Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

[Morty]

The problem I find with building the Krogan Shaman for Warp + Shockwave is that it results in a Human Adept who is less maneuverable, can take a few more hits, and whose combos take longer to set up due to Barrier's cooldown delay and the likelihood that their weight capacity isn't as high.

It's that last point that was a problem for me. The combo was so slow to detonate that anything I primed usually got killed before I could launch a detonating power, and trying to mitigate that deficiency with a 200% cooldown meant I had to use pretty anaemic guns. And so I went without Shockwave.

If you can make a caster Shaman work, more power to you.

I'm going to try. Having just played a match, I was doing pretty well... until we were wiped on wave 6 (luckily after completing the objective). I really have no idea why it's happening to me so often lately. Of course, I ended up on bloody Firebase Hydra for about fourth time in the last few matches. Against the Collectors, to boot.

[Illven]

All those classes can be caster style. You can build them that way, or you could not. The point was to show you exactly how limiting "soldiers are fighters, infiltrators are rogues, etc." can be.

A human vanguard with shockwave maxed could strike enemies through walls, set up detonations on mooks and follow up with nova before rolling away.

Turian soldier gets proximity mine and concussive shot, which can be fired in rapid succession to cause detonations, knock enemies out of cover and around corners, concussive shot knocks enemies around consistently In a large area and could be spec'd for damage over time and damage to chilled enemies. It's a standard casting build.

Salarian infiltrator gets proximity mine and energy drain, giving him set-up, traps, large-area stagger attacks, broad lightning bolt area-of-effect attacks, invisibility and vampiric healing.

The list goes on. You could take a soldier, load him up with guns an grenades and that's it. But if you choose not to put a lot of thought into you build, you won't get a lot out of it.

I'm not a fan of shock-wave. It makes me get too close to the enemy for my comfort.

Also had my first character unlock. Vorcha soldier.

[Psyren]

I'm not a fan of shock-wave. It makes me get too close to the enemy for my comfort.

That's definitely a strength of the Shaman - they can survive being that close to most enemies. (Just watch out for sync-killers.)

...I think I'll play my Shaman tonight.

I'm going to try. Having just played a match, I was doing pretty well... until we were wiped on wave 6 (luckily after completing the objective). I really have no idea why it's happening to me so often lately. Of course, I ended up on bloody Firebase Hydra for about fourth time in the last few matches. Against the Collectors, to boot.

You have all the expansions installed, right? Back when I forgot to install Rebellion, I was getting the same maps/players over and over - i.e. the other people who had forgotten like I did.

Hmm, I could see them swinging Destroy into a working ending too. Or all of them could work. Write Destroy's anti-Geth pulse as missing some of the Geth. We know the Geth had a reputation for sending ships out into the expanse outside of the galaxy; I could see a group of them avoiding the pulse fairly easily. With some Geth still in play, the other differences could be easily glossed over with minor dialogue interactions.

Well, except for Synthesis's glowing-eye silliness, but that could wear off.

My problem with Destroy - aside from the genocide it entails - is that Shep survives (or can), begging the question of why s/he wouldn't continue to be a major player on the galactic stage, and in what capacity.

Whereas with Control, Shepard is for all intents and purposes dead, and there is instead some super-entity with all of Shep's memories but very little of the personality. This gives them tabula rasa to make the thing with Shep's face have any personality and agenda they want.

[Luzahn]

My problem with Destroy - aside from the genocide it entails - is that Shep survives (or can), begging the question of why s/he wouldn't continue to be a major player on the galactic stage, and in what capacity.

Whereas with Control, Shepard is for all intents and purposes dead, and there is instead some super-entity with all of Shep's memories but very little of the personality. This gives them tabula rasa to make the thing with Shep's face have any personality and agenda they want.

Yeah, Shepard still alive could cause problems, thought it's easy enough to have him retire. I imagine my Shepard as a half-mad old Admiral at the war table, still shouting about the Reaper threat.

As for the genocide of my ending: yeah, it's kind of a terrible thing to do. I thought of my Shepard as fanatically devoted to utterly annihilating the Reapers though, and the Geth were a small price to pay to toss the ring into the fires.

Poor robot buddies....I liked those guys.

[BlackDragonKing]

Control is probably the best canon ending. The Geth/EDI are alive, Shepard's around (and can potentially be encountered, even), plus being based on a true intelligence means God-Shep might reach full AI status, surpassing Starkid and being free of a similar feedback loop.

I'm frankly unsure of it. The endings interact in weird ways with the idea of continuing the story:

-Destroy: You have to make a game with no Geth whatsoever. Given that they're incredibly popular with the fanbase, that seems extremely unwise. Everyone wanted to negotiate the peace on Rannoch, and it's a real kick in the teeth if the Geth get erased from all future installments of the series. Legion's death didn't mean anything. It seems a poor choice to continue the series on unless they're really going to grind in that alleged Synthetic apocalypse thing by having machines that are actually evil be the enemy. I don't like this concept; I found the Destroy ending morally repugnant for what it does to the Geth, and a lot of players wouldn't like being forced to assume that's how it happened. It'd be like an unavoidable FailShep.

-Control: This one works out pretty well, actually. I'd agree it's the best ending for continuing the series if GodShep rebuilds the galaxy and then sends the Reapers away out of respect for the galaxy's right to self-determine. "The Shepherd" could be a sort of Arthurian figure that will come to the galaxy's aid with an unbeatable army only if needed, but for the most part the universe functions about where you had it in Mass Effect 2. You could even, as you said, have GodShep be encounterable; I sort of like the idea of Shepard using their AI nature to remain in the galaxy in a form that isn't going to disrupt its day-to-day life, like inhabiting a Geth Platform. The only problem I have with this is why any seriously world-spanning threat wouldn't be instantly bathed in Thanix-cannon fire from Shepard stepping in to protect the galaxy. Yahg? Reap'd. Leviathans getting uppity? What reason does Shep have NOT to strafe their planet into oblivion? It seems like the Reapers' relative invincibility as a fleet means that friendly Reapers become an "I WIN" button and cheapens the struggle.

-Synthesis: Aside from the glurgy suggestion everybody will get along forever thanks to Shepard taking it upon themselves to tinker with the stuff of life, there's still the "friendly reaper" problem here; assuming Harbinger isn't racist anymore, why wouldn't he and his buddies just annihilate the threat effortlessly? If it's the synthesized Reapers that are the problem, you're just rehashing the previous trilogy, and if the new threat can withstand the reapers--BULLCRAP, WHERE WERE THEY DURING THE WAR? will be heard from every rooftop.

The way I see it, the best way to actually proceed is some sort of third option, where the Reapers are gone, FOREVER, but the Geth are still alive. Like a Control ending where there isn't any coming back, Reapers leave the galaxy and are ordered by Shepard to never return, or a Synthesis where the Reapers embrace death after rebuilding the galaxy and imparting the wisdom of their cultures to the galaxy. If there's a better way for conflict to be meaningful, I don't really know what.

I do think 4 might be able to track flags from 3 to determine what Shepard did in the trilogy, though, for things not as script-shattering as the ending. It can't be that hard for 4 to just take a peek at your file where you did everything "right" up to the ending to know where things stand.

[Zevox]

A bad idea. There have been variable builds and strategies sice the beginning. It's always been perfectly viable to use a human soldier as a caster, and it's always been viable to use a human adept as a gun-user. These are just a different take on the stereotypes you were telling him not to use.

Seriously. Everyone. Ignore class stereotypes. Powers define your ability, and class does not meaningfully define your powers.

They are an accurate account of the original basis of the class system, which holds true throughout the series in the single-player. That said, you're partially right, in that the multiplayer devs don't seem to be trying to actually use the class system. This was noticeable even before the DLC with weirdness like the Turian being the only Sentinel that matched their class concept, or the Drell Vanguard being uniquely poorly-suited for what Vanguards are supposed to be. And it's only gotten worse since then, with things like the N7 Paladin being an Engineer in all but name, or the Turian Havoc Soldier being a Vanguard.

Personally, at this point, if they're really just going to ignore the class system in the multiplayer anyway, I kind of wish they'd formally do away with it. There's no point to it existing if they're not going to follow it in designing the characters.

All that said though, some things on your list of "caster-style classes" seem quite suspect to me. For clarification, I'd classify a caster-style character to be one that can rely solely on their powers, not needing to use their gun if they don't want to, and would generally not count grenades toward this since they have an ammo limit and need to be aimed manually (the exception being the Demonlisher, who has a power specifically designed to let her use grenades near-endlessly, and has one grenade type that tracks like a power).

Given that, how the heck does a Human Infiltrator work as a caster? They have two support powers (cloak, cryo blast) and a grenade, no offensive powers at all. Similar can be said of the Quarian, though I acknowledge that at least Sabotage does some damage, if not a lot. Similarly, most of the Soldiers you listed as such have only one power that is remotely caster-esque, and I have a hard time buying that they can truly rely solely on that one power, particularly with the Humans. There's also the Batarian Vanguard - sure you could combo Lash -> Charge on unarmored enemies, but if you're relying on that then you're screwed against armored ones. Drell Vanguard as well, with Pull being useless against any protection.

I forsee improvements in gameplay at the expense of some writing quality. And possibly a genre shift.

I wouldn't even say that necessarily. According to that post, this branch handled some single-player content for ME2 and 3, and the guy in charge was a development director for 1 and the first half of 2, until the Montreal branch was created. Sounds like its in good hands to me. Though I really hope they transferred the writers who handled Legion and Mordin to that branch - would be a shame to lose them from the series. (Though maybe that would mean they'd be put on Dragon Age 3? Hm....)

Re: Setting of the next game - as I've said in the past, I don't think it will be possible to do a game set after 3. Bioware in general do not make choices that they left to player canon, and they'd have to in order to tell stories about the galaxy from here.

If they did, I expect they'd take Destroy. Synthesis obviously changes far too much, and Control requires that they account for how galactic civilization will be changed by a Shepard-AI controlling the Reapers, which also means defining some things about Shepard's character in order to determine just what she'd do with the Reapers, which is another thing they're loath to do in general. Destroy keeps things the closest to the status quo - some advances will be made from studying the remains of the Reapers, but other than that there's just rebuilding and the lack of the Geth and EDI to account for. And personally, I find that thought depressing, since I find Destroy to be the worst ending (outside of Deny, obviously, which is just dumb), what with the whole genocide thing.

Zevox

[Landis963]

Technically you can make a game after the Destroy ending with the geth still around. It's simply a matter of whether Tali can convince other people to rebuild them. They've more than proven their utility (vaccinating the quarians to re-adapt to Rannoch, anybody?) and their loyalty, ironically, was never really in question. Maybe if you did Rannoch perfectly there's a flag in there which allows for the presence of the geth (a platform replacing an NPC in a questline or two, plus maybe some news reports), with the implication that Tali succeeded in getting them rebuilt. The presence of Admiral Koris would help greatly in this regard, as would the mad-scientist tendencies of Admiral Xen, both of whom are alive in a perfect run-through of Rannoch.

EDIT: Also Control is simple enough to do; have the Shepard AI simply send the Reapers away into dark space once the job of rebuilding is done. That way, they're not an easily-accessible deus ex machina or fleet of eagles that the writers can use to slice through a plot. (Remember it took them a few months to get to the Milky Way from where they were hiding, long enough for most terrestrial plotlines to resolve themselves)

[SiuiS]

I was thinking pretty much the same thing - when you can reliably jump into a Silver game on Wave 3 and still finish the map out-scoring the next player by 15,000 points, it's probably time to strap on a pair and go play with the big boys.

I do, however, have a confession to make; my name is Wraith, and I strongly suspect that I am one of 'those guys'. Y'know, the ones who run off, leaving my team in my dust, to kill everything as fast as I can and try to hog the glory for myself.

So help me, I try not to be.
I always make for an objective, unless I'm a long way-away and the rest of my team already seem to have it sewn up (I figure that I'm helping more by flanking the enemy and drawing some of them away from the important locations). I always run to pick up a downed friend, even when sometimes I probably shouldn't. I even try quite hard not to Kill Steal (although we all have 'accidents', and if I see someone taking on more than 2 mooks by themselves, then as I see it the rest are fair game.... )

So, Playground, please help me to become a better Player?
I've never played Gold, and while I understand that the basics are different to Silver (eg: Always stay with your team, try to use a mic if you have one, find a good place to hide and cover the exits, don't be a glory-hound, don't run for the LZ until there are only a few seconds left on the clock or you'll get swamped) what would you say are the most important things that I should do in order to be a competant - nay, valuable - asset to a Gold match?

Sounds like you'll do good. Best things to learn are when to revive immediately as opposed to waiting, and when to use a rocket.

For revives, it's often better to kill the nearest enemy to a dropped enemy than to run in for a revive and get gunned down. You risk maybe losing a guy to a pyro or three, but at the gain of not losing two guys to a pyro or three. That said, maximum revive distance is pretty far, and corners can be somewhat bypassed, and it's occasionally possible to run past an enemy unit, grab a friend, and skedaddle. It's ballsy and goes by feel, but if you've got the ovaries for it a good sense of when the AI gets predictable can help.

Rockets. Rockets are the first thought of every panicked soldier who is going down. But I've said before sometimes it's better to die than waste a resource. In this instance, it's better to be punched to death by a brute and revived by you mates than it is to waste a rocket when next wave you watch two brutes, two banshees, and three ravagers cluster together at a spawn.
Rockets are for two things; juicy, juicy groups of heavy or dangerous enemies, or sometimes to avoid a medigel dumping flustercluck. If two turrets and some guardians look like they've got three of your guys pinned, doomed, and are likely to drag your sniper out of cover out of obligation to save you? A rocket would do wonders and is cheaper than three or four guys blowing gel.

The test run of the N7 Valkyrie with the Turian Soldier went well. With the Turian stability bonuses and Marksman, I could fire off short and damaging bursts. And now that Marksman replenishes your ammo like Adrenaline Rush, I could double the not terribly impressive clip size.
Still none of the classes I want in sight, though. I wonder if buying Premium Spectre Packs instead of normal Spectre Packs would increase my odds of finally finding one of them,

For roughly 180,000 you can get 3 rares from spectre packs or 4 rares with a possibility of ultra rare in premium spectre packs. My last PSP gave me a trooper, javelin and particle rifle. The only packs you'd ever want to get are recruit and between in the early game, PSPs in the late game, and jumbo equipment packs whenever.

I forsee improvements in gameplay at the expense of some writing quality. And possibly a genre shift.

In all honesty, I'd quite like to see a stealth game a la Splinter Cell set in the ME galaxy.

I'm somewhat worried at the thought of the writing gettin sloppier, but alas. We play the hand we're dealt.

*Glares at Quarians*

What do you mean?

"You know why Cerberus's most infamous assassin never killed you?"

Because he's a worthless prat who spends more time polishing his cybernetic parts than actually doing anything to be infamous for.

The problem I find with building the Krogan Shaman for Warp + Shockwave is that it results in a Human Adept who is less maneuverable, can take a few more hits, and whose combos take longer to set up due to Barrier's cooldown delay and the likelihood that their weight capacity isn't as high.

It's that last point that was a problem for me. The combo was so slow to detonate that anything I primed usually got killed before I could launch a detonating power, and trying to mitigate that deficiency with a 200% cooldown meant I had to use pretty anaemic guns. And so I went without Shockwave.

If you can make a caster Shaman work, more power to you.

Personally, I dropped the passive skill. Krogan shaman is A) a Krogan, B) a caster, and C) a soldier. I don need him to be a soldier when caster and Krogan doesn't need a heavy gun. Disciple, Bayonet, brigs him to 160% or so. Ahockwave clears pretty much everything in your way. Warp weakens enemies, and weakens armor even more. Warp works to set up extra damage, melee the target. If you're being grouped, flanked or outgunned, shockwave frees up a large area and clears out an immediate radius. You are more likely to go down than a battlemaster, but I find all Krogan go down easier than the battlemaster.

I'm not a fan of shock-wave. It makes me get too close to the enemy for my comfort.

Also had my first character unlock. Vorcha soldier.

Makes sense. The range boost helps, but consider that it goes through walls and cover. If you're too close, and there is not a wall between you and them, then you shoul reposition.

They are an accurate account of the original basis of the class system, which holds true throughout the series in the single-player.

Sophistry. A "caster" soldier has been possible since mass effect 2, so stating that this is how I plays out in the single player strongly implies that the reverse is not true, even though the reverse is true.

All that said though, some things on your list of "caster-style classes" seem quite suspect to me. For clarification, I'd classify a caster-style character to be one that can rely solely on their powers, not needing to use their gun if they don't want to, and would generally not count grenades toward this since they have an ammo limit and need to be aimed manually (the exception being the Demonlisher, who has a power specifically designed to let her use grenades near-endlessly, and has one grenade type that tracks like a power).

A caster can rely almost strictly on powers at a reasonably high difficulty. Go on gold. Get to the same level of proficiency as gold-standard players. Try the builds. Then judge.

Given that, how the heck does a Human Infiltrator work as a caster? They have two support powers (cloak, cryo blast) and a grenade, no offensive powers at all.

You not liking grenades does not mean they aren't a power which can be relied upon. Sticky grenade operates as a grenade, as a delayed explosion, as a trap. That's several levels of functionality, offering what a faster is really defined by; versatility. If a single power is not enough to make a caster, then we have to assume it is because a single power is insufficiently versatile, unless that power has multiple uses.

The ability to sneak into a spawn (or maintain your camp), guard your rear, trap a doorway, freeze a target into falling amidst his allies, exploding, and takin out other allies, one of whom falls and triggers a proximity mine explosion, and then sneaks out without firing a shot? Caster.

I would like to point out the arguments where you've denied the utility of shockwave despite not using it sufficiently to judge an also flat ignoring quoted numbers on its power in relation to a power you claime was "better", and that you were disbelieving in brutes having an instant kill for two months, before exclaiming about how surprised you were to be sync killed by a brute.

You specialize in your narrow niche. I specialize in experimentation. Have since the demo. If you want to experiment yourself, be my guest, but it's very frustrating rehashing the same statements again and again with seemingly no recognition that the words were even exchanged.

[Illven]

Makes sense. The range boost helps, but consider that it goes through walls and cover. If you're too close, and there is not a wall between you and them, then you shoul reposition.

Well besides corners, how am I supposed to know there's an enemy behind a wall. There's no radar that I've seen. The cover is a good point though.

[Zevox]

A caster can rely almost strictly on powers at a reasonably high difficulty. Go on gold. Get to the same level of proficiency as gold-standard players. Try the builds. Then judge.

If I were to judge by the gold games I play, I already am at that level of proficiency. As I said, I choose to play on silver out of preference, I don't do so because I can't handle gold. I simply regard gold as just a way to build money faster, where silver is preferable for enjoying myself.

You not liking grenades does not mean they aren't a power which can be relied upon.

No, but them having a strict ammo limit does. Without gear to expand it a class with grenades that isn't the Demolisher gets 3-4 of them, depending on if it took the capacity upgrade. Given how long it can take ammo spawn points to restock on grenades, that's not enough to last a wave if you're trying to use them as your only means of offense, as you're suggesting with the Human Infiltrator. Even with a Grenade Capacity gear at rank 5 I'd be quite skeptical that such a thing is possible outside of bronze or early waves of a match for any class but the Demolisher. It just doesn't sound feasible to me.

I would like to point out the arguments where you've denied the utility of shockwave despite not using it sufficiently to judge an also flat ignoring quoted numbers on its power in relation to a power you claime was "better",

Honestly, my opinion of shockwave hasn't changed as much as you might think. I still regard it primarily as a detonator power. The range increase it got since that conversation was badly needed, and the boost to the effect of its Detonate ability helps justify its use as well. Beyond that, eh, it'll clear mooks well enough, but so will most powers.

and that you were disbelieving in brutes having an instant kill for two months, before exclaiming about how surprised you were to be sync killed by a brute.

Look, I'll be honest, I still have no recollection of this argument you believe we had about that. I was surprised by the first Brute insta-kill I suffered specifically because I had not heard of it at all to my recollection prior to that point. If it means anything though, if we did have such a discussion and I simply forgot it in between then and when I was hit by that insta-kill, I apologize for whatever I may have said back then. You were right and I was wrong.

Zevox

[Strife Warzeal]

I would like to point out the arguments where you've denied the utility of shockwave despite not using it sufficiently to judge an also flat ignoring quoted numbers on its power in relation to a power you claime was "better", and that you were disbelieving in brutes having an instant kill for two months, before exclaiming about how surprised you were to be sync killed by a brute.

You specialize in your narrow niche. I specialize in experimentation. Have since the demo. If you want to experiment yourself, be my guest, but it's very frustrating rehashing the same statements again and again with seemingly no recognition that the words were even exchanged.

I'll admit, except for maybe one time in the single player(Vangaurding with little knowledge = bad time) I haven't been sync killed by a Brute, and that's yesterday I was standing next to it Headbutting it as my Krogan. Actually it was a rather hilarious situation, just watching the Battlemaster(just got it yesterday, finally) duke it out with it.

Well besides corners, how am I supposed to know there's an enemy behind a wall. There's no radar that I've seen. The cover is a good point though.

It gets to the point where you have a good idea of where enemies you can't see are. Sort of like learning spawn points. Also there are a couple skills now that help show enemy location. There is the Quarian Males ability to Tac Scan and reveal (multiple) enemies, Geth's Hunter Mode, and the Volus' Recon mine.

Also, who is it hurting if you just threw your flamer through the wall if an enemy is not there?

[Edge]

I disagree with considering grenades a very limited resource. If you don't have capacity gear, you're only going to be carrying 2 or 3 anyway, which can be filled up quickly and easily.

Also, don't forget that spending a thermal clip pack fully replenishes your grenades as well as your ammo. More useful if you're toting grenade capacity gear, of course, but it can still get you out of a tough spot.

[SiuiS]

If you're ye only one with grenades on a map, the majority goes to waste. Even on gold an platinum, one spawns at a box every twenty seconds. If you stand at a box and fire then reload several times, the box regenerates much faster. If you sit in a room, away from a box and only have access to one ammo point, then yes you'll run out. Mobility, timing, discretion.


Brutes tend to be very unpredictable in their killing. It's fast though, much much faster than any other sync kill. Just a lift and a slam and then you're out of the match until the next wave.


Enemies can sneak up on you, but generally if you can see an enemy and shoot them, you could also take two steps, move sideways, and shoot them through a wall. I cannot think of any point, not even the long catwalk on hydra, where you can be hot at without being able to interpose a wall between you.

And if you are in that position? Run. If you're not in cover, you're asking for a bad time.

[Dhavaer]

Well, back to the purgatory of level 4 equipment. At least I got another Volus engie first.

[SiuiS]

Well, back to the purgatory of level 4 equipment. At least I got another Volus engie first.

You posted this when I started buying rank IV ammo. I BLAME YOOOOOOOOUUU

[Rising Phoenix]

...and I've been having terrible luck with PSPs... all I am getting are colour unlocks for classes I already have >_<. At least all my uncommon weapons (bar 2) are rank X so I am not exactly lacking of equipment.

[Psyren]

Sius, I play Gold exclusively, and I'm with Zevox on this one - not all of the casters you've labelled as casters are in fact casters. Personally, I don't think ANY Infilitrator, except the N7 Shadow, is a caster (Though the Ghost comes close.)

If I can leverage our hopefully common D&D backgrounds for a second, I think some classes belong to a hybrid catergory - "gishes," if you will. These classes can succeed with their powers alone, but not effectively enough to eschew firearms entirely.

Personally, I define a caster as any class that can equip nothing but a Predator and still do well on Gold. These would include all the Adepts, all the Vanguards, all the Engineers but the Demolisher, the N7 Shadow, and most of the Sentinels. Before the tech combo changes, I wouldn't even have put the Paladin in that list; without his various bursts, he needed a gun to put out decent damage.

If you're level 20, the only one left alive, no rockets, and you're stuck with a lone banshee at full health chasing you around the map, do you need your gun to beat her? If so, you're not a caster in my book.

[Farix]

I ended up in a match today with a guy with a N7 rank of 13068, a challenge rank of over 20000, and the Best of the Best banner which I can only assume is from completing all the other challenges. Just...wow.


In other news got the Asari Valkyrie today, finally rounding off my first class collection (though far from having all the appearance options and such). Gave her a spin and its an interesting class with Tech Armor and Annihilation Field being pseudo passive skills while warps the only ranged power. I can see her being useful on Gold or Platinum as a primer for a biotic but on her own its harder to set off any explosions. Definitely not going to replace my Fury but still seems like an interesting class with potential in a coordinated group.

[CreganTur]

The new Geth Trooper is just awesome! Earned him over my big gaming binge weekend. I tested him out on Silver and with Fortification I was able to just wade into enemies with my Flamer spouting death in every direction.

We were playing on Vancouver, so there were very definite paths for me to lock down with fire since most of my team stayed on the upper section. This left me to take out entire swaths of enemies while the team picked off the stragglers. There is something very satisfying about watching a Brute burn to death as it struggles to charge at you.

I earned the Krogan Shaman in the last pack I bought before logging off last night, so I'm looking forward to testing him out.

The weekend challenge was a lot of fun! At first I tried it with my Human Engineer, hoping that fire explosions would give me a big points boost, but it didn't work as planned. Switched to my Quarian Engineer and specced the turret for flamethrower- earned the medal in 2 games with her.

[Landis963]

I ended up in a match today with a guy with a N7 rank of 13068, a challenge rank of over 20000, and the Best of the Best banner which I can only assume is from completing all the other challenges. Just...wow.

So that's what the banner is for 100% completion. Does it look like anything?

[Strife Warzeal]

With my PSPs, I'm so happy with what I have been getting. Previously, I only had the 4 base vangaurds, but in the past few days I've gotten the Battlemaster, Phoenix, and Batarian. I picked up the Asari Valkyrie a bit ago and I just got the Geth Trooper and Volus Adept just now.

I have a bunch of new stuff to try out now.

Edit: For the Volus I'm trying to figure out a weapon; based on my inventory what should I carry?

[Psyren]

Edit: For the Volus I'm trying to figure out a weapon; based on my inventory what should I carry?

That Phalanx looks like your best bet to me. 200% cooldowns are vital on Volus because their native cooldowns are long.

[Strife Warzeal]

That Phalanx looks like your best bet to me. 200% cooldowns are vital on Volus because their native cooldowns are long.

Yeah that's what I was thinking, for the future what should I try and switch to? Or is that what I'll be sticking to?

[Psyren]

Yeah that's what I was thinking, for the future what should I try and switch to? Or is that what I'll be sticking to?

The Carnifex packs more punch but takes a long time to get light - I don't think mine got to 200% until X. The Eagle, Acolyte and Arc Pistol are all lightweight and powerful. The Paladin is strong too but you're unlikely to rank it up very fast.

Because you can't take cover as a Volus, you'll be moving around a lot; avoid guns that want you standing still for long periods of time (like snipers or machine guns.)

[Edge]

The Carnifex packs more punch but takes a long time to get light - I don't think mine got to 200% until X. The Eagle, Acolyte and Arc Pistol are all lightweight and powerful. The Paladin is strong too but you're unlikely to rank it up very fast.

Because you can't take cover as a Volus, you'll be moving around a lot; avoid guns that want you standing still for long periods of time (like snipers or machine guns.)

Worth noting that the Carnifex was nerfed, weight-wise. A Carnifex X is now a 190% cooldown on classes like the human adept with their weight capacity evolution.

Also, an idea I had: what do people think about having links to our N7HQ pages in our MP detail entries in the first post?

[Morty]

I think it could be useful so that we don't have to describe our loadouts when discussing them - everyone will just be able to click a link and see what the other poser has.
I unlocked the Batarian Brawler today. I'm not too happy with it. I don't play Vanguards a lot and the Brawler doesn't look like a good Vanguard anyway, since Lash doesn't fit the class. I suppose I could ignore it entirely and max out all other powers, focusing on charging and melee attacks.

[Tome]

Also, an idea I had: what do people think about having links to our N7HQ pages in our MP detail entries in the first post?

An excellent idea. Here's mine.

(Also worth noting is that I've branched out, class-wise, and now play most of the different classes.)

[CreganTur]

I ran a Phaeston X on my Volus Engineer and had a good time with it. The only time that cooldown was a problem was generally because I had just thrown out a mine- the weapon didn't pose any problems for me.

[Rising Phoenix]

The Carnifex packs more punch but takes a long time to get light - I don't think mine got to 200% until X. The Eagle, Acolyte and Arc Pistol are all lightweight and powerful. The Paladin is strong too but you're unlikely to rank it up very fast.

Because you can't take cover as a Volus, you'll be moving around a lot; avoid guns that want you standing still for long periods of time (like snipers or machine guns.)

Eh. I have mine running around with a rank 10 locust... but if you are in need of it than something is horribly wrong...

Volus are a nightmare to play when you have to upload data... especially if the locations has 2+ access points...

[CreganTur]

Here's my profile.

I'm still a big fan of the carnifex. It's the go-to gun for most of my power heavy classes. Especially engineers.