xkcd

by **SlyReaper** » Sat Apr 21, 2012 11:46 am UTC

I bought 4 resurgence packs so far. The first three contained a batarian soldier. What the shit? I hate playing soldiers. The last one contained a krogan vanguard. That's a bit more like it. It's a vanguard whose health and shields aren't made of paper.

by **Eheu** » Sat Apr 21, 2012 2:02 pm UTC

I'm yet to unlock any Geth characters. I think I've managed to scrape together both flavours of Asari adept, all of the soldiers, and the Turian / Batarian sentinels, which I haven't played.

The adepts are great fun, I think, even if the vanilla one does tend to be a bit on the overpowered at times, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Turian soldier given that I've always avoided soldier in the past. I couldn't quite get into the Krogan or Batarian, though.

I've been debating saving credits for a Resurgence Pack or two, but I'm not sure -- the risk of getting a Striker IV or Kishock IV is there and given that I've never used either of those weapons except for the Striker on my short-lived tinkering with the Batarian soldier...

by **maybeagnostic** » Sat Apr 21, 2012 2:34 pm UTC

I got both geth characters unlocked in the first two specter packs after the DLC. I tried out both of them but I don't particularly like them- the geth special power is this extremely annoying filter that makes it very difficult to see anything not directly in front of you and doubles damage done to your shields (which are most of your life and are already getting used up to power melee attacks). I like the geth engineer but it doesn't really have much to distinguish it from the quarian, just a cool heavy melee (that the engineer is too wimpy to use often) and annoying geth vision that I would rather not use.

I discovered a brand new bug in the MP last night- the game just kind of stopped registering my existence. I could move around, use powers and shoot but my attacks would deal no damage. If I tried using a rocket or ammo pack, one would get used up but there wouldn't be any effect (ammo doesn't refill and rocket explodes without dealing damage). Enemies completely ignored me and even standing in the fire of a geth pyro didn't do any damage to me. Eventually I managed to get myself smacked around by a geth prime (directly standing in its path made it use heavy melee on me) and after revive everything returned to normal.

by **Whammy** » Sat Apr 21, 2012 6:01 pm UTC

skeptical scientist wrote:
Whammy wrote:Oddly enough, I find in Multiplayer I don't really like playing the class I play in single. In single, I like the Vanguard; in multiplayer I like Engineer and Infiltrators.

Have you tried being host? Vanguards are pretty fragile, so they don't do well with lag, but are pretty much ownage if you have a good connection. The Asari vanguard is my favorite MP class so far, and I really want to try the Krogan vanguard.

Very odd....although it would be a lot better if I could get some better weapons *is jealous of all those with Geth SMGs*.

Imo the Geth SMG is just as crap as all the other SMGs. All of my characters use heavy pistols and/or shotguns.

So far I've gotten 3 Geth Engineer cards, and no cards for any of the other new classes.

Meh, my thing with Vanguards might just be more problem of wanting to try something new and different than any real problem with the class itself. Besides, Infiltrators/Engineers have always been my second favorite class.

As for the SMG, meh, I just like the lightweightness of them, even if they are on the weaker side of things. With my love of power-heavy classes, to me at least, faster recharge time takes some precedence over damage (with my current armory, there isn't much difference in damage between my SMGs and Pistols, and Shotguns are too heavy for the classes I like).

by **skeptical scientist** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 12:13 am UTC

Whammy wrote:As for the SMG, meh, I just like the lightweightness of them, even if they are on the weaker side of things. With my love of power-heavy classes, to me at least, faster recharge time takes some precedence over damage (with my current armory, there isn't much difference in damage between my SMGs and Pistols, and Shotguns are too heavy for the classes I like).

You clearly need some better heavy pistols then. If you want max CDR, a phalanx is probably your best bet, although personally I'm happier with a carnifex and around +160% CDR on my power-happy classes. It's also possible to max out CDR with an M-8 avenger.

by **Whammy** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 1:24 am UTC

skeptical scientist wrote:
Whammy wrote:As for the SMG, meh, I just like the lightweightness of them, even if they are on the weaker side of things. With my love of power-heavy classes, to me at least, faster recharge time takes some precedence over damage (with my current armory, there isn't much difference in damage between my SMGs and Pistols, and Shotguns are too heavy for the classes I like).

You clearly need some better heavy pistols then. If you want max CDR, a phalanx is probably your best bet, although personally I'm happier with a carnifex and around +160% CDR on my power-happy classes. It's also possible to max out CDR with an M-8 avenger.

Yeah, if I got a good enough pistol or assault rifle I'd probably switch. It's just it seems my packs love giving me sniper rifles and shotguns XD.

by **Thesh** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 3:49 am UTC

I'm playing as a Vanguard now. Best class ever. I haven't been in a single fight that didn't require a biotic charge followed immediately by a nova.

by **An Enraged Platypus** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 5:17 pm UTC

skeptical scientist wrote:
Whammy wrote:As for the SMG, meh, I just like the lightweightness of them, even if they are on the weaker side of things. With my love of power-heavy classes, to me at least, faster recharge time takes some precedence over damage (with my current armory, there isn't much difference in damage between my SMGs and Pistols, and Shotguns are too heavy for the classes I like).

You clearly need some better heavy pistols then. If you want max CDR, a phalanx is probably your best bet, although personally I'm happier with a carnifex and around +160% CDR on my power-happy classes. It's also possible to max out CDR with an M-8 avenger.

Carnifex V and up gives 200% if specced into weight reduction on an Adept, even a Drell.

by **An Enraged Platypus** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 9:58 pm UTC

This is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M-jtGoYX_Q

by **Weeks** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 10:51 pm UTC

That was very well done. Though I don't think it would have bothered me if Harbinger had been ASSUMING CONTROL all over the place again.

by **Chen** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:48 am UTC

skeptical scientist wrote:You clearly need some better heavy pistols then. If you want max CDR, a phalanx is probably your best bet, although personally I'm happier with a carnifex and around +160% CDR on my power-happy classes. It's also possible to max out CDR with an M-8 avenger.

And even before you get a Phalanx a Predator X (the pistol you start with) is actually remarkably good. Its very accurate and shoots very fast. A couple of headshots staggers most things so its a great weapon to use to soften up targets while waiting for you cooldown. On an adept you warp one weak target, fire your pistol continuously at ANOTHER target and then detonate the warped one. If its just a lone target warp plus shooting the pistol will likely kill a weak target before it recovers from the stagger of the warp.

by **Ryom** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:02 pm UTC

Just got the N7 Talon (a shotgun/heavy pistol hybrid) and I love it with my Human Vanguard. It's basically a 7-shot rapid-loading Katana.

by **Menacing Spike** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:41 pm UTC

Naked vanguard is fun. Near instant charge recharge, pun intended.

WHAM
WHAM
WHAM
WHAM
WHAM
WHAM
punch
WHAM

"The blah blah blah is a nimble and dangerous enemy with a powerful sniper rifle, you must take cover when you see a red dot-"

FUCK YOU LOADING SCREEN I DO WHAT I WANT
WHAM
WHAM

edit: bit annoying as in every cutscene she's using a pistol or a smg to little to no effect - while in gameplay segments she rams things until they explode in a fine blue mist. No shepard, stop firing those shitty little bullet at that guy running away, just ram him into paste like usual, fuck's sake.

edit2: wow how many gay couples can they fit

by **ArgonV** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:55 pm UTC

Operation Exorcist wrote:Allied Goal: Kill 1,000,000 Cerberus Phantoms
Squad Goal: Survive until extraction on any map and any enemy on Gold difficulty.

Allied goal, sure. Squad goal, no way in hell!

by **maybeagnostic** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:23 pm UTC

Oh, I don't know, geth aren't that scary on Gold (I think I win about 80% of those games with a random team). Cerberus are extremely difficult though (only won once) and I haven't even built up the courage to try Reaper.

A million phantoms sounds a lot more difficult but it really depends on how many people are still playing the game. How many phantoms are in a silver game? 10?

I played a game with four krogan a few days ago (three vanguards and a sentinel) and four asari adepts yesterday. Those were fun. Reapers are much easier with an asari adept than any other class I've played except maybe human vanguard.

by **Feonir** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:08 pm UTC

Cerberus gold was...interesting. With 2 adepts who are synched up. AKA one spams warp the other spams throw the Atlas turn into this fine grainy sand that blinds the other units as they explode all over the arena. The phantom spam is immense, I think at one point I counted 7 attacking my squad at a given time during the 7-10 waves. But as in bronze and silver any adept trivialises them with their stasis ability. The phantoms ONLY thing going for it is the fact it can sometimes be hard to hit them in the face. With stasis it is a sniper's wet dream.

Reaper gold was the same thing. After wave 3 when the cannibals and turians stop spawning so much, maybe 3-5 per wave. Its all Banshee's and Brutes. Which absolutely wilt under biotic explosion spam. The only ranged unit then being the rachni its really not that bad at all if you can keep your adepts up. There is something purely blissful about using a missile launcher and seeing your kill tally as.

<Banshee>
<Banshee>
<Banshee>
<Banshee>
<Brute>
<Brute>
<Brute>
<Brute>.

The game works against itself especially where brutes are involved as they take up so much room and dont clip one another its just a parking lot of brutes waiting for a biotic face explosion. Dont have adepts though? Well enjoy your Banshee impalement.

by **ArgonV** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:32 pm UTC

Well, the first MP weekend had as a goal to kill 1 million Brutes, I believe they killed 3 million total that weekend.

by **Weeks** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:39 pm UTC

KILL ALL THE BRUTES!

by **Yakk** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:21 pm UTC

ArgonV wrote:
Operation Exorcist wrote:Allied Goal: Kill 1,000,000 Cerberus Phantoms
Squad Goal: Survive until extraction on any map and any enemy on Gold difficulty.

Allied goal, sure. Squad goal, no way in hell!

So, you mean, the entire squad as to survive until extraction? Ie, no deaths?

by **ArgonV** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:33 pm UTC

I'm guessing Sole Survivor is good as well.

by **Menacing Spike** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 12:43 pm UTC

ArgonV wrote:Well, the first MP weekend had as a goal to kill 1 million Brutes, I believe they killed 3 million total that weekend.

Brutes are really really weak... an incendiary claymore shot takes out more than half their health.

by **ArgonV** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 2:27 pm UTC

Yeah, and Phantoms are a cakewalk with heavy stasis, your point?

by **SlyReaper** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 2:35 pm UTC

Is there anything that makes mincemeat out of a banshee? Because I haven't encountered a single thing that can take those things down effectively.

Also, banshees cheat. The other day, one grabbed from from practically half way across the frigging map*. I was nowhere near it, but I was suddenly teleported right next to it, and it picked me up.

*might be an exaggeration, but seriously, I was well clear. And it wasn't lag because my team-mates saw the same thing I did.

by **Thesh** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 2:50 pm UTC

I don't know about the multiplayer, but I found that with my Adept and Vanguard and Liara in the single player, a combination of Liara's warp and my Shockwave (for the biotic explosion) worked fairly well. It takes time to wear them down, but it seems to get the job done quicker than other weapons and power combinations I tried.

by **Ryom** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:27 pm UTC

In multi they have no weaknesses so you just have to throw ordnance at them. I find that the N7 Hurricane, both Widows, and Claymore all with Disrupter ammo does the job nicely. Biotic Explosions do a great job too. I've got a gold game down already for the bonus pack, if anyone needs a gold partner for the weekend challenge friend me on PC origin (afz_ryom).

by **An Enraged Platypus** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:47 pm UTC

SlyReaper wrote:Is there anything that makes mincemeat out of a banshee? Because I haven't encountered a single thing that can take those things down effectively.

Also, banshees cheat. The other day, one grabbed from from practically half way across the frigging map*. I was nowhere near it, but I was suddenly teleported right next to it, and it picked me up.

*might be an exaggeration, but seriously, I was well clear. And it wasn't lag because my team-mates saw the same thing I did.

Reave specialised to extra barrier/armour damage, stacked really high. Run away turning back to apply a new stack every cooldown, she'll drop fast.

by **Menacing Spike** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:35 pm UTC

ArgonV wrote:Yeah, and Phantoms are a cakewalk with heavy stasis, your point?

My point was that they get demolished by their counters, unlike, say, banshees.

by **Thesh** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:59 am UTC

So the LZ at the very start of the Tuchanka: Bomb mission... Apparently there must be a line that you have to cross to stop enemies from spawning, and apparently if you cross it using biotic charge, it doesn't get triggered. I got to the very end of the LZ to the inclined ramp, and kill the troops as they spawn right in front of me (until I am overwhelmed and die).

So apparently there are situations that don't work well for Charge/Nova combos. Also, it doesn't work well against Brutes. I keep getting killed and having to retry as they kill me over and over. Maybe I should try a different tactic...

by **Yakk** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:47 pm UTC

SlyReaper wrote:Is there anything that makes mincemeat out of a banshee? Because I haven't encountered a single thing that can take those things down effectively.

Warp, Throw, Warp, Throw. With full biotic combo boosts on both.

Much like atlases, they turn into living bombs that kill their teammates. And while you do need room to back up when they go into chain-charge mode, chain-charge tends to end when you drop their barrier (2 or 3 warp-throw cycles), and their choreographed explosion and warp attacks are pretty easy to dodge. It gets annoying when you have 3 or so of them, or if you are pinned down by ravager/marauders/anything else that makes retreating dangerous with LOS based attacks.

by **Ryom** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 4:31 pm UTC

Bioware has a page up showing what you've unlocked now.

http://go.bioware.com/masseffect3/bsn/m ... st/adbadge
http://social.bioware.com/348212/&v=bw_ ... ultiplayer

by **Xeio** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 9:05 pm UTC

4 asari adepts in one match is silly.

EDIT: Woo, full extraction on gold. :mrgreen:

by **Menacing Spike** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 11:16 pm UTC

Thesh wrote:Also, it doesn't work well against Brutes. I keep getting killed and having to retry as they kill me over and over. Maybe I should try a different tactic...

Roll away after you charge, and don't charge when they charge.

by **Ryom** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:13 am UTC

Bwah? DO charge when they charge! You'll end up past them and can get several free shots to the exposed flank.

by **Thesh** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:44 am UTC

Yeah, just charging with brutes works fine. I start to run into problems when I follow it with a nova.

by **maybeagnostic** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:15 pm UTC

I found the two ways the combo works are:
1. Charge them before they start moving, then you stagger them and can nova and roll back before they recover.
2. Start your charge a little after they have already started theirs, then they hit you while you are invulnerable and you charge+nova them while they are recovering from their charge.

I played my first gold game against reapers where we were actually holding our own for a while. Two asari adepts and a justicar are perfect for destroying banshees- an adept + justicar combo can roll back up to three banshees + some brutes and ravagers on one side while the other adept holds a fourth banshee immobile and slowly kills her with biotic explosions. You get into trouble when the enemy comes at you from three sides but that's presumably where the last teammate comes in. 6+ banshees still might require a rocket though.

Incidentally, a justicar and two adepts average 1.7* biotic explosions per second and there really is no reason to play any other class against reapers on gold. I think Atlases are just as hard to kill as Banshees but they are harmless by comparison so people don't really notice. I think the real question is why geth primes are so squishy.

* just made that number up.

by **An Enraged Platypus** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:05 pm UTC

You know what's fun? Drell Adept with grenades. Reave a huge group of mobs, chuck a biotic grenade in, boom, 5+ biotic explosions at the same time.

by **Feonir** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:30 pm UTC

SlyReaper wrote:Is there anything that makes mincemeat out of a banshee? Because I haven't encountered a single thing that can take those things down effectively.

Also, banshees cheat. The other day, one grabbed from from practically half way across the frigging map*. I was nowhere near it, but I was suddenly teleported right next to it, and it picked me up.

*might be an exaggeration, but seriously, I was well clear. And it wasn't lag because my team-mates saw the same thing I did.

The 'shee's work on the same premise as our cover grab. If at anypoint you press melee while that fist icon is up it doesnt matter how far away the mob is. The mob in question gets tractor'ed into your meaty man-quarian-aasari-krogan hands and stabbed in the face. Just like we do if she is so inclined to trigger her "No fuck you you're dead" grab. Same for Atlasses, Brutes and Phantoms auto-kill move too.

Those poor geth still havent figured out how to auto-kill us yet though. Wont someone think of the geth?

by **maybeagnostic** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:34 pm UTC

An Enraged Platypus wrote:You know what's fun? Drell Adept with grenades. Reave a huge group of mobs, chuck a biotic grenade in, boom, 5+ biotic explosions at the same time.

Oh, drell adept is a lot of fun but I've had him for ages. I just recently got the asari adept and vanguard so I am quite excited about them.

Feonir wrote: Same for Atlasses, Brutes and Phantoms auto-kill move too.

Brutes have a grab attack?

by **Yakk** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:50 pm UTC

Reaper and Geth auto-kill moves should produce husks from your corpse... I mean, if you are going to be auto-killed, might as well make it more amusing.

Then stick your camera on your huskified corpse's shoulder, and watch as you kill your teammates!

by **Menacing Spike** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:56 pm UTC

Ryom wrote:Bwah? DO charge when they charge! You'll end up past them and can get several free shots to the exposed flank.

That's weird, I ended up squashed more than half the time when we both charged each other. Bad timing perhaps.

Brutes have a grab attack?

Yes, but you pretty much have to just stand there in order to get hit. Much less dangerous than banshees.

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