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Old 11-19-2012, 08:12 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1291
Illven
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Originally Posted by Yora View Post
The rear guard team was Garrus, Tali, Miranda, Legion, and Mordin. That's indeed not a terribly powerful force.
I also played on Hardcore, which I am not sure I did before. Unless there's an achievement for that, in that case I did do that before.

I am also planning to do a Let's Play in which as many people as possible die. I heard that one needs at least one party member to survive or Shepard dies in ME2 and I think I'll take Thane for that, since he's already a dead man walking.
Unfortunately there are killable NPCs in most loyalty missions which I also would like to do. Figuring out the maximum death count will require quite a bit of planning.
You can get a member's loyalty and then kill them off by intentionally choosing something they can't do, (i.e The tech mission)
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Old 11-19-2012, 08:20 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1292
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

Also, lacking the three ship upgrades should kill three regardless of loyalty.
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Old 11-19-2012, 10:06 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1293
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

Yeah, I already did a Fail Shep where I tried to kill as many as possible. It was actually a pain, since you really need to carefully calculate how the Hold the Line segment will go to kill all but two team members (all but one will still result in Shepard's death). This chart is of immense help in planning this out.

As I recall, doing it required:

Do not recruit Zaeed until after the Suicide Mission. He can be left to die at the end of his loyalty mission if you do it after completing that, and if you do recruit him beforehand, he messes up the math on Hold the Line too much, even if you kill him some other way.

Any teammate that will survive to the Hold the Line segment should not be loyal. It becomes quite difficult to kill off who you want dead at that point if anyone is. Also, the high-score teammates (Grunt and Garrus) should be killed off before that segment, because even when not loyal, they substantially raise your score there.

Miranda cannot be loyal, period. The way the math works out with her completely prevents her from being killed if she is. And even if she isn't, the best way by far to get her killed is to bring her to the final fight (both your companions in that fight die at the end automatically if they're not loyal). This one I learned the hardest way possible - I did the file romancing Miranda the first time, which requires her to be loyal, and found out only at the end that I couldn't kill her. So I had to re-do the whole game to get what I wanted (only Morinth and Thane alive at the end).

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Old 11-19-2012, 11:43 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1294
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

Also, do you want highest death count overall or highest death count during the suicide mission? Because the first option has a lot more leeway associated with it, given the plotline death of at least one character in ME3, plus more if you go Stupid!Renegade.
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Old 11-20-2012, 12:16 AM   Top  -  End  -  #1295
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Also, do you want highest death count overall or highest death count during the suicide mission? Because the first option has a lot more leeway associated with it, given the plotline death of at least one character in ME3, plus more if you go Stupid!Renegade.
Actually, there are two completely required deaths in ME3, Thane and Legion, and a near-required one for Mordin, giving you three there. Morinth is also automatic if you didn't kill her in ME2.

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Old 11-20-2012, 12:23 AM   Top  -  End  -  #1296
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Actually, there are two completely required deaths in ME3, Thane and Legion, and a near-required one for Mordin, giving you three there. Morinth is also automatic if you didn't kill her in ME2.

Zevox
Oh yeah. Not sure why I forgot about Thane's death but not Legion's. Maybe it's because it has to do with that oily shadow on the horizon we refer to only as FaiLeng.
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Old 11-20-2012, 12:55 AM   Top  -  End  -  #1297
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Oh yeah. Not sure why I forgot about Thane's death but not Legion's. Maybe it's because it has to do with that oily shadow on the horizon we refer to only as FaiLeng.
Yeah about that, I want to know why I lost the first time you face him, when me and Tali got him calling for his gunship in all of two powers!

I know the answer, I just want to complain.
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Old 11-20-2012, 12:56 AM   Top  -  End  -  #1298
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Originally Posted by Landis963 View Post
Oh yeah. Not sure why I forgot about Thane's death but not Legion's. Maybe it's because it has to do with that oily shadow on the horizon we refer to only as FaiLeng.
That keeps happening to me as well.
I think I blocked it out because I blew them all up in the end anyway.

Bah, it's what they get. Filthy traitor-bots.


But on the topic of Multiplayer, I just unlocked Quarian Male infiltratior. Have him of 6/6/6/6/0, figure cloak should be enough to get him out of trouble while sniping.

Last edited by Luzahn : 11-20-2012 at 12:56 AM.
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Old 11-20-2012, 02:10 AM   Top  -  End  -  #1299
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Okay then, good to know.

Something I forgot to mention last night - the game doesn't seem to allow me to Shadow Strike Altases. Is that supposed to be the case, or am I hitting a bug?
It's their hotbox. Just like sometimes you can't biotic charge a target because there's nowhere for your character to be, you can't shadow strike an atlas because there's no "behind" that doesn't put you into a wall. Except for some reason the atlas has a crazy dumb huge hit box, for that. The only thing similar is the praetorian.

As for collectors being hard; they take less damage and deal more damage than they are supposed to. I've been able to shotgun several in the face and chip twir barriers, and it takes far and away more effort to kill them with powers. Found that out while getting challenges done with my paladin. They are literally, mathematically harder to fight than their contemporaries.
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Old 11-20-2012, 06:06 AM   Top  -  End  -  #1300
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Also, do you want highest death count overall or highest death count during the suicide mission? Because the first option has a lot more leeway associated with it, given the plotline death of at least one character in ME3, plus more if you go Stupid!Renegade.
Overall. Aside from being silly fun, it might also be interesting to see all the replacement NPCs in the later games. Helena Blake and Sardonis don't really matter for that, but for the sake of goofing around, I want to have as many people die on screen as possible.
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Old 11-20-2012, 10:54 AM   Top  -  End  -  #1301
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It's their hotbox. Just like sometimes you can't biotic charge a target because there's nowhere for your character to be, you can't shadow strike an atlas because there's no "behind" that doesn't put you into a wall. Except for some reason the atlas has a crazy dumb huge hit box, for that. The only thing similar is the praetorian.
I thought of that the first time it happened, since we were on Glacier, but then the second time was on Goddess, in some wide open spaces (center room, outside). Unless their hitbox is much bigger than their body - and if that were the case they should be taking hits from bullets that actually just pass by them - that can't be the sole explanation. And I know that Shadow Strike doesn't absolutely require you to go behind the target, since I've had it drop me in front of regular enemies that had walls behind them before.

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Old 11-20-2012, 11:33 AM   Top  -  End  -  #1302
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

Ohh, is that why I keep getting killed while spamming the charge button like an idiot?
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Old 11-20-2012, 11:36 AM   Top  -  End  -  #1303
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Yeah about that, I want to know why I lost the first time you face him, when me and Tali got him calling for his gunship in all of two powers!

I know the answer, I just want to complain.
Because the plot says so. Also, he wanted to complete his objective and cut his losses. The danger posed to Shepard and co. was only a bonus. Of course, if his line at the end was "This is neither fun nor useful. Target the supports." we would be able to tell that that was actually the case. As it is, Headcanon: apply directly to the forehead.
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Old 11-20-2012, 01:23 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1304
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

Balance changes are in.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric Fagnan
------------------------------------------------------------------
Nov 20, 2012
------------------------------------------------------------------

New hazard maps available this week are Firebase Dagger and Firebase White

Volus Mercenary Sentinel is now available as a new Rare card

Submission Net (Vorcha Engineer)
- All stats changed to match the Batarian Submission Net

Challenges
- Renamed N7 Day Challenge banner title to "Loyalist"

Arc Pistol
- Damage multiplier when fully charged increased from 2.0 to 3.0

Disciple Shotgun
- Damage increased from [46.3-57.8] to [55.6-69.5]

Collector SMG
- Damage increased from [37.4-46.75] to [41.2-51.5]
Volus Sentinel released. Combat Drone, Decoy and Shield Boost. Woo hoo.

EDIT: I listed the volus as having Sentry Turret rather than Combat Drone.

Last edited by Edge : 11-20-2012 at 01:29 PM.
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Old 11-20-2012, 01:36 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1305
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

Ooh, Disciple buff. Could be useful for my Ex-Cerberus Vanguard.
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Old 11-20-2012, 01:37 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1306
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

WOOHOO! Vorcha Engineer got fixed. I know what I'm bingeing on this weekend.

@ New Volus: Yet another "Sentinel" that is basically a defensive engineer

But I still want it. Not only can you heal, you can hold choke points with drone and decoy, and you still get your volus cloak and shield. Should be a lot of fun!

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In theory, yes. In practice, I find it's unreliable at best - it seems like the priming effect from Overload does not last long at all, making it hard for me to get the electric burst even with 200% and the cooldown reduction on Tech Armor. Kinda like trying to get a biotic combo off Stasis without the duration increase.
Agreed - Overload primes, but the window is extremely short.


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Detonate/Shock/Rocket was what I was using before this respec, basically under that very logic. I honestly don't think it ever used Shock when I did that though - when I watched what it was doing I very often saw it backing away from enemies to get to minimum rocket range. Which is in large part why I tried this respec, since that kind of behavior would render both shock and detonate effectively useless. In that respect, I suppose this version is working better, but it still doesn't seem particularly good . Maybe I should try it with both damage & shields upgrades and rocket next time...
This is what I did - two human engineers, one with a harrassment drone and pistol/smg, one with an artillery drone and sniper rifle/smg. I was able to ace gold with both, so I daresay both are quite viable, and on the latter my drone was getting a fair amount of my kills for me. The playstyle difference is really fun as well.

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Ooh, Disciple buff. Could be useful for my Ex-Cerberus Vanguard.
I always thought it was a little unfair that the Disciple X was weaker than the Eviscerator X. Sure it's lighter but rare is rare.

I'm definitely going to try Sius' suggestion to stick an omniblade on it and go Shadow.

Last edited by Psyren : 11-20-2012 at 01:40 PM.
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Old 11-20-2012, 02:13 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1307
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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I'm definitely going to try Sius' suggestion to stick an omniblade on it and go Shadow.
It's very, very mean. Mine is spec'ed for full bonus damage to the sword, so shadow strike is very effective.
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Old 11-20-2012, 05:46 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1308
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Originally Posted by Zevox View Post
I thought of that the first time it happened, since we were on Glacier, but then the second time was on Goddess, in some wide open spaces (center room, outside). Unless their hitbox is much bigger than their body - and if that were the case they should be taking hits from bullets that actually just pass by them - that can't be the sole explanation. And I know that Shadow Strike doesn't absolutely require you to go behind the target, since I've had it drop me in front of regular enemies that had walls behind them before.

Zevox
It's not just big, it's buggy. The direction the model faces and the direction system AI is facing don't always line up, that's how they can fire rockets sideways and such. Hypothetically – and let's be honest, this is all ass-pull and surmise on my part – the lack of a line up creates the same effect as a sync kill when you'd swear you weren't synced. Having two areas the system is trying to deposit you into, it decides to try the backup, and when there are two of those, the game just returns a fail command. It's possible to get shadow strike on atlases, but unless they are trimming in a straight line with a clear back space you have to keep mashing the button. It often takes a few moments before the two different faces of this hypothetical atlas discrepancy sync properly enough to slow a window.

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Originally Posted by Edge View Post
Balance changes are in.
Nice. That's almost a full hundred damage more per shot, which is a full 370 more per clip. In the same span of time as the Eviscerator fires two shots, the disciple gets four and is already reloaded. I think this evens the discrepancy a bit, myself.

The arc pistol dealing 9x damage when fired is insane, and I need to try it out. For those who don't know, the arc pistol is listed as doing triple damage, but it also consumes three ammo per full charge, which means the triple damage is per slug – a total of nine times the total damage of the pistol. With a power boost such as from ammo and cloaking affects the final damage, making tem a top-level modifier like DR is to shields. Pretty sweet.

Quote:
Volus Sentinel released. Combat Drone, Decoy and Shield Boost. Woo hoo. .
Are you flipping kidding?! That guy is going to be the bomb-diggety! Decoy drops explosions, distractions, it's a bullet shield an it can zap areas. Combat drone does likewise, though mobile an able to dispense with either acute raged, or chronic area pain.

This is potentially going to be the most fun kit yet. The trooper is already top of the heap, but a volus who can do everything the others can, and also fight well? Good Celestia almighty I think I'm finally gonna get to solo gold.

Just have to actually play and unlock him first

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Originally Posted by Psyren View Post
WOOHOO! Vorcha Engineer got fixed. I know what I'm bingeing on this weekend.

@ New Volus: Yet another "Sentinel" that is basically a defensive engineer

But I still want it. Not only can you heal, you can hold choke points with drone and decoy, and you still get your volus cloak and shield. Should be a lot of fun!
Yes to all the things. Although I feel that continuing to assume "sentinel" is a biotic tech guy is silly, since it's been dispensed with sice ME2, where defensive play became their trademark.

Quote:
Agreed - Overload primes, but the window is extremely short.
Woks best at point blank, which is easy since overload causes stun.

Quote:
I always thought it was a little unfair that the Disciple X was weaker than the Eviscerator X. Sure it's lighter but rare is rare.

I'm definitely going to try Sius' suggestion to stick an omniblade on it and go Shadow.
If you're interested in melee, I'd say use the slayer or fury. The slayer does as much damage with its light melee as heavy, and the fury does more with light melee than heavy. An both can use a targeted or non-targeted heavy strike as an escape.

I really don't know why you guys like the Eviscerator though. It's damage isn't high enough to make up for the slow rate of fire unless you're goin to one-shot the guy. Both of tem are light, supplementary fire weapons. The disciple at least has the force to stagger heavies.
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Old 11-20-2012, 05:47 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1309
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

*Polite cough*
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Old 11-20-2012, 06:15 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1310
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Yes to all the things. Although I feel that continuing to assume "sentinel" is a biotic tech guy is silly, since it's been dispensed with sice ME2, where defensive play became their trademark.
ME3 pretty much states it outright that Sentinels aren't 'just' guys with Tech and Biotics, their primary attribute is supposed to be massive resilience, which isn't necessarily the same thing as defensive:

Quote:
Master of nothing but proficient in everything, human sentinels are often relied upon to draw fire on the battlefield. Sentinels relish their opponents' look of surprise when they realize they were focusing on the wrong enemy all along.
That's from the Multiplayer menu - you can read a different one for each class when picking from the Character menu. And that's why you can count something like a Vorcha as a Sentinel - not because he has Biotics (he doesn't) but because he stays alive forever and grows hi fingers back after a hard fight.
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Old 11-20-2012, 06:20 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1311
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Originally Posted by SiuiS View Post
It's not just big, it's buggy. The direction the model faces and the direction system AI is facing don't always line up, that's how they can fire rockets sideways and such. Hypothetically – and let's be honest, this is all ass-pull and surmise on my part – the lack of a line up creates the same effect as a sync kill when you'd swear you weren't synced. Having two areas the system is trying to deposit you into, it decides to try the backup, and when there are two of those, the game just returns a fail command. It's possible to get shadow strike on atlases, but unless they are trimming in a straight line with a clear back space you have to keep mashing the button. It often takes a few moments before the two different faces of this hypothetical atlas discrepancy sync properly enough to slow a window.
It sucks and I hope they fix it. In fact, I seem to remember being able to SS Atlases prior to the latest expansion. But if push comes to shove, with cloak->ES->Acolyte->melee to finish, I can still drop one alone. (Generally, though, I ignore the Atlases completely and zip around the map slitting Phantom/Dragoon/Engineer throats and smashing up turrets. And if I'm alone with a bunch of Atlases left, I dispense with finesse and whip out a rocket or two.)

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Originally Posted by SiuiS View Post
The arc pistol dealing 9x damage when fired is insane, and I need to try it out. For those who don't know, the arc pistol is listed as doing triple damage, but it also consumes three ammo per full charge, which means the triple damage is per slug – a total of nine times the total damage of the pistol. With a power boost such as from ammo and cloaking affects the final damage, making tem a top-level modifier like DR is to shields. Pretty sweet.
I love the Arc Pistol and it really fits my Engineers/Paladin thematically. Will definitely slap it on one of them (Probably Spark, my harrassment-drone guy) and play with it.

My pistols of choice are Acolyte (X), Arc Pistol (X), Carnifex (X) and Eagle (VI). The Acolyte is for classes where I have no points in passive, e.g. my Shadow and Shaman. Phalanx was my favorite in ME2 and my favorite for a long time in ME3, but unfortunately it's gathering dust now, particularly after they made the Acolyte insta-fire.

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Are you flipping kidding?! That guy is going to be the bomb-diggety! Decoy drops explosions, distractions, it's a bullet shield an it can zap areas. Combat drone does likewise, though mobile an able to dispense with either acute raged, or chronic area pain.

This is potentially going to be the most fun kit yet. The trooper is already top of the heap, but a volus who can do everything the others can, and also fight well? Good Celestia almighty I think I'm finally gonna get to solo gold.

Just have to actually play and unlock him first
Agreed with all this.

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Originally Posted by SiuiS View Post
Yes to all the things. Although I feel that continuing to assume "sentinel" is a biotic tech guy is silly, since it's been dispensed with sice ME2, where defensive play became their trademark.
Someone and I (Zevox maybe?) had this argument in one of the previous incarnations of this thread; I agree that the Sentinel's focus has changed. Keeping them biotic/tech was just pigeonholing their design imo - you'd either get traditional but weaker hybrids like the Turian, or very odd combinations like the Human.

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Originally Posted by SiuiS View Post
If you're interested in melee, I'd say use the slayer or fury. The slayer does as much damage with its light melee as heavy, and the fury does more with light melee than heavy. An both can use a targeted or non-targeted heavy strike as an escape.

I really don't know why you guys like the Eviscerator though. It's damage isn't high enough to make up for the slow rate of fire unless you're goin to one-shot the guy. Both of tem are light, supplementary fire weapons. The disciple at least has the force to stagger heavies.
I might look into the Slayer for melee but honestly, aside from the Shadow and Battlemaster it doesn't really interest me. Definitely won't be doing it on the Fury no matter how effective it is; if I'm that close to a target and not detonating them or running away then I'm doing it wrong as far as I'm concerned.

I don't "like" the eviscerator - I was just going off its numbers. I definitely prefer the Disciple. Reegar, Claymore and even the Piranha now. (It works great on my Battlemaster - 200% cooldown at X.)
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Old 11-20-2012, 06:31 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1312
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

The Combat/Tech/Biotics division has blurred in time for all classes. Now we have Infiltrators with biotic powers, Soldiers with tech powers, Sentinels with combat powers... it's for the best, really. It allows for more flexibility. Besides, the difference between tech powers and combat powers is purely a matter of labelling.
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Old 11-20-2012, 09:53 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1313
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Originally Posted by Edge View Post
Balance changes are in.
*whistles* That is quite the buff on the Disciple. I might just need to give it another try now. Same for the Arc Pistol, though I don't know how mine is weight-wise. The Collector SMG buff will be nice if I ever get some decent ranks in that too.

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Volus Sentinel released. Combat Drone, Decoy and Shield Boost. Woo hoo.
Yeah, pretty much my thoughts, as mentioned before. Still, I can't complain. Most of what I wanted from the DLC is out. All that I'm waiting on now is the Turian Saboteur, Asari Huntress, and Batarian Slasher. And I'm not even sure I'll like that last one, what with the whole "Cluster Grenades" thing.

Out of curiosity though, can anyone confirm that the Volus Mercenary is indeed a rare, not an ultra-rare? Kinda confusing if that's true, given the other Volus were ultra-rare.

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Yes to all the things. Although I feel that continuing to assume "sentinel" is a biotic tech guy is silly, since it's been dispensed with sice ME2, where defensive play became their trademark.
Er, what? Their trademark in ME2 was having both Warp and Overload, giving them an answer to literally everything in the form of just two powers. Yeah they were damn hard to kill too, but that's because Tech Armor was overpowered as hell in that one.

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Originally Posted by SiuiS View Post
I really don't know why you guys like the Eviscerator though. It's damage isn't high enough to make up for the slow rate of fire unless you're goin to one-shot the guy. Both of tem are light, supplementary fire weapons. The disciple at least has the force to stagger heavies.
On a shotgun, I'll take higher damage in a single shot. If I'm using a shotgun it almost definitely means I'm playing a Vanguard, and that means I'm most likely only firing off the occasional shot in between Charge/Melee/Nova/whatever else the particular character does.

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Originally Posted by Morty View Post
The Combat/Tech/Biotics division has blurred in time for all classes. Now we have Infiltrators with biotic powers, Soldiers with tech powers, Sentinels with combat powers... it's for the best, really. It allows for more flexibility. Besides, the difference between tech powers and combat powers is purely a matter of labelling.
Yeah, that kind of thing is what I meant when I said a while back that they're basically ignoring the class system now, and I kinda wish they'd formally abolish it if that's what they're going to do. There's no longer any meaning to it in the multiplayer - even one of the most solid class-defining features, the Vanguard's Charge, now has an equivalent in a Soldier class of all things.

Zevox
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Old 11-20-2012, 10:51 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1314
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
ME3 pretty much states it outright that Sentinels aren't 'just' guys with Tech and Biotics, their primary attribute is supposed to be massive resilience, which isn't necessarily the same thing as defensive:

That's from the Multiplayer menu - you can read a different one for each class when picking from the Character menu. And that's why you can count something like a Vorcha as a Sentinel - not because he has Biotics (he doesn't) but because he stays alive forever and grows hi fingers back after a hard fight.
I was calling back farther than the current game because while ME3 can be said to e definitive? It can also be considered that one huge deviating factor and the entire canon needs to be looked at to get a feel for "standard" or "normal".

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It sucks and I hope they fix it. In fact, I seem to remember being able to SS Atlases prior to the latest expansion. But if push comes to shove, with cloak->ES->Acolyte->melee to finish, I can still drop one alone. (Generally, though, I ignore the Atlases completely and zip around the map slitting Phantom/Dragoon/Engineer throats and smashing up turrets. And if I'm alone with a bunch of Atlases left, I dispense with finesse and whip out a rocket or two.)
Oh, no you CAN still shadow strike an atlas. It's just irregular.

Quote:
I love the Arc Pistol and it really fits my Engineers/Paladin thematically. Will definitely slap it on one of them (Probably Spark, my harrassment-drone guy) and play with it.

My pistols of choice are Acolyte (X), Arc Pistol (X), Carnifex (X) and Eagle (VI). The Acolyte is for classes where I have no points in passive, e.g. my Shadow and Shaman. Phalanx was my favorite in ME2 and my favorite for a long time in ME3, but unfortunately it's gathering dust now, particularly after they made the Acolyte insta-fire.
I like the eagle as my go to gun, for pistols. I don't use them often though. And the arc pistol is awesome, though kinda shotgun-esque. The talon and scorpion are my guns for when isn't care what I bring, though.

Quote:
Someone and I (Zevox maybe?) had this argument in one of the previous incarnations of this thread; I agree that the Sentinel's focus has changed. Keeping them biotic/tech was just pigeonholing their design imo - you'd either get traditional but weaker hybrids like the Turian, or very odd combinations like the Human.
Mm. I don't fin the Turian a weaker hybrid. On the contrary, not having a unified power theme made it one of the most versatile starters. They could be a caster, a gunner, sniper, artillery, support, etc., where most classes required one or two methods of play until you got the good guns.

Quote:
I might look into the Slayer for melee but honestly, aside from the Shadow and Battlemaster it doesn't really interest me. Definitely won't be doing it on the Fury no matter how effective it is; if I'm that close to a target and not detonating them or running away then I'm doing it wrong as far as I'm concerned.

I don't "like" the eviscerator - I was just going off its numbers. I definitely prefer the Disciple. Reegar, Claymore and even the Piranha now. (It works great on my Battlemaster - 200% cooldown at X.)
Fair enough.

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Originally Posted by Zevox View Post
*whistles* That is quite the buff on the Disciple. I might just need to give it another try now. Same for the Arc Pistol, though I don't know how mine is weight-wise. The Collector SMG buff will be nice if I ever get some decent ranks in that too.
The arc pistol is pretty dang strong. A full charge headshot took out marauders as centurions on gold no problem. And the collector SMG is actually pretty swell at low levels, my casting gun. Completely frees you from resource management unless you've got a lea trigger finger.

Quote:
Yeah, pretty much my thoughts, as mentioned before. Still, I can't complain. Most of what I wanted from the DLC is out. All that I'm waiting on now is the Turian Saboteur, Asari Huntress, and Batarian Slasher. And I'm not even sure I'll like that last one, what with the whole "Cluster Grenades" thing.

Out of curiosity though, can anyone confirm that the Volus Mercenary is indeed a rare, not an ultra-rare? Kinda confusing if that's true, given the other Volus were ultra-rare.
It's Rare. And it's. ****ing. Awesome!
I'm level 13, and the only thing stopping me from soloing gold is sloppy resource management. Drone, decoy? Shields and passive at 4, with a recent boost of decoy to 5 being a HUUUGE help. Drone does electric damage (very often; apparently the rank 5 upgrade replaces rather than supplements the shock? Because the damage is small but the stagger is grand and the rate of fire steady with the basic attack), decoy does electric damage, and the drone detonation is pretty slick. I find myself cloaking and dropping decoys more than I do using shield boost. Getting detonate on the decoy is my top priority right now. Both the combat drone and shiel boost are still negotiable.

Given how he plays, I'm not sure if I should spec combat drone for area shock or for rockets. Standard use is from behind cover, put the drone one way, decoy the other, cloak an strafe. In a pinch though dropping the drone for area has even helpful. The shield boost likewise, in that standard operating procedure is recharge and DR, but given his survivability so far, perhaps shield recharge for 12 second and double duration is sounding goo. I'll probably hit DR for utility though. What do you guys think?

Quote:
Er, what? Their trademark in ME2 was having both Warp and Overload, giving them an answer to literally everything in the form of just two powers. Yeah they were damn hard to kill too, but that's because Tech Armor was overpowered as hell in that one.
No, their trademark is tech armor. Multiple classes get warp or throw. My vanguard had an answer to everything with incendiary ammo and disruptor ammo, in just two powers. But he was still defined by biotic charge.

Quote:
On a shotgun, I'll take higher damage in a single shot. If I'm using a shotgun it almost definitely means I'm playing a Vanguard, and that means I'm most likely only firing off the occasional shot in between Charge/Melee/Nova/whatever else the particular character does.
In those situations, I've found the disciple is still superior because the weight difference is enough that imgetting f charge and nova faster. Or melee, after a charge. The Eviscerator is in the category where I want a heavier or lighter gun; I like my cool down to be easily divisible by melee attack duration.

Quote:
Yeah, that kind of thing is what I meant when I said a while back that they're basically ignoring the class system now, and I kinda wish they'd formally abolish it if that's what they're going to do. There's no longer any meaning to it in the multiplayer - even one of the most solid class-defining features, the Vanguard's Charge, now has an equivalent in a Soldier class of all things.

Zevox
I think the answer to that is that the havoc should have been a vanguard, and they put it in soldier only because "vanguards are biotics". I got my Turian vanguard like I wanted, and as a bonus he doesn't go away when you promote your vanguards.

Man though, this mercenary is the bee's knees! Good gosh almighty!
Unfortunately, getting him involved playing some version of phone tag with CreganTur, due to not getting a message alert. But there's always next time, and hey! This way when I play I won't be puttin around for fun, but instead for profit. I prefer to back up my swagger since I talk a good game here but rarely play with peeps.
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Old 11-20-2012, 10:52 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1315
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

Recently dipped back into the multiplayer, having finally gotten round to doing the Leviathan DLC.

I was surprised by just how much work seems to have gone into it since I last played. It's really looking like a much more professional overall package. I see they even tweaked the easy-gold map of choice.

Looks pretty good, really. Unlocking things seems even slower than before, admittedly, with the sheer amount of stuff to be unlocked at this point, but I did manage to unlock a Turian Ghost and he's really growing on me.

Oh, and I finally tried one of the maps with the toxic symbol on it tonight. I take it the idea is a weekly rotating selection of existing maps + exotic conditions to make things more difficult? Fighting Reapers in a sandstorm on that map with the massive satellite dish field? That was really quite a cool experience, I heartily approve.

I still find choosing weapons difficult, apparently, and keep gravitating back to the Phaeston for little good reason. Still, it seems to work well enough with the Turian Ghost both fluffwise and bullets-in-dudes wise, though I've only gone as far as Silver with it at this point.
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Old 11-20-2012, 11:08 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1316
Zevox
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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It's Rare.
Huh, weird. I wonder why the other Volus were ultra-rare, then.

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Originally Posted by SiuiS View Post
No, their trademark is tech armor. Multiple classes get warp or throw. My vanguard had an answer to everything with incendiary ammo and disruptor ammo, in just two powers. But he was still defined by biotic charge.
Incendiary Ammo and Disruptor Ammo were only powers in the technical sense - in practice they modified your gun, they didn't do the damage for you like Warp and Overload. And only one other class got Warp in ME2, the Adept, and they didn't get an anti-shield power. Throw isn't even relevant, as it was not very good in 2, what with protections blocking out powers entirely save for minor staggering effects. Because of that, defense-stripping powers were king in that game, with Warp as the best anti-armor/barrier power and Overload as the best anti-shield power. That they had those two abilities was thus a greater defining point for Sentinels than Tech Armor, even with how overpowered that was.

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In those situations, I've found the disciple is still superior because the weight difference is enough that imgetting f charge and nova faster. Or melee, after a charge. The Eviscerator is in the category where I want a heavier or lighter gun; I like my cool down to be easily divisible by melee attack duration.
My Human, Ex-Cerberus, and Slayer Vanguards all get 200% off an Eviscerator 10 + a Phalanx 10, thanks to their rank 6 class upgrade that reduces all weapons' weight by 20%. Disciple wouldn't make any difference there for me.

The only other Vanguard I play much, the Krogan, I have using the Wraith instead, because his higher carry capacity and shotgun weight decrease put it at 194% even though I only have it at rank 2. Can't pass that up.

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Originally Posted by SiuiS View Post
I think the answer to that is that the havoc should have been a vanguard, and they put it in soldier only because "vanguards are biotics".
Since Turians are in no way prevented from having biotics, it seems to me that that's no explanation at all. If they wanted him to be a Vanguard, there's no reason they couldn't have made him one. Just give him Charge in place of Havoc Strike and replace Cryo Blast with something biotic. Heck, maybe they'd even leave him with Cryo Blast, given they gave the Asari Huntress biotics even though Infiltrators are supposed to be tech-based.

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Originally Posted by Tiki Snakes View Post
Oh, and I finally tried one of the maps with the toxic symbol on it tonight. I take it the idea is a weekly rotating selection of existing maps + exotic conditions to make things more difficult? Fighting Reapers in a sandstorm on that map with the massive satellite dish field? That was really quite a cool experience, I heartily approve.
Those are called Hazard maps. They're old maps with some form of, well, hazard added to them. Some aren't so bad (Hazard Firebase Giant is just night time, which doesn't even reduce visibility much), others are excruciatingly awful (Hazard Firebase Glacier has a roaming Seeker Swarm that cannot be gotten rid of in any way and does immense damage if you enter its area, and is competing with Firebase London for my most hated map). But yes, they rotate weekly, with only two being active each week.

Personally, I don't like them. I want to fight the enemies, not the terrain - and certainly not something that I just plain can't fight but can easily kill me, like that Seeker Swarm. So that's been the one real downside to the newest DLC for me. But the few that just try to affect visibility (White, Dagger, Giant) aren't that bad, at least.

Zevox
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Old 11-20-2012, 11:20 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1317
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Since Turians are in no way prevented from having biotics, it seems to me that that's no explanation at all. If they wanted him to be a Vanguard, there's no reason they couldn't have made him one. Just give him Charge in place of Havoc Strike and replace Cryo Blast with something biotic. Heck, maybe they'd even leave him with Cryo Blast, given they gave the Asari Huntress biotics even though Infiltrators are supposed to be tech-based.
For the Asari huntress, don't all Asari military use biotics?
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Old 11-20-2012, 11:24 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1318
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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For the Asari huntress, don't all Asari military use biotics?
Ditch the military and you are right. All Asari have inborn biotic potential and the use of biotics is a normal part of a young Asari's education.
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Old 11-20-2012, 11:31 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1319
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Ditch the military and you are right. All Asari have inborn biotic potential and the use of biotics is a normal part of a young Asari's education.
I know, but I remember a quote or something how some choose to not develop it or something.
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Old 11-20-2012, 11:36 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1320
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Default Re: Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

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Originally Posted by Zevox View Post
Those are called Hazard maps. They're old maps with some form of, well, hazard added to them. Some aren't so bad (Hazard Firebase Giant is just night time, which doesn't even reduce visibility much), others are excruciatingly awful (Hazard Firebase Glacier has a roaming Seeker Swarm that cannot be gotten rid of in any way and does immense damage if you enter its area, and is competing with Firebase London for my most hated map). But yes, they rotate weekly, with only two being active each week.

Personally, I don't like them. I want to fight the enemies, not the terrain - and certainly not something that I just plain can't fight but can easily kill me, like that Seeker Swarm. So that's been the one real downside to the newest DLC for me. But the few that just try to affect visibility (White, Dagger, Giant) aren't that bad, at least.

Zevox
I can very much imagine the Glacier map being horrifying, but then I find it's often horrifying anyway. I love the idea of seeing the maps at different parts of the day and in different weather conditions though, it's the kind of thing I'd happily have seen built in as standard, with a random time of day and/or weather option or something. Still, will have to see what the others are like.

London is a hilarious meat-grinder. Though that impression is probably partly due to the party I was in on my only real crack at it. I picked up a fair few snoozing allies that game, even had to solo a round at one point which is never my strongpoint. Luckily it wasn't an objective round, so I just whittled away.
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