Oh, there's also the one background that involves dealing with the alcoholic with PTSD who witnessed horrors committed by Batarians.
That's the Spacer background side-mission; he got PTSD from witnessing the Colonist background. Literally; that mission was on Mindoir.
Which really ups the badass factor for colonist.
Sure, you lost your family and friends. And you only survived because the batarians assumed you died in the shelling that killed your parents.
But Shep managed to get over the most intense personal trauma possible and remain functional in society (mostly) while managing more resistance than a unit of alliance marines. Beats the hell out of running with a gang on Earth.
May 16, 2012
Eagle Heavy Pistol
- Damage increased from [60.9-76.1] to [67.0-83.8]
Hurricane SMG
- Damage increased from [93.2-116.5] to [102.5-128.1]
Crusader Shotgun
- Damage increased from [442.1-552.6] to [486.6-608.3]
Indra Sniper Rifle
- Damage increased from [54.1-67.6] to [62.6-78.2]
Singularity Power
- Fixed a bug where the base duration that enemies are held in the air was still 3 seconds.
Should now be 6 seconds, as the April 24 changes specify.
Geth Horde Wave Data
- (Gold) Wave 6: reduced number of Hunters from 4 to 2
- (Gold) Wave 6: increased number of Rocket Troopers from 2 to 3
- (Gold) Wave 6: added a single Geth Prime
- (Gold) Wave 10: reduced number of Pyros from 4 to 3
- (Gold) Wave 10: increased number of Geth Primes from 2 to 3
Card Data
- 255 max cap on ammo, medigel, rockets, shields - they should grant equipment items instead if maxed
- Respec cards are now uncommon rather than rare
- Increasing XP bonuses for character cards
New balance changes. My Turian Hurricane Soldier is going to destroy things even faster now.
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Well...Respecs getting set to a max of 3 had already fixed that problem I believe.
The biggest issue the market still has is with character cards. And if they simply refuse to make it so you stop getting character cards when you max out a classes levels/appearance options they at least really need to rework the drop rate of weapons and cards.
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
I like the option to get equipment if you've maxed out your thermal clips.
The only way to make character cards really worthwhile is to make the XP bonus permanent, so you start off at a slightly higher level every time you promote. Then cap the cards when you always start at level 10 or something.
I still don't have Krogan Soldier, Batarian Soldier, or Geth Engineer, but I've got lights on several of the rares, and keep getting them. It's truly disheartening, as opposed to when I get guns; even when I get guns I don't use, I know that I'm getting closer to never getting that card again. When I get a Geth Infiltrator for the ninth time, I will know that it was just pure waste.
0
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
What I'd like is experience past 20 converted to some small amount of money. Like a hundred credits for every 10k? Something other than bragging right.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Respec cards definitely haven't been set to uncommon yet. Back when they were rare I used to get one every third-fifth PSP, but I purchased 9 Veteran packs today and didn't get a single respec card.
Yeah. I'm glad to see they said it (look, call me crazy, but it wouldn't have surprised me if they'd just called it at 3 million even if we were a bit short). I think it also says some interesting stuff about the longevity of the game, especially since the next event will be post D3's release (which is going to keep a lot of people very occupied for a very long time, and while it's not perfect overlap, I imagine there's a sizable chunk of the fanbase that is shared between the two).
They've given us some interesting totals (x credits, y matches, etc), but what I'd be interested to see would be the progression of those numbers over the weeks. Like if we're down to 50% of the matches per day/week compared to a month ago, how far from 3 million we were, how many unique players are logging in each day/week, what the average playtime is for those players (I know annecdotes aren't data, but where I used to put in a dozen matches in an evening for days straight, now I do maybe 2-4 every 2 weeks for event completion and an extra extraction or whatever to ensure it gets noted), etc.
Capping card drops when you have the class maxed out in levels and appearance would catch my interest. Sure it would mean that with all gold cards done the spectre packs would become 70k Black Unlocks, but y'know what, if I've dropped literally millions of credits capping gold cards and characters, I'd be okay with that.
Maybe a week event where there was a cheap (100k or less) pack that guaranteed a black unlock. As noted elsewhere they could be a million credits and still potentially be a deal, but I'm talking a batshit insane thing to really draw in the die hards who are simply tired of dealing with the RNG's bullshit.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
It is with great regret that I must announce the withdrawal of forces from several colonies in asari space. Reinforcing them proved untenable. While Operation SILENCER inflicted substantial casualties, the Reapers learned from our victories against the brutes, and they now know how to protect their own.
Rest assured that we too are learning from this conflict. Already, we are implementing plans to supply our forces with a better arsenal so that, when we next meet the enemy, they are ours. Until your next deployment, keep calm and carry on. We will pay the Reapers back soon enough.
Next week's community goal: Kill 10 Assault Troopers.
Also, the Hurricane can now basically sustain Widow damage non-stop, provided you keep hitting, and more or less remains best-in-class even when used on gold armor vs. other SMGs on defenseless targets.
SoundsPlush on
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Yeah, I'd be curious to see what the totals are like as well. I'm not playing as much as I was (mainly time, but also trying some other games), and when I do play, my friends list isn't bombed out with people also playing the game. It's usually just a handful of people.
0
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Well. You have to expect some dropoff with MP game. The fact that ME3 kept a sizable audience as long as it did says something especially when you take into account the short attention span of your average gamer.
That being said as far as the operation goes. The rewards just aren't worth the effort, the Victory Pack is pretty much the equivalent of a Veteran pack as far as I'm concerned.
I'm not surprised it failed; but I am surprised they actually said it.
It was pretty obvious prior to the event that the 3mil kills was pretty absurdly high given the current playerbase.
And next event, as others have said, will be post D3 and well post most people even caring. I'd be surprised if they put the target over 1mil next time.
A couple failed weekends in a row and even the players still playing won't give two shits anymore. I'm not saying they should lie and say the community did it, when they didn't; but they should drastically reduce expectations from here on out.
Plus when your personal goal actively conflicts with the community goal (who is going to do Reapers on Gold for a full extraction when they can just do GWG?), you're already kneecapping the chances of success.
Also, they need to announce something DLC wise. They haven't said shit about the ending stuff, and there hasn't been a peep about any more single player or multiplayer DLC. This isn't helping anything. A multiplayer DLC with at least another game type (maybe another enemy types)is going to have to happen to get people interested for any meaningful amount of time from here on out. Another bunch of classes and some more stages for the same old enemies and horde mode isn't going to fly.
No argument here. We always knew that'd be the case. It's a running gag that many MP heavy games have servers that go from flooded to ghost towns within weeks or months of release (at worst), and the better/more popular ones hold out for a year or two before the sequel or another hot title draws most of the community away.
There are exceptions where a sizable number of players keep playing the same game over and over for years on end (Diablo 2, Counterstrike, etc), but it certainly isn't surprising that it's happening here. I'm just curious what the numbers on that are like. Knowing that only 1 million Banshees were killed would be noteworthy, and then the comparison to what they set for the next objective would also be interesting, in what it tells us about how Bioware reacts to that info.
One target was, what, 1 million brutes, and we did 3 million? Now the target is 3 million and we did X. If the next target is 100k, we'll know the community has plummeted dramatically, and moreso, that's during the event weekend, which should presumably be the peak time to see people playing. I imagine regular day to day numbers have to be a fraction of what they were.
Edit: I wonder how the ending kerfufle has affected this as well? Hear me out; with solid word of mouth, it's possible that they would've seen a continual slow but steady stream of new people joining, thus sustaining at least a small but steady playerbase. With the negative buzz that was generated, I wonder if that stream hasn't held up like it might've otherwise? I know I've seen ME3 still on sales charts, so it's not like they aren't moving any units at all, and it's purely speculative, so we'll never know what might've been otherwise. Just something that occured to me.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
It's been leaked that there'll be another multiplayer DLC, and people are figuring they'll release info about it during E3, presumably for release shortly afterwards.
if they want us to complete the weekend goal, give us something other than worthless victory packs
i'd have killed more banshees if i had a guaranteed N7 rare waiting for me or something
Pretty much.
I had through maybe 5 waves of Reapers than I was like..."Man...I've probably gotten better shit in these last five waves than I will from the Victory pack."
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
So your ridiculous asari vanguard build, curly
did you go something like charge 5, stasis 6, lift grenade 6, justicar 5, fitness 4?
I'm not surprised it failed; but I am surprised they actually said it.
It was pretty obvious prior to the event that the 3mil kills was pretty absurdly high given the current playerbase.
And next event, as others have said, will be post D3 and well post most people even caring. I'd be surprised if they put the target over 1mil next time.
A couple failed weekends in a row and even the players still playing won't give two shits anymore. I'm not saying they should lie and say the community did it, when they didn't; but they should drastically reduce expectations from here on out.
Plus when your personal goal actively conflicts with the community goal (who is going to do Reapers on Gold for a full extraction when they can just do GWG?), you're already kneecapping the chances of success.
Also, they need to announce something DLC wise. They haven't said shit about the ending stuff, and there hasn't been a peep about any more single player or multiplayer DLC. This isn't helping anything. A multiplayer DLC with at least another game type (maybe another enemy types)is going to have to happen to get people interested for any meaningful amount of time from here on out. Another bunch of classes and some more stages for the same old enemies and horde mode isn't going to fly.
The bolded part, 100 times over. After getting two full extractions doing GWG, I went back to silver to farm some banshees and couldn't get into a Reaper game to save my life (after multiple tries). And I don't mean playing "unknown" enemies and not getting reapers. People were often picking Cerberus specifically.
I guess I could have made my own game, but I'm pretty lazy.
Agreed. If the Victory pack had a second N7 rare, I'd be more inclined to put some extra games in.
Hell, even if they just made it a guaranteed ultra rare, leaving the commendation packs as the sole method of procuring promo rares, I'd be cool with that too.
I wonder if they intend to make a slightly spicier offering next time? A pre-weekend bonus pack for free to give something for people to potentially toy around with for a few games would be nice. If I logged in and found an Ultra Rare or Promo Rare pack waiting for me on Friday, I'd probably put in at least a few games with it to see how it was.
Found the quote: "Already, we are implementing plans to supply our forces with a better arsenal so that, when we next meet the enemy, they are ours."
Sounds like they might throw us a bone before/during/after the next event.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
There are tons of sites running the leak on the next DLC pack (i.e. my post on Vorchas!). From G4:
BioWare is preparing to release another multiplayer DLC pack for Mass Effect 3, an accidental (and now-removed) posting on the Sony Asia website reveals. The information was snatched up by Kotaku and preserved for the gaming Internet to peruse... so peruse away.
The DLC -- which the removed web listing says is out as of today, May 16, 2012 -- will add two new maps, three new weapons and six new classes to the game. If it's anything like the previous Resurgence DLC pack, it'll be a free release. How you earn those new weapons and classes, however... that's on you. Built-in microtransactions allow players to buy the same booster packs with real money that they could with in-game money.
The two new maps are Firebase Jade, a "jungle reservoir," and Firebase Goddess, which is set on the Asari homeworld of Thessia. Reinforcement packs will also be updated with the new weapons and equipment, as well as the new classes, which are split up two apiece between three of the series' fictional races. You'll be able to get the Quarian Engineer and Infiltrator, the Vorcha Soldier and Sentinel, and the Phoenix Adept and Vanguard. It's not clear what a "Phoenix" is, as there's no established Mass Effect race with that name.
Mass Effect fans are still waiting for more definitive word from BioWare on when the Extended Cut DLC pack will be released. First revealed back in April, the upcoming content pack is BioWare's effort to address criticisms among the fan community of the ending in Mass Effect 3. The original announcement pegged the DLC pack, which brings "additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes" into the game, for a summer 2012 release, but there's still no more specific date than that.
0
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
I knew we weren't going to make 3 million Banshees. Didn't stop me from running Reapers a few times to give it a shot, but my teams killing 40 or so over the course of the weekend is not going to save the day.
I'm going to start promoting my non-heavily played classes. If Bioware doesn't get rid of the Galactic Readiness mechanic, I am going to need some extra war points to get the better endings.
Kinda too bad, since I like the option of running failsheps.
did you go something like charge 5, stasis 6, lift grenade 6, justicar 5, fitness 4?
nothing in stasis, charge + nade + scorpion shots will kill 3 on gold at the same time
so it's 6/0/6/6/6
Bioware needs to hire Curly to record games for them to perk interest up.
I don't think I'd ever pass on stasis, regardless of class.
See, my desire to log in and play tonight was pretty low. Even a chance that a commendation pack will be waiting. But for a chance to see Curly play his ridiculous asari vanguard? Sign me up!
Posts
Which really ups the badass factor for colonist.
Sure, you lost your family and friends. And you only survived because the batarians assumed you died in the shelling that killed your parents.
But Shep managed to get over the most intense personal trauma possible and remain functional in society (mostly) while managing more resistance than a unit of alliance marines. Beats the hell out of running with a gang on Earth.
Why I fear the ocean.
New balance changes. My Turian Hurricane Soldier is going to destroy things even faster now.
WHO'S LAUGHING NOW
(it is still you)
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
Also...so now the Eagle does more damage than the Predator is automatic and fires faster. Also...it's pretty accurate.
Looks pretty good.
turian hurricane soldier is even more awesome
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
Crusader Soldier/Infiltrator got buffed.
The Eagle looks better now, but you're still comparing an eagle i-iv to a predator x. So it will be heavier (don't they have the same weight?).
Origin: Viycktor
that damage buff is right along where I wanted it to be
now just take that weight down a little and it'll be fantastic
that's interesting. I haven't been getting ammo things for a while (it's at 255).
Will have to use the eagle and indra to see how it plays out.
pleasepaypreacher.net
The biggest issue the market still has is with character cards. And if they simply refuse to make it so you stop getting character cards when you max out a classes levels/appearance options they at least really need to rework the drop rate of weapons and cards.
this is why that was a bad idea
The only way to make character cards really worthwhile is to make the XP bonus permanent, so you start off at a slightly higher level every time you promote. Then cap the cards when you always start at level 10 or something.
I still don't have Krogan Soldier, Batarian Soldier, or Geth Engineer, but I've got lights on several of the rares, and keep getting them. It's truly disheartening, as opposed to when I get guns; even when I get guns I don't use, I know that I'm getting closer to never getting that card again. When I get a Geth Infiltrator for the ninth time, I will know that it was just pure waste.
So much fun...It's all...
"BOOM! FELL THE BLOOD RAGE!"
And then boom again.
pleasepaypreacher.net
I know...and that was exactly what I said during the demo when people were complaining about character card drop rates.
DS Friend code: 3840-6605-3406
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Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
Yeah. I'm glad to see they said it (look, call me crazy, but it wouldn't have surprised me if they'd just called it at 3 million even if we were a bit short). I think it also says some interesting stuff about the longevity of the game, especially since the next event will be post D3's release (which is going to keep a lot of people very occupied for a very long time, and while it's not perfect overlap, I imagine there's a sizable chunk of the fanbase that is shared between the two).
They've given us some interesting totals (x credits, y matches, etc), but what I'd be interested to see would be the progression of those numbers over the weeks. Like if we're down to 50% of the matches per day/week compared to a month ago, how far from 3 million we were, how many unique players are logging in each day/week, what the average playtime is for those players (I know annecdotes aren't data, but where I used to put in a dozen matches in an evening for days straight, now I do maybe 2-4 every 2 weeks for event completion and an extra extraction or whatever to ensure it gets noted), etc.
Capping card drops when you have the class maxed out in levels and appearance would catch my interest. Sure it would mean that with all gold cards done the spectre packs would become 70k Black Unlocks, but y'know what, if I've dropped literally millions of credits capping gold cards and characters, I'd be okay with that.
Maybe a week event where there was a cheap (100k or less) pack that guaranteed a black unlock. As noted elsewhere they could be a million credits and still potentially be a deal, but I'm talking a batshit insane thing to really draw in the die hards who are simply tired of dealing with the RNG's bullshit.
Like, 5, or 5000, or did they notice that 200 Banshees were killed total, and oops?
Next week's community goal: Kill 10 Assault Troopers.
Also, the Hurricane can now basically sustain Widow damage non-stop, provided you keep hitting, and more or less remains best-in-class even when used on gold armor vs. other SMGs on defenseless targets.
That being said as far as the operation goes. The rewards just aren't worth the effort, the Victory Pack is pretty much the equivalent of a Veteran pack as far as I'm concerned.
It was pretty obvious prior to the event that the 3mil kills was pretty absurdly high given the current playerbase.
And next event, as others have said, will be post D3 and well post most people even caring. I'd be surprised if they put the target over 1mil next time.
A couple failed weekends in a row and even the players still playing won't give two shits anymore. I'm not saying they should lie and say the community did it, when they didn't; but they should drastically reduce expectations from here on out.
Plus when your personal goal actively conflicts with the community goal (who is going to do Reapers on Gold for a full extraction when they can just do GWG?), you're already kneecapping the chances of success.
Also, they need to announce something DLC wise. They haven't said shit about the ending stuff, and there hasn't been a peep about any more single player or multiplayer DLC. This isn't helping anything. A multiplayer DLC with at least another game type (maybe another enemy types)is going to have to happen to get people interested for any meaningful amount of time from here on out. Another bunch of classes and some more stages for the same old enemies and horde mode isn't going to fly.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
There are exceptions where a sizable number of players keep playing the same game over and over for years on end (Diablo 2, Counterstrike, etc), but it certainly isn't surprising that it's happening here. I'm just curious what the numbers on that are like. Knowing that only 1 million Banshees were killed would be noteworthy, and then the comparison to what they set for the next objective would also be interesting, in what it tells us about how Bioware reacts to that info.
One target was, what, 1 million brutes, and we did 3 million? Now the target is 3 million and we did X. If the next target is 100k, we'll know the community has plummeted dramatically, and moreso, that's during the event weekend, which should presumably be the peak time to see people playing. I imagine regular day to day numbers have to be a fraction of what they were.
Edit: I wonder how the ending kerfufle has affected this as well? Hear me out; with solid word of mouth, it's possible that they would've seen a continual slow but steady stream of new people joining, thus sustaining at least a small but steady playerbase. With the negative buzz that was generated, I wonder if that stream hasn't held up like it might've otherwise? I know I've seen ME3 still on sales charts, so it's not like they aren't moving any units at all, and it's purely speculative, so we'll never know what might've been otherwise. Just something that occured to me.
i'd have killed more banshees if i had a guaranteed N7 rare waiting for me or something
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
Pretty much.
I had through maybe 5 waves of Reapers than I was like..."Man...I've probably gotten better shit in these last five waves than I will from the Victory pack."
did you go something like charge 5, stasis 6, lift grenade 6, justicar 5, fitness 4?
The bolded part, 100 times over. After getting two full extractions doing GWG, I went back to silver to farm some banshees and couldn't get into a Reaper game to save my life (after multiple tries). And I don't mean playing "unknown" enemies and not getting reapers. People were often picking Cerberus specifically.
I guess I could have made my own game, but I'm pretty lazy.
Hell, even if they just made it a guaranteed ultra rare, leaving the commendation packs as the sole method of procuring promo rares, I'd be cool with that too.
I wonder if they intend to make a slightly spicier offering next time? A pre-weekend bonus pack for free to give something for people to potentially toy around with for a few games would be nice. If I logged in and found an Ultra Rare or Promo Rare pack waiting for me on Friday, I'd probably put in at least a few games with it to see how it was.
Found the quote: "Already, we are implementing plans to supply our forces with a better arsenal so that, when we next meet the enemy, they are ours."
Sounds like they might throw us a bone before/during/after the next event.
nothing in stasis, charge + nade + scorpion shots will kill 3 on gold at the same time
so it's 6/0/6/6/6
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
BioWare is preparing to release another multiplayer DLC pack for Mass Effect 3, an accidental (and now-removed) posting on the Sony Asia website reveals. The information was snatched up by Kotaku and preserved for the gaming Internet to peruse... so peruse away.
The DLC -- which the removed web listing says is out as of today, May 16, 2012 -- will add two new maps, three new weapons and six new classes to the game. If it's anything like the previous Resurgence DLC pack, it'll be a free release. How you earn those new weapons and classes, however... that's on you. Built-in microtransactions allow players to buy the same booster packs with real money that they could with in-game money.
The two new maps are Firebase Jade, a "jungle reservoir," and Firebase Goddess, which is set on the Asari homeworld of Thessia. Reinforcement packs will also be updated with the new weapons and equipment, as well as the new classes, which are split up two apiece between three of the series' fictional races. You'll be able to get the Quarian Engineer and Infiltrator, the Vorcha Soldier and Sentinel, and the Phoenix Adept and Vanguard. It's not clear what a "Phoenix" is, as there's no established Mass Effect race with that name.
Mass Effect fans are still waiting for more definitive word from BioWare on when the Extended Cut DLC pack will be released. First revealed back in April, the upcoming content pack is BioWare's effort to address criticisms among the fan community of the ending in Mass Effect 3. The original announcement pegged the DLC pack, which brings "additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes" into the game, for a summer 2012 release, but there's still no more specific date than that.
I'm going to start promoting my non-heavily played classes. If Bioware doesn't get rid of the Galactic Readiness mechanic, I am going to need some extra war points to get the better endings.
Kinda too bad, since I like the option of running failsheps.
Bioware needs to hire Curly to record games for them to perk interest up.
I don't think I'd ever pass on stasis, regardless of class.
See, my desire to log in and play tonight was pretty low. Even a chance that a commendation pack will be waiting. But for a chance to see Curly play his ridiculous asari vanguard? Sign me up!
Origin: Viycktor
Also, female Vorcha for the next DLC?