Following the murder of a speedy movement exploit, Marathon developers Bungie have a bunch of other weapons in the arsenal of the uber-powerful runner in their sights. Snipers, knives, and bubble shields are all on the tone down list for the extraction shooter’s upcoming patches.

Director Joe Ziegler has announced as much in a Steam post, which he kicked off by shouting “BALANCE SHAKE UP” like someone trying to rouse a sleeping dormitory.

“We’re looking to make some changes in the next couple of patches to adjust some of the outliers in the combat space that we’ve both seen in our observations and heard from your feedback across all of the various (and plentiful) channels we watch,” he continued without yelly caps lock on. “Some of these changes will be likely coming in the next patch, the next set will likely be arriving a week after.”

So, what are these outliers in the combat space, which coincidentally is the name of my new indie band? First off, Bungie reckon bubble shields are too effective to to easy to get your hands on, while snipers are “too strong in all scenarios” and thermal scopes are “too present and dominant”. Knives “scaling too easily to god like power levels” is another issue the devs are keen to nip in the bud. Meanwhile, Vandal and Recon have been vaguely promised “some more oomph to match their counterparts” in order to persuade more folks to pick them off the runner shell shelf.

Now, shush. Ziegler went on to tease some SECRET new items coming to Marathon, which you know are SECRET because the developer shouted the word SECRET in all caps. One will “give solos a more common option when downed”, while the other will offer “a more merciful option between crews”.

There’ll be more to the patches than just these tweaks and additions, but Bungie are keeping mum on those for now. If you’re after some thoughts on Marathon, my colleagues have likened it to being stuck inside a graphics card and grumbled about having to tell their mates to shut up during the cutscenes.