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    Mass Effect 3

    Game » consists of 19 releases. Released Mar 06, 2012

    When Earth begins to fall in an ancient cycle of destruction, Commander Shepard must unite the forces of the galaxy to stop the Reapers in the final chapter of the original Mass Effect trilogy.

    Biotics are Broken

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    alistercat

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    #1  Edited By alistercat

    Soldier is the most boring class. When you are a soldier the game plays like a very standard shooter, and for people that say the combat isn't great then I have littlesympathy for you if this is the class you pick.

    Biotics are the most interesting part of the Mass Effect combat. Space magic, or the force, it's pretty much all the same. It involves physics and disrupting your enemy in unconventional ways. The problem is that None of the biotic abilities effect anything more than fodder enemies. If they have a shield, barrier or armour then they cannot be touched. They just stagger a bit. This breaks the entire system. Sure, warp works, but warp (like incinerate and other such powers) are just specialised damage dealers. There's nothing interesting about it. Why give me the power to create a singularity, or pop enemies in to the air if it doesn't work again anything that isn't already super easy to kill.

    My biggest issue comes out hours in to ME3. I played a Vanguard through the previous two games and loved it. Shockwave was a really fun power in Mass Effect 2 but now, 50%+ of the time it just passes through enemies. Even husks. is the game broken? Is this a glitch?

    So, I've been thinking about starting over (won't lose too much) and playing a different class. In multiplayer I have found Engineer to be by far the most powerful class because they can take down shields and armour. If you are biotic user in ME2 there isn't much you can do at all against shielded/barrier/armoured enemies. I'm not sure what to do.

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    Tennmuerti

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    #2  Edited By Tennmuerti

    It was the same in both ME2 and ME3 with the problem escalating much more on harder difficulties where on insanity almost everything had shield and/or armor.
     
    I disagree on the soldier tho. They made the soldier much more fun to play in 3. There are several combos and active abilities to use. You now have grenades that you can adjust. Concusive shot that can take on ammo mod properties, or shatter frozen stuff in combo with cryo ammo. I found plenty to do while playing one. One of my 2 main Shepards had been a soldier in all three games.
     
    Vanguard is one of the classes that could excel in every game. It's role just changed from 2 onwards. It actually became about always being aggresive. Biotic charge was the most overpowered broken ability in ME2. Likewise in 3 the combination of Biotic Charge and Nova are extremely powerfull in both singleplayer and MP.

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    EToaster

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    #3  Edited By EToaster

    Engineer is a fantastic and fun class. The only power affected by armor/shields/barriers is Cryoblast, and that still debuffs them with reduced movement speed and armor vulnerability. Sometimes you don't even have to fire your gun while your drone and turret slaughter everything for you, and Cryoblast and Incinerate can be specced so that they work in tandem, with Incinerate doing over twice as much damage on frozen targets, and causing a freezing explosion due to the power combo system. Any enemies that get frozen by this can then also be incinerated, causing further explosions.

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    alistercat

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    #4  Edited By alistercat

    @Tennmuerti: Yeah, there are some interesting things you can do but it still feels a lot more plain. It is actually Shockwave I am having a problem with. Sometimes it just does nothing for some reason and it shouldn't.

    Do you happen to know if there are a limited amount of credits in the game? I want to respec but it costs money each time after the first and I don't want to waste any.

    @EToaster: That is a good combo.

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    Tennmuerti

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    #5  Edited By Tennmuerti
    @AlisterCat said:

    @Tennmuerti: Yeah, there are some interesting things you can do but it still feels a lot more plain. It is actually Shockwave I am having a problem with. Sometimes it just does nothing for some reason and it shouldn't.

    Do you happen to know if there are a limited amount of credits in the game? I want to respec but it costs money each time after the first and I don't want to waste any.

    Yes credits are limited.
    There are also far far more things to buy then you will ever get money. You can't buy everything like you could in 2.
    Now you actually ahve to make purchasing choices.
    That said 1-3 respeccs won't hurt you that much
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    matthias2437

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    #6  Edited By matthias2437

    If you're playing vanguard why are you doing anything but charging and blasting with a shotgun. I used shockwave on a few of the big enemies but my cooldown on charge was like 2 seconds and it gives me 100% shield. Just charge into groups of people, blast them, charge again. Most broken class in the game.

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    canucks23

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    #7  Edited By canucks23

    I played through as an adept, with nothing but a pistol and breezed through the game. If something has a barrier/shield just warp + throw and the biotic explosion should take it out. Taking a squad member with overload helps too.

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    alistercat

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    #8  Edited By alistercat

    @matthias2437 said:

    If you're playing vanguard why are you doing anything but charging and blasting with a shotgun. I used shockwave on a few of the big enemies but my cooldown on charge was like 2 seconds and it gives me 100% shield. Just charge into groups of people, blast them, charge again. Most broken class in the game.

    I choose vanguard for a little balance, I don't like charging all that much though. Or Shotguns.

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    alistercat

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    #9  Edited By alistercat

    @Tennmuerti said:

    Yes credits are limited. There are also far far more things to buy then you will ever get money. You can't buy everything like you could in 3. Now you actually ahve to make purchasing choices. That said 1-3 respeccs won't hurt you that much

    Damn, that really sucks. I already took my free respec, so it costs 5000 now. I suppose I could just not buy those stupidly expensive Spectre weapons. I could respect like 40 times for the price of one of those.

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    SirPsychoSexy

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    #10  Edited By SirPsychoSexy

    I played soldier in ME2 mostly for the assault rifle, but now that anyone can use it I don't see why you would pick a soldier. I mean half of their abilities are ammo types that you can only use one at a time. I went with sentinel and it is pretty awesome, get some kick ass biotic abilities (warp + throw is beastly), tech armor, cryoblast, overload, and still get an assault rifle.

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    buft

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    #11  Edited By buft

    Bring team mates who compliment your class and use them to remove the things you struggle with. I choose the sentinel for its mix of tech and biotic abilities.

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    alistercat

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    #12  Edited By alistercat

    @buft said:

    Bring team mates who compliment your class and use them to remove the things you struggle with. I choose the sentinel for its mix of tech and biotic abilities.

    It isn't a case of me struggling, it's more my issues with the balance. Most biotic abilities are underpowered simply because they don't work, while certain combinations are game breaking (the charge method mentioned above).

    @SirPsychoSexy said:

    I played soldier in ME2 mostly for the assault rifle, but now that anyone can use it I don't see why you would pick a soldier. I mean half of their abilities are ammo types that you can only use one at a time.

    That's my biggest issue with picking soldier from a power perspective. Theoretically you can swap out the ammo for the situation but... that just seems silly.

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    deactivated-5e49e9175da37

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    It's not like you can't still fire your gun, soldier. Stagger effect is useful enough at stunlocking enemies, pull is the best way to get guardians to drop shields, warp is effective against anything. If you have problems with shields, bring Garrus or EDI. I played an engineer and I brought Liara everywhere for the exact opposite reason.

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    BrockNRolla

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    #14  Edited By BrockNRolla

    I almost never have issues with my personal biotic powers as an Adept, but I'm just using throw, singularity, and warp. I thought these skills made me way more effective than the soldier.

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    Red

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    #15  Edited By Red

    I'm playing on Insanity as an Adept, and I completely demolish any unshielded enemies, and use them as a bomb for their friends. That being said, it does seem as though Singularity has been nerfed a bit against shielded enemies, as before it would stagger and drain their health far more. I wouldn't call biotics broken, just a little imbalanced: I'll destroy barriered and armored enemies, but I can't take out someone with shields on my own.

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    TaliciaDragonsong

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    Think I saw a upgrade for pull that included a damage component.
     
    I think Biotics are perfect in this game, compared to their ME2 versions.

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    Enigma777

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    #17  Edited By Enigma777

    Always be Soldier.

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    Dezztroy

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    #18  Edited By Dezztroy

    As someone else said - Biotic Explosions pretty much break this game. Playing an Adept on Insanity you can easily take out an Atlas in 15 seconds just by spamming warp and throw. They couldn't be farther from underpowered.

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    stryker1121

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    #19  Edited By stryker1121

    @Tennmuerti: How do you respec?

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    TheHT

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    #20  Edited By TheHT

    Biotic explosion is your friend.

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    Tennmuerti

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    #21  Edited By Tennmuerti
    @stryker1121 said:

    @Tennmuerti: How do you respec?

    On Normandy in the med bay there are 2 operating tables one does respec, the other adds bonus powers from other characters.
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    CaLe

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    #22  Edited By CaLe

    No shut up because soldier is bestest one.

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    ShadowSkill11

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    #23  Edited By ShadowSkill11

    I think the TC is freaking high. I'm playing as a biotic and parely use my guns. It's all about the biotic detonation baby.

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    Stahlbrand

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    #24  Edited By Stahlbrand

    @AlisterCat said:

    Soldier is the most boring class. When you are a soldier the game plays like a very standard shooter, and for people that say the combat isn't great then I have littlesympathy for you if this is the class you pick.

    Biotics are the most interesting part of the Mass Effect combat. Space magic, or the force, it's pretty much all the same. It involves physics and disrupting your enemy in unconventional ways. The problem is that None of the biotic abilities effect anything more than fodder enemies. If they have a shield, barrier or armour then they cannot be touched. They just stagger a bit. This breaks the entire system. Sure, warp works, but warp (like incinerate and other such powers) are just specialised damage dealers. There's nothing interesting about it. Why give me the power to create a singularity, or pop enemies in to the air if it doesn't work again anything that isn't already super easy to kill.

    My biggest issue comes out hours in to ME3. I played a Vanguard through the previous two games and loved it. Shockwave was a really fun power in Mass Effect 2 but now, 50%+ of the time it just passes through enemies. Even husks. is the game broken? Is this a glitch?

    So, I've been thinking about starting over (won't lose too much) and playing a different class. In multiplayer I have found Engineer to be by far the most powerful class because they can take down shields and armour. If you are biotic user in ME2 there isn't much you can do at all against shielded/barrier/armoured enemies. I'm not sure what to do.

    I've played biotic Adept though the first two games and I'm working on the third, and your post was really my reaction to the second game - where all the sudden anything more important than cannon fodder had a layer of protection or full invulnerability from my biotic control or most of my damage (in the form of biotic explosion combos). Its a drag.

    You need a party member with the short-circuit power, like Garrus, to drop shields, warp will drop barriers, but yeah, I agree, ME3 continues to make the interesting combat style the most difficult, out of proportion with the other classes.

    I'm playing on hardcore now, but I can tell you if I play it on Insanity later, it sadly won't be as an awesome space-wizard.

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    CottonWolf

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    #25  Edited By CottonWolf

    Like other people have said. Biotics are by no means broken at least not from the sense of being underpowered. I'm playing on Insanity and biotic explosions break the game in the most awesome way possible. Carry a gun so you have 200% regen, warp/singularity, throw, repeat, win. With the biotic explosion damage increase upgrades you're like a god. And this is from someone who completely refused to play ME2 on Insanity, because it just wasn't fun.

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    Phatmac

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    #26  Edited By Phatmac

    Who needs Shockwave when you can charge and use nova all the damn time. Playing Vanguard is fucking incredible. Love it so damn much.

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    Hunkulese

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    #27  Edited By Hunkulese

    You have 2 other party members. There are lots of choices for getting rid of barriers and armor. You can also equip the armor pen mod on a weapon to quickly shred through armor ememies.

    If you have Liara in your party just equip a sniper rifle. At least on normal every normal sized ememy with a shield or armor drops after one stasis and a headshot.

    Sorry you can't breeze through the game only using one ability.

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    Hizang

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    #28  Edited By Hizang

    I never use any of the Biotics and I enjoy it just fine.

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    jeanluc

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    #29  Edited By jeanluc  Staff

    Vanguard is the way to go. That Biotic Charge is still kickass.

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    tourgen

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    #30  Edited By tourgen

    biotic combos and biotic explosion effects

    I can't wait to do my next run with an adept.

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    MikkaQ

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    #31  Edited By MikkaQ

    Bah who needs biotics when you can go ham with an incendiary SMG in slow motion just charging at the enemy hosing everything down with lead. That's how I played like 80% of ME3.

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    deactivated-629ec706f0783

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    I've been an infiltrator since ME1 and i loveeee it. I always feel super overpowered, and the new cloak + damage makes it even better. I haven't tried any other class, be it SP or MP.

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    phampire

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    #33  Edited By phampire

    i'm playing an adept atm on the second hardest difficulty, if you spec to get the most out of biotic combos. I can take out most shielded enemies with one combo ( max warp and throw).

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    tim_the_corsair

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    #34  Edited By tim_the_corsair

    Adept with a semi-auto sniper rifle here.

    Hit the weak enemies, use them as bombs, plink the armour/shields remaining on stronger enemies with rifle, hit them with powers.

    I demolish most encounters without my squad having to fire a shot.

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