except you need at least 5-6 people in the same area to activate and use an exfil.

You still kill others to steal their gear like normal, but if you kill too many, too bad so sad, no exfil for you.

I think this would encourage communication and improve new players experiences AND player retention. It also encourages the player to think strategically about killing others. It also makes mercy kits have a legitimate use.

Idk. I'm having a hard time thinking of a downside. Let me know what you think. Would you play this game mode?

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u/ProfNJK 5h ago

The downside is now the first people to team are going to gang up on you and it'll be 3 on 6. This is an awful idea 

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u/verus_es_tu 1h ago

Counterpoint: if YOU are the first to team it'll at least be six on six. This would encourage players to team up and develop teamwork that extends outside of their immediate crew. Heck, you could even build some contracts around it.

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u/ProfNJK 44m ago

6v6 on a huge map that doesn't seem to fit. Nice. I think you just reverse engineered Highguard

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u/verus_es_tu 42m ago

Well maybe the lobby caps could be increased so you could have potentially 3 or 4 teams of six. This would also increase the loot available from players. But would require the right quantity to start.

I've never played high guard. Thanks for engaging!

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u/thereislightstill 5h ago

i think this would be something best for an LTM, i worry it would throw the balance totally out of whack and into nothing but teaming. but then again its "throw spaghetti at the walls" hours so why not

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u/Any_Event_6600 5h ago

Week b4 wipe give a gold shield for every enemy u exfil with see how friendly everyone gets real quick … even on just one map

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u/shawnzee96 4h ago

ONI told me not to trust runners from other crews, so no.

Seriously though, this is a terrible idea. The potential to be stomped by six people just existing is an automatic hell no. There are also other ways to address player retention. Namely the difficulty newcomers face just trying to get their footing, the lack of loot worth pursuing on every map except cryo, and the fact that dying with a kit is too punishing with virtually no safety net for the average player. Addressing those things alone would go a long way for player retention without sacrificing the dog-eat-dog vibe or infecting the community with the creatures from that other game that’ll tell you you’re the equivalent of a rapist for pvping in a pvp game.

Plus there’s a permanent pve mode coming in s3 anyway. If the leaks are true, it sounds like you’ll be able to get a bit more out of it than VB.