Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

[Beowulf DW]

Originally Posted by Psyren

Fine - but I'm not the one that brought the endings up again, you know.

It's just one of those things. I don't like being angry, and I don't like being a jerk online, but when it comes up I can't help it.

[Psyren]

Originally Posted by Beowulf DW

It's just one of those things. I don't like being angry, and I don't like being a jerk online, but when it comes up I can't help it.

Huh? You weren't being a jerk.

---

So I gave in and got Retaliation - things got to the point where the time spent waiting for games was outweighing any benefit I'd have gotten, and I swear to the RNG gods that every GOOD player already upgraded. (When you're playing gold and the next highest guy after your score has half your number of points, never mind the Novaguard that announces the beginning of every wave with "Need assist!" from the floor somewhere, you know that the match is going to end with a lot less medigel and rockets on your part.) It's downloading now, so I'll give a report on the Collectors when it's done.

[Beowulf DW]

I'd recommend that you play on Silver for your first Collector match, Psyren. When you sight a Praetorian, don't assume that it's slow. It has a lunging melee attack with more range than any boss deserves. Don't be any where near Abominations when they die; they might just kill you with an explosion that sounds disturbingly like a Reaper's main gun.

[Xondoure]

Originally Posted by Beowulf DW

I'd recommend that you play on Silver for your first Collector match, Psyren. When you sight a Praetorian, don't assume that it's slow. It has a lunging melee attack with more range than any boss deserves. Don't be any where near Abominations when they die; they might just kill you with an explosion that sounds disturbingly like a Reaper's main gun.

I thought that only occured when the Abomination was possessed. Could I be wrong?

[Beowulf DW]

Originally Posted by Xondoure

I thought that only occured when the Abomination was possessed. Could I be wrong?

It can be difficult to tell from a distance, for me anyway. I prefer to simply stay away.

[Sanguine]

Yeah Silver Collectors is harder than Gold anything else in my experience. Though that could just be that when I was fighting them I was using my Vorcha and Bloodlust seemed to be acting up: I would get all of my health back if I disabled Bloodlust but other than that there was no Health Regeneration.

[Dhavaer]

Originally Posted by Xondoure

I thought that only occured when the Abomination was possessed. Could I be wrong?

They always explode but it's much bigger (Cain big) when they're possessed.

[Avilan the Grey]

Originally Posted by Beowulf DW

Spoiler

Synthetics will always attempt to kill organics?

The combination of the extended cut and Leviathan sooths most of my issues with the ending, really. I was never one of those who wanted blue babies and rainbows as the end at all cost. (not saying you are either).

Leviathan spoiler:

Spoiler

The point here is that they programmed a VI to come up with a solution to this problem based on one or a very few instances where Synthetics turned on their creators. The VI's logic is FLAWED because it's creator's logic was flawed. And then it turned on the creators ITSELF and made the first reaper out of them. Oops.

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Psyren

Huh? You weren't being a jerk.

---

So I gave in and got Retaliation - things got to the point where the time spent waiting for games was outweighing any benefit I'd have gotten, and I swear to the RNG gods that every GOOD player already upgraded. (When you're playing gold and the next highest guy after your score has half your number of points, never mind the Novaguard that announces the beginning of every wave with "Need assist!" from the floor somewhere, you know that the match is going to end with a lot less medigel and rockets on your part.) It's downloading now, so I'll give a report on the Collectors when it's done.

Uh, dude. Save up a bunch of credits, delete the dlc, buy packs, redownload. Much simpler.

-

So the Turian havoc soldier is like making fun of people. It's a soldier - who's primary ability I biotic charge, with only a single switcheroo (rank 6 offers hit additional targets, not rank 4)! But that sucks because turians are so slow - except the armiger legion is the most mobile unit in the game! Seriously, I go faster "dodge rolling" in a straight line than I do runnin. It's insane. I species him for pure stability an weapon damage, gave him a hurricane and called it quits. But no, next one is getting melee and havoc spec.

[Psyren]

Can I just say that the N7 Paladin kicks serious ass since the tech burst changes? Because they do!

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Uh, dude. Save up a bunch of credits, delete the dlc, buy packs, redownload. Much simpler.

Won't that delete whatever progress I made too though? With all the "challenge" stuff.

If not, yeah I'll go for it.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

So the Turian havoc soldier is like making fun of people. It's a soldier - who's primary ability I biotic charge, with only a single switcheroo (rank 6 offers hit additional targets, not rank 4)! But that sucks because turians are so slow - except the armiger legion is the most mobile unit in the game! Seriously, I go faster "dodge rolling" in a straight line than I do runnin. It's insane. I species him for pure stability an weapon damage, gave him a hurricane and called it quits. But no, next one is getting melee and havoc spec.

Indeed, they look like a lot of fun. But I was still right - they gave a Turian charge, but then also made him more mobile via dodge-roll dodge-jump-jets.

I unlocked one in my last match of the night, so I'll probably try it out this weekend.

I also played a match with a Volus adept; I was "AWWWW"-ing the entire time. Love their voices too. "{inhale.} Mission received." "{inhale} Losing pressure!" It was like charging into battle with a fat chain-smoker and I loved every second.

[Morty]

Originally Posted by Avilan the Grey

The combination of the extended cut and Leviathan sooths most of my issues with the ending, really. I was never one of those who wanted blue babies and rainbows as the end at all cost. (not saying you are either).

Leviathan spoiler:

Spoiler

The point here is that they programmed a VI to come up with a solution to this problem based on one or a very few instances where Synthetics turned on their creators. The VI's logic is FLAWED because it's creator's logic was flawed. And then it turned on the creators ITSELF and made the first reaper out of them. Oops.

Spoiler

It does seem to make a lot of sense. However, it took six months and we need to pay for it extra. So, yeah.

[Avilan the Grey]

Originally Posted by Morty

Spoiler

It does seem to make a lot of sense. However, it took six months and we need to pay for it extra. So, yeah.

To be fair, this was AFAIK the first DLC down the pipe, it was always intended to be the DLC that expanded on the ending. Unfortunately the bungled the original ending up so badly they had to make the Extended Cut first. But yes, you still have to pay for it. Not much, though.

[The_Final_Stand]

I just obtained possibly the greatest Spectre packs I have ever seen.

Neither of them had anything below "Uncommon" quality (except for missiles and medigel), and both gave me a character I didn't already have.

One gave me a Phoenix Vanguard, and the other gave me a Volus BIOTIC GOD.

I promptly walked right in to a bronze Collector match with him, on the planet with the collector swarms, and just as promptly got my rear handed to me.

Things to take away: Mash the shield boost button. Stick together. Hide whenever possible (you are support, not the vanguard of their destruction). Learn how the melee works (light melee is a short cloak, heavy melee is a shield that does do some damage when you let go of the button, but I think it's mostly defensive, unlike the Geth burst).

[Dhavaer]

Originally Posted by Psyren

Won't that delete whatever progress I made too though? With all the "challenge" stuff.

It shouldn't, it will be linked to your account, the same as weapons and the rest.

[Beowulf DW]

Wow, I actually managed to get the Volus engineer in my first Spectre pack of the day. Can't wait to take the little guy for a spin.

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Psyren

Won't that delete whatever progress I made too though? With all the "challenge" stuff.

If not, yeah I'll go for it.

It shouldn't. But are the challenges that important? Now that you know how to do them it takes an hour to max something out, tops.

I also played a match with a Volus adept; I was "AWWWW"-ing the entire time. Love their voices too. "{inhale.} Mission received." "{inhale} Losing pressure!" It was like charging into battle with a fat chain-smoker and I loved every second.

I love when you get a mission wave. "Payday!" "-kshk- Let's get paaaaid. -kshk-"

The adept is nuts. I'm pretty sure the best thing for your team is to grab the area, the DR and pump biotic orbs up for -60% cooldown, but I love the effect of 3 orbs dropping incremental debuffs on heavy targets. Often, the act of debugging a brute saps most of its health because each orb does incrementally more damage.

Stasis... I have yet to use stasis. It isn't a bubble because I benefit from the extra 38 HP, sue me. But it would be good for biotic explosions, especially with the evolution that increases damage done.

Originally Posted by The_Final_Stand

Things to take away: Mash the shield boost button. Stick together. Hide whenever possible (you are support, not the vanguard of their destruction). Learn how the melee works (light melee is a short cloak, heavy melee is a shield that does do some damage when you let go of the button, but I think it's mostly defensive, unlike the Geth burst).

The heavy Melee has a very long duration and can be held like the geth melee, but not pulsed. If you're up front, it's an effective anti husk tactic, and I've also been able to pin full-health marauders and pros in corners, pulsing away their health. They can't recover in time to attack you, but if anything else shoots you you're toast.

And yes, the purpose of the Volus is to boost their allies. They are probably why the Turkana were winning the space war.

Originally Posted by Beowulf DW

Wow, I actually managed to get the Volus engineer in my first Spectre pack of the day. Can't wait to take the little guy for a spin.

From a couple hours' run, recon mine is "better" with daughter damage. I've seen a volus rise up the charts dropping hugely powerful recon mines into enemies, an detonating the lot.

Myself, I prefer the blast radius increase and the invasive scan. Drop a regular proxy, and by the time it's set off whatever is in the scan is taking 45% more damage. Get a volus adept in their and even on platinum you're Melting chumps.

Not that I've gotten very far on platinum. Just far enough to know the collectors hurt.

[Dhavaer]

Loving new Firebase White. So much more space. The Ghost is awesome too, very nice with my Warfighter gear. The only problem is the dodge animation is very long and I can't restore shields while doing it.

[Landis963]

So. Finished the game for the second time.

Spoiler

It's... A step in the right direction. I still wish you could throw a possible geth/quarian peace in its sparkly face (and you can in fact bring up the events of Leviathan, but the Starbrat thinks they missed the point of the harvests, which I thought was a bit rich of it), but it is very clear (especially with the new dialogue) that the Starbrat is in fact a VI rather than an AI. (I also have a pet theory that the part of Shepard's brain that comes up with the Charm and Intimidate options simply got fried during TIM's social boss fight, and nothing in the new ending contradicted it). However, I'm not seeing much point to playing single-player anymore (although I might try the refuse ending just for kicks).

[Avilan the Grey]

Originally Posted by Landis963

So. Finished the game for the second time.

Spoiler

It's... A step in the right direction. I still wish you could throw a possible geth/quarian peace in its sparkly face (and you can in fact bring up the events of Leviathan, but the Starbrat thinks they missed the point of the harvests, which I thought was a bit rich of it), but it is very clear (especially with the new dialogue) that the Starbrat is in fact a VI rather than an AI. (I also have a pet theory that the part of Shepard's brain that comes up with the Charm and Intimidate options simply got fried during TIM's social boss fight, and nothing in the new ending contradicted it). However, I'm not seeing much point to playing single-player anymore (although I might try the refuse ending just for kicks).

It does actually add a bit of fridge-horror (more than before) for the Reapers:

Spoiler

They are fully evolved AI's, but shackled to a VI. It might actually be possible that they are innocent, and forced to carry out orders against their will. At least some of them.

[Landis963]

Originally Posted by Avilan the Grey

It does actually add a bit of fridge-horror (more than before) for the Reapers:

Spoiler

They are fully evolved AI's, but shackled to a VI. It might actually be possible that they are innocent, and forced to carry out orders against their will. At least some of them.

Spoiler

Of course, it's unlikely we will ever meet any of those. And besides, if they've been taught all their - I hesitate to use the word "lives" - that they have an important mission to bring order to the chaos and protect the elder alien races from themselves and bringing them in to the great work they do every 50,000 years or so, it's very reasonable, IMO, that enough Reapers believe in the message that there's a very low possibility of Shepard encountering even one "sympathetic" Reaper. Coupled with the rarity of anomalies (let alone successful anomalies - the Starbrat says that Shepard is the "first organic ever" to get to that fulcrum point), and with the arrogance of their creators ("tribute" was mentioned but not explained several times, and they wouldn't get up off their a**es until Shepard lit a fire under them), and I have no trouble believing that they all follow Harbinger gleefully and without question. And besides, if they wanted the Reapers to be sympathetic, we would have seen one willing (if not, perhaps, able) to turn traitor. In fact, that possibility was specifically passed over in favor of the Leviathans pulling an "enemy of my enemy" ploy.

[Aotrs Commander]

I'm still deep in playing Transport Tycoon at the moment, but I'm still following the developments (not that, with my luck, I'd be likely to get any new alien classes anyway...) With new classes and a new enemy I'm almost tempted to pick it up. (When I have finally got to 2050, because, dammit, I will get to the end of at least one game of Transport Tycoon in my entire unlife!!!)

So then, the most pertinent question is are those of you on PC still having critical connection troubles? I haven't touched ME3 since that last event with the character promotions, after having so much faff, nor I am going to until I can be assured of at least a reasonbly stable connection.

[Landis963]

Originally Posted by Aotrs Commander

So then, the most pertinent question is are those of you on PC still having critical connection troubles? I haven't touched ME3 since that last event with the character promotions, after having so much faff, nor I am going to until I can be assured of at least a reasonbly stable connection.

I don't know about still, but I've been plagued with chronic lag since downloading the latest DLC pack. That might just be the metric f**k-load of changes they introduced, though.

[Aotrs Commander]

Originally Posted by Landis963

I don't know about still, but I've been plagued with chronic lag since downloading the latest DLC pack. That might just be the metric f**k-load of changes they introduced, though.

Lag is probably still better than when I was last trying, when it took two hours for me to get on to promote - not play, just promote - characters for that weekend event, because it kept disconnecting. (The tech supprt forums were page on page of complaints, and at the time Bioware didn't even seem to acknowledge there was a problem; at which point I threw my hands up and gave up.)

[Avilan the Grey]

Originally Posted by Landis963

Spoiler

Of course, it's unlikely we will ever meet any of those. And besides, if they've been taught all their - I hesitate to use the word "lives" - that they have an important mission to bring order to the chaos and protect the elder alien races from themselves and bringing them in to the great work they do every 50,000 years or so, it's very reasonable, IMO, that enough Reapers believe in the message that there's a very low possibility of Shepard encountering even one "sympathetic" Reaper. Coupled with the rarity of anomalies (let alone successful anomalies - the Starbrat says that Shepard is the "first organic ever" to get to that fulcrum point), and with the arrogance of their creators ("tribute" was mentioned but not explained several times, and they wouldn't get up off their a**es until Shepard lit a fire under them), and I have no trouble believing that they all follow Harbinger gleefully and without question. And besides, if they wanted the Reapers to be sympathetic, we would have seen one willing (if not, perhaps, able) to turn traitor. In fact, that possibility was specifically passed over in favor of the Leviathans pulling an "enemy of my enemy" ploy.

Oh I agree. I am just saying it might be possible.

[Landis963]

Originally Posted by Avilan the Grey

Oh I agree. I am just saying it might be possible.

Sure, I see what you mean. Its just vanishingly unlikely.

Spoiler

EDIT: I was highly amused to note that the "buy more DLC" message at the end was altered in favor of a " thanks for playing our game " message. I bet that's one of the first things they did, after planning out which concessionsthey were going to give us.

[Morty]

I just finished a match in which there was also a Volus Engineer. He handled himself well from what it seemed. And right after that match, I bought a Spectre pack and unlocked a Volus Adept. Nice. I'll have to think about how to spec him and give him a try.

[Edge]

Having just promoted my characters and started levelling them again, I've noticed a weird glitch with the Retaliation characters. The first time you go to level their powers upon level-up, they have higher than normal points to spend on powers. Backing out, selecting a non-Retaliation character and then going back to the Retaliation character removes the spare points. If you spend the extra points, they do stay assigned, but the next time you enter their power menu, they'll have negative skill points, with levelling them up further adding the extra points again.

It's a weird glitch, and technically I believe you could use it to completely max a character's skills out, but that sounds like exploitation to me, so I've been avoiding the spare points where possible. I only noticed after I nearly maxed my Volus Engineer's skills out at level 11. Cancelled the level-up post hate and backed out, and found the solution I mentioned above, though I'd already spent some phantom points on an earlier level up, so I'm not playing him until the skill point debt is sorted.

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Edge

Having just promoted my characters and started levelling them again, I've noticed a weird glitch with the Retaliation characters. The first time you go to level their powers upon level-up, they have higher than normal points to spend on powers. Backing out, selecting a non-Retaliation character and then going back to the Retaliation character removes the spare points. If you spend the extra points, they do stay assigned, but the next time you enter their power menu, they'll have negative skill points, with levelling them up further adding the extra points again.

It's a weird glitch, and technically I believe you could use it to completely max a character's skills out, but that sounds like exploitation to me, so I've been avoiding the spare points where possible. I only noticed after I nearly maxed my Volus Engineer's skills out at level 11. Cancelled the level-up post hate and backed out, and found the solution I mentioned above, though I'd already spent some phantom points on an earlier level up, so I'm not playing him until the skill point debt is sorted.

Funny you should mention that...

Spoiler

Turian Havoc is best soldier.

I think it has to do with getting both a havoc and a ghost in the same pack; my preexisting having at level 15 had 59 points, and my ghost, which was new, had no benefit. It's ironic, in that I purposefully spec'd the havoc poorly to see how I would work; stomach at minimum, havoc strike at force/damage rather than radius and speed, armiger passive at full stability & weapon damage (an being unable to carry anything heavier than an eagle; the avenger left me with +195. The. Avenger.) and a single point in fitness. I finished out his skills, getting mele fitness, some useful buffs in stimpack, and melee fitness. It was nice being able to solo a group of dragoond on gold, but still not as good as a regularly optimized havoc.

The ghost had no such benefit, and actually. And seeing as the ghost tac cloak boosts AR damage for 10s after cloaking, my original plan of porting the saber and using fastcloak tactics fell through. Still need to try tat thermal scope though.

As an aside; using fast cloak, stimpack for melee and damage, melee based fitness, and every melee mod, a ghost can deal 3,493 damage a heavy blow. Given stimpack's 9s duration, that it doesn't break cloak and a minimum cloak charge is 3s, you crack out a full 10,000 damage on a single stimpack, more if you kill an enemy with heavy melee and benefit from martial artist in the meantime. I haven't checked the soldier yet, but this means the ghost infiltrator is the most powerful melee character in the game (by a small margin, the batarian able to cap at 3,200).

[Yora]

I was just watching Mass Effect 2 is AWESOME blind let's play, and it had this perfect still:

Spoiler

That's probably what we all looked like.

[Psyren]

I have to say my favorite thing about this latest patch was the Krogan, specifically the massive (and much-needed) stagger resist boost they all got.

With that buff, stunlock is a thing of the past and my Krogan Sentinel kicks mucho ass on Gold - able to take all manner of punishment, even Prime/Ravager shots to the face, without stumbling. Against Cerberus, Phantoms are literally the only thing he has to watch for (even turrets are an annoyance at best); on Reapers, Banshees (and then only up close), and on Geth, only Hunters pose a threat.

On Collectors, one of the biggest problems for everyone else (seeker swarms) are nothing to him - I often run around picking them up to keep them off the casters, and for the cool glowy effect as the bugs surround you. But as tough as he is, Scions still rip through his shields like butter, Praetorians are just as "oh ****!" if they get close for him as they are for everyone else, and possessed abominations need to be given a wide berth before kills (and never meleed.)

Those things aside, he's a lot of fun to play. Currently I have him outfitted with Revenant X, an Arc Pistol sidearm (VIII) and a 20% shield gear - with that layout, I often plant him in a hallway facing on oncoming Atlas, pouring clip after clip into the viewscreen while it feebly tries and fails to take my shields down. For Tuchanka