Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

[SiuiS]

Tried to clarify my point above, but wow, those Turians sound fun. I hope I manage to get one soon.

I know. Here, let me clarify.

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And I'm aware of the origins of the class breakdown, I was referring to the need for charge in the current incarnation of the class, which has become role-defining, and is biotic. Sorry for the lack of clarity there.

The problem is with assuming charge must be biotic. I think this misses the entire point of charge as a power and mechanic; to separate vanguards from biotics.

Think about it. The difference between an adept and a vanguard was that the vanguard A) had shotgun proficiency, B) had fewer powers, and C) had an improved melee attack. Both classes had access to pistol mastery, making perfect accuracy machine gunfire possible. Both classes had throw, warp, lift, making basic biotic field control possible. There was a slight difference, in that the vanguard could aim his shotgun (hahaha it's funny because accurate shotgun) to the adept's singularity and stasis. The difference in actual play was slight. The a guard gets a better close-range gun and better melee power and such, but that doesn't translate to anything more than allowing baguards to be sloppy and letting a Krogan get close so you can punch it.

So come mass effect 2, they tried to more clearly delineate the classes. The vanguard got a power in line with it's name and concept, allowing it to get up close and personal, fast. The tip of the spear, the first strike, the shock trooper. They also modified weapons for such, giving the shotgun, the vanguard signature weapon, the ability to deal more damage at close ranges. The vanguard was now not just a lazy biotic, a gun crazy adept. He was now his own fully realized class with a purpose to exist. Mass effect three continues this trend.

The vanguard is not "a biotic with a shotgun", it's a close-quarters combat expert with biotic supplementation (just like the infiltrator wasn't supposed to be a sniper-carrying engineer, he was supposed to be an infiltrator). That is what is important to a vanguard; close quarters combat and the means to take the fight to the enemy. If you follow this, you get the slayer, the battlemaster, the havoc, the human vanguard, even the Phoenix vanguard— rush ye sorry sonofabitch and destroy them.

Thinking "A vanguard has to be biotic" misses the point entirely, just like thinking "Starwars is force powers and light saver fights" missed the point entirely in Starwars. It's a correlate but not causative; almost a coincidence. Think "Biotics = Vanguard" is why we have the Asari and Drell vanguards. Except the reason they picked Asari and drell and not, say, salarian and Turian is because the Asari and drell at least both have excellent CQC traits; the Drell martial arts, dodge an DR working rather well and the Asari heavy smash area attack both somewhat fulfilling the idea in letter, if not in spirit.

biotic charge is only biotic because the ME1 vanguard was a biotic and that didn't need to change. But now that they are exploring every avenue of the Galaxy and Setting, they don't need to limit themselves to the Systems Alliance, to Shepard hirself. It's easy to misconstrue "Shepard, the singular example of human vanguards and a poster child for the alliance military must represent all an guards across time and space" but it's a faulty assumption.

They aren't phasing out the classes or biotics or anything, and they aren't dispensing with the class system. They are using it property and no longer making stupid mistakes because "well, heard the vanguard is a biotic, and we don't need to actually look at the justification for the class or it's lore."