Mass Effect 3.5 Does this thread have a soul?

**ShinyRocks** · 2012-05-09, 08:45 AM (ISO 8601)

Mass Effect 3.6: This thread's face is a disappointing stock photo

**LordShotGun** · 2012-05-09, 09:00 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by ShinyRocks

Mass Effect 3.6: This thread's face is a disappointing stock photo

OOO I liked that one. I vote for that, forget mine!

**Starsign** · 2012-05-09, 09:14 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by ShinyRocks

Mass Effect 3.6: This thread's face is a disappointing stock photo

Agreed. I vote for this one

I'd give an idea myself but I am pitiful at names

**Yana** · 2012-05-09, 09:36 AM (ISO 8601)

My other suggestion from last thread:

Mass Effect 3.6: There is no thread without Vakarian.

And another:

Mass Effect 3.6: [With Great Sorrow] I Can't think of a new thread title.

One last one, I swear:

Mass Effect 3.6: Are you engaging in reproductive behavior with this thread?

**Aotrs Commander** · 2012-05-09, 10:20 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Yana

Mass Effect 3.6: Are you engaging in reproductive behavior with this thread?

I don't normally do much voting in the way of thread titles, but in this case I'll make an exception...

**Zevox** · 2012-05-09, 11:38 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Yana

Mass Effect 3.6: I Am Urdnot Wrex, And This Is MY thread!

Originally Posted by Yana

Mass Effect 3.6: Are you engaging in reproductive behavior with this thread?

I'd be good with these. Though if I may toss one into the ring:

Mass Effect 3.6: I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for that terminally ill Drell!

Zevox

**Sagonene** · 2012-05-09, 11:56 AM (ISO 8601)

Mass Effect 3.6: Asari loves Chachi

: Krogan lovers do it for Thuchanka

: The Undiscovered Ending

: Entendre Failure

Sago

**VanBuren** · 2012-05-09, 01:47 PM (ISO 8601)

Mass Effect 3.6: Blue Oyster Cult was wrong?

**Morty** · 2012-05-09, 01:50 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by ShinyRocks

Mass Effect 3.6: This thread's face is a disappointing stock photo

I'm inclined to vote for this title.

**Xondoure** · 2012-05-09, 01:51 PM (ISO 8601)

Mass Effect 3.6 This thread should be embarrassed, a terminally ill drell managed to throw it off topic.

(Yeah I know it's a little on the long side)

Mass Effect 3.6 Reaper indoctrination devices have been planted in this thread.

Otherwise my vote goes to Wrex.

**Mr._Blinky** · 2012-05-09, 03:46 PM (ISO 8601)

Operation: Silencer has been announced. Community goal is to kill 3,000,000 Banshees, while squad goal is to full-extract on Gold.

More interestingly, it mentions that the Vorcha are joining the fight, so it looks like we'll have some new playable classes soon. We'll have to wait and see whether it'll be free like the last one though.

**Derthric** · 2012-05-09, 03:52 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Mr._Blinky

Operation: Silencer has been announced. Community goal is to kill 3,000,000 Banshees, while squad goal is to full-extract on Gold.

More interestingly, it mentions that the Vorcha are joining the fight, so it looks like we'll have some new playable classes soon. We'll have to wait and see whether it'll be free like the last one though.

I am hoping its free. With the ability to charge for the packs I am hoping that this new way of monetizing the multiplayer works and keeps the content flowing freely.

Also I am voting for
Mass Effect 3.6: I Am Urdnot Wrex, And This Is MY thread!

**Starsign** · 2012-05-09, 03:55 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Mr._Blinky

Operation: Silencer has been announced. Community goal is to kill 3,000,000 Banshees, while squad goal is to full-extract on Gold.

More interestingly, it mentions that the Vorcha are joining the fight, so it looks like we'll have some new playable classes soon. We'll have to wait and see whether it'll be free like the last one though.

Originally Posted by Derthric

I am hoping its free. With the ability to charge for the packs I am hoping that this new way of monetizing the multiplayer works and keeps the content flowing freely.

Also I am voting for
Mass Effect 3.6: I Am Urdnot Wrex, And This Is MY thread!

Ooh Vorcha? That's gonna make it very difficult to decide which class to play as... Provided it'll be free. I'm not gonna buy it if it isn't.

Also I'm changing my vote to that as well.

**Morty** · 2012-05-09, 03:59 PM (ISO 8601)

I'd love to play a vorcha. Which means, of course, that if they do end up as playable I'll fail to get any regardless of how many Spectre Packs I buy...

**Zevox** · 2012-05-09, 04:05 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Mr._Blinky

Operation: Silencer has been announced. Community goal is to kill 3,000,000 Banshees, while squad goal is to full-extract on Gold.

Three million Banshees? That actually seems like it may be a tall order. I believe the last couple were one million Brutes and Phantoms, and while I know the community exceeded those by quite a bit, those are easier targets, plus you see more of them per game than you do Banshees. We genuinely can't just assume that that'll happen.

I'm a tad disappointed that the squad goal is the same as last time though. You'd think they could at least add a specific enemy or map to it to change things up.

Originally Posted by Starsign

... Provided it'll be free. I'm not gonna buy it if it isn't.

Ditto. I enjoy myself with this, but I'm sure not spending any actual money on bonus content.

Edit: Huh, interesting statistics in an image on that operation announcement page. 22.84 million multiplayer matches played, 10.5 million successful extractions - meaning more than half of all missions end in failure. That's surprising.

Also, they say that the PS3 users will be able to participate in and receive rewards for the mission this time, although they won't see the announcement pop-up that the rest of us get in-game (which I'd say is a small blessing, since I find that a bit annoying).

Zevox

**Mr._Blinky** · 2012-05-09, 04:33 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Zevox

Three million Banshees? That actually seems like it may be a tall order. I believe the last couple were one million Brutes and Phantoms, and while I know the community exceeded those by quite a bit, those are easier targets, plus you see more of them per game than you do Banshees. We genuinely can't just assume that that'll happen.

I'm a tad disappointed that the squad goal is the same as last time though. You'd think they could at least add a specific enemy or map to it to change things up.

Ditto. I enjoy myself with this, but I'm sure not spending any actual money on bonus content.

Edit: Huh, interesting statistics in an image on that operation announcement page. 22.84 million multiplayer matches played, 10.5 million successful extractions - meaning more than half of all missions end in failure. That's surprising.

Also, they say that the PS3 users will be able to participate in and receive rewards for the mission this time, although they won't see the announcement pop-up that the rest of us get in-game (which I'd say is a small blessing, since I find that a bit annoying).

Zevox

Well it was 3,000,000 Brutes and 1,000,000 Phantoms, and the community blew both of those goals out of the water, so I'm assuming that they're trying to up the challenge. And the squad goal is actually much more challenging this time, because you actually need a full-extraction, whereas previous times only required you to extract period, meaning Lone Survivor still got you the pack.

**Zevox** · 2012-05-09, 04:38 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Mr._Blinky

Well it was 3,000,000 Brutes and 1,000,000 Phantoms, and the community blew both of those goals out of the water, so I'm assuming that they're trying to up the challenge.

No, 1 million Brutes was the first one. 3 million was the actual result. 1.5 million was the result of the Phantom one. Given both of those are easier targets that you see more of per game than Banshees, yeah, I think this one might turn out to be a bit much.

Originally Posted by Mr._Blinky

And the squad goal is actually much more challenging this time, because you actually need a full-extraction, whereas previous times only required you to extract period, meaning Lone Survivor still got you the pack.

Ah, I missed that distinction. Yeah, that could be an issue. You'll need your entire team to be pretty good for it - or everyone to save their medi-gel for the extraction wave.

Zevox

**Krade** · 2012-05-09, 05:49 PM (ISO 8601)

Also both of the previous goals were set before PS3 players could participate. This is the first one where they knew going in that all three platforms would contribute. Not like it matter at all, really. The victory packs have completely failed to impress anyone. They would be vastly improved by adding an N7 weapon to them, but that would likely cause the goal to be set even higher.

I gave the Claymore an honest shot since finally bothering to master the reload cancel. Human Infiltrator spec'd for weapon damage, maxed out grenades, and TC has 'fire one power (grenade)'. Cloak, grenade, shotgun! Kills somewhere in the neighborhood of everything. Haven't really tried it on Silver or Gold, but I'm sure if I played it a little more carefully than I was on Bronze, Silver shouldn't be a problem. Gold... I'm not good enough to play up-close combat on Gold.

**Aotrs Commander** · 2012-05-09, 06:11 PM (ISO 8601)

Having one of those weeks...

So, ME 1. I have now reached the level 37-42 bracket, and am desparately trying to find Geth or robots with which to drop Tungsten ammo, because I am ridiculously short of it (I've got like, one Tungsten VII and about two or three others of lower levels. Stupidly, I did all the Geth incursion missions ages ago, and am now stuck with virtually no Geth that I can get at unless I start Noveria. (Which is annoying, since I wanted to do Pinnacle Station next). So either I have to give up on getting any more tungsten ammo or rush through Noveria to knobble some more Geth in the hopes of getting some more ammo. (Leaving Therium for last for deliberate reasons...)

I wouldn't mind, but all the ammo treasure from crates and such insists on giving me polomium rounds or something. All I want it a couple more Tungsten ammo anyway (two for me, and one for Kaiden, one for Wrex/Garrus...!)

*sigh*

Bioware also aren't encouraging me to participate in the events at the moment. I'm not confident enough to try silver, let alone gold, so I guess I'll just sit this one out again (since the reward ain't really worth much); maybe have a single crack on Bronze, against the Reapers if I can really be arsed, otherwise, I may as well stick to my ME 1 run...

**Mr._Blinky** · 2012-05-09, 06:43 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Krade

I gave the Claymore an honest shot since finally bothering to master the reload cancel. Human Infiltrator spec'd for weapon damage, maxed out grenades, and TC has 'fire one power (grenade)'. Cloak, grenade, shotgun! Kills somewhere in the neighborhood of everything. Haven't really tried it on Silver or Gold, but I'm sure if I played it a little more carefully than I was on Bronze, Silver shouldn't be a problem. Gold... I'm not good enough to play up-close combat on Gold.

Throwing a grenade actually doesn't uncloak you either way, which is why Sticky Grenade is so good.

**Arbitrarity** · 2012-05-09, 07:05 PM (ISO 8601)

If you need help getting a full extraction on Gold on PC, I'm free most of the weekend. Post a time in either this thread or the next, or message me, and I'll see about doing a simple farm run, complete with my yelling at you to stay in cover, use missiles, not use missiles, and stay in the damn hack circle.
I recommend having either an Adept, Sentinel, or Engineer of level 12+ (proficient Soldiers and Infiltrators are also welcome, though they will want better weapons), about two hours to spare, and some medigel/rockets (> 0). Weapons better than Avenger V are nice, but probably not necessary.

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Origin ID: Arbitrarity
Time Available 9 a.m.-midnight EST, May 12 and 13. 7 p.m.-midnight May 11.
Preferred Race/Class: Salarian Infiltrator (6/0/6/6/6)
Preferred Weapon: Black Widow I, Extra Thermal Clip V, Extended Barrel V
Usual Difficulty: Gold

**Anarion** · 2012-05-09, 07:32 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Yana

Mass Effect 3.6: Are you engaging in reproductive behavior with this thread?

Oh this one is too good. Gets my vote.

Originally Posted by Zevox

Three million Banshees? That actually seems like it may be a tall order. I believe the last couple were one million Brutes and Phantoms, and while I know the community exceeded those by quite a bit, those are easier targets, plus you see more of them per game than you do Banshees. We genuinely can't just assume that that'll happen.

I'm a tad disappointed that the squad goal is the same as last time though. You'd think they could at least add a specific enemy or map to it to change things up.

Well, with PS3 participating I expect the numbers will go up significantly, even though there are fewer banshees overall. Plus, the squad goal of using gold means that people will be seeing plenty of banshees as they go for that one, since you can easily see 4 banshees in a single wave during gold missions.

**Zevox** · 2012-05-09, 07:52 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Anarion

Well, with PS3 participating I expect the numbers will go up significantly, even though there are fewer banshees overall. Plus, the squad goal of using gold means that people will be seeing plenty of banshees as they go for that one, since you can easily see 4 banshees in a single wave during gold missions.

Whether PS3 players participating will help depends entirely on how many of those there are. I don't know about you, but I have the suspicion that they're a minority compared to PC or 360 players. They did not get ME1 at all and got ME2 later than the other systems, so most fans are likely to have gotten into the series and followed it on those instead.

As for the gold goal, maybe, maybe not. The goal allows any enemy type, and I think most people would agree that the Reapers are the hardest enemy to face on gold, since staying in cover is so important there and they have two big, durable big cover-busting units, Brutes and Banshees, so I could see most gold games staying away from them.

Zevox

**ShinyRocks** · 2012-05-10, 03:59 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Aotrs Commander

Having one of those weeks...
Bioware also aren't encouraging me to participate in the events at the moment. I'm not confident enough to try silver, let alone gold, so I guess I'll just sit this one out again (since the reward ain't really worth much); maybe have a single crack on Bronze, against the Reapers if I can really be arsed, otherwise, I may as well stick to my ME 1 run...

Honestly? Just give it a go. I'm really not very good, and I'm fine on Silver and can manage perfectly well on Firebase White, Geth, Gold. I run Engineer and tend to be second on the charts (behind an Infiltrator or an Asari Adept who just rack up kills).

I'm better than I was, but I'm still not a 'shooter' and probably never will be.

It depends a lot on your team. Four not-very-good people will have problems (even on Bronze...), but a decent team will be able to cover for your learning curve and allow you to get better and more confident.

If you actually want to, that is.

**Dhavaer** · 2012-05-10, 04:11 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Arbitrarity

If you need help getting a full extraction on Gold on PC, I'm free most of the weekend. Post a time in either this thread or the next, or message me, and I'll see about doing a simple farm run, complete with my yelling at you to stay in cover, use missiles, not use missiles, and stay in the damn hack circle.
I recommend having either an Adept, Sentinel, or Engineer of level 12+ (proficient Soldiers and Infiltrators are also welcome, though they will want better weapons), about two hours to spare, and some medigel/rockets (> 0). Weapons better than Avenger V are nice, but probably not necessary.

I might take you up on that; probably bringing along my asari adept. I've also got most of the weekend free; I just wish I could stop seeing a Crusader III in my future.

**SiuiS** · 2012-05-10, 06:08 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Aotrs Commander

I...

... Seriously, I just don't know what to say.

That... is just unbelievable.

I mean... wow. That's... Suck barely begins to describe it.

(How did you actually manage to do it? I have a feeling I might have asked you once already, but I've been fighting computer viruses for about four hours and I can for the unlife of me bring it to mind...)

Noting that doctor down on my "will have intestines removed while on fire" list, though. That sort of behavior is completely inexcusable.

The details tread on other people's right to privacy, so other than blunt force onto the hand similar to a punch, I keep mum. Try a different clever story each time; would you believe I played mumblypeg with a hobo, and he was drunk enough to use a hammer?

Originally Posted by Zevox

That's the thing - as far as I'm concerned, bringing a level 1 along on silver or above does actively harm my chances. Most players are playing much higher level characters, whether due to not promoting as in my case or because when you do promote you zip through the low levels quickly no matter what difficulty you play on. Silver is a more challenging difficulty, not suited to level 1s in most circumstances, so I'm not a fan of bringing them along. Maybe three good players of a decent level can carry a level 1 through Silver, but that's still an extra risk I have no reason to take, particularly when the level 1 can always just use bronze.

You're right, and is an entirely personal thing. But silver being difficult I have to argue with. It's... Not.

Re: A) - Only in the past couple of posts, the first of which being the one that left me baffled due to you not having brought it up before, so no.

Re: B) When

? I seriously do not recall doing any such thing.

I'm going to fight my instincts and decline. It's a tangent that won't sway you on my main point anyway, and I don't want to devolve into a yes-huh/nuh-uh debate.

It being "out there" doesn't mean I'm aware of or have read it. Thus the need for you to establish this sort of thing in new conversations like this.

To a degree, yes. But you frequently referenced your past statements of how ME2 influenced your play choices in 3. I saw referencing my past experiments in the same light. Skimming something without saying so seems weird to me. It would have to, given my penchant for quoting. It honestly never occurred to me that you didn't read the thread; it adds approximately five minutes to posting.

Weirdly, I've seen the reverse - rarely do I see most classes doing anything unexpected, but I've encountered enough Vanguards that act like Soldiers, ignoring Charge and just using guns (plus Stasis on Asari and Carnage on Krogan), even sniper rifles occasionally, to be unsure of whether any given Vanguard I run into is going to be actually useful (the Soldier-Vanguards I've seen by and large haven't been).

You're crossing a judgement with a statement.
Nothing here sounds bad, until you qualify vanguards who only shoot. Krogan vanguards who don't charge. Asari vanguards who use stasis and snipe. Do these automatically suck? I've yet to see a dedicated Asari sniper who didn't do phenomenally. And Krogan have the steepest curve, being either stupid good or just stupid.

Additionally, these 'bad play designs' are in fact the seemingly 'intended build' of that class race combo. Freeze enemies for headshots, and also you can throw yourself into harms way. Leads to sniping usually. Or for the Krogan, damage reducing armor, decent armor shredding ranged missile, why get up close where you mitigate those advantages? It's as viable as a charging melee build. Much more straightforward, doesn't rely on an oft-faulty targeting system.

As thugthrasher said, it is entirely relevant given this conversation is based on the question of how we deal with level 1s trying to get into Silver games. Until you've actually played with any given player you can't judge their skill, so level, race, and class is just about all you have to go on. Knowing how that race and class are generally played is thus kind of important.

Yes. But load out and N7 rank also show you how good they can be.

Originally Posted by Anarion

Actually, I did try it out scoped for one game, just for kicks. It's sort of like trying to hold down a bucking bronco. Even in cover you can't hold it still. Do not recommend unless you just want to mess around for some reason.

I did that with the eagle once. It was terrible! But then I took it off and had fun. It really made me reevaluate a lot of my newbie mistakes, as a good SMG with a scope and a pistol with ammo and damage boost were my go to guns. Mistook the accuracy improvement you see. Luckily this idiocy of mine only lasted about a week.

What in the world did you do to cause that? It sounds agonizingly painful, although it's probably just as likely that your hand was totally numb the whole time.

I was mostly ashamed of how to explain a "boxer's break" to my comrades. A break associated with bad punching technique? Doesn't matter how it really happened, I'll never live that down.

Huh, well I'm weird here I guess. I'm definitely not as good as you. Primarily, I tend to take positions that are safe from one angle, tunnel vision for a bit and then get shot in the back at point blank range sometimes. But I wouldn't kick the level 1 silver guy, even though it might cause me to lose since I do tend to die a few times during silver matches. I might switch classes though, probably to Asari adept or Salarian engineer if I thought that I would need to carry the team more.

Pragmatically, you only need two things to win; enough dakka and time to recharge your shields when hit. You could quite literally have two players pair up and, on their own, they provide the minimum necessary force to win. If you drop, they don't care. You kill their target, they don't care. You cannot in any way reduce their dakka, or their recharge chances. So while you cannot lower the minimum, you can raise it.

I play on silver because bronze is painfully boring. The bare minimum can be covered by one guy; half a guy with a good decoy style power. So long as the rest of the team isn't losing, you're still winning. I never have to stay in one spot often enough to get tunnel vision. It helps that I frequently pan around to check everyone's positions; I render the battle space pretty accurately in a top-down format in my head. Very useful for grenades or flanking.

Depends on how he knows that the doc thought it was domestic violence.

Attitude, sneer, recommending that I may need to work on my outbursts, enquiring after wherer or not Braz would need some painkillers or any suchlike.

In his defense however, his methods would still have worked in 99% of cases. Flexing the hand and then immobilizing it puts everything aright. I'm only upset because I specifically requested he re-review the X-rays and set the knob of bone that was there back into position, and he brushed me off.

Probably sees a lot of this at 3 am.

Originally Posted by Aotrs Commander

Having one of those weeks...

So, ME 1. I have now reached the level 37-42 bracket, and am desparately trying to find Geth or robots with which to drop Tungsten ammo, because I am ridiculously short of it (I've got like, one Tungsten VII and about two or three others of lower levels. Stupidly, I did all the Geth incursion missions ages ago, and am now stuck with virtually no Geth that I can get at unless I start Noveria. (Which is annoying, since I wanted to do Pinnacle Station next). So either I have to give up on getting any more tungsten ammo or rush through Noveria to knobble some more Geth in the hopes of getting some more ammo. (Leaving Therium for last for deliberate reasons...)

I wouldn't mind, but all the ammo treasure from crates and such insists on giving me polomium rounds or something. All I want it a couple more Tungsten ammo anyway (two for me, and one for Kaiden, one for Wrex/Garrus...!)

Never really noticed that, but yes. Different enemies generate different drops. That would explain why this last run through feels so weird.

Bioware also aren't encouraging me to participate in the events at the moment. I'm not confident enough to try silver, let alone gold, so I guess I'll just sit this one out again (since the reward ain't really worth much); maybe have a single crack on Bronze, against the Reapers if I can really be arsed, otherwise, I may as well stick to my ME 1 run...

Give it a go. As I said,you need a minimum amount of damage delivered/damage received to win, and on gold it only requires three on average. The easiest spots to fill are the medic/objective hound infiltrator, and the non salarian engineer. If you have one, a sentinel would work (turians get overload, humans get biotic doom combos). Tech armor is relatively mandatory though, if only so you can survive the occasional Rambo revive that needs to happen (and is often the infiltrator, since otherwise they'd do the revives).

The hardest parts are objective waves. You'll need to be willing in some instances to go down while pulling out a rocket, if only so when they revive you again you can just clear the place. And try to save a rocket for extraction; when the click hits roughly :45, destroy EVERYTHING you're dealing with currently, and run to the LZ. If it's thick, you'll have no troubles. Occasionally, you'll run to the LZ to find a mob waiting for you. Best bet is to distract (decoy, drone, stagger power) and bypass (hold down run button). Or rocket, if you've got another. Remember to aim at floors or walls, and catch them in the splash.

**Morty** · 2012-05-10, 06:18 AM (ISO 8601)

I don't think I'll be attempting to score the "last until extraction in Gold" reward. I find playing on Silver hard enough. I'll definetly try to take out some Banshees, though, of course.

**Aotrs Commander** · 2012-05-10, 06:56 AM (ISO 8601)