Marathon Server Slam update: Bungie says if you're not getting enough PvP action, maybe you're just not looking for fights in the right places

The Marathon server slam is now a day underway and seems to be doing reasonably well. Some players love it, some are a little iffy, and of course there are complaints—not so much about the servers, which seem to be holding up well enough, but more basic elements of the game itself. In an update, Bungie laid out a quick rundown of the feedback it's received so far, and how it aims to respond to what it's heard.

First on the list is mouse input lag, which our own Marathon man Morgan Park ran into himself. Bungie said reports indicate some sort of issue with streaming software, and while it's "got a solid set of data on this as it stands," asked players to continue submitting reports. If you've run into this problem yourself, Morgan found that closing Discord completely—not just the overlay or streaming, but the whole damn thing—cleared up the problem: Not an ideal solution, but a good workaround until Bungie gets it fixed.

Complaints about Marathon's UI are also very common, and that unfortunately is not a bug that can be fixed. "Weve heard your thoughts and want to hear more," Bungie wrote, and urged players to submit feedback via the Marathon Discord.

Another 'not a bug, but an issue' relates to PvP, more specifically the lack of it. It's interesting, because extraction shooters commonly center PvP action, but Arc Raiders has accustomed a lot of us to a more cooperative experience (which for me is one of the best things about Arc Raiders). But it seems that some portion of the Marathon audience is looking for something a little more, shall we say, Fraser-like.

"We've seen reports that PvP isn't frequent enough overall," Bungie wrote. "If you're looking for more PvP, we have some recommendations: Perimeter (Beginner) intentionally infils fewer Runners—head to Perimeter and then Dire Marsh for a greater challenge. Additionally, the UESC are deadlier than you might think and will wipe you off the map (thus limiting the lobby's PvP opportunities) if you let them swarm."

Thanks for all the feedback so far, and keep it coming! Join us on the Marathon Official Discord to let us know what you're thinking: discord.gg/marathonthegame Enjoy your time on Tau Ceti - and onward to Day 2 ????

— @marathonteam.bungie.net (@marathonteam.bungie.net.bsky.social) 2026-02-27T20:41:52.308Z

Ironically, Morgan's had the opposite experience thus far. "Despite the presence of features that allow players to cooperate, like proximity voice chat (which Bungie only added after playtest feedback), Marathon is so far a competitive game by default," he wrote of his initial hours in the test. "I've extended an olive branch to several solo runners rummaging through Perimeter today and, alas, only one was receptive to friendship. The rest wanted my hard-earned stuff (that I got for free by equipping a sponsor kit)."

But, as he added, Marathon is more overtly built for PvP than Arc Raiders, and actually incentivizes it through faction contracts that require killing other players. So while it's possible Marathon will follow the arc of Arc, he reckons it's far more likely to end up like Escape From Tarkov, where it's fight on sight.

Two other issues cited in the update, with redacted user names and non-functioning voice comms, have since been fixed; beyond that, Bungie says it's still working away on general texture pop and performance issues.