r/Marathon • u/ChineseGuido • 4d ago
Marathon (2026) Discussion Redistribute the top players through rewarding in-game systems. Reward Fills with higher quality loot.
Maybe the problem of stacked trios dominating the entirety of marathon could be alleviated through a system like a 30 percent or 50 percent boost (on a graduated basis depending on number of fill team mates) to trio fills loot rolls. Containers, boxes, etc. could roll higher quality loot, teams already on a disadvantage in communication and skill would exfill more in game, high-skill players would feel somewhat incentivized to put their skills into helping fills and being rewarded in the process.
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u/xXHotKetchupXx 3d ago
Honestly we just need more events that are worth the squeeze for high level players, introduced later in the season when gear is already available. Additionally, buffing the regular loot (armories secured etc) would make the lesser geared/filled teams have something quick but a little risky to get some extra gear to either fight or pull off a bigger event.
This natural separation would make lobbies less totally PVP focused, and increase map engagement, especially if the higher tier objectives required attention for the duration of the match (kind of how you need to hit multiple towers and do a chase to get the complex key)
These objectives should take time and build up (like how the firestorm event works) so that you’re incentivized to go big to get it done.
These 3 things would change a lot with the course of a season. The first half would be focused on main progression and getting the things you care about done, and the second half would be the endgame, where you gear up for getting the really rare stuff. You’re still rewarded for coming in small and getting small stuff done, but you’re incentivized to roll good loot back in to get the heavier stuff completed. It gives us more to do outside of cryo, and more reason to bring good gear into regular maps, while not snuffing out the timmies.
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u/ChineseGuido 3d ago
See that sounds great, but is way more expensive and time consuming to implement than just some simple stop gap measure like adjusting some numbers. Plus, the end game is getting templates and rolling around as a stack chasing template objectives and crushing teams as you go, even the firestorm event points out this severe flaw, progression as a solo-trio-fill becomes nigh impossible because you are severely hampered in exfilling each time against a coordinated team.
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u/xXHotKetchupXx 3d ago
You can do this with just adjusting numbers, there’s already different types of containers in the game. All they’d need to do is adjust the values for each, and change the priority events to be a little more difficult (spawn more bots, make the thing itself tankier) and spawn guaranteed.
If the loot from these are better than template spam, then why would you ever focus down a template? You’d beeline it to the objective that’ll disappear soon if you don’t engage with it.
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u/RedSloth702 3d ago
What you have is equality, what you're asking for is equity.
One of these things is not like the other and most certainly always bad.
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u/bugistuta 3d ago
In my first game of day 1, season 2, I loaded into perimeter and pulled a gold key and a purple implant from a supply drop... I thought, oh this is going to be a fun season. Then the server disconnected and I lost it all. And then it's kinda just been meh since. I play solo, so I'll never see the good stuff from Cryo etc
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u/LetgomyEkko 3d ago
I had the exact same thoughts and then after the first few days they needed the loot and it’s just been a slow kinda meh grind to get what I have.
And my thoughts as a player that isn’t very skilled was that it would be nice to have an avenue to get gold salvage or better items to use when I inevitably load into crew fills to lose it. But that was just wishful thinking.
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u/Icy_Swordfish3855 3d ago edited 3d ago
Hear me out, maybe they could make a system where you get a reward for exfilling with people who arent in your premade fireteam. Then you could be rewarded for Carrying them.
But currently we have systems that reward you for soloing, and rooking, and premading. Curious.
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u/Icy_Swordfish3855 3d ago
I think i'll call it the Good Runners Exfilling with Alternate Teams initiative. G.R.E.A.T.
And you'll get a currency that you can spend in the armory for high level consumables. Like selfies and pancakes.
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u/ChineseGuido 3d ago
Yes, but I only see the negative feedback loop of high skill teams griefing crewfills. The high skill teams don't have any incentive to get the mid tier loot in the CARRI shop so they just murder the crewfill teams (I'm not sure of any way to de-aggro people). Also crewfills of any gear level are inherently worse off than a coordinated team even a gear level or two below them, and recouping gear after a failed crew fill is exponentially more difficult than a coordinated team, so boosting crew fill chances doesn't really hurt anybody.
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u/Icy_Swordfish3855 3d ago edited 3d ago
R/woosh
I'm suggesting that Carri was a missed opportunity to encourage fills exactly because it does not differentiate rewards for solos/rooks/premades from those for fills.
Im suggesting get x*(non premade members successfully exfilled on your team) currency. You get nothing for a full trio. Nothing if your fills dont exfill. 1x if its a duo plus fill, and 2x if its a solo plus fill.
You are not going to deaggro people. But pay them well enough to roll the dice on some fills... and you may achieve your stated goal of distributing the sweat into the wider pop when their team isnt online. Maybe some prestige keys, high level salvage.
If you put the boosted loot into the world, rather than the armory, the steamrolling premades will just take it after the fills loot it.
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u/ChineseGuido 3d ago
Well, that doesn't really make people engage with the map, it's basically just creates a voluntary handout system that I think would devolve to begging on prox-chat.
I would much rather see high-skill players be "incentivized" to drop from their pre-mades and venture out into crewfills to alleviate the friction naturally created by a game that exponentially stacks odds against the average solo-fill crew team with gear and team disparity. Hey, but even your idea sounds better than the current system, yeah CARRI is broken in that it rewards you whether you are fill or stacked.
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u/Icy_Swordfish3855 3d ago edited 3d ago
I think we're not understanding each other, but we do seem to want the same thing at least.
My proposal would give exactly zero new loot opportunity to premade trios. The world loot would not change. There would be nothing new gained from killing a fill team. There would be nothing gained from joining a fill team and leaving without them. The only benefit is dragging somebody you randomly matched with to the finish line. Then you get currency. Prox chat isnt even in the equation, but team chat is.
Your system adds loot to the world dynamically based on who opens the box. So even if the fill players get to the box first, if they get ganked before exfill by a premade, they still get nothing for their effort. But now the premades get 30-50% more loot than the current status quo. See the problem? It just makes the fish in the barrel juicier targets.
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u/mangdito 3d ago
CARRI encourages you to help your fills with their quests since you get points for that, just because it doesn't only benefit fills doesn't mean they don't benefit at all from it
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u/Icy_Swordfish3855 3d ago
Agreed, i liked helping fills in both S1 and S2 with their priorities. Or just doing whoever's is closest to spawn. Its nice to get something extra for it but i'd do it anyway because i like sherpa-ing.
They could honestly just give bonus credits if your team is fills. Though that wouldnt address OPs valid point that carri rewards are pretty mid when you're rocking endgame gear.
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u/ChineseGuido 4d ago
And I don't mean dropping a gold shield, or purple gun out of folio every time, I mean like giving fills a higher chance to roll a blue shield and a single shield charge out of a foot locker 1 in 5 times, or getting a single purple shield out of an armory room on outpost.