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Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer |OT| Rich, deep online role playing

A

alexel

Member
Dork Knight said:
Woo! I *finally* got something good from the new premium Spectre Pack: The Widow!

To those who have had The Widow for a while -- is it better to use at level 1 than the Mantis X?
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The Mantis X is probably a better gun, but I never took that widow off my back once I got it just cause I waited so long for it and it sounds way cooler when you fire it.
 
P

Photolysis

Banned
What the hell are Bioware doing with the balancing?

Have they messed something up in the latest changes? I'm now having my biotic combos ruined by tech explosions. As in, I'll set up a warp on the target, someone hits it with a tech power and then it won't detonate and I have to set it up again. Complete bullshit.
 
U

UnluckyKate

Member
Dork Knight said:
Woo! I *finally* got something good from the new premium Spectre Pack: The Widow!

To those who have had The Widow for a while -- is it better to use at level 1 than the Mantis X?
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It fires through enemies. It is better, even if it weight twice more. Just use it accordingly to your build.
 
X

X-Frame

Member
Photolysis said:
Also, have they messed something up in the latest changes? I'm now having my biotic combos ruined by tech explosions. As in, I'll set up a warp on the target, someone hits it with a tech power and then it won't detonate and I have to set it up again. Complete bullshit.
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Nothing has changed. It's always been like that.

Also tech powers like Overload or ED don't ruin your biotic combo they only mask it for X seconds -- which is why if you throw a second Throw youll get an explosion because the tech power wore off whereas Warp is still active due to its longer duration.
 
P

Photolysis

Banned
X-Frame said:
Nothing has changed. It's always been like that.

Also tech powers like Overload or ED don't ruin your biotic combo they only mask it for X seconds -- which is why if you throw a second Throw youll get an explosion because the tech power wore off whereas Warp is still active due to its longer duration.
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Really? I've never encountered it before, and it's ridiculous that someone spamming tech powers can block your biotic explosions (especially as they're so much more powerful).

I'm also finding that multiple throws aren't causing detonations either... but I'll test it some more.
 
X

X-Frame

Member
Photolysis said:
Really? I've never encountered it before, and it's ridiculous that someone spamming tech powers can block your biotic explosions (especially as they're so much more powerful).

I'm also finding that multiple throws aren't causing detonations either... but I'll test it some more.
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Maybe people are spamming them more due to tech combos getting a buff yesterday, dunno.

Only biotic attacks can detonate biotic primers like Warp, whereas biotic and tech powers can both detonate tech powers -- so sometimes you could be detonating a tech power like Overload when it's active to produce a Tech Burst, and then on your 2nd Throw you produce the biotic explosion. Or you didn't because you waited too long and Warp wore off. Or someone else already detonated your Warp with a Lift Grenade, etc.
 
D

DY_nasty

NeoGAF's official "was this shooting justified" consultant
Photolysis said:
Really? I've never encountered it before, and it's ridiculous that someone spamming tech powers can block your biotic explosions (especially as they're so much more powerful).

I'm also finding that multiple throws aren't causing detonations either... but I'll test it some more.
Click to expand...

I think that's up for debate still.

I love the stagger from biotic explosions and all but tech bursts and fire/cryo explosions are pretty awesome too.
 
T

TangoAlphaLima

Member
Opened my Commendation pack. I was hoping for a Valiant II. Got Hurricaned instead.

Farmed Gold Geth on Firebase White last night. Easy credits, but also pretty boring. Playing loose on Silver is more fun than camping on Gold. But credits.

Got booted multiple times from lobbies for no goddamn reason. I was running a Level 19/20 Human Engineer, and my N7 rank is in the 150s. First time it happened, the rest of the group had N7 ranks double or triple what I had, so I'm assuming they thought they were too good for me. I'm running a high level Human Engineer with Chain Overload/Incinerate Armor against Geth carrying a Carnifex III, I'm not a friggin' hindrance to the team.

Also got booted from a game after my team won. I did come in last place on the team, but I was only about 1k away from 3rd place, and not too far from 1st or 2nd either. I didn't die during the whole game, revived at least 1 dude from what I can remember, I played the objectives, and I didn't stick my neck out to get killed. Also, while Chain Overload isn't quite the killing blow other powers offer, it does postpone the Geth advance, allowing teammates to get in easy shots against them, and I was spamming it hard. I really don't understand what the justification was for kicking me. Fuckin' ridiculous.

Guess I might start hosting games, as I'd probably be less likely to get kicked. But still, what the fuck is wrong with people?

EDIT: Also got in a lobby with a group of guys doing the Wave 10 cheat. Thankfully they informed me before we started, and I got the hell outta there. I just can't think Bioware isn't going to bust cheaters.
 
T

TangoAlphaLima

Member
Sir Fragula said:
What's the wave 10 cheat? Want to know what to avoid should I enter such a game.
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Don't know how it works, but somehow you can make Wave 10 repeat over and over without starting a new game, thus earning the biggest amount of credits over and over. I imagine it would be pretty easy for Bioware to track which players have earned insane amounts of credits over very short periods of time. Maybe I'm being too paranoid and they won't do anything about it, but I won't take that chance.
 
O

Omega

Banned
Sir Fragula said:
What's the wave 10 cheat? Want to know what to avoid should I enter such a game.
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Players play a game on bronze, complete wave 10 and then they all die. Start up new game on gold, host has to quit before wave 1 starts and when it migrates hosts, it'll show up as wave 10 on gold.

You get like 45k credits/3 minutes.

Got the Crusader in my Commendation Pack. So useless. I have a GPS V, why would I ever use anything else? I wish you could trade weapons or sell them on the store for a discounted price (like the ME1 store system) because I have so much stuff I'll never use.
 
W

Walshicus

Member
TangoAlphaLima said:
Don't know how it works, but somehow you can make Wave 10 repeat over and over without starting a new game, thus earning the biggest amount of credits over and over. I imagine it would be pretty easy for Bioware to track which players have earned insane amounts of credits over very short periods of time. Maybe I'm being too paranoid and they won't do anything about it, but I won't take that chance.
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I wouldn't want to risk losing access to my games over an overzealous EA anti-cheat system, that's for sure!
 
K

koji

Member
So, how does this exactly work, you guys just play your level 20s or level up tons of different characters?

Or play a specific character depending on the group? I love playing my AA but I'm still pretty low N7 rank, so I basically have to promote her over and over again? Just so I can increase my N7 rank and actually play what I enjoy most?

Also, origin id; koji82, EatChildren if you'd be so kind to add me to the list, I'll add some people tonight, I'm still a newb though :)

(if I manage to get into a game with someone on my list that is, when I try with one of my RL friends we have to go through all kinds of shit to eventually end up in a game after 15 tries...)
 
X

X-Frame

Member
koji said:
So, how does this exactly work, you guys just play your level 20s or level up tons of different characters?

Or play a specific character depending on the group? I love playing my AA but I'm still pretty low N7 rank, so I basically have to promote her over and over again? Just so I can increase my N7 rank and actually play what I enjoy most?
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I only promote when I need to ReSpec a character. Otherwise I would've staged at 120 forever. But if there's N7 elists that are kicking "low" N7 levels, 120 might not be enough even though I wouldn't want to play with dumbasses like that anyway.

I feel I may be comfortable with how my characters are built now so I may just wait for ReSpec cards and stay at where I am which I think is 320, I forget.
 
E

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
koji said:
So, how does this exactly work, you guys just play your level 20s or level up tons of different characters?

Or play a specific character depending on the group? I love playing my AA but I'm still pretty low N7 rank, so I basically have to promote her over and over again? Just so I can increase my N7 rank and actually play what I enjoy most?

Also, origin id; koji82, if you'd be so kind to add me to the list, I'll add some people tonight, I'm still a newb though :)

(if I manage to get into a game with someone on my list that is, when I try with one of my RL friends we have to go through all kinds of shit to eventually end up in a game after 15 tries...)
Click to expand...

For me anyways, it still early on. I promoted early to get the achievement, then promoted a few because I wanted to respec them, then promoted a few for the challenge.

I tend to pick something to balance with the group, and generally hate people who don't. On Bronze it matters less, but if your running Unknown/Unknown, you don't want to have a team that's cant fight a certain enemy/health type.

If you have something you love, keep playing it, and don't promote. The only advantage of a high N7 level is you get a tiny bit of respect or "trust" from other players when you enter a silver/gold lobby. Which kinda makes sense, you don't want someone looking like they just stumbled their way into a silver match and just started playing as a teammate. But that doesn't mean you need a crazy high N7 either, I'm like N7 200+ and I think I'm garbage.
 
O

Omega

Banned
Anyone who takes N7 rating serious obviously sucks. I played with some guy yesterday on Gold and his N7 rating was 60 something. He did the best in the room. He obviously picked the class he liked the most, and just stuck with it and now beasts it on Gold.

My N7 is 251, only reason it's that high is because when I first played, I played on Bronze. Those builds didn't work well when I moved up to Silver, so I had to promote to re-spec. Same with Silver to Gold. I had to re-spec because my silver builds didn't work at all on gold.

I'm pretty sure those people who are at the top of the leaderboard cheat. In the span of an hour, the top guy on XBL ISMA SUPERS (at the time, someone else was #1 last night) went up 50 levels.

Only way that's possible if he's Bill Gates' son and just keeps buying Spectre Packs with MSP and gets gold character cards.
 
C

Cat Party

Member
Finally unlocked Asari adept. Question: for unarmored targets, the strategy is stasis bubble --> throw, correct? For armored, is it warp --> throw?
 
B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
Silver feels like a waste of time when you fail Wave 10.

"Oh you failed Wave 10 Silver? Here you go, less credits than winning super easy Bronze"

Would rather keep doing Bronze with randoms, at least that's a guaranteed 15k credits every 15-20 mins, rather than having a big risk of finishing with 11k.
 
X

X-Frame

Member
Cat Party said:
Finally unlocked Asari adept. Question: for unarmored targets, the strategy is stasis bubble --> throw, correct? For armored, is it warp --> throw?
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I produce biotic explosions as often as possible. Personally, I only Stasis shielded/barriered targets like Centurions and Phantoms. Unshieldsd is definitely Warp > Throw.

Since Stasis has a longer cool down than Warp plus the Warp + Throw explosions is a lot more powerful go with that as often as possible.
 
D

Deraldin

Unconfirmed Member
Rob N Banks said:
I'm pretty sure those people who are at the top of the leaderboard cheat. In the span of an hour, the top guy on XBL ISMA SUPERS (at the time, someone else was #1 last night) went up 50 levels.

Only way that's possible if he's Bill Gates' son and just keeps buying Spectre Packs with MSP and gets gold character cards.
Click to expand...

Or he had a bunch of characters on the verge of level 20 and promoted them.
 
C

Cat Party

Member
X-Frame said:
I produce biotic explosions as often as possible. Personally, I only Stasis shielded/barriered targets like Centurions and Phantoms. Unshieldsd is definitely Warp > Throw.

Since Stasis has a longer cool down than Warp plus the Warp + Throw explosions is a lot more powerful go with that as often as possible.
Click to expand...
Great info, thanks.
Bisnic said:
Silver feels like a waste of time when you fail Wave 10.

"Oh you failed Wave 10 Silver? Here you go, less credits than winning super easy Bronze"
Click to expand...

Definitely. I much prefer when I'm on poor teams and they just suck it up on wave 4 or 5, so I don't have to waste so much time. I've been having such great luck, though. I play with randoms, but it's been a while since I didn't get full extraction on silver.
 
U

USIGSJ

Member
Finally unlocked Asari Adept and now Krogan Sentinel with Premium Spectre Packs; yesterday it gave me black widow and one more black card. Got better stuff in 2 days than from 50> spectre packs i took before.
 
O

Omega

Banned
Deraldin said:
Or he had a bunch of characters on the verge of level 20 and promoted them.
Click to expand...

Doubt that. A few hours earlier he would have had to promote people because he had went up around 100 levels.

My friend pointed it out how his N7 goes up at a ridiculous rate so I normally take looks at it whenever I finish a match.
 
Stantron

Stantron

Member
I actually got two Victory packs last night. One showed up early. Then I got another one a few hours later along with my Commendation Pack.

I'm surprised the Geth shotgun hasn't been nerfed in the last patch.... good. A random was using a level X and absolutely destroying gold geth primes.
 
Vire

Vire

Member
So I just got 4 premium spectre packs with all my saved up credits and what do I get?!

Asari Adept XP Bonus Cards and Claymores!

FUCK MY LIFE.

Why can't I get a Black Widow... /cry
 
T

TangoAlphaLima

Member
enzo_gt said:
Best way to spec Human Engineer's Combat Drone?
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Trick question: you don't.

I just got my Human Engineer up to Level 20 last night. The build is 3/6/6/5/6. I know some people prefer glass cannons, but I just don't see Combat Drone being effective enough for me to spec it instead of Fitness. Combat Drone feels like a homeless man's Decoy.
 
P

Psychoward

Banned
TangoAlphaLima said:
Trick question: you don't.

I just got my Human Engineer up to Level 20 last night. The build is 3/6/6/5/6. I know some people prefer glass cannons, but I just don't see Combat Drone being effective enough for me to spec it instead of Fitness. Combat Drone feels like a homeless man's Decoy.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the shock upgrade is nice, but generally I just get it to 3 and use it as a minor distraction/way to kill guardians.
 
W

walbertsmith

Member
TangoAlphaLima said:
Trick question: you don't.

I just got my Human Engineer up to Level 20 last night. The build is 3/6/6/5/6. I know some people prefer glass cannons, but I just don't see Combat Drone being effective enough for me to spec it instead of Fitness. Combat Drone feels like a homeless man's Decoy.
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Not using it properly.

Try dropping it in front of a Brute, or behind an Atlas. It's not as immediate an attention hog as Decoy but this is balanced by the fact that you can place it anywhere on the map.
 
T

TangoAlphaLima

Member
walbertsmith said:
Not using it properly.

Try dropping it in front of a Brute, or behind an Atlas. It's not as immediate an attention hog as Decoy but this is balanced by the fact that you can place it anywhere on the map.
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That might be helpful on Bronze or Silver, but I can't see it being much of an asset on Gold, where you get swarmed with enemies. Decoy distracts multiple enemies and is much more sturdy than Combat Drone is, so you'd might as well use the Salarian Engineer and employ it if the purpose is to distract. Also, if you're farming Gold with Geth on Firebase White, it's very difficult to place the Combat Drone a significant distance away from you, as the sight lines aren't there from the camping spot.

Plus, in my opinion, the Engineer's best assets are Chain Overload and Incinerate spec'd to damage armor. I'd rather be spamming those for damage/stun instead of throwing out a Combat Drone that will distract 1 enemy and do a small amount of damage. Obviously it's a matter of personal taste, as some people prefer glass cannons, but I'd rather have Levels 4 through 6 on Fitness instead of Combat Drone.
 
E

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
TangoAlphaLima said:
Trick question: you don't.

I just got my Human Engineer up to Level 20 last night. The build is 3/6/6/5/6. I know some people prefer glass cannons, but I just don't see Combat Drone being effective enough for me to spec it instead of Fitness. Combat Drone feels like a homeless man's Decoy.
Click to expand...

This is the build I went with last time and it was alright, but I'm wondering if you can use it as an offense as well instead of just a distraction or crowd control. Didnt the rockets get buffed?
 
W

walbertsmith

Member
TangoAlphaLima said:
That might be helpful on Bronze or Silver, but I can't see it being much of an asset on Gold, where you get swarmed with enemies. Decoy distracts multiple enemies and is much more sturdy than Combat Drone is, so you'd might as well use the Salarian Engineer and employ it if the purpose is to distract. Also, if you're farming Gold with Geth on Firebase White, it's very difficult to place the Combat Drone a significant distance away from you, as the sight lines aren't there from the camping spot.

Plus, in my opinion, the Engineer's best assets are Chain Overload and Incinerate spec'd to damage armor. I'd rather be spamming those for damage/stun instead of throwing out a Combat Drone that will distract 1 enemy and do a small amount of damage. Obviously it's a matter of personal taste, as some people prefer glass cannons, but I'd rather have Levels 4 through 6 on Fitness instead of Combat Drone.
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Combat Drone also distracts multiple enemies, and is perfectly fine on Gold (in fact, the Drone with Overload is why I believe the Human Engineer is better than the Salarian Engineer). Note that with ~200% cooldown, the Drone can be recast in less than 2 seconds, so it's barely a hindrance to using Incinerate/Overload.

I do agree that the Drone isn't as sturdy and isn't nearly as effective at short range as the Decoy... but that's not how you should be playing the Human Engineer. You just can't discount the fact that the Drone can be placed at literally any range. A big bonus is that when your crosshairs are on an enemy, the Drone spawns behind them, giving you even more time.

The Drone (with Chain Lightning) combined with Overload means you can slow down the advance of virtually any mixed enemy group to a crawl. The proper way to play the Human Engineer is to keep the enemy at long range... just like the Drell Adept, don't let them close in on you (if they do, break early and run). The Salarian Engineer is far sturdier because of Decoy and Energy Drain, but (when specced properly) the Human Engineer is supremely better at crowd control and flat out DPS.

The Drone allows the Human Engineer to be effective at more ranges than the Salarian since the Drone can be constantly recast at whatever hot zone it's needed at. Add to that the fact that its Chain Lightning can set up Tech Bursts (with all skills at very short cooldowns) and you've got an amazing class. (I do agree with you that both Overload and Incinerate need to be maxed, but, for maximum effectiveness, so does the Drone. Fitness can be sacrificed [yes, even on Gold] because you shouldn't be engaging at short ranges with the class anyways)

Also, all my suggestions are always with all potential situations in mind. If you're going to play only in a very narrow scenario (Geth/Firebase White/Gold) then of course the Salarian is going to be better, I absolutely agree. But if you actually want the best possible Engineer for the widest variety of situations, then Human absolutely outpaces the Salarian (so much so that I consider it top tier with the Drell/Asari Adepts and the Salarian Infiltrator).
 
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