It's a good game, but it isn't hitting. There's something missing, something important. -- Priority: Social Aspect of a Live Server Game -- Right now, I'd say it's the feeling of isolation. So you can team-fill. Big whoop. We've done that since counterstrike landed in the mid to late 90s. We even had more and better chat happening in that game. Most people don't play with an open mic and don't remember to PTT or don't have the brain space to do that in the moment. I do play with an open mic. Perhaps the issue is a bug I'm not aware of, where mics are not being detected, even though the game says it is. Sometimes in other apps you get messages that the device is already in use by another program, which may be the issue. Who knows? It could be that the bug that was in D2 is also in Marathon - that is, bluetooth headsets and earbuds, even if the mic is disabled as a device input, is being used as a telephony device, and thus "using" the mic, giving very low sound quality. I did have to fix that myself, and I'm thankful I know how but most probably don't. Could be that but I don't think so. If it isn't about bugs, then it's about a lack of social push in Bungie's decision making on UI. There's no social hub, which makes sense. Where to brains hang out, after all, between runs? To be fair, we do all have avatars in the form of shells, so we should be able to mingle with others on our brainfarm between missions, I think. Sort of like a "tower" space. I think we should also have prox chat capability there, with the option of muting specific players nearby if they're flooding the channel with unwanted chatter as sometimes happens (looking at you players who just walk around like radios topside on another robot-killing live-service). However, even in-match, there's no incentive to talk to rivals and there's hardly any socializing among the players in the match on the same team. This makes me feel like I'm actually playing by myself with AI bot companions. Even more unsatisfying is how they seem to bunch up around me and follow me like companions in Star Wars the Old Republic, as if I'm some kind of leader. It's weird and unsettling. There's absolutely zero social incentive in the game, and it actually defeats the purpose of playing with humans in a live-service multiplayer game. Even another FPS, the Fi. n. als. is more social and you go in for approximately the same amount of time in a fast-paced run. emote wheels and social wheels seem to be difficult if not downright clunky. As a side point, I don't consider myself an amazing player (maybe just "good enough") but the fact I extract with more and extract more often alone makes me play alone more often, even not as a Rook, as Rook really sucks at the start. I'm more willing to go in alone as a stealth Shell with a sponsored kit (free kit. So you know... you didn't really do anything by having the Rook there... because the starting weapons suck so much) than a Rook at this point. Although judging by the faction capstones, it looks like a Rook will be fun later on. -- Hotkeys & Actions -- Too many hotkeys and you can overwrite other binds. Not only that, but you can't wipe a bind. My workaround is to bind everything I won't use (eg toggle crouch) to a key I would never use intentionally and is far away (eg \). However, there's an interact and secondary interact. I kinda get it, but I would prefer just to press interact to pick up, and long press interact for swap. You can get away with hold-exclusive actions if it were an option, and binding less hotkeys. I play with a left-hand split keyboard section with 36 available keys and I still run out of easy-to-reach options for things I seem to need constantly. There are too many cross-bind situations. You need to utilize different game-states more effectively on your UI. - Menus - Normal Gameplay - Downed - Vehicle (haven't used or seen it yet, but I think it's a flying drone) - Other (minor states - status effects, more likely. Invis, hindered, airborn) In each situation keybinds should be replaced or blocked. Instead, my option to surrender is blocked by my choice to use that same key for opening my equipment wheel, until I realized my issue, because there's no keybind state change between downed and normal gameplay. Again, a choice to tap to use the item, and long press to open the wheel would have been a better option in my opinion. Or an overwrite to wipe the cross-bound key. Now I do realize there are items like a self-rez rare item you can use in your equipment slot, so that is my mistake on the binding. However, I was forced to use almost all my available keys on things and put the surrender button on the one that seemed least obtrusive and still reasonable. As it stands, I use 29 of the keys, 36 available, and all of them are absolutely necessary. -- Formula Without Innovation -- The game controls and UI are so reminiscent of D2, including menu and other controls, that it almost feels like a port. There aren't finishers (kind of), but otherwise you have supers, class, and kind of a charged melee or grenade in the form of various other abilities in the utility abilities (forget what it's called, tactical?). The exception is that nades are equipment now, which makes sense since they aren't light abilities, but actual equipment. I like the healing wheel too, but I think it's a misstep. In this game, you have a set equipment wheel with all options, whatever you don't have is greyed out. Instead of a wheel where you only have options based on what you do have. I'd say this would be a much cleaner and better way to manage your consumables and equipment - have one wheel based on what's in your inventory. No quick slots like others have, but just whatever is on your person. I think a good compromise would be: Drag items to your person that you definitely want to use, and drag items to the backpack you might want to save or don't have room for on your person. This would incentivize better space management in your pack in a tactical sense, and give you more of an idea what the items were as you pick them up. Having a nade hanging from your body is like a quick-slot of it's own, rather than in your bag which makes 100% logical sense. It's being used that way currently a little, so why not just combine both wheels to eliminate 2 hotkeys, and then allow a longpress on the use button to open the wheel and eliminate a 3rd hotkey. So much less mental overhead for the player. -- Map and Contracts -- I like the story so far, in the about 6 hours I played and went through contracts. I don't like my hand being held in a game, like in D2 being led along by a waypoint indicator, so I do like how it doesn't hold my hand. I don't pay attention to the environment if the little waypoint indicator is always on my HUD, and I get lost easy later if I don't have it as a consequence, because I'm following a game version of GPS. I especially realized this on Kepler, when I realized I have no freaking idea which tunnel to go through. However, I don't like how sparse the indicators are in Marathon if I'm close to a contract objective. The contract clearly states it's a southern building on x or y place, or it's a well-known building in a certain region. So just put the spot on the map as a waypoint. I don't need it on my HUD, in my face. Just put the spot on the map. -- Enemies and Identification -- Currently, the enemies, whether they are runners or UESC look so similar in some cases that I can't tell the difference. For example the cloaking UESC looks so much like a shell that I thought it was at first, but it didn't go down quick enough. Shells are not blocky, UESC is very blocky, but for some reason, they just aren't easy to tell apart at first. UESC is definitely not easy to tell apart. Grenadiers look almost the same as the regular ones, and comdrs look so similar that you don't realize you've been completely outgunned. The shield is a dead give away, but on grenadiers not so much. A codex on enemies would be good if there isn't one already, cause I had no idea for the first 4 hours there was any difference at all except with the recruits, a mid-tier that seemed to fire or throw nades, and a shielded enemy that seemed to take 4 clips to down AFTER it's shield was gone. If there is a codex for enemies, then nevermind. -- What I Like -- - I like that there's no workshops, and that's instead an armory that you are able to unlock as you increase with your factions. I like that you need to bring items to them to get specific things, instead of just credits, and the credits are primarily used for weapons, a common currency, or upgrades in faction trees. My wish here is that items were more identifiable as something that you need for upgrades and ones that get autosold. I think the icon is just too unobvious for me, and it took about 4 hours before I realized "oh, this is just junk". - I love the datacards. Excellent choice to make a run still worthwhile in the start especially, because you still get credits from a lost run. - I really like the story so far, even though PvE isn't the focus - I like that you can start customizing your character within a very short time and that the options look good no matter what it is. - I like how fast it is to go from one match to another - I like the breaking windows and shutters that can go up and down, and how the key rooms or locked containers really do seem valuable if you can get into them and get what you need and extract. - I like how some exfils are guarded and you have to weigh whether or not you can risk it, especially if there is a risk of being 3rd partied by other players. -- Conclusion -- Good game. Clunky UI/UX. Too much of a D2 clone in PvP skin. Should have just done open-world PvP in D2