The elephant in the room - WE CAN'T CLAIM ANY REWARDS -AT ALL- IF WE ARE VIP, which means future XP gains and levels. That means playing the game and progressing nets you nothing. No rank up rewards that I desperately need to finish upgrading my stores. If we do not get compensated for this, that is a colossal L. The bad thing is I keep seeing people happy about being able to claim rewards as non VIP, but for those of us that have all factions VIP already we just get screwed. This bug is not a positive, it is a massive negative

Vault breaker is such a rushed and lazy design. Can't exfil anything for the codex, no solo and scaling for it. We're right back to where we were before yesterday because plenty of people went in to check it out, got destroyed by the bots and peaced out.

Why in the fuck has the solo experience been so ignored? I know the game was designed around trios, but a few 0s and 1s for bot density is all you need and at least the majority of solos would have a good time.

I like my trio, we have fun together, but when they aren't on and I want to play, I will play solo. Vault breaker is not fun solo, especially since the biggest driving force for me playing is the codex itself.

solos are the lifeblood of multiplayer games you KNOW this. The vast majority of the Destiny playerbase was solo for fuck's sake. They would hop in casually do some shit, and hop out.

It sucks, I love this game and I want to play more -- but tbh I don't really want to make more friends online right now. I made some great ones at release and we put in 200hrs together in S1. S2 being the disappointment it has been means we haven't been making much effort to play together and the solo experience once you have much of the codex filled out in the normal maps, and with there being literally no new priority contracts or story movement, makes solo feel like a waste of time.

It just suckks, man. This whole thing is bumming me out. At this point we'll be in skeleton crew maintenance mode before S4.

I have around 300 hours prior to VB launch, and It seems like it's just a separate mini game mode. It truly revolves around booking it around cryo and solving the maps mechanics, and I play the game for the looting and pvp/PvE entirely.

I get that it will draw a separate audience, but it's just not for me. Appreciate Bungies efforts and I'm glad people are enjoying it!

I'm just trying to post this ahead of the people who will post this tomorrow.

I mostly play assassin solo but have never felt I had an advantage PvP wise because I could invis sprint. Most engagements you use invis to get the jump or escape. The change feels weird to play

just had a crew fill on outpost

one teammate purple shield, me and the other free kits. We kill a team that also had one purple. Our guy takes theirs and drops his, so that he could walk out with two and we'd get to keep zero. me and the other guy ended up exfilling with a green and a blue shield while this repugnant goblin creep got richer.

Somehow this is a thousand times more offensive than the last dozen people who shouted 'you suck' in prox after killing me.

Anyway, don't do that.

EDIT: surprised by how many people are arguing "this guy should get whatever he wants because he's the one that took all the risk" ok mr. venture capital

me and the people with empathy and common decency are making sure everybody gets a purple shield and purple backpack before anyone's taking a second, regardless of what anybody infilled with. This is a social game, these are your teammates. we worked hard together and helped each other earn this loot. If you gave a shit about other people you'd share the important stuff.

and for those asking why i had more exfil value than them, i found an H-AR in an arms locker after the fight, and an outland that i took from the player that I killed with an ares from the original team. if you want a screenshot of the loot summary screen, petition bungie for a match history feature with me for the love of god we deserve it

Yo who okayed these vault thrower mega buffs lmfao. Genuinely no point in running any other gun right now, in a 1v1 with vault thrower gray shield versus mizzy and purple shield the vault thrower wins btw.

Can you please stay out of Perimeter? 2 straight hours of nothing but elites smacking me around. I'm literally just trying to activate two exfils for my contract.

you dont have anything to loose, so when you find asshole claiming to be experts just talking about their level and not helping other, people that have not played cryo, and just letting them die.

just can just leave the run and get another one super fast. to be honest this is the best thing ever when playing crew fill

I feel like the gold mod should have kept the added RPM in the 70's opposed to taking it away completely.

1. Wstr will still kill faster than the gold mod.
   
2. gold mod should feel awesome ( the subtext on the mod still claims it increases firerate, now it doesn't really add a different identity in anyway) .
   
3. the reason why mizzy was so over tuned was the headshot multiplier + there was no other gun in the sandbox that would challenge it within its optimal range.

now with options like the wstr, gold volt thrower, KKV( still need to test more)

the sand box feels like we have more CQB options.

Overall tho, the mizzy still feels like a great option, the wstr is a really fun high risk option too. the sandbox feels fresh. I like it!

how does everyone feel about the changes today?

They could have balanced the game for solo players too before all these layoffs happened. Now when I logged in I had to accept a new ; Limited software licence agreement. They are 100% preparing to close the doors on this game. If they do i at least feel like I have gotten my money’s worth in content these two and hopefully next season. But if they just tried to make the game more accessible for solos and duos from the start, we could have had a much better game these last months. And they even advertised in the game trailers and patch notes for vault breaker that duo and solo players was going to be prioritised, but didn’t even bother to just tune the game for it. So most of the vault breaker content is off limits until you squad up. And on top of that they only gave us this mode for 2 weeks. So many weird decisions from these devs during the lifespan of this game. It’s just sad they waisted the shot they had with this game, and on top of that they completely killed off destiny.

They said the update today was supposed to come with stat trackers and ways to see stats for your runner’s career? Did that ship or did they forget it like they forgot Sentinel?

Been on the fence for a while, was worried about matchmaking and PvE/PvP solo content, did they adress that or we still dooming around here?

fomo.

Vault breaker is great. Honestly a really good addition to help newer player learn the mechanics of cryo without having to risk 5k worth of gear every attempt. But here comes the kicker, every time I have an assassin on my team they ditch the rest of the squad and then leave the game when they go down halfway across the map. Why are you guys like this?

Edit: I’m not saying it’s every assassin that’s like this but it’s always an assassin that plays like this

Why are there no shop skins for the starter weapon (V75 Scar) in the sponsor kit for Vault Breaker? The weapon everyone will be using in this mode??

I imagine most of us are finished or really close to finishing the battle pass but I just went from 70 to 140 in one run of Vault Breaker. I only did Vault 01, took every T1 data item in there and left via final exfil. 58 UESC elims. I have no idea how much I actually got since it hit the cap but 70 in one go is insane. Get it before they patch it!!!!

I've had two runs in trios where one of the players clearly knows Cryo like the back of their hand, runs off, gets the security clearance, the batteries, opens the vault etc, WITHOUT us being there.

This just happened where me and the third member of the group were dying in some random room, while the other guy was standing in the exfil after clearing the vault.

This is the second time it's happened. Seriously, just play solo if this is what you're going to do.

I love Marathon and I want it to succeed. The feel of the guns and Runners, the aesthetic, the story, the vibes, everything’s dope. However, I don’t like the Extraction mode that much; it’s too sweaty for me, and sometimes I just wanna have a more chill experience. 

People online have been hoping that Marathon will become a game with multiple “pillars,” like Halo (campaign/multiplayer/Firefight) or Call of Duty (campaign/multiplayer/zombies/Warzone). Vault Breaker just came out and I think it’s awesome. It’s not perfect (the progression is a little shallow, but hey, it’s a 2-week mode) but I can see it as the beginning of one of these “pillars”.

That got me thinking…what should the other pillars be? 

~~~ 

Note: in all of the new modes below, the only thing you can exfil is Kit Data. Kit Data is identical to Vault Data from Vault Breaker: it is used to upgrade your Custom Kit and buy gear you can bring into the Extraction mode. Your Custom Kit can also be upgraded with Salvage. Play what you want!

~~~ 

PILLAR I: EXTRACTION

Sponsors: CyAc, NuCal, Traxus, MIDA, Arachne, SekGen

Mode I: Standard Extraction

This works exactly the same as it does right now. The Extraction Modes give you the most XP, they’re the only way to get Salvage, and all Contracts are completed in these modes, making them the core “story modes”. Not much else to be said, this mode is already well-understood.

Mode II: Sponsored Extraction

This one’s familiar too. Everything I said above holds true (story, Contracts, XP, Salvage), except everyone on the map starts with the same Gray Sponsored Kit. As we’ve experienced, this is more of a Battle Royale-ish mode.

PILLAR II: RETALIATION

Sponsors: CyAc, NuCal, MIDA

This is the pure PvE pillar. You bring in your Custom Kit (which works just like the Vault Breaker Sponsored Kit), complete the Mode objectives, and exfil with all the Kit Data you can carry. 

Mode I: Survival

Sponsored by CyAc. Played on all maps except Cryo Archive.

In Survival, you have access to the full map, but a limited amount of time. Do everything you can, and make it to the final exfil. It’s the same as the Sponsored Survival mode from earlier this season. 

Mode II: Safe Cracker

Sponsored by MIDA. Played on all maps.

This is like Vault Breaker, but it works on every map. If Cryo Archive is the map, it’s exactly like Vault Breaker. On all non-Cryo maps, world events are active (Lockdown, Warden, etc).

In Safe Cracker, you are given a Deluxe Key (blue) at the start of the match, just like Vault Breaker. When you arrive at the Key Room, you have to start a lockdown sequence (similar to a Secure Resource event in the current game). When you kill all the enemies, you can enter the Key Room and start looting. Inside you’ll find gear, Kit Data, and a Superior Key (purple). You can either extract, or do another more difficult lockdown at the Superior Key Room. Inside the Superior Key Room is even better gear and a Prestige Key (gold). You can either extract, or do a final, very difficult lockdown at the Prestige Key Room. 

In short: start with a Blue Key, work your way to a Purple Key and then a Gold Key, just like doing a second Vault in Vault Breaker.

Mode III: Lockdown Blitz

Sponsored by NuCal. Played on all maps except Cryo Archive.

In Lockdown Blitz, you are racing against another squad of Runners to defeat UESC. Your team has to do 3 Lockdowns in sequence, like the event on Dire Marsh. After each stage of the Lockdown, you get gear, UESC Certs, and Kit Data. Certs can be deposited at a DCON to send a squad of UESC Commanders onto the enemy team’s POI. After your third Lockdown, a Warden spawns at your POI. The first squad to kill their Warden wins. 

Both teams are competing on the same map, and your squad is locked to a POI until the Lockdown stage is complete. After that, you have 60 seconds to move to the next Lockdown POI, after which the previous one becomes out-of-bounds. For example, if your squad spawns at Complex, the enemy squad is at Quarantine. When you’re done, you move to Bio Research, then to Greenhouse, where you finish the Lockdown and fight the Warden. The enemy squad moves to Maintenance, then AI Uplink to finish up and fight their Warden. It’s on every non-Cryo map, not just Dire Marsh.

And yes, Destiny fans, this is like Gambit. 

PILLAR III: ATTRITION

Sponsors: Traxus, Arachne, SekGen

This is the PvP pillar. You bring in the day’s Sponsored Kit, fight enemy Runners, complete the Mode objectives, and earn XP and Kit Data for victory.

Mode I: Arena

Sponsored by Traxus. Played on all maps except Cryo Archive.

This is your standard arena multiplayer mode, like in Halo or CoD. You play on one POI (Overflow, Algae Ponds, Central Pinwheel, etc) against another squad of Runners. Gray Sponsored Kits. There’s no PvE, but you can still loot containers to look for gear, ammo, etc. You can’t loot enemy Runners, and whatever gear you pick up persists throughout the match. The number of players per team varies depending on the game mode (3v3, 4v4, or 5v5). Here are some examples of modes:

• Secure Resource: Teams compete to open a Secure Resource in the middle of the map; you have to take a special item from it and DCON it back at your spawn. Kinda like Neutral CTF (from Halo)
• From CoD: Search and Destroy, Demolition, Hardpoint, Domination
• From Halo: Team Slayer, King of the Hill, Oddball, Headhunter, Juggernaut
• From Destiny: Eruption, Team Scorched 
• Solo modes: Free-for-All, Gun Game, Sharpshooter (CoD)

Mode II: Tournament

Sponsored by Arachne. Played on all maps except Cryo Archive.

Tournament is similar to Arena, but every POI on the map has an Arena match going on. To make it simple, let’s just assume the mode is Team Slayer/Team Deathmatch. You are locked into a POI with another team. If you beat them in a short game of Team Slayer, you move to another POI and fight a different team. Eventually there are two teams left, and they duke it out at a final POI. After each round, you get chests full of gear to use at the next POI, and the loot gets better the deeper you go. 

Say Dire Marsh is the map, and you’re playing Team Slayer up to 15 kills at each POI. Your team starts at Complex, and you win. You have 60 seconds to loot the chests and move to the next POI—AI Uplink—before Complex becomes out-of-bounds. At AI Uplink, you fight another team up to 15 kills. If you win again, you loot the chests and move on to a final team at Algae ponds. So there are 8 squads at the start, then there are 4, then 2, then a victorious showdown in the center.

~~~ 

What do you think? Are there any other game modes/pillars that might work? I hope that you’re all enjoying Vault Breaker as much as I am, Runners. And I hope this game stays alive :)

Seriously why does a PvE mode level up my season level by like 10 levels in a single day when PvP matchmaking is based off of this level. No I’m not getting better at actual PvP in this PvE mode so my matchmaking shouldn’t be getting this affected in consequence. This really needs a nerf cuz once again I suck at PvP in this game to a decent degree and knowing my level is just skyrocketing with this mode just makes me not want to play it as much unfortunately. My main PvP comes from when I’m playing with my duo and it feels like I just shouldn’t touch the mode much if at all even if it is quite fun since I do really like the PvE of this game. I can get the argument people might want to put out that you’re gaining map knowledge from here which is fine, that’s what the mode is most going to be used for arguably, but 10 levels in one day bro be real now. It should never be by this much.

Title, pretty much. I know it is experimental, but I was quite disappointed by just how restrictive the current system is, and how linear progression is. I hope for future versions we get control over our loadout and meaningful pre-run choices.

If they want to keep it separate from the extraction modes, that’s totally fine. Instead, what if sponsor kit unlocks would give us more choices? For example you could buy an unlock that gives you access to infinite WSTRs, which you could drag into your loadout pre-run. Same with implants, shields, etc. This would also make progression deeper, instead of unlocking better weapons you would unlock each weapon, mod, and implant at a time.

In addition, for it to be a proper roguelite, I really feel like we need to get a small amount of currency from other sources (kills, security clearance levels, time survived) that doesn’t require extract. Right now you can get somewhat stuck in a low gear state if you can’t break a vault and extract.

Edit: roguelike => roguelite

The mode is ok, but it’s nothing crazy. It really just feels like a tutorial for Cryo and that’s cool. But, I’ve already played on Cryo, learned mostly everything, and experienced the map so this mode just seems pointless to me, especially since I can’t exfill.

Also, PVE alone just isnt fun in this game. The shells kits aren’t designed for fighting bots, it’s designed for fighting players. It’s not fun to shoot bullet sponges with no useful or flashy abilities, no fun voice lines and no interesting gameplay loop. The enemies and bosses themselves aren’t really interesting either, they stand there, shoot, and sometimes dash at you. They are extremely boring and it’s very clear that they are just fluff for progression or they’re there to give away players positions.

I don’t know man, I get that they want to appeal to more casuals, but this not the way you do it. This is a great PVP game, they need to lean into that instead of away. Add more quickplay modes, more map variants, and more customization for shells. This is a mode that should have been there on Cryo release and I find myself saying that a lot about Marathon. This game wasn’t ready and needed more time to cook, it’s very clear with the features being added that they are coming in way too late.

I hope they lock in for season 3 because to me, this ain’t it.

When Cryo Archives released the first time, some people like me asked for a solo mode, explaining that it would be totaly feasable with just some basic tuning.

This sub talked shit for weeks/months, "waaa waaa this a raid map, its intented to play as a team", well, no, and Vault Breaker definitively show it : Cryo is totaly playable solo.

As I explained since months : 95% of the Cryo map are totaly feasable solo, the whole gameplay loop is just : increase security level by finding tags and hacking security computers to advance further in the ship and find more tags and computer, this require absolutely no teamplay at all.

You have a whole ass codex on why this is a bad thing! I have defended marathon bc its my fav game and I think it deserves the accolades. Despite having 700 hours and willing to spend hundreds more I will be uninstalling.

Maybe the next step is to remove all enemies from the game and transform it into a sandbox