Mass Effect series discussion

[sakuraZaKi]

I'm going to guess that that other number beside the promote cyclone-thing shows the number of times you promoted that class.

Seriously, though, I wish we could play Hanar. I know they would suck on land, but who DOESN'T want to see a Hanar Vanguard?!

 

[LivewiresXe]

I'm going to guess that that other number beside the promote cyclone-thing shows the number of times you promoted that class.

Seriously, though, I wish we could play Hanar. I know they would suck on land, but who DOESN'T want to see a Hanar Vanguard?!

Is there a cap to how many times a name can be used for a certain character slot? Because if not, then the first Hanar class people got would ALWAYS be named Blasto.

 

[O D I N]

I got the Particle Rifle, a couple of guns, and in my first Premium Spectre Pack, I got the BIOTIC GOD. Biotic Orbs is essentially like being surrounded by 3 (or 4 if you pick the level 6) Warps that you can throw back to back. Shield Boost insta-heals your shields and those around you.

Koopa Shells.

I think you meant Koopa Shells.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Also, whoever thought Geth Bombers were fair, a good idea, or belong in this game at all deserves to be fired and kicked in the balls.

 

[Pluvia]

Geth Bombers look like they came straight from the ME1, pretty sure there was a few things that looked like them back in the first game, so count yourself lucky they never added Geth Hoppers Livewire, if they did I'd probably just break down and cry.

Anyway that new Gear I got to level 2, the one where if I use a medi-gel then everyone else within a 15 metre radius also gets revived (without any of their medi-gels being used up), seems like it'll be incredibly useful on Platinum for my Kroguard. Chances are I'll be the last one to go down, and when that happens I'll just revive everyone else too.

 

[sakuraZaKi]

Ahh... I never realized how invincible the Kroguard is until being cornered by two Pyros, 2 hunters, and two bombers o.o

But yeah... I hate bombers. I really do. But I like what they bring to the game.

 

[Pluvia]

Played that Platinum I said I was gonna do with a Volus Engineer with a Piranha 3, 2 Kroguards (me and another with a Reegar 1) and a level 17 GI. The poor Volus got glitched like crazy. From round 4-10 he couldn't pick up any ammo and he got sync killed twice by some Phantoms, which caused him to teleport back to spawn instead of dropping dead.

Me and the Volus only needed to use 2 medi-gels, but the other Kroguard was my friend who rarely plays ME and he went down multiple times. I couldn't think of a way to tell him that a Kroguard shouldn't be going down that much on the first 2 waves.

Anyway we got a full extraction. Awww yeeeaaah.

 

[Master Xanthan]

There's a volus glitch now? Oh great (sarcasm)

 

[Pluvia]

Because he's so short it just looked like he wasn't tall enough to pick up ammo, but we think it might've been triggered by the Phantoms insta-kill causing him to teleport to spawn rather than killing or downing him.

Tried meleeing, using an ammo pack, going down and changing to a missile and back but nothing seemed to fix it. Luckily it was with the VE though, for the whole of wave 8 he kepts us all alive at the drop off point as all he could do was spam his powers.

 

[sakuraZaKi]

I'm too lazy to check, but a friend told me something about biohazard signs when selecting maps?

What's that mean? All I know about the recent update is that some maps were changed. Is the biohazard sign an indication of a A or B type of the level?

 

[O D I N]

Because he's so short it just looked like he wasn't tall enough to pick up ammo, but we think it might've been triggered by the Phantoms insta-kill causing him to teleport to spawn rather than killing or downing him.

Oh that poor, poor Volus.

Getting stabbed in the face like that...

 

[Pluvia]

So you might have noticed the game feels much harder, and people think it's because the health and/or shield gates have been removed. Here's (one of many) responses from Bioware:

We have been investigating claims that the health and shield gates are not working properly. After some initial testing, we can confirm that both gates are working correctly, but we will continue to investigate whether there are edge cases that cause them to not work in some situations.

With that said, below is a brief explanation of how the gates work and some factors that could make it appear like they are not working.

We have two damage gates in the game. When your shields hit zero, for a small duration you become invulnerable to damage preventing any health damage from taking place. Similarly, when your health gets below 5% you become invulnerable to damage for a short time. The duration of these gates change based on difficulty and they are listed below:
- Bronze 0.5 seconds
- Silver 0.25 seconds
- Gold 0.1 seconds
- Platinum 0.01 seconds

There is also a cooldown on both gate mechanics, preventing you from becoming invulnerable too often. You can only get the benefits of the shield gate once every 4 seconds, and once every 3 seconds for the health gate. This means that if your shields hit zero on Bronze, for example, you become invulnerable for 0.5 seconds, but if your shields get restored through a Geth Turret, a Volus Shield Boost, Stim Pack, or some other means, and your shields go down again after the 0.5 second window and within 4 seconds you will not get a second window of invulnerability.

None of the health and shield gate values or mechanics have changed since we shipped the game.

The following enemy attacks ignore the player health and shield gate mechanics, which means they can instantly kill you.
- Any sync kill
- Enemy grenades
- Possessed Abomination explosions

Some of our new abilities, like the Volus Shield Boost (on the caster only), and Stim Pack, make the player invulnerable for a short duration after the cast, but this is separate from the shield gate mechanic.

Basically they've done some serious testing on it and it appears that it hasn't been changed. Here's all of the responses Bioware have given and as you can see they've done some serious testing on the issue.

Also Praetorian beams don't ignore the shield gate, either do Brutes, it's just that they hit multiple times so the shield gate is pretty much useless against them.

 

[§leepy God]

I'm interested in the series, I plan on getting the trilogy edition. Hope EA included all the extras in the trilogy.

 

[Pluvia]

I'm interested in the series, I plan on getting the trilogy edition. Hope EA included all the extras in the trilogy.

Yeah they probably have, and do it, this series has one of the best stories in gaming.

Anyway, Bioware says:

Hey everyone, the team does feel the game has become more difficult with the latest content and patch and we think there are a lot of reasons for this, but we don't believe it is the health/shield gate issue. We will continue to investigate the gates to see if we've missed any edge cases, but at this time we are working on other solutions to the jump in difficulty.

So in other words, buffs for us and/or nerfs to enemies. Wonder what the update today will bring.

 

[LivewiresXe]

If it turns into "Buffs for us and nerfs for the enemies" I say: "About &*%$@!# time".

 

[O D I N]

Maybe they'll make the @#$%ing Krysae useful again.



/@#$%ing bitter

 

[LivewiresXe]

Maybe they'll make the @#$%ing Krysae useful again.



/@#$%ing bitter

I know, right? That thing does like 10-15% LESS than the Saber, which technically is an ASSAULT RIFLE. While the Krysae's a single-fire gun.

 

[Master Xanthan]

Maybe they'll make the @#$%ing Krysae useful again.



/@#$%ing bitter

Nah, knowing how brilliant Bioware is when it comes to multiplayer (sarcasm) they'll probably just nerf the Krysae 5 more times.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Nah, knowing how brilliant Bioware is when it comes to multiplayer (sarcasm) they'll probably just nerf the Krysae 5 more times.

The power of the Raptor! The Ammo, Weight and Reload Speed of the Widow! And the projectile speed of the Kishock! It's the New Krysae!

 

[Pluvia]

So there's a new SP weapons pack out for Xbox today, and tomorrow for PS3. Piranha in single player you say?:

http://blog.bioware.com/2012/10/16/groundside-resistance-weapon-pack/

Also balance changes. They added the Krogan Shaman, nerfed the Krysae (and gave it a sort of buff that, because of the nerf it got, will probably mean it'll have a lower/the same DPS it already had) and dramatically buffed a bunch of snipers:

Spoiler

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 16, 2012
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Krogan Shaman Adept kit now available as a new Rare card

The hazard maps available this week are Firebase Giant and Firebase Ghost

Medals
- Bronze Melee medal now requires 10 kills instead of 5
- Silver Melee medal now requires 25 kills instead of 10
- Gold Melee medal now requires 50 kills instead of 15

Challenges
- Added a Krogan Shaman challenge to Bloodpack Mastery
- Fixed an issue where extracting with the new Retaliation kits was not registering certain challenges
- Challenges that required extraction weren't properly crediting the case where exactly 3 out of 4 players extracted
- The changes below were put in place to fix a bug where some players could no longer progress after unlocking a Gold challenge:
- Combat Mastery goal changed from 9 to 12
- Cerberus Mastery goal changed from 17 to 21
- Reaper Mastery goal changed from 15 to 18
- Geth Mastery goal changed from 12 to 18
- Collector Mastery goal changed from 12 to 15

Acolyte Pistol
- Removing charge mechanic - now fires instantly
- Rate of fire is now 40, with a minimum fire time of 1 second
- This fixes an infinite Missile Launcher exploit

Krysae Sniper Rifle
- Can no longer hold the fire button to zoom in the scope - now fires instantly
- This fixes an infinite Missile Launcher exploit

Widow Sniper Rifle
- Damage increased from [867-1083.8] to [997-1246.3]

Krysae Sniper Rifle
- Damage increased from [429-548] to [493.4-616.8]

Kishock Sniper Rifle
- Damage increased from [774.5-968.1] to [890.7-1113.4]
- Percentage of total damage that is done as bleed damage increased from 33% to 40%
- Bleed damage duration reduced from 10 to 5 seconds (the same damage is spread over a shorter duration)

Black Widow Sniper Rifle
- Damage increased from [591.2-739] to [739.0-923.8]

Javelin Sniper Rifle
- Damage increased from [1030.5-1288.1] to [1236.6-1545.8]

 

[sakuraZaKi]

GREAT SCOTT

~200 dmg increase... Yummy

 

[LivewiresXe]

Holy cripes. Those Sniper buffs are nice.

 

[Pluvia]

So near the end of the night I remembered that the Geth Infiltrator gets insane weapon, sniper, and Geth Weapon buffs.

Then I equiped the new Javelin and destroyed everything. It's so much better now, especially with consumables.

 

[sakuraZaKi]

Time for my main to come back in spades, yesssssss.

 

[O D I N]

Krysae Sniper Rifle
- Damage increased from [429-548] to [493.4-616.8]

I DON'T ****ING BELIEVE IT.

And Melee medals nerf/buff...

 

[Pluvia]

The Krysae buff is a weird one Odin, technically it's DPS remains about the same as its fire rate has been reduced from 2 quick shots and a slower one to 3 slow shots. So it's like a buff, but at the same time it's still the same due to changed mechanics.

Also everyone needs to try out the hazard Ghost and Giant maps, they look absolutely amazing. Hazard Ghost especially.

 

[O D I N]

http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mas...tion-BLOODLUST-Oct-19th--21st-14563550-1.html


CHOO, CHOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooo!!


Oh? What's that? Is that the sound of the Murdertrain leaving the station?

 

[Master Xanthan]

Seems that to get a gold melee medal you now need to get 50 melee kills rather than 15, I guess its best to just solo the challenge.

 

[Pluvia]

Indeed, will solo a Bronze or Silver for this one.

Also did they increase the drop rate for UR's? I got like 4 tonight.

 

[LivewiresXe]

So I guess there's going to be another "Balance Patch" and DLC class released this week from the 16?

 

[Pluvia]

Yeah tomorrow. People think it's going to be the Geth Soldier.

Also the Omega DLC comes out on the 27th of November.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Yeah tomorrow. People think it's going to be the Geth Soldier.

Also the Omega DLC comes out on the 27th of November.

I actually am kinda expecting it to be one of the Asari. Probably the Asari Sentinel is what I'm thinking.

 

[Pluvia]

People think it's following a pattern and if it is the Geth will be the one released tomorrow, though I'm not entirely convinced Bioware are following one.

Still annoyed that the Asari Sent doesn't have Sabotage and Dominate. Like she was the perfect character for it.

 

[LivewiresXe]

People think it's following a pattern and if it is the Geth will be the one released tomorrow, though I'm not entirely convinced Bioware are following one.

Still annoyed that the Asari Sent doesn't have Sabotage and Dominate. Like she was the perfect character for it.

I can understand not giving her Sabotage, but she doesn't have Dominate? The hell?

 

[Pluvia]

She has Tech Armour, Annihilation Field and Warp. Basically bulkyish Biotic Explosions, whereas Dominate and Sabotage could've made a completely new character playstyle.

Anyway, for those of you out of the loop for what the community wants, here are the main things that it seems the community is most in favour of:

Geth nerf. What with Bioware suspiciously leaving out Hunters ability to shoot while frozen/stasised/floating in their patch, and making Bombers and Combat Drones (the only enemy able to stagger even the Kroguard from the front) this one doesn't need any explaining.

Dragoon nerf. With 4811 armour (even the Brute only has 9000) and an incredibly fast (and silent) movement speed for something with armour, and a stagger, people want this thing to be nerfed. I agree with a movement speed nerf, it's far too fast for having that much bulky armour.

Collector Swarm nerf. Too bulky, whereas everything else about the Collectors seem to be up for debate.

Another Reegar nerf. Too good on Vanguards and Infiltrators apparently.

Turian Ghost nerf. Just too good in general apparently.

So if Bioware pays attention expect some Geth and Cerberus buffs, the Reegar to be killed, and either a nerf for both new Turians/all Infiltrators/everyone with Overload in this next few weeks.

 

[LivewiresXe]

Good lord. That Turian Infiltrator from what my friends say isn't even actually all that good. Like, it's below a number of classes. And nerf the Krysae again? WTF. That thing NEVER needed to be nerfed in the first place. I wish the people who have every class, and every weapon/mod/gear maxed out would stop being all "oh this is too good, and this is too easy". OF COURSE IT'S EASY FOR YOU! YOU HAVE EVERYTHING MAXED IN THE FREAKING GAME, YOU IDIOTS!!!

 

[Master Xanthan]

The Reeger is good but it doesn't deserve a nerf. Personally I think its overrated. Its terrible against armor.

 

[Pluvia]

Another Reegar nerf Livewire, not Krysae.

Apparently the Ghost is borderline broken. In theory he's amazing, and I did use him once but found him to be quite boring, but I'm going to play him tonight in privates to get more of an opinion. The Havok on the other hand is terrible, but a nerf to the Ghost's stimpacks will be a nerf to his too.

 

[LivewiresXe]

The Reeger is good but it doesn't deserve a nerf. Personally I think its overrated. Its terrible against armor.

Yeah, no kidding. Half the time, I swear the Avenger's better against Armor, lol.

Another Reegar nerf Livewire, not Krysae.

Apparently the Ghost is borderline broken. In theory he's amazing, and I did use him once but found him to be quite boring, but I'm going to play him tonight in privates to get more of an opinion. The Havok on the other hand is terrible, but a nerf to the Ghost's stimpacks will be a nerf to his too.

Yeah, I kinda typoed in my anti-bulls--- laden rant there. Sorry, I just get so tired of crap like this happening. Every time I think they might be on the road to fixing things up again, some people piss and moan, whine and complain, etc until the game gets broken again and I get the urge to say "screw this game". It's those people's faults we have the freaking Bombers in the first place.

 

[Pluvia]

Seeing as though the Ghost excels with AR's, and Bioware hates AR's coughTyphoonnerfandonly3goodARscough, chances are he'll be nerfed tomorrow or next week.

I wouldn't really mention this if it didn't seem like the community was more in favour of this than against it. Like loads of things get asked to be buffed/nerfed everyday but these are the main ones that are actually getting a lot of attention at the moment. Bioware hasn't commented on any of them except they're "looking into the unexpected spike in difficulty since the new DLC was released" and one of them commented in the Reegar nerf thread, which means they've seen it.