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Fight Club Sandwich
Apr 29, 2006

you want a piece of me???

highmodulus posted:

ME4 news good and bad:

http://blog.bioware.com/2012/11/12/an-update-from-bioware-montreal/

BioWare Montreal is doing ME4.

The good:

"We started by building about half the cinematics for ME2, then most of its N7 missions, and finally we played an important role in the development of much of its post-release content. Then on ME3, we took charge of the multiplayer portion as well as making significant contributions to the single-player campaign. Most recently, we built a large piece of DLC that will be released on November 27 and that you know under the name of Omega."

- Probably means the ME4 multiplayer will be good again. And maybe ME4's SP won't be a franchise crippling disaster.

Allow us to carry our manifests over from ME3, please. If it's the same kind of store system I don't think I'd be able to start from the ground up.

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Burning Mustache
Sep 4, 2006

Zaeed got stories.
Kasumi got loot.
All I got was a hole in my suit.

Wampus42 posted:

Hopefully they'll incorporate much more in terms of game modes for multiplayer.

PvP combat only :shepface:

I'm sure being lashed, pulled, stasis'd, instakilled, etc. by other players is going to be fun :v:

exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


Replayable co-op missions in a L4D, procedurally-generated style would be awesome. Imagine doing the Citadel climb or Thane's recruitment with random events and branching pathways thrown in.

Rick
Feb 23, 2004
When I was 17, my father was so stupid, I didn't want to be seen with him in public. When I was 24, I was amazed at how much the old man had learned in just 7 years.
Even with Halo 4 out and in my possession I'm still going to ME3 when I want to play multiplayer. I'm really surprised this happened. My only regret is that I basically wasted my money on the Gears of War season pass because I had so much more fun with this and I used to be all about Gears before.

Burning Mustache
Sep 4, 2006

Zaeed got stories.
Kasumi got loot.
All I got was a hole in my suit.

exquisite tea posted:

Replayable co-op missions in a L4D, procedurally-generated style would be awesome. Imagine doing the Citadel climb or Thane's recruitment with random events and branching pathways thrown in.

Heck, anything that's co-op but not strictly wave-based shooting in closed-off, square maps would be incredible. The idea of a co-op Suicide Mission style gamemode (complete with different squadmates handling different tasks at the same time) has been thrown around a lot and it would be awesome.

Magil of Shadow
Dec 28, 2009

Proposal: Form a friendly relationship immediately.

"You have GOT to be kidding me"

Burning Mustache posted:

Heck, anything that's co-op but not strictly wave-based shooting in closed-off, square maps would be incredible. The idea of a co-op Suicide Mission style gamemode (complete with different squadmates handling different tasks at the same time) has been thrown around a lot and it would be awesome.

This, with an enhanced and more customizable version of the class system via multiplayer, would sell me in a heartbeat.

highmodulus
Feb 16, 2011

Let's go crazy Broadway style!

Fight Club Sandwich posted:

Allow us to carry our manifests over from ME3, please. If it's the same kind of store system I don't think I'd be able to start from the ground up.

Alas, the lure of sweet, sweet RealBux --> SpaceBux transactions ensures we are starting over. But those same transactions will ensure that we start with achievements and that serious time will be devoted to MP.

As a few other smart posters have noted, Co-op SP would be fantastic.

Megaman's Jockstrap
Jul 16, 2000

What a horrible thread to have a post.

highmodulus posted:

Alas, the lure of sweet, sweet RealBux --> SpaceBux transactions ensures we are starting over. But those same transactions will ensure that we start with achievements and that serious time will be devoted to MP.

As a few other smart posters have noted, Co-op SP would be fantastic.

There's only so many times publishers can do this, and I hope they realize it. There's a finite amount of time that someone is going to bother to roll the boulder uphill to get 90 percent of the same stuff. I'm grinding out items and levels in Assassin's Creed 3 for the third time and I don't have it in me to do it again. I probably just won't bother with a fourth game (although AC3's rocky single-player has helped clinch that decision)

bog savant
Mar 15, 2008

unending immaturity
I don't know how anyone ever gets a decent gun up to level X, I've been playing on and off since release and my best gun is a Reegar Carbine III. I see people with cool titles and Harrier X's and I'm alternately jealous/glad I don't have that much time/real money to waste.

highmodulus
Feb 16, 2011

Let's go crazy Broadway style!
While there is an itchy part of my brain that makes me chase achievements, for the most part all my rare stuff is at level X because I simply like playing the game. Especially a goon filled game, which can be a thing of beauty.

Cheap Vodka
Nov 4, 2008

COMPLETE. GLOBAL. CALIBRATION.

Rick posted:

Even with Halo 4 out and in my possession I'm still going to ME3 when I want to play multiplayer. I'm really surprised this happened. My only regret is that I basically wasted my money on the Gears of War season pass because I had so much more fun with this and I used to be all about Gears before.

I love that the main antagonist in Halo 4 is voiced by Harbinger and Femshep is the one giving you orders in Spartan Ops. It's impossible to get away from this series. :shepface:

Gazaar
Mar 23, 2005

.txt

Volvagia posted:

I don't know how anyone ever gets a decent gun up to level X, I've been playing on and off since release and my best gun is a Reegar Carbine III. I see people with cool titles and Harrier X's and I'm alternately jealous/glad I don't have that much time/real money to waste.

I was in a game yesterday with a guy who had a piranha x and poo poo died so fast when he came around it was boring. I can't imagine how dull actually being him must be like.

I also love being kicked out of games because I don't have 4000 points and a tryhard banner. I feel like a second class citizen with only 1400ish points and my N7 day banner.

Gazaar fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Nov 13, 2012

Burning Mustache
Sep 4, 2006

Zaeed got stories.
Kasumi got loot.
All I got was a hole in my suit.
Maxing out all your gold gear isn't all that hard if you've been playing the game for a couple of rounds a week, each week since release, as long as you don't stick exclusively to Bronze / Silver.

People who have multiple URs maxed out, however, most certainly just spent upwards of hundreds of dollars on packs or don't have a life.

Fight Club Sandwich
Apr 29, 2006

you want a piece of me???

Megaman's Jockstrap posted:

There's only so many times publishers can do this, and I hope they realize it. There's a finite amount of time that someone is going to bother to roll the boulder uphill to get 90 percent of the same stuff. I'm grinding out items and levels in Assassin's Creed 3 for the third time and I don't have it in me to do it again. I probably just won't bother with a fourth game (although AC3's rocky single-player has helped clinch that decision)

I don't mind the AC grind so much since it only takes 3-4 hours to unlock everything gameplay related (probably won't continue with the series though because of the crappy SP); whereas players have played ME3's multi for 100+ hours without even putting a dent in the ultra rares. They'd need to build a really really good game to convince me to start over.

Burning Mustache posted:

People who have multiple URs maxed out, however, most certainly just spent upwards of hundreds of dollars on packs or don't have a life.

Could also be that people who don't have multiple URs maxed out are most certainly poor or just suck at video games :smug:

Alteisen
Jun 4, 2007

by FactsAreUseless
Seeing my buddy spend 20 bucks on PSP packs and get nothing but consumables was pretty funny.

I'm seriously loving the human adept over on the Xbox side, will definitely spec one out when I start playing on origin again.

Moola
Aug 16, 2006

Volvagia posted:

I don't know how anyone ever gets a decent gun up to level X, I've been playing on and off since release and my best gun is a Reegar Carbine III. I see people with cool titles and Harrier X's and I'm alternately jealous/glad I don't have that much time/real money to waste.

The secret reason why lots of people have tons of weapon X gear, is because when FBWGG was farm-able, you could easily make millions of credits in a very short amount of time. It got to a point where new DLC would come out, I would spend a couple of hours farming and literally have enough credits to get most, if not all of the new content in one splurge.

Conversely, I maybe have one of the new weapons up to V and only some of the new classes since they stopped FBWGG.

Moola fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Nov 13, 2012

Elotana
Dec 12, 2003

and i'm putting it all on the goddamn expense account
If only it was possible to finish a non-farming Gold game :qq:

Schubalts
Nov 26, 2007

People say bigger is better.

But for the first time in my life, I think I've gone too far.
You played with the wroooong people. All weekend, I was finishing up Geth/Gold/White runs where we never left the top section outside of objectives. Or we invaded some farmer's room and showed him the error of his ways.

With fire explosions.

doomfunk
Feb 29, 2008

oh come on was that really necessary
all over my fine carpet!!
The only thing most pubbies know how to do is hide in a room behind cover. When strategy gets more complex than "stay in this box and smash 1 repeatedly" they fall apart.

Moola
Aug 16, 2006

Elotana posted:

If only it was possible to finish a non-farming Gold game :qq:

I'm just saying that's why I, and probably a lot of other people, have an absurd number of max level weapons and rare classes. FBWGG was really good at maxing out all your poo poo, fast.

I'm not complaining they nerfed farming, I'm actually enjoying the game a lot more now.

Vietnamwees
May 8, 2008

by Fluffdaddy
When the game first came out, there were a MULTITUDE of glitches and strategies to farm credits. There was the instant Wave 10 glitch that you could do in 5 minutes over and over, FBW farming, and everyone's favorite, the missile glitch. When they added Platinum at first, it just got worse with the Glacier Room strategy, along with just missile glitching Platinum in general. It was a different time back then :clint:

Now most of the glitches are gone, and the Devs have nuked farming by explicitly changing the weaknesses in Geth that made them farmable in the first place, and literally changing the level design of White and Glacier, specifically the farming spots. It's funny how they said they changed it just to keep the game fresh, but thats a bunch of bullshit considering they didn't make any changes to any other maps. Still, MP is better off for it, even if it all is just so Bioware can exchange more realbucks for spacebucks

Paracelsus
Apr 6, 2009

bless this post ~kya
Balance changes delayed again this week (who would have guessed?). Previews are higher score multiplier for higher difficulties and reduced cooldown on shield gate.

The most exciting part of Bioware going with a different engine for the next game is the possibility it won't crash so drat much.

zxqv8
Oct 21, 2010

Did somebody call about a Ravager problem?
It's good for their bottom line, which is ultimately good for the health of the game, yes.

The only real effect it has on players is that it exposes us to more of their terrible and bad play, because they're not stuffed in the corner where they used to be.

exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


I make it to extraction on nearly all of my Gold random groups, but I've learned to be more discerning in lobbies. Crap weapons are an instant leave for me, as well as not equipping any consumables (a clear indication that they will never use missiles or medi-gel in-game). The Myth of the Good 120 N7 Player is about as believable as the Easter Bunny. Of course there are many terrible players with 2000+ rankings, but there's a general correlation there.

MadBimber
Dec 31, 2006

Paracelsus posted:

Balance changes delayed again this week (who would have guessed?). Previews are higher score multiplier for higher difficulties -

Who even cares about that? Save maybe for making farming challenges a bit easier?

GulMadred
Oct 20, 2005

I don't understand how you can be so mistaken.

Moola posted:

I'm not complaining they nerfed farming, I'm actually enjoying the game a lot more now.
Farming never dies. Reaper/Rio/Platinum is the new hotness, and I hate it. I want to play a punishingly-difficult game where each mistake carries a significant risk of wiping the team. I don't want to sit in a box for a half-hour while Banshees flail at me ineffectually because they can't get close enough for a sync kill.

Fortunately, Rio farming is so slow and boring (unlike Glacier, which could actually be pretty intense) that it hasn't become dominant. It's still possible to find Platinum lobbies set to random/random.

MadBimber posted:

Who even cares about [higher score multipliers]? Save maybe for making farming challenges a bit easier?
If you're constantly promoting and re-leveling (whether grinding N7 rank or just trying out new builds) then the extra XP would be helpful.

Lagomorphic
Apr 21, 2008

AKA: Orthonormal

MadBimber posted:

Who even cares about that? Save maybe for making farming challenges a bit easier?

Me. I'm promoting constantly and would like it a lot.

exquisite tea posted:

Replayable co-op missions in a L4D, procedurally-generated style would be awesome. Imagine doing the Citadel climb or Thane's recruitment with random events and branching pathways thrown in.

Yeah just doing harder versions of SP missions with your AI squad replaced with actual players would be amazing. Procedural variation would be even better.

Burning Mustache posted:

PvP combat only :shepface:

I'm sure being lashed, pulled, stasis'd, instakilled, etc. by other players is going to be fun :v:

Yeah I think any PVP would have to handled like L4D for this reason. Two Asari trying to stasis each other first would suck. Getting to control a banshee and trying to impale some motherfuckers before they warp-splode you would be :black101:

Vietnamwees posted:

It's funny how they said they changed it just to keep the game fresh, but thats a bunch of bullshit considering they didn't make any changes to any other maps.

The other maps were fine. Camping is pretty loving boring even if it is easy spacebux.

Moola
Aug 16, 2006

GulMadred posted:

Farming never dies. Reaper/Rio/Platinum is the new hotness, and I hate it. I want to play a punishingly-difficult game where each mistake carries a significant risk of wiping the team. I don't want to sit in a box for a half-hour while Banshees flail at me ineffectually because they can't get close enough for a sync kill.

Yeah, I agree; the only thing I really miss, was watching Banshees hopelessly try to scale the tiny little walls on FBWGP.

drat you tiny wall! Hop, hop, hop, screech! :argh:

TwistedLadder
Mar 16, 2011

The only Disney Princess with a body count... in the thousands.
Apologies to the goons who invited me to their game where I apparently stood there doing nothing, I could hear the talking but there was nothing on my screen :/ Hope your game went well!

FronzelNeekburm
Jun 1, 2001

STOP, MORTTIME

highmodulus posted:

-New engine. Not sure how that will effect MP.
I just hope this doesn't mean launching Origin to launch a Web page to join a game, which launches Origin to launch the actual game.

Aenslaed
Mar 29, 2004
Nonfactor
As an N7 Shadow, should I be going after anything but middle tier enemies? Should I prioritize Marauders, Guardians, Collector Captains and the like? Leave the big things to my teammates if there are other things about? I find that if I go after any of the big enemies besides Brutes and Scions, I'm probably gonna be dead or my damage is largely ineffective compared to someone with a sniper rifle.

I followed the recommendations in the op about a shadow build, except I am using a disciple because of my L5 shotgun blade vs L1 pistol stunner.

Silver Alicorn
Mar 30, 2008

𝓪 𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓹𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓪 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓾𝓼 𝓼𝓸𝓻𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮

Aenslaed posted:

As an N7 Shadow, should I be going after anything but middle tier enemies? Should I prioritize Marauders, Guardians, Collector Captains and the like? Leave the big things to my teammates if there are other things about?

The bigger units have such slow attacks that they're barely a threat once you're not taking crossfire from regular enemies. It's better on any class to get rid of the small fry before going after the big fish, I've found.

tribbledirigible
Jul 27, 2004
I finally beat the internet. The end boss was hard.

Aenslaed posted:

As an N7 Shadow, should I be going after anything but middle tier enemies? Should I prioritize Marauders, Guardians, Collector Captains and the like? Leave the big things to my teammates if there are other things about? I find that if I go after any of the big enemies besides Brutes and Scions, I'm probably gonna be dead or my damage is largely ineffective compared to someone with a sniper rifle.

I followed the recommendations in the op about a shadow build, except I am using a disciple because of my L5 shotgun blade vs L1 pistol stunner.

You can always prioritize Phantoms. It's so satisfying to out-Phantom a Phantom. If you're on a good connection or hosting, I'd chance going after the boss enemies up to gold.

Shadow Strike is so good right now because it's bugged to stack so many bonuses, I'm surprised they haven't nerfed it. Shame about not being able to do it on Atlases after that latest patch.

The only problem I had with the build posted is the option for shield drain. With the Acolyte being more popular now as well as what's left of the playe base using engineers as engineers and not snipers, you might not get as much mileage out of it as you would with just the damage bonus.

Aenslaed
Mar 29, 2004
Nonfactor

Wampus42 posted:

You can always prioritize Phantoms. It's so satisfying to out-Phantom a Phantom. If you're on a good connection or hosting, I'd chance going after the boss enemies up to gold.

Shadow Strike is so good right now because it's bugged to stack so many bonuses, I'm surprised they haven't nerfed it. Shame about not being able to do it on Atlases after that latest patch.

The only problem I had with the build posted is the option for shield drain. With the Acolyte being more popular now as well as what's left of the playe base using engineers as engineers and not snipers, you might not get as much mileage out of it as you would with just the damage bonus.

From my limited experience, I think that shadow strike is fine where it is simply because of how fallible the ability is. The animation is too slow for an ability that relies on the target having a shield/barrier up in order to get shields back (vs charge). Way too many geometry problems with enemies (ramps, vaulting animations, back to a wall) that your timings will be thrown off. Melee while being very strong has a terrible implementation in this game. etc etc.

Its a very very fun class, but I feel that it is mainly from the sense of mobility in a cover shooter, not because the class is good. That or someone needs to show me a video of exactly how amazing this class can be in the hands of someone good.

randombattle
Oct 16, 2008

This hand of mine shines and roars! It's bright cry tells me to grasp victory!

And to absolutely no ones surprise the patch for this week is delayed again. However increases to point bonuses on the higher difficulties and reducing the shield gate all sound loving awesome.

I'm sure theres some horrible change to something else lurking in the background they haven't mentioned yet but I'll be cautiously optimistic.

jpmeyer
Jan 17, 2012

parody image of che

Vietnamwees posted:

When the game first came out, there were a MULTITUDE of glitches and strategies to farm credits. There was the instant Wave 10 glitch that you could do in 5 minutes over and over, FBW farming, and everyone's favorite, the missile glitch. When they added Platinum at first, it just got worse with the Glacier Room strategy, along with just missile glitching Platinum in general. It was a different time back then :clint:

Now most of the glitches are gone, and the Devs have nuked farming by explicitly changing the weaknesses in Geth that made them farmable in the first place, and literally changing the level design of White and Glacier, specifically the farming spots. It's funny how they said they changed it just to keep the game fresh, but thats a bunch of bullshit considering they didn't make any changes to any other maps. Still, MP is better off for it, even if it all is just so Bioware can exchange more realbucks for spacebucks

The golden age of FBW farming: multiple people sitting there with pre-nerf Krysaes staggering whole spawns the second they appear.

Lagomorphic
Apr 21, 2008

AKA: Orthonormal

Aenslaed posted:

As an N7 Shadow, should I be going after anything but middle tier enemies? Should I prioritize Marauders, Guardians, Collector Captains and the like? Leave the big things to my teammates if there are other things about? I find that if I go after any of the big enemies besides Brutes and Scions, I'm probably gonna be dead or my damage is largely ineffective compared to someone with a sniper rifle.

I followed the recommendations in the op about a shadow build, except I am using a disciple because of my L5 shotgun blade vs L1 pistol stunner.

http://narida.pytalhost.com/me3/classes/#Infiltrator/NShadow/MDKIL/Acolyte10AG5AJ5//StrengthEnhancer3//HydraulicJoints5/

That's my current build now that we know the electric slash evo is hosed. I really like bonus power since it lets you shadow strike and keep the cloak up to cover your reposition. I wouldn't ignore heavy armor but you should definitely prioritze midtier enemies and phantoms. You'll do more good keeping teammates from getting shot or stabbed in the back while they get tunnel visioned trying to gank the boss.

If you do need to down a boss you can shadow strike and then electric slash from cover or shadow strike and heavy melee if it's back is to you. I don't find the shield drain evo very reliable since your target can get hit with an acolyte shot or chain overload while in transit leaving you kind of hosed. Use the cloak to keep you alive and spam electric slash from behind full cover to regain shields.

randombattle posted:

And to absolutely no ones surprise the patch for this week is delayed again. However increases to point bonuses on the higher difficulties and reducing the shield gate all sound loving awesome.

I'm sure theres some horrible change to something else lurking in the background they haven't mentioned yet but I'll be cautiously optimistic.

They're not reducing the shield gate. They're lowering the cooldown on the players shield gate so you won't go from shields to dead in one shot as often. Apparently it always had a cooldown that we didn't really notice becaus it would be reset by the time your shields came back. Volus kits have made it an issue though hence the change.

Dr. Abysmal
Feb 17, 2010

We're all doomed
They should just move the balance changes to Wednesday, they haven't come out on a Tuesday in like a month now. Nobody would even give a poo poo about it if the locked away characters didn't trickle out with them each week.

Lagomorphic
Apr 21, 2008

AKA: Orthonormal
I've just started assuming that they'll be up on wednesday with a slight chance of coming a day early. I've stopped waiting for them since I assume someone else will repost them in this thread whenever they do get done.

I really don't care about the extra day, better late than lovely. They've also been doing a lot of extra stuff lately. The pumpkins alone bought them a lot of goodwill from me.

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Fluffs McCloud
Dec 25, 2005
On an IHOP crusade

Lagomorphic posted:

http://narida.pytalhost.com/me3/classes/#Infiltrator/NShadow/MDKIL/Acolyte10AG5AJ5//StrengthEnhancer3//HydraulicJoints5/

That's my current build now that we know the electric slash evo is hosed. I really like bonus power since it lets you shadow strike and keep the cloak up to cover your reposition. I wouldn't ignore heavy armor but you should definitely prioritze midtier enemies and phantoms. You'll do more good keeping teammates from getting shot or stabbed in the back while they get tunnel visioned trying to gank the boss.

If you do need to down a boss you can shadow strike and then electric slash from cover or shadow strike and heavy melee if it's back is to you. I don't find the shield drain evo very reliable since your target can get hit with an acolyte shot or chain overload while in transit leaving you kind of hosed. Use the cloak to keep you alive and spam electric slash from behind full cover to regain shields.


To clarify a little since it's in the OP but I never saw a response recently. The armor damage bonus of rank 6 sword mastery is still bugged and doesn't apply to shadow strike correct?

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