Mass Effect 3

Gbear

Have to say, aside from bugs and that jazz, and having not played in about 2 months, the new maps, weapons and classes have really freshened MP up. It's great craic, and I've never even played a gold match - my weapons are too ****.

If they follow this recipe for the next ME game but iron out the bugs it could be utterly immense.

Gunmonkey

Gbear wrote: »

If they follow this recipe for the next ME game but iron out the bugs it could be utterly immense.

There is a lot they could experiment with, especially with SP/MP integration. Imagine in the middle of an MP mission you get a 1 minute deadline at the start of a Wave to proceed to a door usually locked but now open, and if you get there in time there is the SP hero from someone elses game. In their game, they could be given the option to proceed alone through some sewer systems or wait at a point for a backup team to go over-ground, causing a ping for MP games playing that map at that difficulty (bronze = easy, silver = medium etc etc). So you now proceed above ground, more akin to a Left4Dead game than arena survival and once you get to the objective point, beat the boss and the SP proceeds onwards, it opens up a new area you have to hold from tougher enemy reinforcements, with a better chance of creds or even boxes dropping. Make it optional on both sides so no crying of "WAAAHHH, I don wanna have to play with MP to progress my SP game" like after the Galactic Readiness of ME3.

That or add a bit more dynamic events to the MP game: areas opening or being blocked off, random special waves "Husk Swarm!!!!", and more variety in the enemy types (but thats a given for any game).

Meh, a guy can dream....

Gbear

Gunmonkey wrote: »

Meh, a guy can dream....

PvP is my one. That'd be awesome. Some skills just wouldn't work (stasis and that sort of thing) but if you divorced it from the current model and just had a set number of characters to choose from as well as everyone having access to the same weapons on a level (like normal PvP multiplayer in fps') I think the style of the game would be really interesting.

J. Marston

Had a go of multiplayer for the first time today. It's great craic. Started out as a vanguard and I'm already level 15 with level 6 Biotic Charge and Shockwave.

I know there's a lot of multiplayer DLC out but is it worth downloading? Or anything in particular?

Kiith

J. Marston wrote: »

I know there's a lot of multiplayer DLC out but is it worth downloading? Or anything in particular?

It's all free, so there's not much reason to not get it. Has extra classes and levels, so it's definitely worth the download.

Clover

New operation this weekend : Overwatch.


Operation OVERWATCH (July 27th 10AM PDT – July 30th 5AM PDT)

Operation OVERWATCH drops troops on Earth to tackle the most secure Reaper strongholds. Reaper anti-air defense will make for high-risk shuttle extractions.

Squad Goal: Extraction on any difficulty with at least one squad member using an Earth Pack character

Allied Goal: Extract 800,000 individual players on any difficulty, with each live member counting toward the goal.

Squad Goal Success: All squad members awarded a Commendation Pack.
Allied Goal Success: All players awarded a Victory Pack that includes a new Earth character.

Special Circumstance: Extraction time lengthened due to failure of Operation BROADSIDE.

Requirement: Mass Effect: Earth must be installed to earn these rewards.

noodler

Clover wrote: »

New operation this weekend : Overwatch.


Operation OVERWATCH (July 27th 10AM PDT – July 30th 5AM PDT)

Operation OVERWATCH drops troops on Earth to tackle the most secure Reaper strongholds. Reaper anti-air defense will make for high-risk shuttle extractions.

Squad Goal: Extraction on any difficulty with at least one squad member using an Earth Pack character

Allied Goal: Extract 800,000 individual players on any difficulty, with each live member counting toward the goal.

Squad Goal Success: All squad members awarded a Commendation Pack.
Allied Goal Success: All players awarded a Victory Pack that includes a new Earth character.

Special Circumstance: Extraction time lengthened due to failure of Operation BROADSIDE.

Requirement: Mass Effect: Earth must be installed to earn these rewards.

Disaster, I don't have any of those new N7 characters from the Earth DLC.

Kiith

noodler wrote: »

Disaster, I don't have any of those new N7 characters from the Earth DLC.

Neither do i, but at least we will get one from the reward for completing the extraction event.

Clover

Only one squad member needs to be an N7 for the squad goal.

FutureGuy

Lads, if you have not unlocked an N7 Earth character, do 2 hours of geth gold or platinum (I prefer gold with strangers and platinum with friends).

That should be enough for about 4 packs of premium spectre. With a little luck you will get one.

noodler

Sick of Geth on Firebase White.

Is it just me or do the N7 classes appear to have made all the others redundant?

Haven't got one yet but seems to be all anyone uses.

Gbear

noodler wrote: »

Sick of Geth on Firebase White.

Is it just me or do the N7 classes appear to have made all the others redundant?

Haven't got one yet but seems to be all anyone uses.

Just got the N7 Slayer there (vanguard).

Holy ****ing christ. He's amazing. I think I'm in love.:o

He does this move where he spins around slashing his sword in the air for absolutely no reason and then emits a shockwave which deals about 1000 damage in a straight line 20-30m in front of you. You can kill legions of basic units with 1 shot. I've not seen anything even close to being as powerful on any of the normal characters.

Seeing as they introduced platinum they clearly needed to get some more powerful classes to make the grade.

FutureGuy

Gbear wrote: »

Just got the N7 Slayer there (vanguard).

Holy ****ing christ. He's amazing. I think I'm in love.:o

He does this move where he spins around slashing his sword in the air for absolutely no reason and then emits a shockwave which deals about 1000 damage in a straight line 20-30m in front of you. You can kill legions of basic units with 1 shot. I've not seen anything even close to being as powerful on any of the normal characters.

Seeing as they introduced platinum they clearly needed to get some more powerful classes to make the grade.

I'm scoring 115000-120000 on geth gold with this class quite regularly.

Gbear

FutureGuy wrote: »

I'm scoring 115000-120000 on geth gold with this class quite regularly.

To compound the misery of baddies everywhere, I unlocked the piranha shotgun at the same time.

It's a pretty devastating combo.

One bad thing about the raft of new weapons is that I'm going to have to play more and more to get upgrades of the weapons I want.

degrassinoel

N7 shadow (infiltrator class) is easily as good with the electric blade that has an upgradable range of 30metres and can shoot through walls..

did a few FBW's with geth last night, mate went quarian engineer with the aoe tactical scan. Not only could we see through walls with the active scan, but shoot through with the Shadow, literally just stood in a corner and spammed 2 til everything was dead, the objective waves were just as easy.

tbh, i wouldnt be surprised if it was something like this that got me a warning.

noodler

degrassinoel wrote: »

tbh, i wouldnt be surprised if it was something like this that got me a warning.

I sincerely doubt it.


Anyway, I never get more than approx 74,000 for a gold completion. Kind of weird - its always on that figure.

EDIT:

FutureGuy wrote: »

I'm scoring 115000-120000 on geth gold with this class quite regularly.

Oh you didn't mean cash, did you?

Recently discovered Tech Armour - first on the Turian but especially on the Krogan Battlemaster. Being able to melee a full health Phantom into submission for your squad is very enjoyable.

degrassinoel

that's a score yeah, have matched it with the shadow, afaik 75k is the upper limit on gold

edit: just noticed, the social.bioware.com site has a timer at the top of the page giving a countdown to this weekends operation start.

noodler

Okay, I am leaning back towards believing the Indoctrination Theory.

I am going to post two videos from youtube. I assume you all saw the 20 min ones but these are longer and have voiceovers and discuss the evidence in a yay, nay or unsure manner.

Video 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caAqFFhBn2U

Video 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCQXwIIlMYc

Now the first thing I want to get out of the way, both videos are pre-Extended Cut.

Second thing, some of the points the author agrees with after making weak arguments. However, theres more to agree with than not IMO.

Finally, some of the trivia and evidence is extremely, extremely interesting if you are a fan and you will not regret watching them (even if you don't believe them).


There are a couple of points I will make to whet your appetitie (perhaps) and I will spoiler them for those who have not played ME3:

1: There are piles of twisted bodies when after Shepard is hit by Harbinger's beam. They were not there before and they are all of the same two character models apparently. Ashley and Kaiden (depending on who you let die it seems). Evidence of subconcious guilt?

2: Anderson looks right at the camera when he says "They're controlling you!". I previously thought he was looking at TIM.

3: What happens in Arrival DLC if you let the counter go to ZERO and get a game over that way. I don't know what to make of the scenes that follow but bloody interesting to me.

The author is currently working on a similar documentary style review to incorporate the EC but has but up a brief video blog (his quick unofficial style runthrough) and I am currently reading that.

Again two points made of the EC which support the theory:

1: They actually have Harbinger say "One of us" as you get hit with the beam! What on earth are they thinking if they were trying to disprove the IT.

2: When Shephard wakes up on the Citadel there is now a Reaper sound in his head just as Anderson first radios him.

3: In the refusal Ending the child's vocie changes to a Reaper's voice as he says "So be it"

I can't wait for his official review of the EC (Part 3 I guess) but would be interested to hear other people's views if they decided to watch the vids.

Gbear

Really? Even after the EC was released?

It was nice enough and there were some interesting points raised by it and it was a great testament to the imaginations of the community but I think, rather than there being a grand conspiracy with the intention of making the greatest double-bluff of all time, the writers shat the bed when it came to doing the end of ME3 and that's why it was awful - not because they were playing some long-term game.

Instead of just sticking to what works they went for artsy, trying-too-hard-to-be-clever bull**** and they didn't pull it off and failed in one of the most basic elements of story telling - plot coherency.

Have to say I'm ****ing furious. 5 games in a row now that heap of ****e has crashed. This game wouldn't be as annoying if it wasn't so good when it worked - you could just right it off for being a half-baked load of ****, but instead it makes you want to keep persevering.

I hope to christ they fix it in the next iteration they just focus on making it stable.

noodler

Gbear wrote: »

Instead of just sticking to what works they went for artsy, trying-too-hard-to-be-clever bull**** and they didn't pull it off and failed in one of the most basic elements of story telling - plot coherency.

Some of it relates to Bioware being under EA pressure, having to change the ending and IT being a bit of a late in the game move.

Either way, I was the first video length and was like "I'll watch 10 minutes.." I ended up watching the first 45 mins and watched the other 1 and a half videos tonight.

They are great viewing - some stuff about the series I never knew.

EDIT:

(Watch it loud - the exact second Harbinger says "One of us" in the EC.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6DDBwEMAyaU#t=416s

Gunmonkey

Love how the "best ending" made up by fans for ME3 was "It was all a dream...."


Anyways, been trying to accomplish the weekend MP event but no N7 classes be dropping for me Couple that with my internet D/C during 3 of every 5 matches means its gonna be a LOOOOOOOONG weekend :rolleyes:

Gbear

noodler wrote: »

Some of it relates to Bioware being under EA pressure, having to change the ending and IT being a bit of a late in the game move.

Either way, I was the first video length and was like "I'll watch 10 minutes.." I ended up watching the first 45 mins and watched the other 1 and a half videos tonight.

They are great viewing - some stuff about the series I never knew.

EDIT:

(Watch it loud - the exact second Harbinger says "One of us" in the EC.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6DDBwEMAyaU#t=416s

I had a gander at one of them last night and there's a few reasonably convincing bits of evidence (chief of which is the scene aboard the Citadel with TIM and Anderson representing his mind and Shepherd getting wounded by proxy when Anderson is shot), but the majority of it was seriously circumstantial and I thought some of it was just wishful thinking (stating it as a fact that the control room in the citadel looked the same as TIM's control room on his space station - I don't see it).

There was some interesting points made which might have been lost on the guy who made it - he looked at two notions that he didn't agree made the case for the IT - Shepherd hovering off the ground during the "dream sequence" and the "1M1" thing, which was exceedingly clever.
I think he's quite clearly flagged the human tendency to see agency, order or images when they're not there and they just occur by chance - like the virgin mary in toasted cheese sandwich (here).
We know the 1M1 thing isn't a clever nod because it appeared at other random places on the citadel in ME1 and bad animation is rife in ME and explains why Shepherd hovers slightly.

Applying occam's razor to alot of the evidence in this suggests coincidence or sloppiness.
Some of it is, as I said, fairly compelling, but it could just as easily be explained by having to rush the ending or even something like - after shepherd is hit by Harbinger, he's in a semi-dream sequence state, because of injuries, and that's why his mind brings up the corpses of Kaiden and Ashley but he is still in the real world and not getting indoctrinated.

Bioware have had long enough to develop on this idea if they'd really had it and the EC would've been perfect to let it play out. They didn't so while I'd acknowledge that it's possible that they may have intentionally put in some of the strange elements, it's seriously stretching it to come up with the IT.


As you can tell though, I certainly enjoy reading about it either way.:)

noodler

Gbear wrote: »

(stating it as a fact that the control room in the citadel looked the same as TIM's control room on his space station - I don't see it).

The simalarities between the transport beam and the one on the StarChild's place was actually kind of compelling to me.

Did you see the bit about the metal in that room having reflections of trees the developers 'forgot' to take out?

Gbear wrote: »

There was some interesting points made which might have been lost on the guy who made it - he looked at two notions that he didn't agree made the case for the IT - Shepherd hovering off the ground during the "dream sequence" and the "1M1" thing, which was exceedingly clever.

I'm glad he was able to agree to dismiss some evidence alright - helps the credibility.

Gbear wrote: »

after shepherd is hit by Harbinger, he's in a semi-dream sequence state, because of injuries, and that's why his mind brings up the corpses of Kaiden and Ashley but he is still in the real world and not getting indoctrinated.

I agree, we could argue for some sort of halfway state between reality and delusion regarding the Ashley/Kaiden corpses but I personally would have to lean towards more signifcance (downright creepy by the way).

Gbear wrote: »

Bioware have had long enough to develop on this idea if they'd really had it and the EC would've been perfect to let it play out. They didn't so while I'd acknowledge that it's possible that they may have intentionally put in some of the strange elements, it's seriously stretching it to come up with the IT.

Did you have a look at the three new part in the EC (off the top of my head) that could (kind of) support the theory?

Having Harbinger say "one of us" has to at the very least be BW fcuking with us.

Gbear wrote: »

As you can tell though, I certainly enjoy reading about it either way.:)

Well thats the main thing! Did you watch the first video or parts of it or what?

Gbear

noodler wrote: »

The simalarities between the transport beam and the one on the StarChild's place was actually kind of compelling to me.

Did you see the bit about the metal in that room having reflections of trees the developers 'forgot' to take out?

I didn't notice that part.
I meant the argument where he makes comparisons between the citadel when you get there and places shepherd has visited - the piled up bodies being the collector ship, the giant moving electric plates from the SB base and the control room being similar to TIM's control room.

There's only so many ways you can pile corpses and we know the reapers were building more reapers, as the collectors were, so a similar scene would make sense. I don't see the link between the first part and the collector base and I certainly don't see it as much evidence for the IT.

Next, there's the engines that keep the SB's ship in flight that we see in the citadel.
That might be an effective way to keep a large vessel in low orbit and the SB had serious resources so it's certainly plausible that he stole the idea from the citadel or the reapers.

Lastly, the control room - I don't think it looks much like TIM's and there's only so many ways you can build a control room. I don't know what it would have to look like to not bear some resemblance.

noodler wrote: »

I'm glad he was able to agree to dismiss some evidence alright - helps the credibility.

I don't know that it does.
In my previous post I was getting at the idea that if we've discovered the actual explanation to what seems at first very compelling evidence, then it might be that there are more mundane explanations to the other points.

noodler wrote: »

Did you have a look at the three new part in the EC (off the top of my head) that could (kind of) support the theory?

Having Harbinger say "one of us" has to at the very least be BW fcuking with us.

I haven't actually played through it but my point was that if they wanted to make it clear that it was the IT then they had the chance to do that with the EC. I would assume that for the IT to hold there would have to be some indication if you weren't indoctrinated that you succeeded - otherwise I don't see the point.

If they leave it as vague as they did, then they're not really saying anything. You can take it to mean it's a tacit acknowledgement of the IT but it's still just wishful thinking imo.
Like you said, it could be BW ****ing with us and a nod to the IT without being an endorsement of it's validity.

noodler wrote: »

Well thats the main thing! Did you watch the first video or parts of it or what?

About an hour of the first one and then went to bed.

Have another look at them in a while.

noodler

Gbear wrote: »

About an hour of the first one and then went to bed.

Have another look at them in a while.

Cool.

Its a difficult discussion to have when I've watched all the vids and someone else hasn't.

And then actually getting someone to give a crap enough to watch them is the other issue.

Again though the three things they added to the EC I didn't realise until last night. I had pretty much seen the extra scenes they'd put for the three main endings (the voiceovers) as proof that the IT was wrong.

J. Marston

Been playing a bit of multiplayer over the weekend and there's a thing called ''Opertation: Overwatch'' on.

Squad Goal: Extraction on any difficulty with at least one squad member using an Earth Pack character

Allied Goal: Extract 800,000 individual players on any difficulty, with each live member counting toward the goal.

Squad Goal Success: All squad members awarded a Commendation Pack.
Allied Goal Success: All players awarded a Victory Pack that includes a new Earth character.

I have a N7 Paladin, an Earth character (I think) and I've done a good few extractions on bronze. Any reason why I'm not getting the commendation pack. Whatever that is. Or maybe I get it after the weekend?

Gbear

J. Marston wrote: »

Been playing a bit of multiplayer over the weekend and there's a thing called ''Opertation: Overwatch'' on.



I have a N7 Paladin, an Earth character (I think) and I've done a good few extractions on bronze. Any reason why I'm not getting the commendation pack. Whatever that is. Or maybe I get it after the weekend?

Yeah, you get goodies after the operation is over. It might take a week but I think I've always got them in the end.

There'll be an announcement early next week telling players if they succeeded or not.

J. Marston

Thought I was playing a silver game. First wave, Brutes and Banshees galore. Find out it was a platinum mission. Panic stations. Everyone dead within the first five minutes of wave 1. Mission failed.

That was clever by the leader of that game.

degrassinoel

some people get a kick out of doing that to lower level players. No idea why as it just wastes everyones time.

i still reckon there should be a lockout on being able to join higher difficulty setting games. like bronze being accessible to all, silver at level 10, gold at 15, platinum at 20

Gunmonkey

So, managed to get an N7 Shadow from a PSP, man are they fun. Just sprinting round teleporting and shooting of electric waves of death

As for distribution of bonus packs, usually its around midnight Tuesday night, so best to check Wednesday morning.