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

[Partof1]

I was never excited for the acolyte. I did get a Hurricane, though, and I uppose it's decent. I still want a Crusader though, or more levels for my Valiant.

[Sholos]

I did, however, get an Acolyte in a Premium pack earlier. To my pleasant surprise, even at rank 1 it's light enough that I can equip it to a caster and have no cooldown reduction. To my unpleasant surprise, I don't like it. The mandatory charge-up before it fires, the grenade-like way the projectile arcs, the low ammo, the fact that its damage is only good against shields/barriers... I just can't use this.

Zevox

It is, however, absolutely fantastic at what it does, namely stripping shields/barriers. Try taking it into gold and testing it there against the big nasties.

[SiuiS]

Considering how no classes have both of those powers and the few that have either individually seem to be rarely played (except Human Vanguards, who usually ignore the power entirely), plus the problem of Pull not working on any defenses remains regardless of difficulty (and I would think would be exacerbated on higher ones, since you see fewer mook enemies there), I can't say I'm especially impressed by that thought.

Mass effect multiplayer is designed for team play. I have more reason to believe that balance between groups is not taken into account as much as single unit. Especially in such a hard difficulty.

It also makes sense that they boosted them specifically to make stupid like that viable so people would try it.

No, that's definitely not how it works. I had two games in a row on Vancouver with the same group earlier. So it is randomized, somehow.

Okay it's always the same rotation with me, unless something changes.

I see no reason why that would be the case. It's a shockwave-style power, not a melee attack in any way. Where did you hear this?

Zevox

The shadow benefits from melter boosts and power boosts on its sword power. I'm not sure about the slayer.

[Edge]

The shadow benefits from melter boosts and power boosts on its sword power. I'm not sure about the slayer.

To clarify, it's the Shadow's Shadow Strike power that counts as a melee attack. Electric Slash and Biotic Slash are considered powers for all hits, even if you hit an enemy with your sword when you're waving it around.

[Dhavaer]

My sympathies. As mentioned, I had a similar thing with the Slayer. Though I suppose at least in my case I haven't yet gotten the one I'm least interested in, the Destroyer.

I am also in the happy position, although in my case the uninteresting class is the Paladin.

My question didn't get answered last time, so here it is again: I need to redownload ME3 and all my DLCs for reasons irrelevant to the question. Regarding the multiplayer DLC, which should I redownload first in order to get the best chance at the best weaps/chars?

I'd say Earth. The N7 classes, Pirahna and Typhoon are all good.

Edit: From two PSPs tonight I got 3 Reegars, 2 SMG stabilisation mods and an Expert Package. Victory gave me a Paladin and Commendation an Eagle 3. I'm thinking once the Reegar's maxed (shouldn't be long, it's at IIX now) I might stop buying packs until the next DLC.

[SiuiS]

I've had my first encounter with what I am told are "standard gamers" today.

A lobby where I'm sitting ready, alon with one guy, and the other two are chatting faintly. Arguing r planing, sounds like. So I plug in my mic, and hear "why the hell is he using an acolyte on a devestator? That's stupid. Why woul you do that?" to which I respond; it strips shields in two shots, three max. I then get to listen to them complain about how now they've done it an got me talking and would rather they hadn't asked, so I put up the mic and listen to them complain about how I must have blocked them because I'm not saying anything.

At the end of the match, we wipe with five seconds to go. Whereupon I am informed I shouldn't talk so much trash because I obviously suck, didn't contribute, am a condescending jerk because I knew the etymology of melee (I say it 'wrong' because I don't like aping accents on sinle words) and then a series of way I can only call verbal abuse/rape jokes.

Does this happen often? I always figured people like this try to keep their refuse in private chats. It's kind of depressing actually.

My question didn't get answered last time, so here it is again: I need to redownload ME3 and all my DLCs for reasons irrelevant to the question. Regarding the multiplayer DLC, which should I redownload first in order to get the best chance at the best weaps/chars?

That's a hard question. What do you want?

The basic set can be maxed the fastest, givin you access to the early ultra rates including saber, scorpion and black widow.

The second set gives geth, which are ace, and battlemasters, which are fun. Also the Geth plasma SMG, best SMG so far.

The second pack has some stuff that's either bland or awesome; phoenix boots do insane damage but have even nerfed. Vorcha are melee brutes of you build momentum right. Barbarians too, by with a broader niche. The striker and kishock are cool.

The earth pack has the most distinction between how it's classes play, superficially (shadow? Slayer? Looking at you guys here), some of the best support an setup utilities, and the three most novel guns I've seen this far.

My sympathies. As mentioned, I had a similar thing with the Slayer. Though I suppose at least in my case I haven't yet gotten the one I'm least interested in, the Destroyer.

Got one of those, tried him out. The destroyer I mean. They aren't bad if you like sentinel Krogan. Hydra missiles, devestator mode with shield boost and damage boost, my trusty particle rifle (a staple whenever I don't care about weight) and fitness, and I just walked around nuking things. Respec'd fitness, droppe the last leel and picked up cluste grenades. Pretty handy but not life saving, sadly. Guess the demolisher has spoiled me there.

Bland but solid
Fun if you enjoy doing a good job instead of any particular action.

I did, however, get an Acolyte in a Premium pack earlier. To my pleasant surprise, even at rank 1 it's light enough that I can equip it to a caster and have no cooldown reduction. To my unpleasant surprise, I don't like it. The mandatory charge-up before it fires, the grenade-like way the projectile arcs, the low ammo, the fact that its damage is only good against shields/barriers... I just can't use this.

Zevox

It's a lightweight gun, so if you have the ten points to spare, consider it like a back up Cobra Missile Launcher. Three shots, at full charge, will strip an atlas' shields to the bone. Less probably, it was 2 shots on gold with a devestator mode going.

The acolyte isn't a gun you use normally; you carry an SMG or something for standard fighting. And when there is a group of pyros, or a banshee or you're flanked by a phantom, you pull out your trusty acolyte, charge up, aim in their general direction and remove the shields or batters entirely, stunning the targets hole you hose them down with your real gun.

It does have a definite charge though. Waiting a teensy bit longer got me a noticeable damage boost. And occasionally the projectile didnt burst, like the striker used to.

[CreganTur]

Got the Devestator from the victory pack last night, so now I have 2 N7 classes.

Kind of looking forward to playing this guy- the whole idea of a soldier with set-and-forget powers is great (what they really should have had in the first place) and I'm really looking forward to playing with all the big guns I normally avoid due to weight.

[RagingKrikkit]

I've had my first encounter with what I am told are "standard gamers" today.

A lobby where I'm sitting ready, alon with one guy, and the other two are chatting faintly. Arguing r planing, sounds like. So I plug in my mic, and hear "why the hell is he using an acolyte on a devestator? That's stupid. Why woul you do that?" to which I respond; it strips shields in two shots, three max. I then get to listen to them complain about how now they've done it an got me talking and would rather they hadn't asked, so I put up the mic and listen to them complain about how I must have blocked them because I'm not saying anything.

At the end of the match, we wipe with five seconds to go. Whereupon I am informed I shouldn't talk so much trash because I obviously suck, didn't contribute, am a condescending jerk because I knew the etymology of melee (I say it 'wrong' because I don't like aping accents on sinle words) and then a series of way I can only call verbal abuse/rape jokes.

Does this happen often? I always figured people like this try to keep their refuse in private chats. It's kind of depressing actually.

I think it depends on the game. Call of Duty seems to have two types of players, trash-talking jerks and whiny eight-year olds, wheras something like Portal 2 would probably endgender more camraderie. BTW I agree with you not accenting melee. And remember, that block button is there for a reason, you don't have to listen to their "oh he blocked me" crap if you do. However, if that breaks your team coordination, then it might be a good idea to find a new lobby.

[SiuiS]

Got the Devestator from the victory pack last night, so now I have 2 N7 classes.

Kind of looking forward to playing this guy- the whole idea of a soldier with set-and-forget powers is great (what they really should have had in the first place) and I'm really looking forward to playing with all the big guns I normally avoid due to weight.

I can see why they didn't, though.
The human soldier has what, adrenaline rush, concussive blast, grenades? That gives you the option of making a set-and-forget, no cool down character, or a casting style soldier. And remember, at the start tech armor being a one time use power was still novel; I think they are still balancing out te various levels of what is and is not worth the cost. I was doing an object retrieval and ha a tough time decidin between devestator mode, and extra shields and offense, or no devestator mode and wing able to run faster than a Krogan walks. That sounds balanced to me. 40-50% DR versus a a minor explosion and less cool down? That doesn't.

Fair warning; Devestator Mode feels like a defensive power but is not. You won't have any DR whatsoever. So while it is tempting to do the slow walk in the middle of the field guns blazing, it's not a good idea.

-

YakYak: I made a foolish attempt to reason with them, then set them both to avoid and reported them for vulgarity and such. Not much more I can do, but it bothers me that human beings feel that's an acceptable method of communicating... Especially since, by default, I was set to hear them and not respond.

Thanks though. I was half afraid I'd be told to suck it up >_<

[Wraith]

Thanks though. I was half afraid I'd be told to suck it up >_<

I don't think there's anyone here who'd do that - those two guys were clearly jerks of the highest order. How could you possibly 'win' if they complain that you're talking to them, and then complain that you're not for example?

I agree with YakYak; block them and ignore them. You play ME3 for your own amusement, not theirs, so you should never feel obliged to stay with a group. Not when friendlier (or at least, quieter) folks are just a couple of button presses away.

[Yana]

I wouldn't consider myself quiet.

[Zevox]

It's a lightweight gun, so if you have the ten points to spare, consider it like a back up Cobra Missile Launcher. Three shots, at full charge, will strip an atlas' shields to the bone. Less probably, it was 2 shots on gold with a devestator mode going.

The acolyte isn't a gun you use normally; you carry an SMG or something for standard fighting. And when there is a group of pyros, or a banshee or you're flanked by a phantom, you pull out your trusty acolyte, charge up, aim in their general direction and remove the shields or batters entirely, stunning the targets hole you hose them down with your real gun.

It does have a definite charge though. Waiting a teensy bit longer got me a noticeable damage boost. And occasionally the projectile didnt burst, like the striker used to.

If it's only good as a second weapon, I wouldn't be using it without some upgrades or ULM anyway. Trying to equip it with my Tempest or Geth Plasma SMG (both at rank 4) put my casters at around 160% cooldown.

Plus, remember how I use my guns? Backup for use in between power shots only? Well, when I was testing it, it was with my Asari Adept. I found that I could not get a shot off in between Throw uses as the cooldown is shorter than the Acolyte's charge time, I could only barely get a shot off during a Warp's cooldown, and generally did not want to shoot it after Stasis because it would drop my target out of the Stasis. So, yeah, pretty limited there, especially when you consider that half of the time I was throwing Warp my target had armor. Maybe it'd do better on other casters... but many of my other casters have better ways of dealing with shields on enemies besides the big guys anyway (i.e. Overload, Energy Drain).

Zevox

[SiuiS]

If it's only good as a second weapon, I wouldn't be using it without some upgrades or ULM anyway. Trying to equip it with my Tempest or Geth Plasma SMG (both at rank 4) put my casters at around 160% cooldown.

Plus, remember how I use my guns? Backup for use in between power shots only? Well, when I was testing it, it was with my Asari Adept. I found that I could not get a shot off in between Throw uses as the cooldown is shorter than the Acolyte's charge time, I could only barely get a shot off during a Warp's cooldown, and generally did not want to shoot it after Stasis because it would drop my target out of the Stasis. So, yeah, pretty limited there, especially when you consider that half of the time I was throwing Warp my target had armor. Maybe it'd do better on other casters... but many of my other casters have better ways of dealing with shields on enemies besides the big guys anyway (i.e. Overload, Energy Drain).

Zevox

160% is pretty heavy, yeah.

You're missing the point of a charge up weapon though. They all function about the same and take maybe 30 seconds f playing to acclimate to. Instead of crates, your primary defense becomes corners, walls, ledges and mobility. Stay near buildings do the hypotenuse between yourself and the enemy is blocked by a wall, pop out an shoot, go back behind the wall. As for your throw thing;

Pull and hold trigger (charge)
use throw
Release trigger (shoot)
Use throw

Even with minimum cool down if you prime te gun just before the first throw you'll be fine. It charges during anything except reviving, activating a 1/4 object (hacks and escorts are fine), and fr some reason falling. Falling makes you shoot.

And the fun part is if you have a shot charged an you drop, you fire. I've survived with the GPS by killing my killer with a parting shot, preventin execution or stopping an enemy hunter from wiping the team.

[RagingKrikkit]

I got up this morning and decided to be productive. Then my 2 new ME games arrived...

[SiuiS]

I got up this morning and decided to be productive. Then my 2 new ME games arrived...

Huzzah!

Have fun! Remember to hydrate and, occasionally, sleep!
Hooking up some kind of protein slurry might be a good idea too, in the short term. But the body needs fats and vitamins, so binge on those when you come up for air.

And soldier?

Good luck.

[Psyren]

After a long hiatus from MP, I'm back! And to catch up, I sank some leftover MS points I had (long story) into a slew of Veteran packs

Highlights:

1a) My Tempest, Locust and Phalanx are now all X. Yay!
1b) Corollary: My human Engineer can now carry a Tempest + Phalanx, and still get 200% without ULM or the final rank of Alliance Training. This has shifted his ideal build to be 3/6/6/5/6.
2) My Eviscerator is now VII - making it lighter, more accurate, and do more damage than my Katana X already. I really, really want to max this shotgun out.
3) I now have medigel and ops packs seeping from my pores. Yay!



I also unlocked the new... destroyer... thingy... guy. Typical that my first N7 dude would be a Soldier, the class I hate most.

Speaking of which... What does "Devastator Mode" do exactly?

[Dhavaer]

Speaking of which... What does "Devastator Mode" do exactly?

+Damage, +fire rate, +ammo capacity, slows movement, disables tumbling and best of all makes you immune to stagger.

[SiuiS]

After a long hiatus from MP, I'm back! And to catch up, I sank some leftover MS points I had (long story) into a slew of Veteran packs

Highlights:

1a) My Tempest, Locust and Phalanx are now all X. Yay!
1b) Corollary: My human Engineer can now carry a Tempest + Phalanx, and still get 200% without ULM or the final rank of Alliance Training. This has shifted his ideal build to be 3/6/6/5/6.

Human engineer; they've charged the numbers on the drone around enough that it's rocket evolution is potent enough to be worth investing in. They have actually moved aroun a lot of numbers making it worthwhile to play around with class builds you would normally look askance at.

2) My Eviscerator is now VII - making it lighter, more accurate, and do more damage than my Katana X already. I really, really want to max this shotgun out.
3) I now have medigel and ops packs seeping from my pores. Yay!

These are both good things yes.

I also unlocked the new... destroyer... thingy... guy. Typical that my first N7 dude would be a Soldier, the class I hate most.

Speaking of which... What does "Devastator Mode" do exactly?

Devestator mode is like a permanent adrenaline rush. It boosts damage, rate of fire, potentially shields, and accuracy. The downside is at a run, you're as fast as a walking Krogan.

It's a fun, if bland, class. On the upside, you needn't worry about weapo. Weight so toucan play around with stuff.

[Psyren]

Human engineer; they've charged the numbers on the drone around enough that it's rocket evolution is potent enough to be worth investing in. They have actually moved aroun a lot of numbers making it worthwhile to play around with class builds you would normally look askance at.

Interesting, I'll definitely try that. My FemGineer is actually a Drone-focused build (sacrificing Fitness to be a bit more squishy... I feel vaguely sexist doing that but there it is) so I'll spec her for rockets and see how it goes.

But however powerful the Drone might be now, I mainly just use it to divert leaping Banshees, turn Guardian packs, and flush out hiding Nemeses/Marauders/Centurions. It can do all of those at rank 1, rank 3 just lets it take an additional whack from a Banshee (at least on Silver - don't really play Gold.)

Devestator mode is like a permanent adrenaline rush. It boosts damage, rate of fire, potentially shields, and accuracy. The downside is at a run, you're as fast as a walking Krogan.

It's a fun, if bland, class. On the upside, you needn't worry about weapo. Weight so toucan play around with stuff.

So, an offensive Krogan Sentinel? Passive city?

Hm. Problem is I don't have any guns that would be worthy of an artillery class. The only guns I've maxed other than standard Alliance issue (e.g. Avenger, Katana etc.) are the guns I mentioned above and my Raptor. And the only other guns I have above V are my Eviscerator and the (shudder) Phaethon.

[CreganTur]

A couple of weeks ago I unlocked the Particle Rifle, but when I was spec'ing my Devestator I could not find that weapon in my loadout. Anyone else hear of any glitches where unlocks go missing?

[Wraith]

Hm. Problem is I don't have any guns that would be worthy of an artillery class. The only guns I've maxed other than standard Alliance issue (e.g. Avenger, Katana etc.) are the guns I mentioned above and my Raptor. And the only other guns I have above V are my Eviscerator and the (shudder) Phaethon.

It might not be the most powerful gun and so not optimised for a Devastator Mode, but what don't you like about the Phaeston?

For a long time it's been my staple weapon - everything about it, from rate of fire to clip to recoil, seems to be 'just right' for what I need. I'm not asking to criticise, I'm genuinely curious to see if I have missed something important.

[Zevox]

As for your throw thing;

Pull and hold trigger (charge)
use throw
Release trigger (shoot)
Use throw

Little problem with that: throw and the gun trigger use the buttons on the same shoulder of the controller, which would make that extremely difficult to do, especially comfortably. That's actually something I have difficulties with in fighting games too, with characters like Zero in MvC3 and Juri in SFxT.

1a) My Tempest, Locust and Phalanx are now all X. Yay!

I'm jealous. I'm still stuck with the former two at rank 4 the last at rank 3. I've only got one of my preferred uncommon weapons at a good rank, and that is...

2) My Eviscerator is now VII - making it lighter, more accurate, and do more damage than my Katana X already. I really, really want to max this shotgun out.

That one, which I have at rank 9. At that point it's lighter than my Disciple 4, and gives my Human Vanguards (all three flavors) 200% cooldown, thanks to the general weight reduction from rank 6 of their class talent. Very nice weapon, and likely to be my first rank 10 uncommon, given I only have one other uncommon weapon above rank 5 (one of the sniper rifles is at rank 7).

Zevox

[Psyren]

Little problem with that: throw and the gun trigger use the buttons on the same shoulder of the controller, which would make that extremely difficult to do, especially comfortably. That's actually something I have difficulties with in fighting games too, with characters like Zero in MvC3 and Juri in SFxT.

I trained myself to do just that, because that's the best way to max dps on an Engineer (i.e. sustained point-blank Tempest fire on Neural Shocked targets... spam the Overload button while keeping the gunfire held down and using your thumb to counter the recoil.) The key is to use your middle fingers on the left and right triggers, and your index fingers on the bumps, instead of trying to alternate your index fingers on both - this allows you to keep both buttons pressed without moving your hands.

(Not sure if that's the way you were doing it, but just in case I thought I'd share.)

I'm jealous. I'm still stuck with the former two at rank 4 the last at rank 3. I've only got one of my preferred uncommon weapons at a good rank, and that is...


That one, which I have at rank 9. At that point it's lighter than my Disciple 4, and gives my Human Vanguards (all three flavors) 200% cooldown, thanks to the general weight reduction from rank 6 of their class talent.

I can't wait to boost the Evi more. My CQC Infiltrator is already at 192% just from Rank VII, and Evi + choke means I can actually kill a tougher target (like a Centurion) without being in its armpit first.

But with the Tempest and Phalanx maxed at last, all my future credits will likely go to Spectre and Premium Spectre packs, so finishing Eviscerator may take a while.

[CreganTur]

When I want to play a shotty-infiltrator I always go with my Geth Infiltrator and a Geth Plasma Shotgun X (extra ammo and extra damage mods). The boost for Geth weapons makes him extra deadly, especially when you put the damage bonus from breaking cover on top.

The recharge penalty is basically nothing to me on this build because it's really not very long before I can activate tactical cloak again. Most of the time I just cloak, pop up, empty the clip, reload, then go back into cloak. Even on Gold the recharge time is still fast enough that I very rarely find myself needing it before it comes back up.

Tried out the Devestator a little- tried playing a Silver game, but had to drop after Wave 3 for IRL reasons. Liked what it was doing for the little time I used him.

My weapons loadout was Typhoon and Javelin. With the extra damage and extra ammo the Javelin is useful and NASTY!

Really thinking about dropping the rockets because the hit to shields just seems like a lot... but then again he's only lvl 5, so it might get better.

[Psyren]

I have neither a Geth Inflitrator nor a GPS yet.

I really, really want one too - if only to make it jet black and decloak near my team, then watch their reactions.

[CreganTur]

I have neither a Geth Inflitrator nor a GPS yet.

I really, really want one too - if only to make it jet black and decloak near my team, then watch their reactions.

I teleported next to a guy in my party once with my Fury- scared the crap out of him. It was hilarious.

[Zevox]

The key is to use your middle fingers on the left and right triggers, and your index fingers on the bumps, instead of trying to alternate your index fingers on both - this allows you to keep both buttons pressed without moving your hands.

(Not sure if that's the way you were doing it, but just in case I thought I'd share.)

That's what I was doing, yeah. And it's uncomfortable as hell and seems to make me less effective in general - not sure why, but my other fingers just don't respond normally with my middle one switched to sit over the trigger like that. Messes up the muscle memory, I guess.

Anyway, I actually played a few games of gold last night and today. Damn but I'd forgotten how intense they can get, even on White/Geth. I've also come to the conclusion that the new object collection and escort objectives are the absolute worst ones to get on gold, as forcing you to move around the map exposed like that is sure way to make things extremely hard on that difficulty. Unfortunately, I came to that conclusion because, with only one match as an exception, every objective my teams had was one of those. Small wonder half of them failed, eh?

Anyway though, I did get enough cash for two Premium packs, and got some good stuff. My Phaeston ranked up to 5, a Reagar Carbine, a Pistol ULM, a rank up for my Pistol piercing mod, and a rare gear that increases AR damage and grenade capacity. That gear is perfect for my Demolisher, and of course rank-ups to things I use or want to use like the piercing mod and Phaeston are always appreciated. The Pistol ULM unfortunately won't do any of the things I want it to yet (allow my casters to carry a Carnifex at 200%, allow them to carry a Tempest/Geth Plasma SMG and Phalanx at 200%, or allow my Human Vanguards to carry an Eviscerator and Phalanx at 200%), but with some rank-ups to it or the weapons in question, it'll definitely be seeing some use. The Reagar Carbine, well, we'll see. Unfortunately even on my Krogan Vanguard it's too heavy for now (135% cooldown). Maybe I could put it on my Demolisher just to try it out, but I definitely won't use it on her permanently, since I'm pleased with the Striker on her. I am concerned about whether I'll ever get the Reagar down to a good weight for me if it's that heavy though.

Other acquisitions include the Vorcha Sentinel, which I have no interest in using, and the Saber, which I don't know if I'll use. Depends on weight, as usual with me, and I haven't checked that yet.

Zevox

[Krade]

It might not be the most powerful gun and so not optimised for a Devastator Mode, but what don't you like about the Phaeston?

For a long time it's been my staple weapon - everything about it, from rate of fire to clip to recoil, seems to be 'just right' for what I need. I'm not asking to criticise, I'm genuinely curious to see if I have missed something important.

I have to agree with Wraith on this one. The Phaeston has become my default caster weapon. Without the rank 6 weight reduction, you can get at least 180% (a few classes have a higher base capacity), which is not a considerable difference from 200%.

With piercing and damage mods, it becomes a decent weapon to put bullets down range while waiting for your powers to recharge. It's definitely not the best AR, but I think it's at the perfect balance for a good caster weapon.

[Joran]

That's what I was doing, yeah. And it's uncomfortable as hell and seems to make me less effective in general - not sure why, but my other fingers just don't respond normally with my middle one switched to sit over the trigger like that. Messes up the muscle memory, I guess.

Anyway, I actually played a few games of gold last night and today. Damn but I'd forgotten how intense they can get, even on White/Geth. I've also come to the conclusion that the new object collection and escort objectives are the absolute worst ones to get on gold, as forcing you to move around the map exposed like that is sure way to make things extremely hard on that difficulty. Unfortunately, I came to that conclusion because, with only one match as an exception, every objective my teams had was one of those. Small wonder half of them failed, eh?

Zevox

On Gold, I cringe whenever we get one of those Hack the Points objectives, since it involves both moving to the point while surviving and then staying at the point for an extended time. King of the Hill Objectives really depends on where they are. They can be easy, like the control room/landing pad in White or absurdly hard like the middle of London (god, I couldn't even do that on Silver).

Object Collection I've found hasn't been that bad because it allows you to choose your route. Also, the game gods seem kind and usually set the second one pretty close to the extraction zone. I've done maybe one escort and that wasn't too rough.

I've started to play more Gold now that I have enough medigel and rockets to be an asset to the team. I want to play my Demolisher, but am pretty scared of doing the 6/6/6/6/0 glass cannon build, because I've played an Adept with 3 fitness + the stronghold equipment and still get taken down by a Marauder looking at me the wrong way =P

[Zevox]

On Gold, I cringe whenever we get one of those Hack the Points objectives, since it involves both moving to the point while surviving and then staying at the point for an extended time. King of the Hill Objectives really depends on where they are. They can be easy, like the control room/landing pad in White or absurdly hard like the middle of London (god, I couldn't even do that on Silver).

The activate four objects objective would likely be next on my list of objectives I don't want to see on gold, but I think it is better than the two newer ones. If you have an Infiltrator on the team it can be downright easy if he knows what he's doing, and even if you don't the objects are generally right near some cover and you automatically crouch when activating them, so you have some protection. Escort, not so much. Object retrieval you can, but staying in one spot for too long invites disaster with that.

King of the Hill isn't bad, since you're doing what you want to in gold anyway: hunkering down and defending a position. It does depend on the map, as you say, but that's why I never do random map on gold. If the match-maker ever dropped me into an already-going gold game on something like Hydra or (heaven forbid) London, I'd quit in a heartbeat.

Object Collection I've found hasn't been that bad because it allows you to choose your route. Also, the game gods seem kind and usually set the second one pretty close to the extraction zone.

That last is pretty much the only reason my groups completed any of those. Unfortunately the first object usually spawns quite some distance from the extraction zone, and in every instance I've seen all routes to that zone ended up filled with enemies well before we could take them.

I've done maybe one escort and that wasn't too rough.

Lucky. Escort is the worst of them all, because you can't sit in cover basically ever. You need to stay with the drone as it moves, which leaves you badly exposed. Even on wave 3, those are a pain on gold. Heck, even on silver they're a pain on wave 10, especially against the Reapers (being exposed to Ravager fire while Banshees and Brutes barrel in at you as you slowly walk back with the drone... not fun).

Zevox