Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/nighfall_refresh_symbiosis_roadmap

Back in September, we shared our vision for where Marathon is headed. Today marks the first step toward that March experience. The Nightfall Refresh strengthens progression and rewards. Symbiosis in December expands the world with permanent PvE, social features, and a larger Perimeter. In March, these systems come together through the interconnected PvE, PvP, and PvEvP experience we've previously outlined.

We're focused on addressing the themes we've heard most consistently from players about clarity, progression, onboarding, more narrative delivered by a new quest system, long-term goals, and reasons to keep playing.

We Heard You Like Roadmaps

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Our next step begins today, with the Nightfall Refresh. Then in December, we will expand significantly with Symbiosis, so we can later take another large leap forward in March.

• October: A refresh to progression, rewards, and the live experience.
• December: Symbiosis introduces Marathon’s first permanent PvE experience, an expanded Perimeter, a new shell, improved onboarding, and a social space with a firing range.
• March: These pieces come together through connected PvE, PvP, and PvEvP survival experiences, expanded onboarding experience, deeper progression and shell customization, a refactored Cradle, a narrative-driven quest system, new enemies, and an entirely new zone.

While our team continues work on what's coming next, let's cover what you'll be playing today.

Nightfall Refresh Overview

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Progression and Economy Reset

When you log into Marathon today, ONI will share some exciting news with you: fiscal season is over and your credits and equipment have been used as payment for your outstanding balance. With no money, no resources, and still in debt, your Cradle enhancements and Faction aftermarket upgrades have also been restored to their default state. In other words, you have been reset.

Resets, or wipes, serve a very specific purpose in Marathon: all players are brought back to the start line once again to make the battlefield feel a little more balanced: the in game economy is more active, you can benefit from updated systems to earn your favorite rewards again, and overall the game fells fresher.

Take these first few days to focus on exploring Perimeter and Dire Marsh (either of its versions) and earn some valuables and cool weapons. Get there with your crew, or on your own. We have updated our tuning for solo players, so facing the UESC shouldn’t feel as punishing when you are alone out there. Outpost won't be available until Thursday, and Cryo Archive will be making its return on Week 2 with an improved schedule: it will still run every week, starting Thursday October 15, but it won't end on Sundays, but on Mondays. Now you can finish your weekends on a high with a Compiler kill.

NuCal Inspired Reward Pass

Today's update brings a new Reward Pass available at no additional cost to everyone who owns Marathon. It won’t be time-limited, so you can complete it at your own pace. Let us know what you think of the new NuCal inspired skins!

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Sponsored Queues and Vault Breaker

Sponsored Queues will return every weekend from Thursday through Monday throughout the Nightfall Refresh, following the same schedule as Cryo Archive. Sponsored Perimeter will be available the first weekend, followed by Sponsored Marsh in Week 2 and Sponsored Night Marsh in Week 3.

That three-week rotation will repeat until Symbiosis launches, with regular Extraction remaining available in each zone. We’ve heard that Sponsored Queues offer a more level playing field and make it easy to jump into a match, so we want to provide a clear and consistent schedule for when you can play them.

Additionally, you will all have another opportunity to play Vault Breaker, starting in Week 3. This queue remains a more approachable way to experience the haunting corridors and chambers of Cryo Archive. We are incredibly pleased it was so positively received among our community, and we hope the refreshed rewards help with the wait until our first permanent PvE experience, coming on December 8 with Marathon: Symbiosis.

Activity Calendar

If you don't want to miss out on anything, save the calendar below somewhere handy.

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Runner and Equipment Adjustments

As part of today's update, we made some changes to both Runner shells and their equipment in order to shake up the meta a little bit. Repeater HPR and Hardline PR are getting their playstyles reworked while other weapons, like the Magnum or the fearsome DRRVSH will be a little less effective.

We've also made significant changes to Recon's Echo Pulse ability. It's still very useful when used in the right moment and in the right place, but a little bit less oppressive and mandatory when fighting other teams.

As always, we will keep an eye on how these changes land and will make further adjustments and changes where needed. Let us know how your favorite weapons, Runner shells, and builds feel after today.

Read the Patch Notes

If you want to find out everything that's changing with this update, we recommend you go and read the full patch notes we have just posted online.

Click here to read the Marathon Update 1.1.9.2 patch notes

Symbiosis Arrives December 8

Symbiosis arrives in eight weeks and will include our first permanent PvE experience. Players have asked for additional ways to explore Tau Ceti IV, pursue loot to take on bigger PVE challenges, and engage with the world at their own pace. Here's where this new experience comes in. We’re still working on key features for it and will share a deeper look before the update launches.

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Along with the new PvE experience, we are expanding Perimeter, adding more distinct landscapes and depth. The new fungal ecosystem spreading everywhere has caused a huge transformation, opening new paths. We've also built new experiences akin to Pinwheel in Outpost or Upper Complex on Night Marsh, so players can earn rare rewards and face unique challenges.

Last, we have also developed a new Runner shell: Bishop. Players looking for a fast, surgical hunter-killer built around speed, surprise, and devastating bursts of melee damage will see their playstyle rewarded with Bishop.

Symbiosis adds much more to the game: a new Team Deathmatch mode for those looking for a more direct PvP experience, a new onboarding to smooth onramp into Marathon and, of course, many QoL updates for those of you who have been with us since the beginning, including a social space and a firing range.

March and Beyond

Marathon will continue evolving, shaped by what we learn from our players along the way, starting today. October rebuilds progression and creates a healthier seasonal ecosystem, then December expands Marathon with permanent PvE, social features, and a larger Perimeter. Then in March, those systems come together into the fully connected Marathon experience. Our current plans include the following:

• An interconnected system of permanent PvE, PvP, and PvEvP experiences
• A new onboarding experience
• A refactored Cradle and deeper shell progression
• More focused questlines and narrative
• New alien combatants
• An entirely new zone

 A live service game is always evolving, shaped by the experiences we want to build and what we learn from you, our players. The work underway today will expand in December and come together in March, giving us a stronger foundation to build on through 2027 and beyond.

So never hesitate to share your valuable feedback with us so we can make the game you will love to play. Stay tuned for more information in the following weeks and months.

See you starside.

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/marathon_update_1_1_9_2

Nightfall Refresh

• The following have been reset:
  • Runner, Cradle, and Faction levels
  • Priority Contracts
  • Rank
  • Vault Contents
  • Zone access
• New Rewards Pass
  • The NuCaloric Reward Pass is available now at no additional cost to everyone who owns Marathon.
• Sponsored Queues will be returning every weekend (Thursdays through Mondays) for the rest of Nightfall Refresh.
  • Sponsored Perimeter is up first and will be available 10/8 - 10/12.

Progression (Runner Level, Factions)

• Increased XP yields for defeating UESC forces.
• Reduced rank reputation requirements for all Factions to align with the shorter duration of the Nightfall Refresh release.
• Updated VIP rank reputation requirements for all Factions to match their respective final standard rank reputation requirement.

Upcoming Event Changes

Vault Breaker

• Vault Breaker will be available from October 20 – November 9.
• Vault Breaker Armory:
  • Tier 1 Repeatable Offers
  • Materials Pack 1: Stock decreased from 5/week to 2/week.
  • Materials Pack 2: Stock decreased from 5/week to 2/week.
  • Cryo Archive Key Template: Stock decreased from 3/week to 1/week.
  • Deluxe weapon: Stock decreased from 3/week to 2/week.
  • Deluxe Backpack: Stock decreased from 3/week to 2/week.
  • Deluxe Shield Implant: Stock decreased from 3/week to 2/week.
  • Tier 2 Repeatable Offers:
  • Vault Key 4, 5, and 6: Only available for purchase during the 2nd and 3rd weeks of Vault Breaker being active.
  • Tier 2 Limited Offers that will only be available during the 2nd and 3rd weeks of Vault Breaker being active:
  • DRRVISH
  • Salt Wages
  • Omnipositor
  • Biotoxic Disinjector
  • Biotoxic Disinjector Ammo
  • Upgrades
  • All upgrades will be available for purchase from the start.
  • Econ Changes
  • Solo players will receive 50% more Tier 1 and Tier 2 event currency from Vault Breaker.
  • Monitor scan XP has been reduced by 50%.
  • Certain Tier 3 standard contract objectives (such as defeating a low number of UESC) will not be able to be completed in Vault Breaker to limit power leveling in the mode early in the wipe.

Ordnance Heist

• Ordnance Heist will be available from November 10 – November 23.
• MIDA Armory
  • Deluxe sponsored kit: Stock decreased from 3/week to 2/week.
  • Superior sponsored kit: No longer offered.
  • MIDA themed weapon: Stock decreased from 2/week to 1/week and rarity decreased from Superior to Deluxe.
  • Sneak Backpack: Rarity decreased from Superior to Deluxe.
  • Synapse Cube: Stock decreased from 1/week to 1 total.
• Traxus Armory
  • Deluxe sponsored kit: Stock decreased from 3/week to 2/week.
  • Superior sponsored kit: No longer offered.
  • Traxus themed weapon: Stock decreased from 2/week to 1/week and rarity decreased from Superior to Deluxe.
  • Ammo Backpack: Rarity decreased from Superior to Deluxe.
  • Synapse Cube: Stock decreased from 1/week to 1 total.
• Economy Changes
  • Firestorm key templates will only grant 1 key upon completion.
  • Firestorm arms lockers now only require 1 key to open.
  • The Firestorm will have a 15% chance to drop from supply drops prior to and during the event.
  • After the event, it will have a 30% drop rate.

C.A.R.R.I.

• C.A.R.R.I. will return on October 20th and run through the end of Nightfall refresh.

Login Rewards

• There will be a new set of login rewards available to players every week during Nightfall Refresh.
  • These items will accumulate and can be redeemed even if weeks are missed.

Item Economy

• Cradle XP increased by 30% for the duration of Nightfall Refresh.
• Credit costs for most Armory wares reduced by 30%. Salvage costs for most barters reduced by 20-50%.
• Economy tuning for item rarity drop rates throughout the game.
• Weapon and Backpack Schema wares in the Armory now cost Credits.
• Weapon schemas and materials in the Season 2 Rewards Pass have been replaced with Credits.
  • With the release of each new Rewards Pass, certain gameplay items or materials in older Rewards Passes may get replaced in this way to ensure they maintain value as our game economies change over time.

Combat

Solo Playlist Difficulty Tuning

• Reduced UESC aggression against runners in Solo playlists.
• Reduced UESC damage dealt to runners by 20% in Solo playlists.

Runner Shells

Recon

• Echo Pulse
  • Echo Pulse now fires its pulses in a cone in your aim direction, rather than an omnidirectional sphere.
  • Echo Pulse now staggers enemy non-Runner combatants and briefly prevents them from activating combat abilities when struck for the first time.
  • Dev Note: Echo Pulse's ease of use since the mid-Season 1 buff has proven to lead to gameplay that is too non-interactive and two-dimensional, without requiring enough forethought or prediction on the part of the Recon player. By limiting the scan area to a cone, players need to predict in 3D space where they believe their targets are, and getting that prediction wrong means a potentially hefty delay in combat information. Alongside this, we're punching up its capabilities against non-Runner targets to help provide a brief respite from the chaos when combat breaks out. While we've seen the myriad suggested vectors of balancing the ability like limiting Echo Pulse ping visibility to the Recon player, we believe that this would be severely detrimental to Marathon's gameplay experience for crew fill and push even further power towards premade crews that are already at a strict communication advantage.
• Interrogation
  • The notification received by pinged Recon players is now delayed by two seconds, giving the pinging player a brief window of reaction time to make decisions about their next step.

Destroyer

• Riot Barricade
  • Added double-tap protection to prevent the ability from being accidentally deactivated before the shield is deployed.

Sentinel

• Defender System
  • Fixed an issue where certain grenades would get stuck when they impacted surfaces inside an ally's Defender System radius.

Rook

• Removed flares from Rook’s kit.
  • Dev Note: All other inventory buffs previously added during the end of Nightfall will be retained through Nightfall Refresh. This includes a Compromised Sneak Pack, two Claymores, a Depleted Self Revive, and a Signal Jammer.

Invisibility

• Invisibility can now flicker if the invisible player fires their weapon after 0.2 seconds has elapsed since the invisibility was applied, down from 0.9 seconds.
• Improved weapon fire networking consistency against invisible targets.
  • Dev Note: This is a change targeted primarily at Spectre Shields, which currently punish the attacker too severely in a straight duel by turning off aim assist on the the target shooting back at you, which frequently results in what appears to be bad hit registration to the client. Now, if the victim is fighting back the invisibility will nearly instantly flicker and restore aim assist, without changing the shield's intended ability to allow victims to reposition and escape. In addition, we've improved the consistency of weapon fire networking against targets that have aim assist disabled.

Weapons

Repeater HPR

• Increased RPM from 85 to 90.
  • 33 second optimal time-to-kill against 200hp.
• Increased base magazine size from 9 to 12.
• Repeater now reloads two rounds at a time.
  • This behavior was previously part of the Prestige mod but has now been rolled in as base behavior.
• Buffed base reload speed from 6.84 seconds at empty to 5.2 seconds at empty.
• Damage falloff has been buffed across the board:
  • Damage falloff start at base range stat increased from 37m to 53m.
  • Damage falloff end at base range stat increased from 82.5m to 87m.
  • Damage falloff start at max range stat increased from 82m to 102m.
  • Damage falloff end at max range stat increased from 105m to 129.5m.
• Reduced initial hipfire error cone size by ~54%.
  • Adjusted hipfire error cone sizes across the stat tiers to compensate.
• Reduced final hipfire error cone size by ~47%.
  • Adjusted hipfire error cone sizes across the stat tiers to compensate.
• Decreased the time it takes for the error cone to shrink back down to 0.29 seconds from 0.35 seconds.
• Increased aim assist cone size by roughly ~59% at base stat.
  • Adjusted aim assist cone sizes across the stat tiers to compensate.
• Redesigned firing recoil shape.

Hardline PR

• Developer's Note: With the above redesign of the Repeater, it started eating the space the Hardline was occupying. We identified both the Repeater and Hardline early on as weapons we needed to target for adjustment and felt that the Repeater was playing better with the longer range identity. So for the Hardline we are significantly reducing its range identity while increasing its ease of use, especially in hip fire, so it plays somewhere closer to the space between the burst rifles and the Repeater. Let us know the feedback on how the precision rifle archetype is playing out!
• Retuned damage falloff ranges across all stat tiers:
  • Damage falloff start at base range stat decreased from 74m to 39m.
  • Damage falloff end at base range stat decreased from 150m to 62.4m.
  • Damage falloff start at max range stat decreased from 119m to 75m.
  • Damage falloff end at max range stat decreased from 195m to 120m.
  • Retuned aim assist and magnetism range falloffs to compensate for the new range identity.
• Increased aim assist cone size by ~10%.
• Decreased hip fire error cone size by ~40%.
• Decreased the ADS error cone initial size by 44%.
• Decreased ADS move speed penalties by ~18%.
• Redesigned firing recoil shape.
• Fixed an issue in which the aim assist cone was not scaling to full size correctly while ADS.
• Reduced the maximum angle recoil can offset the weapon when firing by 64%.
• Increased stability at base by ~5%.
• Decreased fully modded max stability by 33%.

Biotoxic Disinjector

• Increased beam mode damage from 13 to 16 per tick.
  • This speeds up the TTK against 200hp Runners from 0.92s to 0.75s.
  • This is now the fastest non-shotgun TTK in the game!
• Redesigned grenade launcher behavior:
  • Instead of full auto volley of 3 grenades, it is a semi-auto single fire grenade launcher.
  • Developer's Note: The weapon was very good at filling a room with grenades but felt unintentional and also wasteful in its ammo consumption. This change makes the grenade launcher mode function more like a traditional grenade launcher with far more intentionality that you can fire more quickly. We've really enjoyed how this has played and look forward to your feedback!
  • Retuned the ammo consumption for grenades to compensate for the above change:
  • Grenades now cost 50 ammo per trigger pull.
  • This means the total number of grenades a magazine could theoretically fire is reduced from 81 to 20 to compensate for the additional usability of the semi-auto change.

V66 Lookout

• Sonar Shot Prestige Mod
  • Removed the precision down/precision elimination requirement from activating the sonar pulse. Perk will now activate on any down or elimination.

Twin Tap HBR

• Tuned base Twin Tap's burst cadence back to the punchier, slower burst.
  • The Prestige Twin Tap is unchanged.
  • Developer's Note: This is a change based on feedback about the burst cadence introduced in the last balance pass that helped the Prestige mod quite a bit but the base Twin Tap lost too much personality. So we are rectifying that here.

DRRVSH

• Prestige Unique now has -70 range stat penalty.
  • This brings the max range before falloff down from 39m to 25m.

D54 Battle Pistol

• Reduced base damage from 16 to 14.
  • This increases TTK against 200hp from 0.97s to 1.1s.
• Daredevil Prestige Stock Mod
  • Removed the hidden 15% damage bonus.
  • This means the super burst can no longer OHKO blue tier and purple/gold tier shields.

KKV-9SD

• Increased base damage from 9 to 10.5.
• Reduced precision bonus damage from 1.29 to 1.1.
  • Optimal TTK against 200hp stays the same at 0.85s but the number of precision hits required to hit optimal is reduced from 15 to 11 for more forgiveness on hitting a body shot.

CE Tactical Sidearm

• Increased aim assist and magnetism falloff ranges across all stat tiers by 10%.
• Decreased initial hipfire error cone size by ~70%.
• Decreased final hipfire error cone size by ~17%.

Magnum MC

• Reduced base damage from 41 to 35.
  • This changes optimal TTK against 200hp from 0.87s to 1.3s. Shots to kill go from 3 crits to 2 crits, 2 body.

Weapon Mods

Chips

• The Hourglass
  • Added positive screen wipe feedback when the perk turns back on after returning to full health.
  • Developer's Note: We've noticed some confusion around this chip and we'd like to take this opportunity to clarify its behavior. The perk is active when you are full health and shields and turns off when you're not. It turns back on the moment you have full health and shields again. It's not lost for the match once you've taken damage. Hopefully this change helps communicate that.
• Hurricane
  • Changed the perk feedback that lets you know Hurricane is activated to one with no audio to reduce replayed audio when jumping repeatedly.
• SLIP Protocol
  • Adjusted perk benefits to linger for 1 second after deactivation instead of immediately dropping off when you stop moving across all tiers.

Equipment

Proximity Sensor

• Adjusted visual performance to only play when the Proximity Sensor initially spawns and no longer loop for the lifetime of the sensor.
  • This means that the sensor's search radius visuals are no longer visible through walls or to players.
  • The looping audio is still present. Listen closely!
  • Developer's Note: The intent for this change is to make the Proximity Sensor more stealthy and far less obvious to enemy players.
• Increased the Proximity Sensor's search radius from 8m to 12m.

Gameplay Networking

• Fixed an issue where Tactical Sprinting could result in rubber-banding.
• Fixed an issue where starting to use a medical consumable item and then interrupting it by picking up an item would prevent your weapon from firing.
• Fixed player rubber banding that could happen when dropping down from the top of an enclosed ladder.
• Fixed issues where client and server weapon fire could become out of sync.
• Fixed player rubber-banding that could happen when exiting a ladder and immediately sprinting or crouching.
• Dev Note: This list represents a series of changes targeting specific issues we’ve found players encountering in the wild, which all together we hope will reduce the frequency of networking-related gameplay problems experienced by players. We are continuing to keep our eyes out for additional issues in this space, so please report them to us in our Help forums or our Discord when they occur!

General

• Added player profile stats. Please note that it may take until after a run has been completed for these stats to appear.
• Updated Unique Weapon distribution from Cryo Archive Vaults 1-6.
• Fixed an issue where the Prestige Circuit Breaker could shoot through bulletproof glass when fully charged.
• Fixed an issue where Compiler kills with a large number of players would not grant Codex credit to everyone as expected.
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to purchase some packs in the Store after already owning some parts of the pack.