Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Not to mention the many, many people who wanted a specific class or weapon and had no luck with the packs so far. Investing just five or ten bucks to buy lots of lots of packs becomes somewhat attractive to the alternative of farming for days or weeks on end - especially when they didn't have the time to play very often.

I resisted, not in the least because I realize it's no guarantee to get what I want, but the BSN forums are full of people who admitted to buying dozens of packs for $ to get something. I'm sure I'd have spent some real money, too, if BioWare would have offered specific unlocks.

Then Bioware/EA really has come up with a money making machine here that even CoD with it's $15 maps would take notice of.

Lynata wrote:
Also, in theory, in the Control ending you could simply let all Reapers fly straight into the nearest sun. Same result as Destroy, but without any other synthetics being sacrificed.

Also "in theory" Shepard could have them fly in a formation shaped like a 67 Cadillac El Dorado from star system to star system spreading the word of his galactic awesomeness.

Hell, it could be argued that depending on the level of his control, he could use them as a new galactic army/peacekeeping corps, doing what they did before except only when one race overextends itself and tries to subjugate other races, or he could use their considerable technology to help build new Mass Relays or ferry the races stranded in the Sol system back to their home sectors. If he actually has control, and his consciousness is in tact within their network, the things he could do are pretty much unlimited, which I suppose is why he makes a much better choice than The Illusive Man.

Ouze wrote:I've been getting this "one of your purchases failed to process" bug all damn day. It's lame as hell.

Server problems, probably. But if the credits are ever taken, even if you don't see the pack open, you still get its contents added to your manifest. It just becomes harder to track down what was actually in it.

vodo40k wrote:Wait, wait people actually BUY the spectre packs with real world $£? I thought the entire point you would play a horde based online game for more than a few times was to actually earn the credits, its the ANTICIPATION that keeps you playing (its why all decent MMORPGs survive).

Yes, you can buy packs with Microsoft points. I've spent money on them for a better chance to unlock the weapons/classes I want, though ultimately it's still just a lottery. Even purchasing the packs doesn't yield guaranteed items, and usually after a few packs people stop spending money on them because they unlock a few extra things very quickly and start playing the harder difficulties to get credits more quickly.

vodo40k wrote:If you have a competent team play as salarian/quarian infiltrator/engineer on firebase white against geth, easy 70k credits. asari adept against cerberus on dagger works pretty well too. (i havnt had too much experience with the new classes)

You don't even need a competent team for that. It's the easiest mode in the game and yields the best reward, which is why everyone does it, but it can hardly be called fun. After the 10th or 15th time running the same map against the same enemy, it gets a little grating. Once you learn to play on Gold for real (IE random/random and still win) you only do FBW/G/G if you just need a safe means of buying a couple Jumbo Equipment Packs to re-stock your medi-gel supply.

Aldarionn wrote:Hell, it could be argued that depending on the level of his control, he could use them as a new galactic army/peacekeeping corps, doing what they did before except only when one race overextends itself and tries to subjugate other races, or he could use their considerable technology to help build new Mass Relays or ferry the races stranded in the Sol system back to their home sectors. If he actually has control, and his consciousness is in tact within their network, the things he could do are pretty much unlimited, which I suppose is why he makes a much better choice than The Illusive Man.

Exactly! The "galactic peacekeeping corps" idea is something that occurred to me as well in the course of this thread. Just have the Reapers retreat to the edges of space and go into hybernation - providing the Council and/or a few select species with a red button that summons him/her and the Reapers back if need be.

Shep-controlled Reapers rebuilding the Relay network is something that another fan scripted into his "closure generator"*, too.

In the end, Control wasn't what my Shep picked due to regarding it as still being too risky compared to simply destroying them, but this really is a matter of gut-feeling.

*: Some fan on the BioWare forums scripted a sort of "ending generator" where you could tick off various choices you made throughout the games and it would give you some "post-ending closure dialogue" such as what happens to the Normandy crew etc. Personally, I thought some of its results were too much of a happy end, but it was an interesting idea and certainly something that many people who didn't like the ending thought of as "nice". Unfortunately, I cannot find the link again right now.

I'd keep the Reapers dormant in dark space just in case to fend of a Tyranid invasion (or something like that).

So, for those having difficulty with Gold, perhaps give this build a try.

Here's a video of a guy using that build to solo Gold on Fire Base Reactor in 29:10.

A few things to note:
-He is using Medi-Gel canceling to shorten the reload time of the weapon, which is impossible to do on console (There are other ways which I will explain later).
-The Claymore has innate Penetration and is the only Shotgun that actually gets the advantage of it. Currently the Shredder Mod is broken and does not grant any Penetration to a shotgun using it. It only grants extra damage to armor, but the Claymore can fire right through walls. With a smart choke, high caliber barrel and armor piercing ammo, it can 1-shot anything but boss NPC's through cover up to about 2.5 meters thick.
-Unlike the Geth Plasma Shotgun, the Claymore can actually score headshots, making it the highest damage weapon in the game currently. If the GPS could get headshots it would be superior. Additionally, using the GPS can initiate a bug with Tactical Cloak where it will randomly cancel immediately after it is activated, leaving you with a cooldown and your ass hanging out in the wind.

Reload Canceling:
When you reload a weapon, there are several parts to the reload that happen in order.
-Run out of ammo
-Delay
-Play reload animation
-Ammo appears in the magazine counter
-Finish reload animation

On any weapon, the reload time is actually determined by the animation, not by when the ammo appears in the magazine counter. The ammo always appears right after the animation starts, and once the counter ticks from 0 to full, you can interrupt the process and cancel the entire ending portion of the animation, allowing you to fire again much quicker.

On PC this can be done by hitting the medi-gel button (which most people re-map to a convenient location on the keyboard that works for them). This doesn't actually consume a medi-gel because you are not bleeding out, but it does send a signal that an ability has been used to the server which cancels the reload animation. On a console, you can cancel reload animations by using a power the instant the ammo ticks into the counter, even if that power is on cooldown. Of course, if the power is NOT on cooldown and you didn't want to use it right then, you are SoL. You can also cancel using the sprint button ("A" on 360), though this is difficult because it can sometimes throw you into cover or have you activate an objective/revive a teammate when you didn't intend to do so.

Reload Canceling is an intended mechanic in the game (As stated by the developers, so by using it you are NOT committing a bannable offense. You are playing the game as intended.) and is intended to reward skill and high-risk play. If you mess up the timing you leave yourself wide open with an empty magazine, so it takes practice to use properly.

Anyway, if you use this build and find it impressive, pop over to the BioWare forums and give props to Sp3c7eR.

Aldarionn wrote:On PC this can be done by hitting the medi-gel button (which most people re-map to a convenient location on the keyboard that works for them).

Not 100% sure but I could swear this also works with the Overload power. Since that one is an "instant cast" you can continue shooting right away. I think I've subconsciously started to do this on my Geth Engineer, but I will pay more attention next time I play him to see if my memories are correct/incorrect.

Thanks for the guide - although I wouldn't dare try to solo anything above Bronze, it does contain some pretty cool advice for general improvement.

It can be done with ANY power, not just Overload. That part works on any platform. The dis-advantage is that if you don't want to use a power and it's not on cooldown, you cannot cancel. IE, if I have Tactical Cloak ready to be used, and I want to reload cancel in order to fire a shot, THEN cloak and run to a different location, I cannot do it. I either have to wait for the reload, or blow Tactical Cloak to cancel the reload, or potentially tap A to sprint which could end badly. On PC however, I could hit the button to use Medi-Gel, which would cancel the reload without using a power allowing me to fire the shot, then cloak and run.

There is another way to do it on Console if you are sitting behind low, horizontal cover (IE crouching behind a chest-high wall). If you press B while reloading behind cover and there is no enemy on the other side to grab, it will cancel the reload. It checks for the grab anyway, which has the same effect as trying to use a power on cooldown or using Medi-Gel while not bleeding out.

As for not soloing anything above bronze, why not? If you can do it efficiently it's better than waiting for a team of people that potentially suck. It does take practice, a good build capable of doing it properly, and a thorough knowledge of the enemy you are fighting as well as the map you are playing on and the spawn points, but it's not THAT difficult once you have a good feel for those things. I soloed Silver with a Quarian Infiltrator the other day in under half an hour because Sabotage is insane. Infiltrators are by far the easiest class to solo with but I've seen it done with Salarian/Geth Engineers, Asari/Drell Adepts, Krogan Vanguards, Turian Soldiers. Almost any race/class can do it. Give it a shot sometime, but definitely pick the map you are most familiar with.

Aldarionn wrote:It can be done with ANY power, not just Overload. That part works on any platform.

A-ha! Thanks for clarifying - that little guide made it sound as if it'd only work with medi-gel which I loathe to risk unless expressly needed. I did not know it isn't consumed when you activate it without being wounded, though.

I reckon the "grab-check" would work for PC as well? Handy for Infiltrators.

Aldarionn wrote:As for not soloing anything above bronze, why not? If you can do it efficiently it's better than waiting for a team of people that potentially suck. It does take practice, a good build capable of doing it properly, and a thorough knowledge of the enemy you are fighting as well as the map you are playing on and the spawn points, but it's not THAT difficult once you have a good feel for those things.

Ehh, I think I'm pretty good in a team, but I lack confidence in my abilities when I am without backup. I'm a very defensive/supportive player, meaning that I prefer fixed positions to running around the map, and depending on the class I play I tend to lose 360° awareness when I'm focusing too much on specific areas I'm expecting the enemy to come from. Needless to say, this can become deadly when there's no one covering the other flanks. My Asari Commando and the Turian Soldier are probably the only characters I play somewhat offensively, and even with them I prefer working as part of a squad.

I think that for me, the teamplay definitively is part of the fun. Occasionally you get a group that sucks ... but half the time, even then this only gives me the ability to shine by saving their asses. Also, I don't believe my builds are geared for 100% efficiency, as I'm very much a style over substance kind of player. Geth Engineer with geth plasma rifle, Asari Commando with Avenger AR, that sort of stuff. I play MP as if it'd be half a roleplaying game.

Respect for the people who can solo Silver and Gold, tho. I recognize the competitive spirit that goes with achieving such feats.

Lynata wrote:
I reckon the "grab-check" would work for PC as well? Handy for Infiltrators.

I don't see why not, though the medi-gel trick doesn't work on console, so it's possible there are things that work on console but not on PC. Give it a try and see.

Lynata wrote:Ehh, I think I'm pretty good in a team, but I lack confidence in my abilities when I am without backup.

See, I find it interesting that you bring this up. I first got the notion that I might be able to solo Gold when I soloed several waves with a lackluster team on that difficulty, and only died in the end because having more people only made the AI less predictable.

I find that doing solo runs actually BOOSTS your confidence when playing with a team, since you know that if everything goes to hell you are capable of pulling it back on your own. You support your team for sure, but if they go down you don't panic. You just slip into survival mode and get to work.

Lynata wrote:I'm a very defensive/supportive player, meaning that I prefer fixed positions to running around the map....

That's not a bad thing. Most solo runs revolve around picking a spot on the map and defending it. In the video I linked, the guy spent most of his time in one area, branching out when necessary, or giving ground and falling back to a different position if he got overwhelmed. He only really went running around the map on objective waves. I tend to like Fire base Dagger for solo runs, and I spend 95% of my time in the tower.

Lynata wrote:....and depending on the class I play I tend to lose 360° awareness when I'm focusing too much on specific areas I'm expecting the enemy to come from.

The idea is to compensate for this by picking an area where you only have to limit your awareness to a 180° area of the map, or to specific entrances/exits of a room. On Reactor, the spot he picked had only two entrances with a nearby ammo box, and depending on the location of the enemy and how they were spawning (made easier to follow by Hunter Mode) he was able to fall back out of one entrance or the other, either to the top side of the Reactor, or to the Extraction point. This made it much easier to keep track of enemies and which direction they will be coming from.

Lynata wrote:Needless to say, this can become deadly when there's no one covering the other flanks. My Asari Commando and the Turian Soldier are probably the only characters I play somewhat offensively, and even with them I prefer working as part of a squad.

When there is noone to cover your flanks, limit your number of flanks .

Lynata wrote:I think that for me, the teamplay definitively is part of the fun. Occasionally you get a group that sucks ... but half the time, even then this only gives me the ability to shine by saving their asses. Also, I don't believe my builds are geared for 100% efficiency, as I'm very much a style over substance kind of player.

This, on the other hand, is a valid excuse. If you don't enjoy playing alone (I do, just for the challenge, but I definitely like the team aspect too) then you won't enjoy trying to do a solo run. It's a lot of hammering out mistakes and getting into a rhythm of play that would suffer from outside interference in the form of teammates getting killed and/or causing spawns in unfortunate locations. So if team play is what makes it a good experience for you, then fair enough!

Lynata wrote:Geth Engineer with geth plasma rifle, Asari Commando with Avenger AR, that sort of stuff. I play MP as if it'd be half a roleplaying game.

To be fair, I use the Geth Pulse Rifle on most of my Assault Rifle wielding characters these days. It's a strong weapon, with a very high rate of fire, excellent ammo capacity, and almost no kick, especially if fired from cover. I use the rate of fire combined with Disruptor Ammo to set up tech bursts on my Salarian Engineer, and detonate them with Energy Drain. I like to use the Geth Plasma Shotgun on my Geth Engineer though, because it still gives reasonable cooldowns and the burst damage is much higher. It's also very thematic that way and I find it useful at all ranges.

The Avenger is also a strong weapon, and if you have a rank X Avenger as your only weapon, in most cases you can easily get a 200% cooldown without even taking the bonus weight talents.

Aldarionn wrote:The Avenger is also a strong weapon, and if you have a rank X Avenger as your only weapon, in most cases you can easily get a 200% cooldown without even taking the bonus weight talents.

Yeah, my excuse for the Avenger is its low weight. Combined with the piercing mod and stability dampener, it makes for a surprisingly accurate auto-fire rifle that has no problems whatsoever taking down Guardians and stuff. My saving grace is probably my accuracy - as much as I gimp myself in terms of gear and talents, I'm consistently scoring golden headshot medals even with the Avenger. Three-round bursts ftw!

Of course, the "low weight" argument loses a bit of strength when you also bring along a heavy Carnifex as your sidearm because you love popping heads so much...

Be fair, a Carnifex X and a Phaeston X on my Turian Soldier are at 190% with just the Decreased Weight of Assault Rifles by 30%.

Is quite killy.

NOOO!

just finished ME3, I now understand all of the raging, the storry was pretty good, almost a tear-jerker in some places but damn Bioware, you've reallly gone downhill, compared to ME1, ME2 to an extent and KOTOR 1, well you can hang your head in shame.

I shouldn't need an extended cut DLC to find out what happens to the squad, as it stands the only people I know survived are joker, ashley and specalist Traylor.

Also, I think that background of the man talking to the boy is in my background folder, I think it's been there for about a year.

anyway, I'm away to re-write the 3rd game in my head, I've put too much time into the series to accept their ending.

FM Ninja 048 wrote:I shouldn't need an extended cut DLC to find out what happens to the squad, as it stands the only people I know survived are joker, ashley and specalist Traylor.

That's what I don't get - isn't there any allure in the prospect of coming up with your own closure for these details - do we really need to have other writers dictate everything for us now?

As far as I'm aware, BioWare intentionally did not explain every little detail because it's not just the end of an adventure but the end of an entire era. It's a lesson in creativity. There is no "canon ending" and everything left unexplained is open for the players to determine for themselves and how they'd like to see it go on. Granted, I wouldn't complain about being shown additional details either, but I see the absence of it being forced upon us as potential rather than something amiss. Worst case, whatever you get presented by the writers is something you don't like - feels a bit like a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" situation, maybe?

I'm not sure if the upcoming DLC actually deals with anything that happens after the cinematic; I thought (and had hoped) it'd rather focus on the big battle and the unleashing of the Crucible, differentiating the various endings a little more.

Perhaps we should start exchanging ideas how we imagine "our" ending, wouldn't that be more fun?

FM Ninja 048 wrote:Also, I think that background of the man talking to the boy is in my background folder, I think it's been there for about a year.

Hmm, possible - though the background looks sort of generic, so it could be coincidence that it evokes this feeling. But they've also been somewhat lazy when it comes to Tali's supposed "real" face*, so who knows.

(*: I think that for the time being I will override this lame pseudo-human beauty queen appearance with the more alien Quarian looks in the art book)

Lynata wrote:

Aldarionn wrote:The Avenger is also a strong weapon, and if you have a rank X Avenger as your only weapon, in most cases you can easily get a 200% cooldown without even taking the bonus weight talents.

Yeah, my excuse for the Avenger is its low weight. Combined with the piercing mod and stability dampener, it makes for a surprisingly accurate auto-fire rifle that has no problems whatsoever taking down Guardians and stuff. My saving grace is probably my accuracy - as much as I gimp myself in terms of gear and talents, I'm consistently scoring golden headshot medals even with the Avenger. Three-round bursts ftw!

Of course, the "low weight" argument loses a bit of strength when you also bring along a heavy Carnifex as your sidearm because you love popping heads so much...

The Avenger is the basic assault rifle. The one you start with. The 3 round burst gun is the Vindicator, which I actually don't like all that much because of the kick. On a Turian it's fine because they have added stability but on anything else it's very hard to get a headshot with all three rounds. Either you get one headshot and the other two miss high, or you aim low and still only get one headshot. Also, the three bullets don't do as much combined as a single shot from a Carnifex or a Phalanx which make them the better choice if you are trying for a Stasis/Headshot combo with an Asari Adept. Since you mentioned you are already take a Carnifex, I would just leave the Vindicator at home and instead take a Tempest with Ultra Light Materials and an Extended Barrel as your secondary weapon. I bring this as a secondary on almost every character I run these days, because at rank VI it's only a 5% increase to my cooldowns. If fired from cover it's pretty stable on any character, and it has a reasonable rate of fire and ammo supply, which I find is very helpful for taking out shields on things like Atlases and Primes.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Lynata wrote:That's what I don't get - isn't there any allure in the prospect of coming up with your own closure for these details - do we really need to have other writers dictate everything for us now?

See, that's the definition of lazy. If a writer cannot finish their own story and leaves it up to the reader/player/viewer to finish the story in their head, it's because they are too afraid to take a stance on anything. I find absolutely NO allure in coming up with my own ending to an open ended story because it means the story is unfinished, but sold as a finished product.

I think what the other poster is getting at here is that they cut off without showing you the results of your actions. The final scene was short and just showed you that your team survived somehow and is in some unknown location, then the Stargazer showed that life went on, but there was no individuality to that scene. If we go with the three possible endings we could choose from, it would have been nice to see A) The controlled Reapers doing Shepards bidding followed by galactic recovery, B) A society of combined synthetics/organics adjusting to their new....traits, and at least some sort of vision of what that would even look like (They came up with the concept, then visualized it by giving Joker the Fortification effect and having him cuddle with EDI......lazy......), or C) The galaxy cleaning up the pile of dead Reapers and reeling from the loss of all the synthetics that control their day-to-day. It's not much, just some indicator of how life goes on based on your decision, but of course they probably left this out on purpose so they could set a game after the Reapers and do the creative work during development for that game rather than having to tie themselves down with canon at the end of this one.

Lynata wrote:As far as I'm aware, BioWare intentionally did not explain every little detail because it's not just the end of an adventure but the end of an entire era. It's a lesson in creativity. There is no "canon ending" and everything left unexplained is open for the players to determine for themselves and how they'd like to see it go on. Granted, I wouldn't complain about being shown additional details either, but I see the absence of it being forced upon us as potential rather than something amiss. Worst case, whatever you get presented by the writers is something you don't like - feels a bit like a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" situation, maybe?

If they intend to set any game after the Reapers, they have to come up with a Cannon ending. This means they have to fully show the repercussions of Shepards actions eventually, and it could be that the ending was left vague to give them more creative room to develop that game.

Lynata wrote:Perhaps we should start exchanging ideas how we imagine "our" ending, wouldn't that be more fun?

Well, my Paragon Shepard chose Destruction, and my Renegade chose Control (IE my Paragon stuck to his convictions and my Renegade took a leaf out of The Illusive Man's book). For my Paragon, I imagine the Galaxy is reeling from the loss of synthetics which they use to run their daily lives, and each sector of space is cut off from the rest as travel between clusters will take a very long time even with FTL, and that's assuming most people can pilot their vessels without the VI's that ran all of the automated process. Of course an Engineer could create new VI's, but at that point exactly what the Crucible said would happen starts happening almost immediately.

For my Renegade playthrough I think Shepard would use the Reapers as a galactic beatstick, putting down species that attempt to assert too much control over the galaxy (The Krogan, possibly, depending on how well Wrex is able to hold it together without Bakara around). Depending on his level of control he might have them re-build some of the relays, or send the blueprints to the various races so they can do it. Basically, life goes on as it was, without fear that the Reapers are going to kill EVERYONE, and Shepards consciousness prunes the galaxy only when someone really deserves it.

Lynata wrote:

FM Ninja 048 wrote:I shouldn't need an extended cut DLC to find out what happens to the squad, as it stands the only people I know survived are joker, ashley and specalist Traylor.

That's what I don't get - isn't there any allure in the prospect of coming up with your own closure for these details - do we really need to have other writers dictate everything for us now?

Did you really just suggest that there is no problem with a company selling a story that requires you to use your imagination to finish it?

I mean, I'm not against using your imagination. I could have just skipped picking up ME3, saved myself $60, and made up an epic ending all by myself using nothing but my custom Avenger X (a stylish stick from the backyard) and the awesome power of imagination!.

Of course, I'm not sure how an ending that requires imagination to make it good is any different than the multitude of bad endings found all over the various story-telling genres. Perhaps critics have had it all wrong this whole time! /sarcasm

At any rate, at least the multiplayer is good. For those of you clinging to the hope that the DLC will somehow give you the ending you want, you might want to start "managing your expectations" right now. Me, I don't care what the ending is, I just want them to finish it.

For reference, as I don't want to repeat myself, my discussion of the ending with TotalWar1402 can be found here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/444747.page#4197715

Aldarionn wrote:The Avenger is the basic assault rifle. The one you start with.

I know. And it's the one I'm using. I'm "manually" controlling my burst fire so that I'm shooting 3 rounds, wait a moment for the aim to stabilize, and then open up again. It works quite well! Sorry if I was confusing there.

My favourite setups:

Asari Adept
Avenger X w/ Stability Damper, Piercing Mod
Carnifex III w/ Heavy Barrel, Extended Clip

Geth Engineer
Geth Plasma Rifle V w/ Stability Damper, Piercing Mod
Geth Plasma VI SMG w/ Heat Sink, Ultralight Materials

Human Infiltrator
N7 Valiant I w/ Extended Barrel, Piercing Mod
Carnifex III w/ Heavy Barrel, Extended Clip

Never tried the Vindicator, but doesn't sound as if I had missed something.

Aldarionn wrote:I think what the other poster is getting at here is that they cut off without showing you the results of your actions. The final scene was short and just showed you that your team survived somehow and is in some unknown location, then the Stargazer showed that life went on, but there was no individuality to that scene. If we go with the three possible endings we could choose from, it would have been nice to see A) The controlled Reapers doing Shepards bidding followed by galactic recovery, B) A society of combined synthetics/organics adjusting to their new....traits, and at least some sort of vision of what that would even look like (They came up with the concept, then visualized it by giving Joker the Fortification effect and having him cuddle with EDI......lazy......), or C) The galaxy cleaning up the pile of dead Reapers and reeling from the loss of all the synthetics that control their day-to-day.

More individuality would have been nice, and I do agree that simply recolouring the beam/pulse was lazy. This is what I actually hope the DLC will change. I don't need fixed closure for my crew, I just want a better representation of my choices. The ending works when you've played the game only once, but as soon as you notice that the other options are 90% identical it's quite a bit "meh".

Aldarionn wrote:If they intend to set any game after the Reapers, they have to come up with a Cannon ending.

I don't think they do - at least for now. In the latest interviews, they said that new ME titles will be set in the timeframe between ME2 and ME3.

Not sure what to think about that. On one hand, that makes me able to revisit a setting I've grown to love. On the other, I'd like to explore new stuff as well, and ME games set during the First Contact War or in the "Post-Crucible Era" sound interesting as well. But I guess it's a win-win situation for me; I'd certainly be interested in either product. Here's hoping we're allowed to play an alien species in one of the next games, though. Something like the origins from Dragon Age would be cool.

Even if they'd ever do a game set after ME3, however, I think they could just let it take place so long in the future that none of your choices, right up to the big one at the end, really matter. If it takes place after the Stargazer cutscene, Shepard has become a myth and people will provide 10 different answers for any question you have about him/her. Even Synthesis ... how would that look, anyways? It could well be pulled off that people don't appear any different from the outside, simply taking the form of a bunch of nanites and handy abilities that let them interface with technology directly. And if you did not have the Synthesis ending, then all of this will still be present, but has been introduced later on as a new invention. Anything can be brought into line.

Also, here's my personal ending - an amalgamation of the cutscenes I got and my own creativity:


For my playthrough (only did one so far), Shep chose Destroy - in her mind, it was the only way to make sure the Reapers would never be a threat again. Control might have enabled her to achieve the same result, yet there was that lingering suspicion that the merger could end up with her being altered by the Reapers instead of assuming complete control. In the meantime, Joker dodged Reaper fighters to move the Normandy closer to the extraction point, where the few survivors of the ground forces awaited pickup by shuttle. Given their fighting spirit and aggression, I don't think any of the krogans made it. Same as Vega, Ash or Javik, although I'll admit that I'm merely adding them to the bodycount because deaths make it feel more realistic, these three are the sacrificing types, and I don't care about them too much. I think Vega died providing covering fire for a squad of retreating Alliance Marines; that would fit him well. Cortez didn't survive the Hammer drop-off; it was only later that I learned he can actually survive depending on an earlier dialogue option.

As the Crucible fired its beam, Normandy was already back in the air and approaching the Relay, together with a portion of those ships that had survived so far. In an eery replay of the Alliance's first retreat only months earlier, a portion of the fleet stayed behind to keep the Reapers busy and allow the others to escape. The turians in particular proved their honour once more as they insisted that their forces would provide the bulk of the sacrifice, whereas the Quarian Flotilla reluctantly pulled back first, intending to save as much of its civilian ships as possible. The Destiny Ascension remained at Earth as well, with Matriarch Lidanya adding the awesome power of its impressive main gun to the turian dreadnoughts. The Citadel flagship's kinetic barriers began to buckle under the onslaught, but just before the Normandy made the jump, it managed to cripple another Reaper by blasting through its vulnerable weapons port just as the enemy ship prepared to fire.

The Crucible's blast hit the Normandy in mid-transit, crippling half its electronic control systems and frying its AI. With all servers and backup blades being hit simultaneously, EDI simply ceased to exist. Thrown out of the Relay slipstream and stranded in a star system with no knowledge of their exact position, Joker confirmed the existence of a habitable planetoid in their vicinity. As FTL jumps without VI support were deemed too risky and the ship was already in a bad enough shape, it was decided to land on the planet and use it as a base until repairs could be completed. Controlling the ship's descent without a flight computer was a nigh-impossible feat, but Joker managed to pull it off and set down the SR-2 in a relatively safe way. As shown in the cinematic, Joker, Garrus and Liara leave the ship, but other survivors like Traynor would follow them soon. The group begins to set up a basecamp at the foot of the ship and, realizing that they are cut off from the rest of the galaxy in terms of communication, prepare for a longer stay.

Over the course of the next 10.000 years (which is when the post-credits Stargazer scene takes place), this small community becomes an independent colony, first turning into a village, then a city-state, with remote outposts set up for resource gathering slowly growing into larger communes as well. Liara, having been pregnant from "embracing eternity" with Shepard, gave birth to twins, who in turn became the origin of a now-sizable asari subset of the otherwise human-dominated population. Guided by the wisdom of a Matron-turned-Matriarch Liara, the people adopt the asari model of e-democracy and manage to avoid conflict. Even as its people grow apart, they remain united in their spirit. The mother of Shepard's kids manages to live for another 997 years before dying in her sleep, a strangely content smile on her lips.
Unfortunately, with Garrus and Tali being the only members of their respective species on this world, there are no turians and quarians around, although they have spent their final days as a pair of lovers. Both of them continue to be revered for their part in the legend of the Shepard.

After many generations of hardship and rebuilding, the scientists of this world - dubbed "Hope" by it original settlers - have come close to a breakthrough in drive technology that will finally present a veritable alternative to traditional FTL engines, enabling travel to faraway worlds outside the local cluster, whose barren planetoids are already being visited by small mining vessels searching for deposits of element zero. The colony's ultimate plan is the construction of a spaceship as large as the legendary Normandy, whose ancient wreck remains preserved in a temple. Estimated construction time: 20 years. On the local extranet, human and asari philosophers publicly debate the prospect of re-establishing contact with their distant genetical relatives, with historians and sociologists suggesting their theories of what may have become of them, or the possible difficulties renewed diplomatic contact might pose. A number of conservatives oppose the project, argueing that nobody knows what they might find out there and that it could put every human and asari on this world at risk.

Cut to the Stargazer scene again. A young kid listens to the legend of the Shepard, his or her favourite story. Looking up at the night sky, the child inquires about the many stars and what is to be found up there. Once more the child asks his/her grandfather for a story of the Shepard. The old man begins to talk, but the camera zooms out of the scene and his voice fades away. The image briefly switches to a large construction hall where a crude metal skeleton is being assembled. A close view on a section of the structure, lasting merely for a single second, shows a small plate affixed to one of the gleaming metal beams. It reads: "Project Phoenix - Normandy III - Forward Section 17A"


PS: my Shep actually got the "breather" cutscene, but I choose to ignore it - imho, having her die right there makes for a more dramatic and thus ultimately better exit for this character than any of the alternatives.

Lynata wrote:I know. And it's the one I'm using. I'm "manually" controlling my burst fire so that I'm shooting 3 rounds, wait a moment for the aim to stabilize, and then open up again. It works quite well! Sorry if I was confusing there.

Ahhhh I see what you mean. I tend to fire from cover or use the Geth Pulse Rifle which has no kick, so I go full auto and fire it like a water gun.

Lynata wrote:Asari Adept
Avenger X w/ Stability Damper, Piercing Mod
Carnifex III w/ Heavy Barrel, Extended Clip

I use the same setup, except with a Tempest instead of an Avenger. The lighter weapon makes for faster cooldowns and I primarily only use it if I'm out of ammo with the Carnifex, or firing at an Atlas/Prime with shields still active. Recently I've started switching out the Carnifex for a Phalanx. I like the faster fire rate and the extra ammo, and it's better against atlases.

Lynata wrote:Geth Engineer
Geth Plasma Rifle V w/ Stability Damper, Piercing Mod
Geth Plasma VI SMG w/ Heat Sink, Ultralight Materials

I run a Geth Plasma Shotgun X on my Engineer. It still gives reasonable cooldowns for spamming Overload, but it just does SO much damage with Networked AI that I cannot justify using anything else. I don't even take a sidearm.

Lynata wrote:Human Infiltrator
N7 Valiant I w/ Extended Barrel, Piercing Mod
Carnifex III w/ Heavy Barrel, Extended Clip

N)#KLJAS&#$DBF*N$*#JASD_)(@U#JJ*!@fkIEMN(!KGFk@INQ(!_@(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!11111111!ONE

You bastard with your Valiant! I have participated in every event and every single Commendation Pack I have opened has had a Crusader in it. Such a useless pile of crap! I want my Valiant!

Granted, I DO have a Black Widow II right now, so there is that, but I like to use multi-shot sniper rifles on more than just Infiltrators, and the Valiant is MUCH lighter than the Black Widow.

I'm still stuck with my noob sniper rifle X and I use the N7 Eagle II for backup. I have a few rare guns, but other than the eagle they're all level 1 and suckier than the noob versions at X.

But, I'm mostly working on getting all the veteran pack guns up to X before I start blowing more cash on spectre packs

Aldarionn wrote:Recently I've started switching out the Carnifex for a Phalanx. I like the faster fire rate and the extra ammo, and it's better against atlases.

But the styyyle!

I recently got the Paladin (in an ordinary Spectre pack even) and tried her out for the extra damage. Modded her with Heavy Barrel and Piercing. That damn beast only has three shots, but she's kicks like a Widow!
Still ... Carnifex ftw.

Aldarionn wrote:
I run a Geth Plasma Shotgun X on my Engineer. It still gives reasonable cooldowns for spamming Overload, but it just does SO much damage with Networked AI that I cannot justify using anything else. I don't even take a sidearm.

*nods* I had the shotgun at first, too - quite a nasty little beast with its semi-homing projectiles. I feel tempted to try out a close-range Geth Infiltrator with this one...
The sidearm I only took because the geth plasma rifle runs out of ammo surprisingly quick for its 500+ shots - and with ultralight materials, this tiny SMG has next to no effect on my cooldowns.

Aldarionn wrote:
N)#KLJAS&#$DBF*N$*#JASD_)(@U#JJ*!@fkIEMN(!KGFk@INQ(!_@(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!11111111!ONE
You bastard with your Valiant! I have participated in every event and every single Commendation Pack I have opened has had a Crusader in it. Such a useless pile of crap! I want my Valiant!

And here I thought *I* had bad luck. You should see the team I'm playing in - one has the Valiant II and a Carnifex VI. *jealous*
Not to mention how long I had to farm to get the Asari Adept, or even just a single customization for the Human Infiltrator. At times it really felt as if the game was trolling me.

But hey, the Black Widow is a gun I don't have at all yet, so that's something at least. Anyways - maybe you will get a Valiant from Operation Silencer now? Fingers crossed!
It is a pretty rifle. For me it was a very tough choice between the Widow and this one; they both work very well in their specialized roles.

Lynata wrote:*nods* I had the shotgun at first, too - quite a nasty little beast with its semi-homing projectiles. I feel tempted to try out a close-range Geth Infiltrator with this one...
The sidearm I only took because the geth plasma rifle runs out of ammo surprisingly quick for its 500+ shots - and with ultralight materials, this tiny SMG has next to no effect on my cooldowns.

My preferred Geth Infiltrator build uses a Geth Plasma Shotgun X. I've posted the build here before. Basically set it up to fire Proximity Mine from Tactical Cloak, then unload on the weakened target with the GPS. If you get good with Proximity Mine you can use it to flush enemies from cover, and peg Brutes/Banshees/Atlases/Primes for 20% more damage, then fire a charged shot, followed by 3 more shots from Cloak. If you do it fast enough everything will get the Cloak damage bonus except for the initial charged shot. This combo will kill Brutes and Ravagers on Gold in 2 hits, and Banshees take 2 clips, max. It's a strong build.

Recently I switched my build to full melee. Melee boost from Tactical Cloak, melee from Advanced Hardware, radius and the 20% expose on Proximity Mine. Cloak, fire proxy mine, heavy melee into a crowd, and watch everyone die. So far, from my testing, it will kill anything but boss enemies in 1 hit. Brutes die in 2 pulses, Ravagers in 1 if you hit with the proxy mine or 2 if you don't, and Banshees take....finessem but can be killed off in a few hit-and-run pulses. Atlases are slow and easy to avoid though, and the heavy melee staggers them. I haven't had the chance to hit a Phantom with it yet though.

Gotta agree with Aldarionn.

The Phalanx is just plain nasty. Pairing it with the Phaeston on my Turian, popping Marksmanship and things just drop when I fan that trigger.

Ugh, the Phaeston is just SO heavy compared to the Avenger and the Geth Pulse Rifle. I don't feel the damage really warrants the weight, to be honest. Perhaps with decreased weight on Assault Rifles it's better, or on a character that doesn't care about weight like a Krogan Sentinel, but on anything that uses powers you can't beat the Geth Pulse Rifle.

Phalanx+Phaeston, ignoring the "Increase Weight Capacity by 25%" perk for the Weapon Damage one and then taking the Assault Rifle weight reduction ends up with 195% recharge rate when both are at X.

At X, the Phaeston with Disruptor or Incendiary Ammo wrecks faces.

The Phaeston is nice - have it on the Turian Soldier I don't play very often (but still enjoy due to him being quite badass and having a sexy voice). Not only is it a true turian gun, you can really mow down whole squads of enemies if you trigger the Marksman power!

Found this Tali picture...

Lynata wrote:The Phaeston is nice - have it on the Turian Soldier I don't play very often (but still enjoy due to him being quite badass and having a sexy voice). Not only is it a true turian gun, you can really mow down whole squads of enemies if you trigger the Marksman power!

I run it with the magazine and barrel, it is silly how many rounds I can put out.

Plus it has a great noise, which has been dubbed in my group as the "Popcorn Maker".

It sounds more like a nail gun to me.

Kanluwen wrote:I run it with the magazine and barrel, it is silly how many rounds I can put out.

Magazine and piercing mod here. Though this choice is also influenced by my weakness for appearance - fortunately, this works just as well.

Speaking of appearance, does anyone else think that the Barrel V modification for SMGs and pistols looks incredibly stupid? Like the barrel of a drum revolver. I wish I could switch back to the IV or III version. :(

Just realized how little of ME3 MP iv played since completing the single player, its somewhat disappointing as the MP was pretty fun.

Even then I'm hardly playing any ME game, did the 3rd one ruin the series for me?? I kid, I still love the games.