I'm soon hitting N7-level 400, and I'm about to be done with MP for good. I'm still lacking 3 race/class combinations (Salarian Infiltrator/Quarian Engineer/Turian Sentinel), which all look like a tonne of fun on paper. I want to play those, but I'll likely run out of steam before I get them. I'm still lacking a few uncommon and rare guns and have but two (the completely redundant Paladin and the Crusader Shotgun) ultra rares. Most my favorite guns from the campaign are ultra rares, which I'll likely won't get to play with in coop ever. Since I'm spending most my credits on Spectre Booster Packs, I'm usually low or completely out of Cobra Missles and Medi Packs, nor can I buff up frequently. Am I supposed to farm consumables like a MMORPG raider to go and 'raid' Gold difficulty, or what?

Anyways, while I much enjoy the coop gameplay, the frustrations of a completely random unlock scheme, that's 90%+ filled with redundant items, is driving me up the walls. I feel like I don't get to play the game the way it supposed to (with medipacks and missles and buffs), nor do I earn access to all its content in a 'decent' manner. It's an dastardly assfuck of a free-2-play unlock system, which piles up frustration to the extent, that only players putting down obscene amounts of IRL-cash ever will get and be able to play with all the guns and characters, in short the full breadth of gameplay. With my boot I'd love step on somebody's face in punishment for this fact, that I've put in more time in the multiplayer than should ever be required for me to have access to its full depth.

FUCK YOU EA/BIOWARE - THIS SHIT IS WAY OVER THE LINE - I PAYED TO PLAY ALREADY - GIVE ME MY CLASSES AND GUNS...

400?
 
You're nuts.
 
:)

@Tennmuerti said:

400? You're nuts. :)

That crazy-ass Krogan Sentinel on Reactor today? That was you right? I would not dare to go all-out Berserker on Silver. Nicely done.

@Tennmuerti said:

400? You're nuts. :)

That crazy-ass Krogan Sentinel on Reactor today? That was you right? I would not dare to go all-out Berserker on Silver. Nicely done.

Last time I checked I have about 30 something missiles and 50 something medi gels and I'm only level 70. The few buff items I have are what I've essentially gathered since I started playing. You really only need to use medi gels and missiles on gold and the buffs are optional then. I myself only used the buffs a couple of times before I realized I didn't really need them. If you feel you have to use items on Silver or lower then you're on a bad team.

I myself need a Quarian Engineer and Asari Adept, which is bad considering they were my best classes in the demo.

N7 Rank 250 or something, I forget.
Got almost all I wanted. Have Carnifex Pistol and got the upgrade Paladin pistol. BOOM HEADSHOT! So satifying. All I want now is the Disciple shotgun.

@golguin said:

Last time I checked I have about 30 something missiles and 50 something medi gels and I'm only level 70. The few buff items I have are what I've essentially gathered since I started playing. You really only need to use medi gels and missiles on gold and the buffs are optional then. I myself only used the buffs a couple of times before I realized I didn't really need them. If you feel you have to use items on Silver or lower then you're on a bad team.

I myself need a Quarian Engineer and Asari Adept, which is bad considering they were my best classes in the demo.

No doubt. PUGs gotten worse this week. Feels like most 'real' players moved on and all that's left are dudes who get their games on another person's scedule, respectively budget - in other words - kids. Had almost exclusively shit games today, with low-skillers and quitters. The situation got better at around 10 PM, then again, it might just be my bad luck of draw. Just like with the unlocks.

I definitely use consumables on whatever difficulty, if it's what it takes to win. Playing Silver difficulty public games exclusively, earning 30k for each win, spending 60k on Spectre packs, there's definitely not an abundance of consumables, especially on shitty sessions like today, with more defeats than I care for.

Played like 50 N7-levels worth of gameplay today. Most notable 'rewards' - I got two Carnifex upgrades out of it (now proud owner of a Carnifex III). Ludicrous is what that is. Still lacking 3 race/class combinations. Unlocked no new guns. Still lacking ultra-light SMG materials I.

I'm seeing players with half my N7 levels sporting Black Widow X and such. Pure RNG (Random Numbers Generator aka Virtual Dice aka Luck) coupled with almost 100% redundant crap is the worst designed, most atrociously unfair, and completely retarded unlock scheme I've ever had the pleasure to be effed by in my life. Every day I send a couple of vile curses to the gods, so that the responsibles parties may suffer as much as I suffer from their shitty design by evil intent.

Gods be flippin' them Bioware boys the bird. Frozen airplane poo may fall on y'all! Evil Ass Fuckers.

I've unlocked every character class, no Krogans though :(   it's the one race i wanted to play. and i'm near n7 rank 300

@Marz said:

I've unlocked every character class, no Krogans though :( it's the one race i wanted to play. and i'm near n7 rank 300

imo every race/class combination is a class of its own, due to widely differing active abilities and passive buffs. Aren't all human classes available from the get-go?

You'll love being a Krogan (if you'll ever get so lucky).

What a cruel joke this unlock scheme is. Instead of carefully pacing unlocks like they should, they hand it over to Fortuna. If the goddess Fortuna rather wants to take a dump on your face than grace you with good fortune, you're just shit out of luck. Even ludicrous amounts of time can't reliably beat these odds.

Gods I hate these evil fuckers.

I've been trying to get the widow for ages and my friend has brought a million Spectre packs and still hasn't got his asari adept. Does you N7 rank affect the stuff you get in packs because I am now just playing with my level 20s and have no intention of promoting.

@Marz said:

I've unlocked every character class, no Krogans though :( it's the one race i wanted to play. and i'm near n7 rank 300

imo every race/class combination is a class of its own, due to widely differing active abilities and passive buffs. Aren't all human classes available from the get-go?

You'll love being a Krogan (if you'll ever get so lucky).

What a cruel joke this unlock scheme is. Instead of carefully pacing unlocks, if the goddess fortuna rather wants to take a dump on your face, your just shit out of luck.

All i have to say is: I hate this unlocking system.

@UlquioKani said:

I've been trying to get the widow for ages and my friend has brought a million Spectre packs and still hasn't got his asari adept. Does you N7 rank affect the stuff you get in packs because I am now just playing with my level 20s and have no intention of promoting.

I promote instantly, because I can't deal with all the 'character training' rewards otherwise. At least this way I feel like I'm getting something. And no to N7-lvls improving odds for good loot. Your odds improve as soon as items get taken out of the viable loot pool for your account, which will take FOREVER. Weapons have to be X (lvl 10 aka loot them ten times), weapon mods go up to V, I suppose Medpacks, Missles and such upgrade trice to a total of 5. Class trainings you'll receive forever.

It's a cruel fucking joke, that's what it is. In all my time playing the coop, I've not once seen a player using a Scorpion. Imagine the odds. Ridiculous.

I unlocked a Krogan soldier earlier this week (lvl 20), but I really wanted an an Asari adept. I gave him a try and I've had a blast.

I got the asari a couple of days ago. Biotic explosions are effective, but I prefer playing as Hevy Devy and backhanding everything into oblivion.

I usually don't hope for anything specific, but I hope to play as every Race at least once. The only Race I haven't unlocked yet is a Salarian. I've unlocked both Turians, both Quarians, a Drell Adept, an Asari Vanguard, and a Krogan Sentinel. I mainly use my Krogan Sentinel because smashing enemies with my melee attack is the most fun thing to do in the multiplayer. I also unlocked the M358-Talon which is pretty fun to use. It's like a long-range Shotgun.

@Seppli: I justify the character training stuff by saying that I am getting more appearance options rather than experience

@Seppli said:

It's a cruel fucking joke, that's what it is. In all my time playing the coop, I've not once seen a player using a Scorpion. Imagine the odds. Ridiculous.

I unlocked a Scorpion fairly quickly. It's not very good, so I don't use it.

Its kinda weird. I have pretty much only been playing my Krogan soldier and just been farming recruit packs. I guess i got all the weapons out of those packs so all i have been getting its those "character packs" that essentially give a little exp and more appearance options. Have had zero luck in silver games no matter what i do. Even went with my asari adept to give the most support but people absolutely refuse to use med packs and rockets like they cant get more. Shit has been driving me crazy.

I didn't even know what I wanted until I unlocked my Vindicator and Salarian Engineer around N7 level 30. Now I keep playing to unlock random dalliances.

How the hell do I unlock krogan soldier?

@SpaceInsomniac said:

@Seppli said:

It's a cruel fucking joke, that's what it is. In all my time playing the coop, I've not once seen a player using a Scorpion. Imagine the odds. Ridiculous.

I unlocked a Scorpion fairly quickly. It's not very good, so I don't use it.

I also have the Scorpion and dear god, it is ass.

Yea, the whole loot system is infuriating. While it is certainly exciting the first few times you get packs to see what you get, it quickly becomes annoying once you're seeking specific loot. I see no reason why you can't just purchase the stuff you want. There's plenty of unlocks so it could still take a crazy amount of time to obtain it all. If the concern is not being able to charge microsoft space bucks for packs, they could still have had optional credit pack purchases or items could cost money (not that I condone this). They probably thought the random nature of it would keep people coming back but in reality, it just makes me want to forget it even exists and stop playing altogether. I get the feeling I'm not the only one either, I can't imagine this multiplayer having a strong following in, say, a month.

That said, my loot so far has been pretty much nothing I've wanted. I keep getting the same race/class things which just give me xp and some extra appearance options instead of unlocking the ones I want, such as Salarian Infiltrator or Asari Adept. I'm also mostly receiving weapon upgrades instead of new weapons. That could have something to do with me mostly buying Premium/Veteran Packs but lame nonetheless. I'm pretty much using the default weapon for each type outside of the Locust or Tempest SMGs and the Phalanx Heavy Pistol. I can't see myself playing more multiplayer once I finish the Insanity run I'm currently halfway through. DLC isn't going to change that. Lack of maps or enemy types aren't exactly the main problem in my eyes. I have enjoyed the actual multiplayer, playing with a few friends is entertaining. I would kill for trading system though!

@UlquioKani said:

@Seppli: I justify the character training stuff by saying that I am getting more appearance options rather than experience

You keep on getting those regardless of if you got all customization options. Indefinitely. Forever. Always.

@Ketchupp said:

@SpaceInsomniac said:

@Seppli said:

It's a cruel fucking joke, that's what it is. In all my time playing the coop, I've not once seen a player using a Scorpion. Imagine the odds. Ridiculous.

I unlocked a Scorpion fairly quickly. It's not very good, so I don't use it.

I also have the Scorpion and dear god, it is ass.

I doubt it. Thought so at first in the campaign. At first glance it's not that great. It deals ungodly amounts of damage though. It's the delay that makes it seem like it has a high TTK (time to kill), but it kills very efficiently. Just spam that sucker. Headshot, heatshot. It's pinpoint accurate, has a huge ammo pool, is effective against shields, barriers and armor, deals sizeable area of effect damage, as well as plenty damage each explosion. It's like a Falcon shooting sticky grenades, dealing double damage. Try it again and get past the damage delay. It's an insane gun.

Perhaps the @Seppli said:

@Ketchupp said:

@SpaceInsomniac said:

@Seppli said:

It's a cruel fucking joke, that's what it is. In all my time playing the coop, I've not once seen a player using a Scorpion. Imagine the odds. Ridiculous.

I unlocked a Scorpion fairly quickly. It's not very good, so I don't use it.

I also have the Scorpion and dear god, it is ass.

I doubt it. Thought so at first in the campaign. At first glance it's not that great. It deals ungodly amounts of damage though. It's the delay that makes it seem like it has a high TTK (time to kill), but it kills very efficiently. Just spam that sucker. Headshot, heatshot. It's pinpoint accurate, has a huge ammo pool, is effective against shields, barriers and armor, deals sizeable area of effect damage, as well as plenty damage each explosion. It's like a Falcon shooting sticky grenades, dealing double damage. Try it again and get past the damage delay. It's an insane gun.

No :( I've got a majority of the characters but the game simply won't give me any goddamn weapon!!! >.<

@SpaceInsomniac said:

Perhaps the @Seppli said:

@Ketchupp said:

@SpaceInsomniac said:

@Seppli said:

It's a cruel fucking joke, that's what it is. In all my time playing the coop, I've not once seen a player using a Scorpion. Imagine the odds. Ridiculous.

I unlocked a Scorpion fairly quickly. It's not very good, so I don't use it.

I also have the Scorpion and dear god, it is ass.

I doubt it. Thought so at first in the campaign. At first glance it's not that great. It deals ungodly amounts of damage though. It's the delay that makes it seem like it has a high TTK (time to kill), but it kills very efficiently. Just spam that sucker. Headshot, heatshot. It's pinpoint accurate, has a huge ammo pool, is effective against shields, barriers and armor, deals sizeable area of effect damage, as well as plenty damage each explosion. It's like a Falcon shooting sticky grenades, dealing double damage. Try it again and get past the damage delay. It's an insane gun.

Oh, it's a very good weapon in single player, I don't disagree. In multiplayer, however, it's nowhere near as good. Perhaps once you reach the Scorpion X it becomes much better, but the standard version really does suck. The time delay that hardly matters in single player, also means that people will constantly be stealing your kills before the explosion detonates. There's a reason you don't see anyone the Scorpion, and it's not because no one is able to unlock it.

I had a dude with one in a game today. Likely unlocked it just then. Spamming the shit out of it, unloading into groups, the whole flipping mob literally bursts into pink mist and globs of flesh, netting him the highest score easily.

On silver difficulty and above, TTK is high enough for the Scorpion to shine.

I just wish I could try it out for myself. I'll likely never have the joy though. Which is total bullshit on Bioware's behalf.

I've always felt that this multiplayer was an interesting idea but this should have been a separate game. Imagine how interesting this could have been with expanded scenarios controls and a deeper upgrade system. The enemies and weapons are fine but there isn't enough stuff to do with just this to make it worth playing months from now even if they give us more maps.

Another day of getting a whole lot of nothing. What a bummer. Guess it's time to move on, respectively back to SSX.

I'm around 300 now. I need a canifex or anything that actually packs punch, but so far I only unlock character training from specter pack, except 1 Falcon and 1 Claymore. and let's not mention the reset power cards...fuck those thing

a bug is preventing Falcon from firing too fast(or it'll consume your ammo but not launching a grenade) and bioware doesn't seem to bother fixing that so there's no point in using it now; and though I play infiltrator as a shotgun assassin, Claymore is just too damn heavy and not versatile enough to handle more than 1 target

I got all the classes from veteran packs  and have a lot of the guns i care to use also from veteran packs well all but that   Javelin i got from the only specter pack i ever bought 

I shit you not, the first 7 packs I bought ALL had shotgun choke upgrades, I DON'T EVEN USE A FUCKING SHOTGUN! all I want is a goddamn Mattock but I keep getting upgrades for the standard pistol and sub machine gun, at least I got the carnifex early on though and the class/race I love; Turian Sentinel.

It's completely random. I think I got an Asari Vanguard and a Drell Adept in the same Spectre Pack, and I'm like 70 or so. Kind of ridiculous, but I never get the specific weapons I want so it feels like a waste.

I have found a new respect for SMGs and my Asari Vanguard now, though. She bounces around levels like a pinball machine, mopping up with SMG fire and lift grenades. now if ONLY I'd get the damn superlight materials! What do I need to buy to get those? Recruit Packs? What?

I've been playing since the day the game came out, and only just yesterday got my Asari Adept and Claymore shotgun. That was after getting 150k through two back-to-back Gold finishes. I make this game easy mode.

@onan said:

It's completely random. I think I got an Asari Vanguard and a Drell Adept in the same Spectre Pack, and I'm like 70 or so. Kind of ridiculous, but I never get the specific weapons I want so it feels like a waste.

I have found a new respect for SMGs and my Asari Vanguard now, though. She bounces around levels like a pinball machine, mopping up with SMG fire and lift grenades. now if ONLY I'd get the damn superlight materials! What do I need to buy to get those? Recruit Packs? What?

SMG ultralight materials are uncommon (silver outline). They can be in any pack, even recruit packs. I got my first being around lvl 400. The luck of draw, that's all.

Yeah, gotten most of the unlocks I've wanted - now I just want more Medi-gel, and to unlock more appearance settings on the classes I use. Also, some weapons I'd like to get a couple more levels of... and stuff like... only Pistol Barrel II is kind of annoying! (though maybe not the optimal mod for a predator anyway) :)

Recently discovered the joy of the Krogan berserker. So much brutal fun. Love that laugh. :D Just feel a bit bad every time I overreach and get crushed. Heavy-melee-one-shotting Phantoms on Silver is probably the most fun I've had this year.

At ~160 N7, though I've got all classes in the mid/high teens or capped atm, so... should probably do a mass promote soon.

@Mnemoidian: I don't understand the point of N7 level, why do people bother promoting?

Is it just an epeen thing? I can't find a valid reason for increasing N7 level at all. Your loot is the same, all it does is reset your character. There are items to respec and are quite common.

My N7 rank is 20 as I've only played Asari Adept since I've launch, yet all my gear and mods are close to X and my group farms Gold easily.

Surely staying at level 20 and farming Gold is more productive than constantly resetting characters to get a higher N7 rank. Or am I missing something?

@Vorbis: *shrug* I guess it's partially a leader boards thing, a psychological hamster-wheel with a carrot on a string? *shrug* Besides, I find it fun to blast through a couple of Bronze games, helping

Also, of course, you give an indication to other players that you probably know what you are doing. If I see a N7 20 enter a gold room with a 17 Turian Soldier, I'm going to worry (these players tend to be terrible in gold games).

If I see someone at N7 Rank 100+, I'm going to assume he hopefully knows what he's doing. Of course, the one guy I've run into at 800+ wasn't very competent, but every rule has it's exceptions - just like there are competent low-rank players.

@Mnemoidian: Ah I see, have only been playing with 1 open slot usually so it hasn't been an issue.

@Vorbis: Ah, right - so opposite experience to me (all randoms, all the time) - I can definitely see how the rank is pointless (other than a leaderboards thing) to you. :)

Random character unlocks sucks, took me ages to unlock salarian infiltrator - the only class i really wanted was the last one to pop, at rank/level 90ish. The weapons, I don't really mind. It is not like you need level 10 weapons to do gold. I have been rolling around with a rank 1 black widow for the last 60 levels with no issue. Same with rank 1 carnifex. Must suck if you NEVER get any decent weapons, but I can't see that happening. Sooner or later you are bound to get something useful.

I can understand the idea behind the randomness - there is a certain amount of loot lust that comes with opening a new booster pack, and a rush when you get something great - but if you get really unlucky then the opposite feeling happens.

I think it would have been smart for Bioware to make it so that the higher your N7 rank, the more likely it is to give you want you want. Not sure how exactly, since some people might want gun upgrades instead of missing class/guns, but those are just details.

They recently added that new pack with only consumables in it, so I wouldn't be surprized if they eventually put up limited time packs for 'guns' or classes' to help people that get screwed by the RNG.

@Beb: Well, they are already tracking a ton of data - they could see what classes and weapons you lean towards and weight your drops in that direction. It would still be random, just... more random towards what you use.

The downside of weighting towards what you "want" is that you are likely to get bored as soon as you have "everything" you want.

re:"new packs with only consumables" - that's been removed again, since Operation: Goliath ended, afaik? There's a new limited one, but that's something like a halfways-choice (at 33k credits?) between the mid-and-spectre packs.

@Kiro said:

Random character unlocks sucks, took me ages to unlock salarian infiltrator - the only class i really wanted was the last one to pop, at rank/level 90ish. The weapons, I don't really mind. It is not like you need level 10 weapons to do gold. I have been rolling around with a rank 1 black widow for the last 60 levels with no issue. Same with rank 1 carnifex. Must suck if you NEVER get any decent weapons, but I can't see that happening. Sooner or later you are bound to get something useful.

I'm around lvl 500 and still lack the Quarian Engineer and the Salarian Infiltrator. I got jack shit for N7 guns. It's ludicrous really.

This is exactly the same RNG unlock system BioWare used for pvp gear in SWTOR at launch, duplicate and useless items et al. Players had to buy bags with tokens (like ME credits) and hope they get the right item when they open it. After a month of continuous complaining and multiple accounts of bad luck from the players, they changed it to something similar to a traditional currency system, where you can buy exactly what you want with tokens. This was sometime in late January - a good month or so before Mass Effect 3's launch.

So considering that, I'm kinda surprised they didn't make the same changes to Mass Effect 3's multiplayer. If I want to play a Krogan, I should be able to unlock it within a reasonable & more importantly - predictable - amount of time and not hope for a random drop after days of grinding. It didn't work in a MMO environment, where people are expected to grind endlessly, so I have no idea how they expected this to succeed in a FPS/co-op environment where players move on to the next game within a month.

Shit, I moved on from that horrid system a long time ago.

The way the Mass Effect universe is setup could have lent itself to a better upgrade system than "buy random chances at stuff". Weapons and gear should have been built by buying plans and gathering materials out on missions. Exp progression builds character levels but once "promoted" it should have offered perks like "Unlock X race, Y class?"

If Bioware wanted a game based upon random loot then the game needs to offer way more random loot instead of a box every 3-4 missions. If Bioware wanted to offer a online game with meaningful progression then exp should be used to buy more than character skills. And lets not get started with how out of whack some of the classes and skills can be.

As is, it is hard to shake the complaint that this is just a foil against used games instead of a serious attempt a meaningful feature. It is fun for a little bit but without reconfigurability or a meaningful upgrade system I am not going to be surprised no one is playing this in April.

@EXTomar: I think that it is fun enough that it will stay around in april and may, especially if they keep doing weekend events that reward N7 packs.

That said, I think that there is a lot of room for improvement, maybe more than could be done with just map pack or new class DLC.

Im missing the krogan solider and its really bumming me out.

Running out of steam to play the MP as well :(