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AngryBooch
Sep 26, 2009

DatonKallandor posted:

Concussive Shot has a 400% modifier against barriers, but not shields. What the gently caress Bioware? There's so many things wrong with that.

It's a hold over from Mass Effect 2 when concussive shot was an anti-barrier skill and overload didn't work as well against barriers as it did against shields.

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Sapozhnik
Jan 2, 2005

Nap Ghost
I actually kinda welcome the Piranha buff, but then I've been running with a Piranha X since like day 2 of the Earth DLC :smug:

Having OP guns is fun and all but literally every single person on Platinum is packing a piranha right now and most of the people on Gold too. I've been running with a Scorpion on my Shadow lately and it's a lot more fun. Not as effective, sure, but definitely more fun. And at least I'm not useless during a hack objective anymore.

MJeff
Jun 2, 2011

THE LIAR
Gee I figured they'd at least wait until new DLC came out before they started nerfing this round's weapons. :v:

UnknownMercenary
Nov 1, 2011

I LIKE IT
WAY WAY TOO LOUD


No, that's when they nerf them into the ground! :v:

Batham
Jun 19, 2010

Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground.
I'm surprised to see people drawing parallels between the Typhoon nerfs and Piranha. The Typhoon was only really overpowered on just one class combo; the destroyer. It was a still a great assault rifle in other hands, but it didn't completely eclipse every other assault rifle.

The Piranha however, has nearly completely replaced not just every other shotgun, but also every other gun. In almost every game I play, I see nearly everyone use it. It's so drat good regardless of which class combo. And on classes like the soldier, it goes from great to ludicrous.

Batham fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Aug 7, 2012

MrDude
Jun 23, 2011
Huh. That concussive shot barrier multiplier definitely got me to respec Soldier next time I play. Just short of 1k damage against Phantoms and Banshees for a token 6 points and short cooldown? Should be worth a shot while retreating from them, I think, and justify having it for other unshielded enemies.

zxqv8
Oct 21, 2010

Did somebody call about a Ravager problem?
Desperately seeking Origin wins. Where is everyone?

Felinoid
Mar 8, 2009

Marginally better than Shepard's dancing. 2/10

zxqv8 posted:

Desperately seeking Origin wins. Where is everyone?

Probably in private Piranha parties, perturbed by the potential prognosis of perpetual poorness. :v:

TacticalGranny
Feb 6, 2008

zxqv8 posted:

Desperately seeking Origin wins. Where is everyone?

I'm sick.


re: Concussive Shot, don't forget that it can also set off Tech Bursts and send mooks flying.

Gangringo
Jul 22, 2007

In the first age, in the first battle, when the shadows first lengthened, one sat.

He chose the path of perpetual contentment.

The only things the piranha needs to be balanced are a bit more weight, slightly lowered damage, and increased recoil. More weight means it gets taken out of the "put on anything, even adepts" class and into the "balanced weapon power and cooldowns" class. Lower damage, because :drat:. And increased recoil because it would mean you could use it up close super fast or at medium range without fire rate boosts but not both.

With these changes it remains a powerful weapon in the situation it was designed for, up close and personal, while no longer allowing GIs and Demolishers to snipe people with it across a map or powers-focused characters to carry the most powerful weapon in the game with only slight increases to cooldowns.

Kaizer88
Feb 16, 2011

Gangringo posted:

The only things the piranha needs to be balanced are a bit more weight, slightly lowered damage, and increased recoil. More weight means it gets taken out of the "put on anything, even adepts" class and into the "balanced weapon power and cooldowns" class. Lower damage, because :drat:. And increased recoil because it would mean you could use it up close super fast or at medium range without fire rate boosts but not both.

With these changes it remains a powerful weapon in the situation it was designed for, up close and personal, while no longer allowing GIs and Demolishers to snipe people with it across a map or powers-focused characters to carry the most powerful weapon in the game with only slight increases to cooldowns.

It's more the way accuracy bonus works that breaks the shotgun. Geth Infiltrators get a bonus from hunter mode, along with the 50% from smart choke that transforms the piranha from a scatter gun to something completely different. Turian soldiers make it even more accurate, but marksman can't compare to +70% cloak damage + free proximity mine that the GI offers.

Elotana
Dec 12, 2003

and i'm putting it all on the goddamn expense account
Yeah, they're kind of screwed on the Piranha because if they nerf it too little it won't change anything and if they nerf it substantially it'll be ruined for everyone else while the GI powergamers will just go back to Claymores and still wreck Platinum in 12 minutes.

FronzelNeekburm
Jun 1, 2001

STOP, MORTTIME

Mr Dog posted:

I wish I'd started playing early enough to have 7/7/10/8 consumables :(

Then again I suppose it makes things less interesting.
Mostly it'd mean twice the irritation at running out of medigel.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
Or just halve the accuracy so that a smart choke is required to get to a non-choked accuracy value now. Still great for Destroyers and (unless they increase the weight) Furies, not so great for other people.

Batham
Jun 19, 2010

Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground.

Ravenfood posted:

Or just halve the accuracy so that a smart choke is required to get to a non-choked accuracy value now. Still great for Destroyers and (unless they increase the weight) Furies, not so great for other people.

I think if they did that, the base accuracy of the gun would encompass your entire screen. :haw:

MJeff
Jun 2, 2011

THE LIAR
How do you guys build those shotgunnin' Geth Infiltrators?

TacticalGranny
Feb 6, 2008

VJeff posted:

How do you guys build those shotgunnin' Geth Infiltrators?

One part piss, one part vinegar, one part Pirahna. Stir vigorously and pour over pre-seasoned combat chassis.

UnknownMercenary
Nov 1, 2011

I LIKE IT
WAY WAY TOO LOUD


VJeff posted:

How do you guys build those shotgunnin' Geth Infiltrators?

Always Be Cloaking (and Shooting Proximity Mine)

Gangringo
Jul 22, 2007

In the first age, in the first battle, when the shadows first lengthened, one sat.

He chose the path of perpetual contentment.

Geth Infiltrator or "This Machine Kills Reapers"

The Plexiglass Cannon:
  • Tactical Cloak 4 | Damage
  • Proximity Mine 5 | Radius | Damage taken
  • Hunter Mode 6 | Weapon Accuracy | Rate of Fire | Damage
  • Networked AI 6 | Weapon Damage | Power Damage | Weapon Damage
  • Advanced Hardware 5 | Durability | Shield Recharge

Equipment:

Equipment should be a high-damage shotgun with extended barrel and smart choke. Ammo power should be your highest level AP ammo. Add a rail amp and an adrenaline module to round out your consumables. Gear is up to personal preference; either a high-level shotgun amp or a stronghold package.

Strategy:

Engage hunter mode and leave it on. When you see an enemy in very rapid succession hit tactical cloak, proximity mine, and start shooting. Repeat until dead. Don't be afraid to shoot through walls. Proximity mine also works through walls provided the enemy is within range.

Notes:

Many people go for a 5/6/6/6/3 build but shield regen speed is very important for infiltrators, especially on platinum. You gain a fraction of a second on cloak recharge and a couple hundred damage on proximity mine but you make an already fragile class into a soap bubble. On platinum you really can't have enough shield regen gear.

Edit: Build here

Gangringo fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Aug 8, 2012

Schenck v. U.S.
Sep 8, 2010
I already dislike using the Piranha on any class that lacks an accuracy bonus, because the spread is infuriating. If you take the smart choke and just fire into a wall at medium distance, you'll see a neat, uniform ring of bullet holes around your crosshair, with nothing in the center. It's ridiculous, you have to aim just slightly off center, unless you're at arms length. It's still very effective, I just find it annoying.

I think fixing it without ruining it would actually be pretty straightforward. Make it very heavy, like as heavy as a claymore, and significantly reduce the ammo reserve. That would make it too heavy for casters, and inconvenient to use as a sole weapon, while allowing it to retain its effectiveness as a boss-buster and close-range weapon for gun-focused classes. It's not a solution for the unstoppable shotgun-toting infiltrator problem, but that's due to poor class design, not the gun itself. Geth Infiltrators are only marginally less broken with claymores.

Fight Club Sandwich
Apr 29, 2006

you want a piece of me???
Shield recharge is pretty good but I prefer 4/6/6/6/4 because the extra damage on proxy mine is really useful for killing phantoms. I just use a ops survival for those situations where the shield recharge difference would actually matter.

edit: basically unknown mercs build but with damage instead of speed for rank6 of hunter

Fight Club Sandwich fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Aug 8, 2012

Gangringo
Jul 22, 2007

In the first age, in the first battle, when the shadows first lengthened, one sat.

He chose the path of perpetual contentment.

Fight Club Sandwich posted:

Shield recharge is pretty good but I prefer 4/6/6/6/4 because the extra damage on proxy mine is really useful for killing phantoms. I just use a ops survival for those situations where the shield recharge difference would actually matter.

It's all up to personal preference. I almost never use cover so I want that shield gate up as soon as possible. Minor differences aside the "bones" of the shotgun gethfiltrator are 4/5//6/6/3 with two points to stick where it fits your playstyle.

I also encourage an outlandish color scheme to help your teammates avoid mistaking you for a hunter. I go for fuchsia/lime myself.

Lagomorphic
Apr 21, 2008

AKA: Orthonormal
Here is my Geth build. It doesn't have the raw damage output of the boss killer builds but it's versatile and very good at getting pubbies across the finish line on gold.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

Catsworth
Sep 30, 2009

Who doesn't wanna be Johnny Cat?

So I haven't really played multiplayer much since the game came out. I've only got a couple of the original characters unlocked and none of the new added ones. Which packs are best to buy in hopes of new classes for their cost?

Tremors
Aug 16, 2006

What happened to the legendary Chris Redfield, huh? What happened to you?!
Is there something I don't know about glacier farming that would cause this group to instantly kick me, or is it just pubbies being pubbies? Their characters were level 4, 8 and 16... :psyduck:

1st AD
Dec 3, 2004

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: sometimes passing just isn't an option.
That looks like a gun/grenade heavy party, not sure how much your Justicar could've contributed to that group's strategy of holing up in the office.

I mean I guess the bubble specc'd for damage reduction is nice, but those guys were probably relying on pure weapon DPS from Piranhas.

Tremors
Aug 16, 2006

What happened to the legendary Chris Redfield, huh? What happened to you?!
Right, right, not like I would have stayed a justicar. Do people just not give others the chance to change characters once they see the makeup of the group they joined?

AngryBooch
Sep 26, 2009
They were probably a group waiting on a friend.

Der Luftwaffle
Dec 29, 2008
I just played a round where some Destroyer with X-level equipment was at the bottom of the scoreboard throughout, getting killed throughout and wasting missiles on swarmers and cannibals. I couldn't tell if he was trolling or just someone with a poo poo ton of cash to blow on PSPs.

Hyperactive
Mar 10, 2004

RICHARDS!

AngryBooch posted:

They were probably a group waiting on a friend.
This is the answer to almost all mysterious kicks.

If the room is set to Public for even a second it's easy to barge into a Private lobby through no fault of your own.

LeastActionHero
Oct 23, 2008

Catsworth posted:

So I haven't really played multiplayer much since the game came out. I've only got a couple of the original characters unlocked and none of the new added ones. Which packs are best to buy in hopes of new classes for their cost?

PSPs are the best for getting Gold rarity cards, which includes all the new characters.

Brainamp
Sep 4, 2011

More Zen than Zenyatta

It's always nice for people to kick you without explanation. Not like even one of them could have plugged their mic in and told you to change classes or something.

Rudoku
Jun 15, 2003

Damn I need a drink...


Brainamp posted:

It's always nice for people to kick you without explanation. Not like even one of them could have plugged their mic in and told you to change classes or something.

They love to kick when I have my Falcon-totting Demolisher, I've noticed. The gun kicks rear end now, pubs.

kalel
Jun 19, 2012

Tremors posted:

Is there something I don't know about glacier farming that would cause this group to instantly kick me, or is it just pubbies being pubbies? Their characters were level 4, 8 and 16... :psyduck:

Just look at your filthy three-digit N7 rating! No wonder those four-digit players kicked your inexperienced pubbie rear end out.

Welcome to Mass Effect 3, where the game's made up and the points don't matter.*

I know someone already made this joke in the last thread but I thought I'd carry it over to the new one and get it out of the way...

thevoiceofdog
Jul 19, 2009

Terminally ambivalent.

Tremors posted:

Is there something I don't know about glacier farming that would cause this group to instantly kick me, or is it just pubbies being pubbies? Their characters were level 4, 8 and 16... :psyduck:


Uh no I'm sorry the number to finish the pattern was 12, you were the wrong level.

Comrade Blyatlov
Aug 4, 2007


should have picked four fingers





I have just finished reading the DR guide.

Going to go respec my BatSent for 45000 shields, I need a Justicar, any volunteers?

LogicNinja
Jan 21, 2011

...the blur blurs blurringly across the blurred blur in a blur of blurring blurriness that blurred...

Rudoku posted:

They love to kick when I have my Falcon-totting Demolisher, I've noticed. The gun kicks rear end now, pubs.

Why doses it kick rear end now, what happened?

SurreptitiousMuffin
Mar 21, 2010

Two Finger posted:

I have just finished reading the DR guide.

Going to go respec my BatSent for 45000 shields, I need a Justicar, any volunteers?
PC? I love Justicar and love having a BatSent buddy.

Comrade Blyatlov
Aug 4, 2007


should have picked four fingers





360. GT is Two Finger. I am going to write up a Vanguard guide, too.

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Comrade Blyatlov
Aug 4, 2007


should have picked four fingers





Two Finger's Guide to Vanguarding:
This guide will deal with ONLY standard Human Vanguards. This spec is highly effective on bronze and silver and limited use on gold. I am not insane enough to try it on Platinum.


There is a little more to it than that. You need to take the following spec:
http://narida.pytalhost.com/me3/classes/#50RAOOP@0@0@A@@@0@0@0@0
The first evolution of Nova is up to you - I like radius because you can launch straight into a Nova after a charge which without radius normally will not hit your target. That said, if you don't mind dashing a step before launching it, take the extra damage by all means.

The strengths of the Vanguard are its utterly incredible survivability and damage dealing ability. The Nova ability and the Charge ability are what your playstyle should be built around, for the very simple reason that Nova has NO cooldown and so can be fired anytime you have shields. Since Charge refills your shields with the Evo 6, you charge, then nova, then charge, then nova. What I have not yet mentioned is that both Charge and Nova have invulnerability frames - making charge-nova-charge-nova surprisingly survivable, even amongst large hordes of enemies, provided you do not get staggered.
In addition to this, both Charge and Nova stagger mooks UP TO AND INCLUDING PHANTOMS.
As icing on the cake, both Charge and Nova are biotic detonators. If you have a friendly Justicar around to Reave your targets, you can become a serious weapon.

Under NO circumstances do you want your cooldown to be any lower than +150% - I almost always run 200% which became easier as I got things like the Carnifex up ranks, but in all honesty, on Silver I almost never fire a shot anyway.

A lot of people swear by the half-blast Nova, but the reason I steer clear of it is this: Power Recharge stacks. I am not entirely certain of how many times it can stack - I have heard 3 - but what I do know, is that if you launch straight into a Nova from your first charge, you will have perhaps half a second before you can charge again. After your third, there is effectively NO gap between them, meaning you will lunge between charge and nova as fast as you can mash the button. Do not take this to mean you are invincible - the time between the Nova animation ending and the Charge animation starting can be enough for you to be dropped, particularly on Gold.

As I am sure you can guess, Banshees are going to be your absolute worst enemy. It is possible to charge-nova them to death, but you are taking your life in your hands when you do so as they cannot be stunned, leaving you wide open to instakills.

The thing with this class, is it rewards ruthless aggression. It is a great way for a new player to get a lot of experience (and credits) in a hurry so that they may begin to unlock the newer classes and weapons. This is how I got my start.

Tricky things to watch out for:
Guardians, first and foremost.
Charge will not damage them and neither will Nova if they are facing you. Carry a good pistol (Carnifex is a favourite) with AP ammo.

Phantoms, while you can and do stunlock them with repeated charge-nova attacks, have a bad habit of grabbing you out of a charge. It has happened to me several times. Don't be afraid to charge them, by any means, but be aware of what you are getting yourself into.

Hunters. I have heard rumours that their bullshit stunlock crap has been nerfed, but they can and will ruin your day, because you can NOT charge out of it. Primes are the same, though if you are feeling insane enough, it is entirely possible to solo them on up to Silver.

Some players advocate heavy melee directly after a Charge, but I almost invariably simply spam charge-nova-charge-nova.

One other important thing to note, is that this class is extraordinarily effective at dealing with pesky ranged enemies such as Nemeses and Ravagers. Ravagers have no close range attack, leaving them VERY vulnerable to chargenova, and Nemeses must stick their head out to fire allowing you to lock-on and smash into them.

Just remember,
Always
Be
Charging.

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