Marathon’s endgame is great. There’s the intense PvPvE puzzling of Cryo Archive, including a boss fight against the Compiler for unique gear, and then there’s Ranked, which gives you the chance to loot and shoot your way up the ladder.
While the endgame systems are expertly designed, it’s been far from simple to access them so far, with both Cryo Archive and Ranked being weekend-only affairs, give or take a day or two. In other words, if you couldn’t play on the weekend, you’d miss out. And even if you could, you’d have basically been forced to pick one or the other. On the one hand, it made sense since both modes inevitably saw you emptying out the vault you’d built up throughout the week. On the other hand, it’s an awkward schedule.
“We’ve heard your feedback,” Bungie states in a post on X, “having Ranked and Cryo Archive overlap can make it difficult to decide where to spend your time and hard-earned loot.”
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- Cryo Archive: Thursday 10 AM PT until Sunday 10 AM PT
- Ranked: Sunday 10 AM PT until Thursday 10 AM PT
As you can see, there’s no overlap between the modes anymore and Ranked is largely a mid-week affair. Is it perfect? No, but it’s an improvement, and Bungie admits this change likely still won’t solve all the frustrations: “We know that no schedule is perfect, but we’re here to listen and learn! As we see how this lands, we’ll continue to keep your feedback in mind as we make any future adjustments.”
Maybe I’m not thinking with my game developer ‘optimise for engagement’ brain, but I do wonder whether it’s worth simply having Ranked permanently available, and only Cryo Archive being a weekly ‘event’, so to speak. It would certainly ease pressure on the tight schedule. And with the lower entry requirements to this mode, it still gives you a chance to gear up for Cryo Archive if you wish, or stick to grinding competitive if that’s more your cup of tea. Is that not the best of both worlds for players?
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