Marathon Update Gives Players One Free Cryo Archive Sponsored Kit Each Week.

Marathon has tweaked its “item economy,” now offering one free Cryo Archive Sponsored Kit each week to make it easier to participate in its weekend-only endgame zone, the Cryo Archive.

Cryo Archive doubled down on the ultra hardcore Marathon experience, with several requirements you needed to meet in order to access it. As an extraction shooter, Marathon can be brutal; if you fail to exfil at the end of a game, you lose everything you took in with you, including your weapons and consumables. But Cryo Archive is even harder to get into, because your loadout needs to be worth at least 5,000 credits just to play.

Marathon players had called on Bungie to make Cryo Archive more accessible by giving all players the free loadout that was offered when the map launched once per week, and now it’s in the game.

Former professional Counter-Strike player, Shroud, has said that while Cryo Archive offers an incredible experience, it’s too difficult for casual players. Speaking in a recent stream, the influential gamer said: “Cryo Archive is insane. It’s the most elaborate extraction shooter map I’ve ever seen in a game ever. The loop that they made is truly something special. The problem is, is it too elaborate? Is it too complex? Is it too much of a grind? Is your 9-5 grandma and grandpa going to be able to do it? I don’t know.”

Meanwhile, update 1.0.6.2 also fixed an issue that prevented Rooks from spawning with the same six depleted Shield Charges and Health Kits that all runners get, and addressed a couple of UI bugs, too.

Interestingly, the WSTR combat shotgun has been tweaked once again, suggesting Bungie still isn’t happy with it. After last week’s nerf, the WSTR has now had its damage increased, up from 78 to 85, and its critical multiplier reduced from 1.15x to 1.05x. You’ll also find that it now does an additional 75% damage bonus against AI targets.

Overall, players seem delighted to have a free Cryo Archive Sponsored Kit each weekend, and the hope is the raid’s player population will increase as a result. Players also seem played that Bungie is “open to re-buffing weapons as a form of iteration, rather then [sic] nerfing something and leaving it useless.”

“I’d bet money that the server stats for the WSTR were significantly worse than they expected post nerf,” suggested one player. “When it struggles to two-tap a white shield bot and a DBNO runner, you know it was too heavy-handed. The +75% damage to bots proves this too.” In response, another wrote: “Still wish they would have nerfed the fire rate instead of the damage. A double-barreled that doesn’t hit hard feels off, and fire rate nerfs would be a more elegant solution to bring it in line with Misriah and circuit breaker, as well as reduce the necessity of stack overflow.”

One Bungie fan with a long memory joked: “I’ll never forget what they did to my sweet Halo 2 pistol, it never returned to its former glory.”

These changes are the latest of many. Just last week, Marathon doubled the amount of Depleted Patch Kits (meds) and Depleted Shield Charges (armor) consumables players could carry in a single inventory slot as Bungie bid to make its extraction shooter less punishing for newbies. The week before, Bungie’s boldest attempt yet went live, introducing the CyberAcme Runner Reinforcement Initiative (C.A.R.R.I.), a “new protocol from ONI that rewards solo Runners and coordinated crews for completing contract objectives and exfiling together.”

Here are the full patch notes:

Marathon update 1.0.6.2 patch notes:

Item Economy

• One free Cryo Archive Sponsored Kit can now be claimed each week.
• Fixed an issue preventing Rooks from spawning with the updated 6 Depleted Shield Charges and Depleted Patch Kits that sponsored kits now have.

Combat

Weapons

• WSTR Combat Shotgun
  • Increased damage from 78 to 85.
  • Reduced critical multiplier from 1.15x to 1.05x.
  • Slightly reduced the rate at which damage falls off.
  • Added 75% damage bonus against AI targets.
  • MIPS Slug Converter Prestige mod
    • Fixed an issue that caused the slug to hit geometry when aiming around corners, vents, ladders, or nearby cover.
    • Increased critical multiplier from 1.15x to 1.9x.
    • Reduced projectile velocity and increased bullet drop.
    • Reduced aim assist cone radius by 48%.

User Interface and Experience

• Fixed an issue causing the reinforced shield to use the incorrect base shield icon. The reinforce icon now correctly shows a “+” inside the shield.
• Fixed an issue causing the Armory HUD to disappear when hovering over offered items.
• Fixed an issue that was causing an empty space to show instead of a grid in the Overflow inventory screen.

Contracts

• Outpost
  • Fixed an issue that could cause Runners to get stuck behind barriers in the Drone Wing while completing the Mida Truth/Lies 2/6 contract.

Zones

• Cryo Archive
  • Added vent covers in Biostock and Preservation that prevent early access from the hub until security clearance 2 is unlocked. Security clearance 1 is needed to open the vents for those who infil on the Biostock or Preservation side.
    • Developer Note: Our previous update began the process of ensuring teams cannot bypass the security doors separating the wings from one another without appropriate clearance, this patch continues that effort. We’ll continue to monitor and be on the lookout for more instances like this to ensure we keep spawns in a fair state.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented scan terminals from reliably revealing battery locations on the map.

General

• Fixed an issue causing inconsistencies when using the push-to-talk toggle setting for crew voice chat on controllers.

Stability

• Fixed an issue that could cause players to receive an error and be unable to join the game when starting their run.

Localization

• Fixed an issue causing the C.A.R.R.I. commendation description to display incorrectly in some languages

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.