So I have spent approximately 16 hours in Marathon as of posting this and the experience has been painful. Not to say it fails at what it sets out to do, it does so with flying colors, but for someone who doesn't play extraction shooters and doesn't enjoy them for the most part, this hasn't changed my outlook on playing them. Now while I don't have the full scope of the "endgame" intended, I can say the at times brutal grind will not be worth it for me. I wanted to love this game and for the most part, I do. The visuals are gorgeous, the environments are stunning, and the sound design is enthralling. The gunplay and gameplay is satisfying, as I'd hoped it would be. The sense of building your own arsenal from scratch and the moments where you barely make it to extraction are heart racing. That however, is where you run into the game's biggest problem, the players. I spent about 4 of my 16 hours of gameplay trying to get any progress because I ran out of in game money and was unable to purchase any supplies to take with me. I was reduced to this as after an unfortunate game crash where I was carrying a lot of high level gear. I then decided to auto fill my group. Worst mistake of my entire life (in game). Whether it being spawned in front of enemy computers with no weapons, having braindead teammates that can't shoot the ground beneath their feet, or getting camped at exfil, it has made my experience unpleasant. In a game that so heavily requires the interactions between players to be, at the very least, tolerable, watching dead while my teammate hides in a corner while the enemy players take everything I am holding and am powerless to stop has to be the single most infuriating thing I have ever witnessed. Only then to be followed by myself being unable to follow the enemy as they had left the area minutes earlier with my guns, meaning all I have available to me was a knife. This is what made me stop playing and post this. My thoughts on the game is that everything is well designed but like anything relying on audience, it's doomed to fail. I hope a system is implemented so that if you are disconnected you don't lose all your gear because that was another incident in which I attacked an enemy player, immediately got an error code, and lost all I was holding. The balancing is fine tuned though I do wish commanders had a little less health as taking them alone can be harrowing. Any gun seems to be useful given the right circumstances. Scavenging is rewarding and useful. It all seems very well adjusted... Just not with the idiots that will be playing the game. I am sorry Bungie, but I wish you the best with this endeavor I will not be on.