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[ParityBit]

Hi All,

So I just finished ME 2 (360 - I know, LTTP but I was finishing my masters degree and had no time!)

Are any of the DLC worth it with ME3 right around the corner? I am surprised to see the cost is still 5 bucks+ for a pack. I enjoy the story and I have the books which I will be reading shortly also.

Thanks!

 

[Woorloog]

Overlord is good.
Lair of the Shadow Broker is excellent, you really wanna play it for ME3. ME3 assumes you have done it regardless your save file import so might as well play it.
Arrival is a bit meh... if you like ME2 combat and would like try it without squad mates, you could give this one a try. ME3 assumes you've done Arrival too... in fact, ME3 story begins the way it does due to events of Arrival.

 

[ParityBit]

So pretty much all 3 DLC packs, except the Kasumi pack?

 

[Sai]

So pretty much all 3 DLC packs, except the Kasumi pack?

Kasumi's good. The Arrival's the one you can avoid.

 

[Typographenia]

Kasumi is definitely worth it. It's not terribly long, but the new character is wonderful, the setup is different from the rest of the game, and it's quite enjoyable. I would highly recommend playing that.


My personal rankings would be-
1. Lair of the Shadow Broker
2. Kasumi
3. Overlord


It's going to come down to "how much more ME2 do I want?" though.

 

[Woorloog]

Kasumi's good. The Arrival's the one you can avoid.

Well, Arrival doesn't have any meaningful choices (unless the tone you use to talk to Hackett matters) so that's one good reason it is avoidable... but at very least you'll want to look a youtube playthrough of it so that you know why ME3 starts the way it does.

 

[ParityBit]

You can avoid Arrival but at the same time it's critical to the story? Does it change anything with the character import?

 

[Lime]

Apparently there is a pricing error (or a sale) on 1200 Bioware points for the same price as 560 points. If you want the DLC the time might be now.

 

[Typographenia]

You can avoid Arrival but at the same time it's critical to the story? Does it change anything with the character import?

They will cover the events of it at the start of ME3, as it sets up the start of the game.

I don't think it will have any impact on your import, but I don't know that they really ever said if any of the dlc stuff will truly carry over.

 

[Mindlog]

let us imagine that she is generating her small personnal shield in those cases ..

A sci-fi staple. Chindi used it. Excession gave the suit a personality.

tangent
Here's how I rate the 3 Mass Effect novels.
2/5
2/5
3/5
On that scale Old Man's War is 2/5 for having a great idea with terrible execution. The third novel is average sci-fi schlock. My scale is rather forgiving.

Complaints about Dietz are common, but I had never been exposed to his work before. Mass Effect: Deception's excerpt is some of the most poorly written literature I have ever seen published. I was planning on buying Deception as a quick read. Only reading the excerpt: 0/5 Emphatic Pass. Do not support this extraordinarily lazy cash-in.

 

[Bisnic]

They will cover the events of it at the start of ME3, as it sets up the start of the game.

I don't think it will have any impact on your import, but I don't know that they really ever said if any of the dlc stuff will truly carry over.

Considering there is no major decisions in any DLC, ME3 is just going to

Spoiler

put Liara as the new Shadow Broker, nuke the batarian system and (maybe?) show what happened to that human/AI hybrid of the Overlord DLC.

Kasumi? Who knows.

Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Patryn]

You can avoid Arrival but at the same time it's critical to the story? Does it change anything with the character import?

There is one event that occurs in Arrival that the player has no control over that is relevant to ME3. That even will be covered again in ME3, so it's not necessarily important that you've played Arrival.

Considering there is no major decisions in any DLC, ME3 is just going to

Spoiler

put Liara as the new Shadow Broker, nuke the batarian system and (maybe?) show what happened to that human/AI hybrid of the Overlord DLC.

Kasumi? Who knows.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Bisnic, this is the OT. Mark those spoilers.

 

[ParityBit]

Well I picked up Kasumi and Overlord last night. Once I finish those I will get the Shadow Broker and then I think I will call it a night with ME2.

One last question. I am level 26 but there is an achievement for getting level 30. How do I get level 30? I completed all content and I doubt that the DLC will get me to 30.

Thanks!

 

[Bisnic]

Well I picked up Kasumi and Overlord last night. Once I finish those I will get the Shadow Broker and then I think I will call it a night with ME2.

One last question. I am level 26 but there is an achievement for getting level 30. How do I get level 30? I completed all content and I doubt that the DLC will get me to 30.

Thanks!

You probably missed a bunch of sidequests because its easy to reach lvl 30 even without DLC.

 

[ParityBit]

You probably missed a bunch of sidequests because its easy to reach lvl 30 even without DLC.

I don't see how I missed anything. I scanned (and depleted) every single planet and I also did every mission to get my crew favor.

 

[Patryn]

I don't see how I missed anything. I scanned (and depleted) every single planet and I also did every mission to get my crew favor.

Did you import a save? That's the normal way people reach 30 on a single run.

 

[ParityBit]

Did you import a save? That's the normal way people reach 30 on a single run.

No I did not. My last Xbox was stolen (with my saved game from ME1) so I had to start over. Can you play again with your same character after finishing the game? When I finish the DLC. Or something like that?

 

[EatChildren]

A sci-fi staple. Chindi used it. Excession gave the suit a personality.

tangent
Here's how I rate the 3 Mass Effect novels.
2/5
2/5
3/5
On that scale Old Man's War is 2/5 for having a great idea with terrible execution. The third novel is average sci-fi schlock. My scale is rather forgiving.

Complaints about Dietz are common, but I had never been exposed to his work before. Mass Effect: Deception's excerpt is some of the most poorly written literature I have ever seen published. I was planning on buying Deception as a quick read. Only reading the excerpt: 0/5 Emphatic Pass. Do not support this extraordinarily lazy cash-in.

I still have it ordered as I'm too much of a sucker for more Mass Effect, but we'll see how much I can stomach before I put it down. I 'liked' all three books in a "I want more Mass Effect" sense. In terms of quality I'd probably rate the second book as the best of three. I liked the first simply for offer valuable back story to both Anderson and Saren's characters, and the third for acting as somewhat of a set up for Mass Effect 3.

It will be interesting to see if Deception manages to be more offensive literature than the Evolution comic, which is easily the worst thing to be shit out of this series.

 

[Mindlog]

I still have it ordered as I'm too much of a sucker for more Mass Effect, but we'll see how much I can stomach before I put it down. I 'liked' all three books in a "I want more Mass Effect" sense. In terms of quality I'd probably rate the second book as the best of three. I liked the first simply for offer valuable back story to both Anderson and Saren's characters, and the third for acting as somewhat of a set up for Mass Effect 3.

It will be interesting to see if Deception manages to be more offensive literature than the Evolution comic, which is easily the worst thing to be shit out of this series.

I'm the same way. I enjoy what lore there is. I rate the third higher just because it felt like Karpyshyn was getting a little better with the action scenes.

The excerpt from, Deception...
It's poorly written beyond my low expectations. The unforgivable part is how terrible it is with the lore. The excerpt is padded with codex dumps.

Asari
Batarians
Biotics
The Citadel
Palaven
Turians

He manages to screw up details on all of these topics in the first 60 pages. It's like he quickly browsed through the codex, but didn't understand any of it.

I'm still tempted to buy it. I want more lore. However, I really need this novel to bomb in sales. If the series is to continue they desperately need to find a new author. The first copy should have been thrown in a furnace. They should have shrugged it off and said; 'Good one. OK for real this time. Go write something passable.'

I'll just read what's on Google Books and finally get started on the Vorkosigan Saga.

 

[Arjen]

I already got the novel pre-ordered, it can't be any worse then Evolution.

 

[rozay]

Jesus christ, after reading that excerpt, please do not waste money on Deception. I've read all 3 books and they've been alright to poor, it's clear that Dietz has no fucking idea what he's writing about.

I am literally going "wat" after every sentence.

edit: LOL at the moderator-posted thread advertising the excerpt of the book for fans getting nuked on BSN after backfiring and recieving 50 pages of negativity.

 

[McNei1y]

So I began my second playthrough about a year ago and finally got back to it (I lent my game to a friend for a few months). I'm a male, custom faced, infiltrator playing on the second hardest difficulty. I just did the mission where I am on the collectors ship and its an ambush. I have every ally except the geth and Tali. I have only done Miranda's and Samara's mission. I downloaded: Arrival, Lair of the Shadow Broker, the Assassin girl? one, and Zaeed. I am obviously hooking up with Miranda just because... well theres too many reasons not too. I am also mostly a renegade unless I am speaking to my team (I wanted to be full renegade but I didn't get the loyalty achievements/final survive achievement from my first play through :\ )

I really don't know any of the good specs or anything but I went with the invisibility that makes my damage stronger and I also upgraded my incinerate all the way. I am currently upgrading the talent that increases my damage, reload, and paragon/renegade. I always use Miranda and Garrus as my sidekicks and I did that in my first play through when I was a biotic. Oh, and I also selected an assault rifle training instead of the widowmaker(?). Was that the right call?

Who would you suggest I use with an Infiltrator / What is the ideal spec?

Also, I plan on playing the game one more time and I plan to be full renegade. Which class: Vanguard or Soldier?

 

[rozay]

So I began my second playthrough about a year ago and finally got back to it (I lent my game to a friend for a few months). I'm a male, custom faced, infiltrator playing on the second hardest difficulty. I just did the mission where I am on the collectors ship and its an ambush. I have every ally except the geth and Tali. I have only done Miranda's and Samara's mission. I downloaded: Arrival, Lair of the Shadow Broker, the Assassin girl? one, and Zaeed. I am obviously hooking up with Miranda just because... well theres too many reasons not too. I am also mostly a renegade unless I am speaking to my team (I wanted to be full renegade but I didn't get the loyalty achievements/final survive achievement from my first play through :\ )

I really don't know any of the good specs or anything but I went with the invisibility that makes my damage stronger and I also upgraded my incinerate all the way. I am currently upgrading the talent that increases my damage, reload, and paragon/renegade. I always use Miranda and Garrus as my sidekicks and I did that in my first play through when I was a biotic. Oh, and I also selected an assault rifle training instead of the widowmaker(?). Was that the right call?

Who would you suggest I use with an Infiltrator / What is the ideal spec?

Also, I plan on playing the game one more time and I plan to be full renegade. Which class: Vanguard or Soldier?

I believe widow is the most powerful gun in the game and can one-shot almost every enemy, but there's nothing wrong with picking assault rifles as the viper and mantis are both powerful after upgrades.

 

[McNei1y]

I believe widow is the most powerful gun in the game and can one-shot almost every enemy, but there's nothing wrong with picking assault rifles as the viper and mantis are both powerful after upgrades.

Yeah. My thinking throughout the game was that I really thought I needed an assault rifle since I felt it was better than the sub machine gun weapons. I also didn't think I needed the Widowmaker since I just got the Viper the mission before and I never had time to use its awesome semiautomic-ness. Now that you say it one shots stuff makes me upset!!

 

[Blue Ninja]

So, reading that excerpt (which seems worse than Ascension), one thing struck me: Anderson's noted as having been the Council representative. I thought BioWare had taken Udina as the representative as canon. Unless the third book (which I did not even start) notes otherwise, of course.

Oh well, not that it matters, Anderson's the representative in all my saves.

 

[shingonation]

That's what happens when you don't use an editor from the franchise.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Guess me taking only the games as 'canon' was the right decision after all.

Shame. Revelation was pretty decent.

 

[shingonation]

Invasion was pretty decent too.

 

[X-Frame]

Is there a way to find out my Shep's face code after I made her? Or is the only way doing a NG+ and seeing what the imported face is?

 

[Woorloog]

Is there a way to find out my Shep's face code after I made her? Or is the only way doing a NG+ and seeing what the imported face is?

Character menu (where you set skills, dunno if it was called "character menu"). Top left corner.

 

[Mindlog]

So, reading that excerpt (which seems worse than Ascension), one thing struck me: Anderson's noted as having been the Council representative. I thought BioWare had taken Udina as the representative as canon. Unless the third book (which I did not even start) notes otherwise, of course.

Oh well, not that it matters, Anderson's the representative in all my saves.

My understanding is that there is no tight cannon. Authors are free to float within the general codex. It would be nice if they required the author/editor to get a little more acquainted with the source material.

Infiltrator should generally take the, Widow.
Soldiers are better with the, Viper.
Squadmates decimate enemies with the, Incisor.

Also, I plan on playing the game one more time and I plan to be full renegade. Which class: Vanguard or Soldier?

If you want the easy way: Soldier.
If you want the AWESOME hard way: Vanguard.

Vanguard can be very difficult to master. When you do get the hang of it you will be flying around levels dominating absolutely everything.

 

[Mindlog]

Jesus christ, after reading that excerpt, please do not waste money on Deception. I've read all 3 books and they've been alright to poor, it's clear that Dietz has no fucking idea what he's writing about.

I am literally going "wat" after every sentence.

edit: LOL at the moderator-posted thread advertising the excerpt of the book for fans getting nuked on BSN after backfiring and recieving 50 pages of negativity.

Yeah I went looking for that thread. It looks like they remade it and it's still negative.

Usually there are always two sides to anything on BSN. For the first time in a long time everyone on BSN has agreed on something. Thank you Dietz for bringing us together.

Seems about right.

I still won't post on those forums. No need to risk a ban because Dietz sucks.

 

[McNei1y]

If you want the easy way: Soldier.
If you want the AWESOME hard way: Vanguard.

Vanguard can be very difficult to master. When you do get the hang of it you will be flying around levels dominating absolutely everything.

I want to fly around and kick some ass. I think I'll give that a try. I was a Soldier in ME1 so this class seems new and exciting.

 

[EatChildren]

oh my god that Deception excerpt is bad jesus christ what the fuck

 

[Blue Ninja]

oh my god that Deception excerpt is bad jesus christ what the fuck

There is only one possible solution.

Spoiler

They're shooting at him with thermal clips.

 

[Mindlog]

oh my god that Deception excerpt is bad jesus christ what the fuck

On more than one occasion I stopped reading and just let out a, "What the fuck?"

and then the ending
the ending

Either they really hate Karpyshyn or Dietz was trying to write himself out of the series. I just don't know. Fuck it. I don't see the need to carry on with the subject. If other people like it... weird. Final Score: -3/5.

 

[Woorloog]

Karpyshyn's (spelling?) writing wasn't great though the added lore and events were fine (freudian slip: wrote "whine") and interesting. The last one was definetly the best of the three.
Where did you see the expert for Deception? I want to see how bad it is myself.

Gotta order all the comics and the Art of ME Universe (i have the first artbook).

 

[Mindlog]

Karpyshyn's (spelling?) writing wasn't great though the added lore and events were fine (freudian slip: wrote "whine") and interesting. The last one was definetly the best of the three.
Where did you see the expert for Deception? I want to see how bad it is myself.

Gotta order all the comics and the Art of ME Universe (i have the first artbook).

The links are up there :]

Here is the official excerpt: Blog It contains the first 57 pages.
Here is the Google Books entry: Preview It contains a very large portion of the book including the ending. that ending.

On the bright side. I feel like playing some ME2.

 

[Tizoc]

Spent the last day mining resources and finishing some side quests.
Haven't done the Arrival DLC yet, but when should I go for it and the Shadow Broker?
Sould I do them before getting the IFF?

 

[Blue Ninja]

Spent the last day mining resources and finishing some side quests.
Haven't done the Arrival DLC yet, but when should I go for it and the Shadow Broker?
Sould I do them before getting the IFF?

I always do them after the Suicide Mission (and Overlord, as well). Both feel a lot better that way.

I just wish Arrival wouldn't trigger the moment you finish Horizon. So stupid.

And I'm definitely getting the art of the ME universe. Hmm.

 

[Woorloog]

Deception's beginning doesn't feel that bad... but... the Council is the one with seat for humanity, instead of human-lead Council or all-human Council (wasn't that one possibility? Renegade Shepard choosing Renegade ending in ME1 would cause this)

EDIT Never mind these, didn't recall correctly.

 

[Tizoc]

I always do them after the Suicide Mission (and Overlord, as well). Both feel a lot better that way.

I just wish Arrival wouldn't trigger the moment you finish Horizon. So stupid.

And I'm definitely getting the art of the ME universe. Hmm.

Thanks, so I can still continue playing even after I beat what I assume are the last areas of the game?

 

[Woorloog]

I can't figure out how to see the Deception expert on Google Books. Though maybe it is blocked in Finland?
Anyway, the beginning expert is pretty horrible. Writing is bad, real bad. Terrible. And were Nick and Gillian retconned to be older? Because Evolution happens just before ME2 and Retribution about two years later Gillian and Nick sure as hell weren't eighteen in Retribution. Considering ME3 timeline starts at most one year after ME2 (not even that really, just months), Deception CANNOT occur very long after Retribution...
Biotic "Levels". wat?
Batarians have a representative on the Citadel? What? I'm pretty sure they withdrew all contact with the Citadel, except sending yearly linguistic updates (Codex entry in Bring Down the Sky).
"Engine killers"? Uh... nope, those cannot exist in Mass Effect, not logically. Non-nuclear explosive EMP would work in space but those are indiscriminating.
The claim Anderson was a Council member and the Council being clearly the normal one with seat for humanity... /facepalm. I'm no writer yet i could have easily written the chapter so that players could decide "canon".
And why does Anderson seem to be holding "idiot ball"? I know he is a man of action but he is smart and would have learned from the events of ME1 and the books.

This book ain't canon. It's events are meaningless and should not be referred in any way and ignored completly. How can anyway allow this sort of shit to be published?
And why do i have a feeling this will end up selling well enough?

 

[Mindlog]

It's events are meaningless and should not be referred in any way and ignored completly. How can anyway allow this sort of shit to be published?
And why do i have a feeling this will end up selling well enough?

Wait until you read the ending...
After the book officially releases a full synopsis (with spoilers obviously) will be up on the Wiki.

I had such low standards. I rated the first novels a 2/5, but I still enjoyed them enough. I am a fan of the series. This book though. It has no idea what an OSD is. It has Batarians raiding the Turian homeworld. A million other details. Finally, it *spoilers* in the dumbest way possible. I don't want to spoil anyone that's still going to read it. It's just so goddamn awful.

Back on topic. I have never played either game as an Engineer. Weird.

Thanks, so I can still continue playing even after I beat what I assume are the last areas of the game?

Yes.

 

[X-Frame]

What's the best bonus power I should use on my Adept on insanity for "Arrival"?

Energy Drain?

 

[Woorloog]

What's the best bonus power I should use on my Adept on insanity for "Arrival"?

Energy Drain?

Do you have access to Stasis? If so, then it is a no-brainer. Dat damage-boosting bug...

AP ammo is always good, especially with Tempest. Tempest does extra damage vs shields and barriers, AP ammo helps tearing through armor and health making the weapon jack of all trades (almost).

Since Adept has many active skills and is rather CC-oriented, i really suggest some ammo power (or Stasis due to its ability to ignore defenses and the above-mentioned bug). Other abilities add only redutancy or interfere with the general cooldown.

 

[X-Frame]

Yeah I have Enhanced Stasis on my character now. I just figured since Arrival has mostly shielded enemies that Energy Drain would be helpful.

And you recommend the Tenpest over the Locust? The latter is just so damn accurate, though I have AR training so maybe a bit redundant.

 

[Woorloog]

Yeah I have Enhanced Stasis on my character now. I just figured since Arrival has mostly shielded enemies that Energy Drain would be helpful.

And you recommend the Tenpest over the Locust? The latter is just so damn accurate, though I have AR training so maybe a bit redundant.

Energy drain might be useful, i dunno really as i never bother with it or any shield (not counting Tech Armor) power as i find the shield bonus given by them to be far too small to be useful, especially on higher difficulties. On lower difficulties i don't need more health.

The Tempest looks awesome. It feels awesome. It sounds awesome. It is a non-stop barrage of death with AP ammo.
The Locust sounds lame. It AR-like SMG to those who don't have AR skill or can't deal with CQB.
You really should use the Tempest if you have AR training, as you said the Locust is reduntant with ARs. Unless you use the Vindicator. The Mattock is so good it makes all the other weapons reduntant (fast rate of fire, strong, enough ammo).

My playstyle is based on killing the enemy as quickly as possible though, i use a lot of cover as it gives essentially 100% damage reduction but attack very aggresively. Either i don't take damage or i win.

EDIT i forgot to mention, i keep Stasis on rank 1 for the shortest duration. I don't use it for CC, i use to gain the ridiculous damage boost...

 

[X-Frame]

Energy drain might be useful, i dunno really as i never bother with it or any shield (not counting Tech Armor) power as i find the shield bonus given by them to be far too small to be useful, especially on higher difficulties. On lower difficulties i don't need more health.

The Tempest looks awesome. It feels awesome. It sounds awesome. It is a non-stop barrage of death with AP ammo.
The Locust sounds lame. It AR-like SMG to those who don't have AR skill or can't deal with CQB.
You really should use the Tempest if you have AR training, as you said the Locust is reduntant with ARs. Unless you use the Vindicator. The Mattock is so good it makes all the other weapons reduntant (fast rate of fire, strong, enough ammo).

My playstyle is based on killing the enemy as quickly as possible though, i use a lot of cover as it gives essentially 100% damage reduction but attack very aggresively. Either i don't take damage or i win.

EDIT i forgot to mention, i keep Stasis on rank 1 for the shortest duration. I don't use it for CC, i use to gain the ridiculous damage boost...

Gotcha. I use Stasis to take the stronger enemies out of the fight while I focus on quickly taking out the small-fry.

Energy Drain would be used on Arrival to not only strip enemy shields which there are a lot of but also absurd their shields into my own, keeping my shields up.

I'll try the Tempest again. Good call.

 

[JerkShep]

Started one last playthrough in anticipation for ME3. Playing Infiltrator for the first time and basically my goal is to have the worst shepard ever playthrough. I'm going to do only the main storyline, no subquests, no upgrades, no loyalty missions, no DLCs AND in the suicide mission I'll try to kill everybody exept

Spoiler

Zaeed and Kasumi

. I've already played the game twice and done everything, this time I'll probably breeze through it in 10-15 hours, I just want to see how things will change in 3 with basically every squadmate dead. Playing on Extreme, usually I play Insanity but this time I just wamt to have fun.