Marathon needed Season 2 to feel like a fresh start. Bungie had a new map variant, a new Runner shell, fresh weapons, ranked changes, and a new upgrade path ready for players who wanted a reason to return. For a game still trying to prove itself, it's a right kind of update.
Instead, the mood changed fast after Update 1.1.0.2. Players noticed lower rewards, slower Cradle progress, and changes to loot sources that had been useful during the first days of Season 2. Some fans are now accusing Bungie of sabotaging its own game, though that is a frustrated community reaction rather than proof of intent.
The main complaint is the players feel like Bungie made the grind worse after the season had already started. Update 1.1.0.2 reduced loot quality in Night Marsh Cert containers, changed some container rewards, and lowered several Cradle XP values tied to weapons and mods.
Marathon is built around entering dangerous runs, taking risks, and hoping the rewards are worth it. When loot feels weaker or progress feels slower, players do not see it as a small balance change. They see it as the game asking for more time while giving less back.
Those who played heavily during the first days of Season 2 may have earned better rewards before the patch. Players who started later now have a tougher time keeping pace with others, which is a bad place for any live-service season to be.
Night Marsh gave Dire Marsh a darker version with flashlights, reduced visibility, and gameplay that encouraged players to move more carefully. Sentinel also gave squads a defensive shell built around mines, protection, and tracking tools.
It gave players a new way to build and upgrade their Runner shell through seasonal progress, which could have made each run feel more connected to long-term improvement. On paper, that is exactly what Marathon needed after its first season.
The problem is not that Season 2 lacks content. The problem is that the first big patch after launch made some players focus less on the new ideas and more on what Bungie took away. In a game where every raid is already risky, reward cuts can cover up almost everything else.
The word “sabotage” is extreme, but it shows how frustrated the community has become. Most players do not actually know why Bungie made each economy change. What they do know is that the game felt less generous shortly after a season reset, and that is enough to create anger.
This is where Bungie has to be careful. Extraction shooters live on trust. Players need to believe that a hard run can pay off, that a lost fight is part of the game, and that the upgrade path is not being slowed down without a good reason. Once that trust starts to slip, even useful fixes get ignored.
That is what happened with Update 1.1.0.2. The patch also fixed bugs, improved error messages, added weekly login rewards, and cleaned up problems with contracts and Codex entries. Those are useful changes, but they are not what players are talking about because the reward cuts affect the heart of the game.
If Bungie wants Season 2 to recover, it needs to explain the reward changes in plain terms. Players need to know whether Night Marsh rewards were too strong, whether Cradle XP is still being tuned, and whether catch-up options are coming for people who did not grind early.
The studio also needs to make sure the new content feels worth the time. Night Marsh, Sentinel, and the Cradle all give Marathon better building blocks than it had before. They just need to be balanced for players who cannot play every day.
Right now, the issue is bigger than one patch. Bungie has to show that Marathon can respect player time, respond quickly when rewards feel wrong, and keep Season 2 from turning into another argument about whether the game is getting better or just getting slower.
