u/SonOfBubbRub

That big gun bully enablement loop that Bungo announced was the clarity I needed. I’ve been playing since day one, a middling to low-tier dirty casual, and have been holding out hope that they would have the come to Jesus moment to attract and retain a bigger audience.

Despite having at least 3 to 10 blasts, I see the writing on the wall: this game was designed at its core to appeal to the sweats and psychopaths. Emphasis on psychopaths. Like, why/what/how does anyone benefit from eliminating runners with 5 seconds to exfil?! This isn’t a one-time occurrence. This is persistent toxic behavior that I simply can’t wrap my brain around.

Even the bone they threw with Vault Breakers wore off quick as the difficulty was tuned for sweat trios and solo sweats. I don’t have time for this. I can’t make Marathon my second job.

I’ve been told repeatedly in the subs and in-game to “go play a different game”. So… I will.

I really wanted to continue enjoying this game because of the blasts I’ve had with rare moments of victory/gratification, but there truly needs to be a way for filthy casuals like me to feel like part of something vs. being in the outside. The ticket to entry is too high. And - one of my biggest complaints has been that this game has no mechanics to strongly incentivize teamwork between strangers. The big explodey gun clearly communicates that Bungie truly doesn’t care about this.

I’m logging off until S3. If I see real signs that they are making an effort to (re)capture the casual crowd who can only spend less than 2 hours a day, then I might consider coming back.

Off into the void this message goes!

I wanted to share this in case someone else runs into the same problem, because I spent way too much time trying to understand what was happening and was getting pretty close to returning my Portal.

I am not a networking expert, so take my explanation of the “why” with a grain of salt. But the before/after difference was dramatic.

My setup:
*Gigabit internet
*Netgear Orbi RBR850 WiFi 6 mesh with two satellites
*PS5 connected via Cat6 Ethernet directly to one of the Orbi satellites
*PS Portal usually used upstairs, connected to another satellite
*Portal connected over 5 GHz

I was trying to play Marathon through Remote Play and the experience was terrible. At the normal 1080p setting, it was playable-ish, but the image looked heavily compressed and full of artifacts.
I then changed the Portal to the newer 1080p High Quality setting. The picture initially looked much better for about 15 seconds, but performance became awful. Constant stuttering, basically unusable, and eventually the Portal would completely lose its connection to my PS5.

What made absolutely no sense to me was that cloud streaming Marathon on the exact same Portal, from the exact same location, looked fantastic. Sharp, high resolution and smooth.
So I started troubleshooting.

First I waited until nobody else in the house was using the network. No difference.

Then I tried Remote Play from my iPhone while lying in the exact same spot in bed. It was perfect. Smooth and high quality.

That really confused me. My PS5 could Remote Play perfectly to my phone through the Orbi network. My Portal could cloud stream perfectly through the Orbi network. But PS5 → Portal Remote Play was garbage.

From there I:

1. Forgot and reconnected the Portal to WiFi
2. Completely restarted the Portal
3. Tried standard vs. 1080p High Quality
   4 Tried the Portal through my phone’s hotspot
4. Created Orbi’s separate IoT network and made it 5 GHz only
5. Connected the Portal to that network right next to the main Orbi router
6. Rebooted my modem and entire Orbi system

Nothing fixed it.

Then I noticed something.

My Orbi app said my firmware was up to date, but my RBR850 and satellites were actually running 7.2.8.2. Netgear had a newer 7.2.8.5 firmware available for the RBR850/RBS850, but for whatever reason the automatic firmware checker wasn’t offering it to me.

So I manually downloaded the firmware from Netgear and updated both satellites first, then the RBR850 router.

After everything came back online, I completely powered down the PS5 and Portal. I started the PS5, started the Portal, connected through Remote Play and…

Holy shit. It worked.
1080p High Quality. Sharp. Smooth. No compression mess. No constant stuttering. No disconnect.

I initially tested beside the basement satellite and it was perfect. Then I walked upstairs to my bedroom while playing. There was one tiny hiccup that I assume was the Portal roaming between Orbi satellites, and then it immediately settled down.
I’ve now played multiple rounds of Marathon from bed and it has remained high resolution and super smooth. Basically the same excellent Remote Play experience I was getting from my phone.

So, if you have an Orbi RBR850/RBS850 system and PS Portal Remote Play sucks even though your network should easily be able to handle it, check the actual firmware version on your router AND satellites. Don’t necessarily trust the Orbi app when it says there are no updates available.
In my case:
7.2.8.2 = Portal Remote Play was borderline unusable
7.2.8.5 = Portal Remote Play works beautifully at 1080p High Quality

I can’t tell you exactly what changed under the hood. My best guess is that something in the older Orbi firmware was causing packet loss, jitter, retransmissions, mesh/backhaul weirdness, or some combination that the Portal’s Remote Play implementation really didn’t like.

Interestingly, my iPhone apparently tolerated whatever was happening just fine, which is one of the reasons this was so confusing.

I’m also not claiming 7.2.8.5 is some universal PS Portal fix. I have a sample size of exactly one house and one increasingly frustrated guy.
But the difference here was night and day, and because the Orbi app itself told me I was already up to date, I figured this was worth posting.

Hopefully this saves somebody else a few hours of wondering why a purpose-built Remote Play device is somehow worse at Remote Play than their phone.

Continuing the conversation about the decreasing volume of blast-havers. Perhaps it might help us understand the cause. Maybe it’ll elucidate own own attachments. Perhaps Bungie may see it and take it into consideration.

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Rook was fun to develop and play in S1. In the current season, there’s a bigger chasm to cross before he’s as capable as there are no upgrades until you get to capstone 4 in any faction. To add, Rooks are now limited to specific maps.

What do you think the design decision was behind this?

Was it to ensure that people truly commit to Rook?
Were they too powerful?
Was it to encourage players to use sponsored kits as the lower-risk method to scavenge?
To put a spotlight on Night Marsh?
Was Rook meant as some sort of balancer between the other shells as Bungie continues to tune?

This is not a critique, just genuine curiosity. I’m curious to hear from anyone who is knowledgeable in game design mechanics or who might even have insider knowledge.