Latest Marathon patch brings sizeable changes as Bungie strives to get things right

Bungie is continuing to work on improving Marathon now that the predictable internet hate-fest on it has started to die down a little. We have just got a new patch incoming that, from the version number at least, sounds like it’s more of a minor hotfix, but has actually turned out to be quite a meaty update. Let’s have a closer look.

Marathon Patch Notes 1.0.0.4 highlights

Quick Summary

• Thermal scopes nerfed across all weapon classes
• UESC enemy health slightly reduced
• New NuCaloric and Traxus contracts added
• More Med Cabinets and Munitions Crates in Perimeter
• Multiple crash fixes and stability improvements

The latest Marathon patch is a fairly sizeable update that focuses on improving combat balance, tweaking the item economy, and squashing a bunch of the more frustrating bugs that have been cropping up in recent runs.

One of the biggest changes comes to the Perimeter zone, where Bungie has increased the number of Med Cabinets and Munitions Crates that can spawn, making survival slightly less punishing during longer matches.

Players using the free sponsored kits from MIDA, CyberAcme, and Arachne will also start with more ammo, helping early-game encounters feel a little less stingy. Combat tuning is another major highlight, with the health of most UESC enemies slightly reduced, so firefights burn fewer resources while still maintaining the intended difficulty. Thermal scopes have also been toned down across multiple weapon classes, reducing target clarity and cutting detection ranges significantly, particularly for snipers, which now highlight targets up to 100 meters instead of the previous 180.

Beyond balance tweaks, the patch introduces two new contracts, NuCaloric and Traxus, while also making the UESC Commander encounter easier to deal with.

On the technical side, the update addresses a range of stability problems, including server crashes, client crashes, and various interface bugs, alongside fixes for issues like doors locking players out of the intro mission and items disappearing during exfiltration with the Runner Rook.

Marathon Patch Notes 1.0.0.4

Here are the full patch notes so you can see what’s arriving at your end.

Item Economy

• Increased the number of Med Cabinets and Munitions Crates that can spawn on Perimeter
• Increased the amount of starting ammo in MIDA, CyberAcme, and Arachne free Sponsored Kits
• Reduced the frequency UESC Grenadiers drop EMP grenades

Combat

• Fixed an issue where players could sometimes die instantly in confinement events
• Fixed an issue where the shield break screen effects could constantly play when you had a heal over time effect and a damage over time effect on you at the same time
• Increased the range gunfire and explosions can be heard from

Weapons

Thermal Scopes

• Reduced visual clarity on targets with thermal scopes
• Adjusted max distances for thermal highlight:
  • Pistols: 40 meters (down from 55)
  • Rifles/LMGs/SMGs: 60 meters (down from 65)
  • Precision Rifles: 80 meters (down from 100)
  • Snipers: 100 meters (down from 180)

Overrun

• Increased default ammo capacity by 5

Runners

Rook

• Fixed an issue where backpacks could be deleted when exfiling with Rook
• Fixed an issue where Rook’s position was not being displayed on the map screen.
• Increased CyAc reputation gain from exfilling with Rook
• Rook will now have the same Faction reputation bonus for exfilling that solo players receive
• Rook’s WSTR shotgun will now spawn as Compromised
  • Compromised items require use of a Matter Fixative during the run to exfil with the item

UESC

• Reduced health of most UESC enemies and shield hp of UESC bosses by a small amount

DEVELOPER NOTE: With this change we hope to alleviate some of the resource burden in both Solos and Crews when it comes to engaging UESC in combat. The goal here is to allow your bullets and meds to go further without reducing too much of the UESCs bite. We see the feedback loud and clear that players appreciate the friction that our UESC combatants provide and we have no plans to change that direction.

Contracts

• Increased default distance objective nav points appear from 10m to 20m

Introducing NuCaloric Contract

• Fixed an issue where enemy Crews could receive NuCal contract VO audio and subtitles from a long distance away

Introducing Traxus Contract

• Reduced the difficulty of the UESC Commander encounter

Zones

Outpost

• Temporarily disabled switches access route to the Broken Wing on Outpost

DEVELOPER NOTE: We are temporarily disabling the “Broken Wing” entrance into the Pinwheel while we make some tuning changes to it. In its current state it trivializes entrance into the Pinwheel. We are making some tweaks to maintain the spirit of the “silent” entrance while better matching the risk / reward of the Pinwheel. Runners can continue to take advantage of all other ways into the Pinwheel (including the additional silent method) in the meantime.

Rewards Pass and Store

• Fixed an issue where Silk balances were not updating correctly without restarting the game
• Fixed an issue where bundle prices could be displayed incorrectly
• Fixed an issue where cosmetic items might incorrectly say “Savings” when they are full price
• Increased the LUX bundle from (1000 + 100) to (1000 + 120)

Stability

• Fixed a rare issue that could cause dedicated server crashes
• Fixed several issues that could cause client crashes

General

• Fixed an issue where doors would lock preventing players from finishing the new player intro mission
• Updated the description of Perimeter (Beginner) on the Zone Select screen
• Fixed a bug where the Text Chat window could get stuck open
• Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when attempting to use an IME Keyboard
  • Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when typing quickly with an IME Keyboard
  • DEVELOPER NOTE: Some issues may still remain with third-party IME software and we are continuing to investigate. Windows built-in IME may be a temporary workaround for users who are experiencing issues while we work on a permanent fix.
• Adjusted the location of the IME keyboard to be closer to the Text Chat window
• Players will no longer see an extended black screen during the map load sequence