In the blink of an eye, Marathon season 2 is almost upon us. Bungie have shared more concrete words of what to expect in the upcoming season, titled Nightfall, mostly related to how the big reset will work, but also how this season will be wrapping up too.
First, the date when season 2 kicks off: June 2nd! That’s a little under three weeks away, so best keep on those contracts for the time being. In terms of what’s being reset in the next season, according to this blog post you can expect your runner level, ranked level, and faction level and upgrades to all go back to zero/square one. On the currency side, you keep your LUX and SILK, but all other currencies will be reset. Your entire inventory and vault will be wiped clean, as well any purchases unlocked by schemas. Messages, rewards, and returned items in your mailbox are included in the wipe too, as are priority contracts (bar the first contract you complete for each faction), and gear-granting seasonal Codex entries from your runner level and ranked mode.
In terms of what you keep, all of your cosmetics and weapons that were unlocked and redeemed during the first season are there for good. All other Codex challenges aside from runner and ranked levels will be staying put too, and you don’t have to unlock access to any faction you’ve already done so for. Lastly, you also keep your rewards pass progress, and your Cryo Archive Subroutines progress.
The end of season 1 is coming in with a bang, too. Map events are guaranteed every run, and Wardens are guaranteed to drop a locked room key. UESC robot NPCs will appear more frequently, adding for a bit of an extra challenge. Cryo Archive will also be available to play every day from May 21st until the season wraps up, with a free Cryo Archive Sponsored Kit being sent to your mailbox every day over the period. Faction progress will also be faster through higher XP gains, so if you’re not done yet it should be a bit easier to get wrapped up.
I’m mostly curious about how priority contracts will work come season 2. There will be new ones (as well as a new runner shell and nighttime version of Dire Marsh), but you are meant to “always be able to uncover the mysteries of Tau Ceti’s past.” What will gaining those juicy bits of lore look like? How will the story continue to take shape? I’m a late comer to the game, so I’ve still got plenty to do and I’d like to both not have to repeat myself and still access what’s been established so far. Well, a full reveal of the season is coming May 25th, so hopefully we get some answers then.
