A ‘free kit frenzy’ mode for cheapskates arrives in Marathon this week

Marathon is running another experimental playlist ahead of its next balancing patch. Following successful tests of a duos mode that Bungie plans to make a “real feature” in Season 2, the next playlist introduces what game director Joe Ziegler calls a “free kit frenzy.”

“For our next experiment, starting Wednesday, 4/15 at 10 am PT, we will be enabling the Dire Marsh – Sponsored Queue. This is a new experimental queue that is focused on learning a bit more about our early gear ecosystem,” Ziegler wrote in an official update. “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!”

The Sponsored Queue is essentially the inverse of its Ranked and Cryo Archive playlists which set a high minimum loadout value to participate. Here, the required buy-in is zero credits, which Bungie calls a “zero to hero” format.

The test will run for two weeks (4/15 to 4/29) on Dire Marsh only, though Bungie may extend or cut short that timing depending on how things go. As for what the team hopes to get out of it, Ziegler says it will be “observing and looking to understand” the following:

• How the game plays out with low fixed set gear conditions and caps
• How the zero to hero play works in low starting set gear conditions and caps
• Any technical issues that arise

It’s an intriguing format, and at least one PC Gamer contributor is excited for the “stress-free” implications of a sponsored kit mandate. I am, however, skeptical it’ll result in meaningfully different matches than what we have now. As it stands, there are already free sponsored kit players sprinkled among paid loadouts in the average Marathon lobby, so it’s not as if low-stakes matchups are new.

What a free kit requirement does have are certain guarantees that could inform playstyles, such as the knowledge that I won’t get sniped by a thermal scope Longshot 60 seconds into the match or be jumped by a full squad of purple-shielded freaks with shotguns. With the small pool of grey-tier weapons handed out in free kits, the Sponsored Queue will be the only true equalized playlist in Marathon, and that alone makes this an experiment worth having, I reckon.

The test will coincide with Marathon’s next significant balancing patch—the one that will finally buff the fan favorite, but underpowered, Recon shell.