When Bungie shared the plans for Marathon's Ranked mode and then simultaneously followed that up by sharing the schedule for the Cryo Archive mode, fans very quickly noticed a glaring problem. The two major endgame activities massively clashed by solely being accessible on weekends.
Essentially, if you didn't have the time on weekends to play or had more limited time on hand, you would either not be able to try either mode or had to choose one over the other, and clearly Bungie now sees the error of this reasoning, as a change is being put into effect as soon as this coming weekend.
As of this week's activities, we can expect Cryo Archive to retain its weekend slot while Ranked becomes more of a weekday activity. The new schedule going forward will see Cryo Archive opening on Thursdays at 17:00 GMT/18:00 CET (18:00 BST/19:00 CEST from next week) and then running until the same time on Sunday. It will then be followed by Ranked, which opens exactly when Cryo Archive closes and then stays active until Thursday at this same time. So the next Cryo Archive and Ranked will be available between these times/dates:
- Cryo Archive - Thursday, March 26 at 17:00 GMT/18:00 CET until Sunday, March 29 at 18:00 BST/19:00 CEST
- Ranked - Sunday, March 29 at 18:00 BST/19:00 CEST until Thursday, April 2 at 18:00 BST/19:00 CEST
As per this reasoning, Bungie explains: "We've heard your feedback that having Ranked and Cryo Archive overlap can make it difficult to decide where to spend your time and hard-earned loot. Based on that, we're updating their schedules so each has a clear, focused window."
The developer goes on to add: "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."
Do you think this is a worthwhile change for the better of Marathon?
