Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Catch-All – Shepards with Jobs

I thought they only had that icon if they were joinable.

Stele wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Just add people to your friends list. You can tell if they are in a multiplayer game by right clicking on them and if the "join game" option is available, you can try joining.

Don't even have to click. People have a separate icon for multiplayer. It's like a little torso of a blue person, if they are in a coop game already.

Nice! I didn't realize that.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I thought they only had that icon if they were joinable.

Nah the icon is there even if the game is full, as I found out the other night when my spot got stolen.

Stele wrote:

You going to biotic charge an Atlas? Good luck. :lol:

That's actually how I killed the Atlas on [DLC mission planet] on Hardcore last night. The way it spawns right were you're at, it flat-lined my two squad mates instantly and I emptied my pistol ammo on the dozen [DLC mission enemy faction] that spawned at the same time. With a light load-out, I have 200% faster cooldowns, which means with Fitness, Charge and Assault Mastery 6/6 and Nova on 4/6, all I did was Charge -> Nova -> Dodge Roll once or twice -> repeat. That's how ridiculously low my CDs are. Every Charge took of one box of Shield/Armor, every Nova another one or two. And that was without the Nova tier 6 improvement that increases damage against Shields, Armor and Barriers by 100%.

Played right, i.e. nimble, I am pretty sure you can play a Vanguard without firing any shots except for the occasional Banshee or Ravager focused on you. In our Bronze matches last night, I played Vanguards both times. Charge and bounce 'em into a wall, then heavy melee. If the enemy get's bounced away from you, follow up with a Shotgun or SMG round.

I also like how they differentiated the different race class combos. And it’s not only in the skills either. Like the Human Vanguard getting the indomitable Charge AND Nova versus the Asari Vanguard getting Charge and Stasis. But there’s also differences in the ways the races play. The Asari is a bit more nimble and her heavy melee not a fist punch, but a small range biotic AoE. The trade-off is that the recovery after that before you can move/shoot again is longer than that of the standard Omniblade heavy melee attack.

Lastly, positive side effect of playing the MP is that I enjoy my Vanguard in SP way more now. While I always had the feeling that I had to thin the ranks before charging in, I am now getting a much better feeling for what risks I can take and how to find the nearest cover spot fast enough etc. Figure the same goes for all the other classes, since you don't get to experiment much combat-wise in SP.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
Heretk wrote:

I posted my ID in the Google doc, under the PC tab. Heretk is also my Steam and Origin ID. Friend me up!

If you want an invite to the Steam group, post a link to your Steam profile. I added you to my Origin list at least.

NSMike wrote:

Steam link is in my sig. Please add me to the group.

Also, friend me up on Origin, my friend's list over there is anemic. NSMike on Origin.

Done!

For now, I think, friending up on Origin is the easiest way to go, but after a couple weeks, when not so many people are playing, it'll be nice to have the Steam group for scheduling events. Origin doesn't a system in place to do that. You sort of just have to try joining people's games or spamming invites.

Steam ID is http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197982744917. FYI I am already in the main GWJ Steam group. Was not sure if this game had its own sub-group.

The problem was your profile is hidden from public viewing or non-friend viewing or something. So searching for heretk gets 0 results in steam. But linking your profile, even though I can't see the details, I can still click "invite to group" which I just did.

Stele wrote:

The problem was your profile is hidden from public viewing or non-friend viewing or something. So searching for heretk gets 0 results in steam. But linking your profile, even though I can't see the details, I can still click "invite to group" which I just did.

Thanks! I also just friend invited everyone listed on the Google doc via Origin. There were a few I did not, as multiple users appeared with variants.

Oh, I didn't realize that icon was even there. I will give it a shot.

Say I try a build of an Asari Vanguard to focus a bit more on melee than my human Vanguard, taking those higher level upgrades that favor melee buffs. If it doesn't work out in higher levels, can I somehow reset the Asari? There's a button for reset specs, but it's grayed out.

Will my Asari Vanguard always be set up the way I initially set it up? Humans at least you have male/female options for two builds.

We might be getting an MP session together for 360 tomorrow (Friday) night. Send me a friend req if interested.

You can get a "Reset Powers" item from Spectre Packs. I don't know if it unlocks the option or if it's a single-use thing. I imagine the latter. I think if you get a class up to level 20 you can export them to single player as a war asset and that resets them back to level one, too.

MannishBoy wrote:

Say I try a build of an Asari Vanguard to focus a bit more on melee than my human Vanguard, taking those higher level upgrades that favor melee buffs. If it doesn't work out in higher levels, can I somehow reset the Asari? There's a button for reset specs, but it's grayed out.

Will my Asari Vanguard always be set up the way I initially set it up? Humans at least you have male/female options for two builds.

Crap. I never thought about respecs. I'm going to have to look into that. I may already have screwed up my Asari Vanguard last night because I didn't realize her melee is a powerful AOE attack.

Edit: It looks like there are rare "respec" packs you can get in the store sometimes.

LobsterMobster wrote:

You can get a "Reset Powers" item from Spectre Packs. I don't know if it unlocks the option or if it's a single-use thing. I imagine the latter. I think if you get a class up to level 20 you can export them to single player as a war asset and that resets them back to level one, too.

That last bit is awesome! Good to know there are a couple ways to start over if you screw up a character.

Thanks guys. I'll see if I can get my human Vanguard to 20 to see what that looks like.

CptGlanton wrote:

We might be getting an MP session together for 360 tomorrow (Friday) night. Send me a friend req if interested.

OK, I'll kick you off my friends list first. Wait, never mind.

I should be on.

Luggage wrote:
Stele wrote:

You going to biotic charge an Atlas? Good luck. :lol:

That's actually how I killed the Atlas on [DLC mission planet] on Hardcore last night.

No offence, but try it in a MP match and we can talk. Every vanguard I have seen that have tried this has died in MP if he did not have squad support. Even if you could do it on bronze, it would be impossible on any other lvl.

(Watch him make a vid of this later to prove me completely wrong!)

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

Say I try a build of an Asari Vanguard to focus a bit more on melee than my human Vanguard, taking those higher level upgrades that favor melee buffs. If it doesn't work out in higher levels, can I somehow reset the Asari? There's a button for reset specs, but it's grayed out.

Will my Asari Vanguard always be set up the way I initially set it up? Humans at least you have male/female options for two builds.

Crap. I never thought about respecs. I'm going to have to look into that. I may already have screwed up my Asari Vanguard last night because I didn't realize her melee is a powerful AOE attack.

Edit: It looks like there are rare "respec" packs you can get in the store sometimes.

Good to know there is at least a chance to respec. I already screwed up my Engineer and Vanguard point allocations.

Tenebrous wrote:
Luggage wrote:
Stele wrote:

You going to biotic charge an Atlas? Good luck. :lol:

That's actually how I killed the Atlas on [DLC mission planet] on Hardcore last night.

No offence, but try it in a MP match and we can talk. Every vanguard I have seen that have tried this has died in MP if he did not have squad support. Even if you could do it on bronze, it would be impossible on any other lvl.

(Watch him make a vid of this later to prove me completely wrong!)

I have tried playing a Vanguard in MP and it is tough. When using the Biotic Charge approach in any case. Without backup, you are just jumping into death. Maybe it gets easier when you can skill up to the level where you get the bonus shields and whatnot. Not sure.

Heretk wrote:

I have tried playing a Vanguard in MP and it is tough. When using the Biotic Charge approach in any case. Without backup, you are just jumping into death. Maybe it gets easier when you can skill up to the level where you get the bonus shields and whatnot. Not sure.

On Bronze it isn't that bad. Silver didn't seem undoable either last night. I died 2-3 times when we were playing, but that was probably just learning what can and can't be done.

Yeah, it's high risk, but tremendously fun.

With the human vanguard, you just want a pistol or SMG to keep the weight down so you recharge quickly. Then you just keep charging into enemies, following the charge with Nova. The charge reloads your shields instantly, which you blow into the enemies for damage. If it's a tougher enemy that doesn't go down with the Nova and you're charge isn't reloaded, heavy melee to finish them off.

If you've got your recharge at 190%+ with the single light weapon, your charge power comes back so quickly it's almost always available.

Yaaaargh, this game needs a "I wish to do a Public match as a tyrant leader" option. It's annoying when you have a good squad going through Silver, somebody drops, and then a level 4 joins and won't leave voluntarily. I want to boot them, not vote to boot them.

Always the same story. "Dude, I played the demo a lot." Well son, you're not going to be an asset when your sum total of gear is one Recruit pack and you have no points in your character. We might be able to carry your ass if we face Cerberus, but why should we have to.

MannishBoy wrote:
Heretk wrote:

I have tried playing a Vanguard in MP and it is tough. When using the Biotic Charge approach in any case. Without backup, you are just jumping into death. Maybe it gets easier when you can skill up to the level where you get the bonus shields and whatnot. Not sure.

On Bronze it isn't that bad. Silver didn't seem undoable either last night. I died 2-3 times when we were playing, but that was probably just learning what can and can't be done.

Yeah, it's high risk, but tremendously fun.

With the human vanguard, you just want a pistol or SMG to keep the weight down so you recharge quickly. Then you just keep charging into enemies, following the charge with Nova. The charge reloads your shields instantly, which you blow into the enemies for damage. If it's a tougher enemy that doesn't go down with the Nova and you're charge isn't reloaded, heavy melee to finish them off.

If you've got your recharge at 190%+ with the single light weapon, your charge power comes back so quickly it's almost always available.

Need to restart my Vanguard then. He is only level 9 but most of his skill points are in Shockwave. Sounds like I need to go Biotic Charge > Nova > Fitness.

Heretk wrote:

Need to restart my Vanguard then. He is only level 9 but most of his skill points are in Shockwave. Sounds like I need to go Biotic Charge > Nova > Fitness.

Yep. Shockwave's nearly worthless when everything is shielded and armored.

Stele wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

I thought they only had that icon if they were joinable.

Nah the icon is there even if the game is full, as I found out the other night when my spot got stolen. ;)

I have no idea what you are talking about...

On what packs to buy: I actually bought a lot of Recruit packs to start, now I'm on Veteran since I've gotten most of the Common weapons and mods leveled up.

Maybe not the best strategy long-term, but the Recruit packs are a really quick way of getting those basic weapons leveled up fast. I may not have any great weapons yet, but my power-focused classes like Engineer and Adept can carry an Avenger X in as their only weapon and still get +200% cooldown.

I was doing Vet packs, and saved up for a Spectre, but I've seen the error--you really need guns with more punch for Silver, and you don't get them buying those.

Tried a couple of Gold rounds this afternoon. It's not all that much harder than Silver, the main difference is that you get a greater density of the "elite" enemies, and you get them much sooner. So you really have to be good at teamwork and be able to quickly handle Phantoms, Geth Primes, etc. If your team doesn't have the appropriate counter abilities or ammo upgrades, you just get swarmed and crushed by the durable stuff whenever you encounter a hack-and-hold mission.

MannishBoy wrote:
Heretk wrote:

Need to restart my Vanguard then. He is only level 9 but most of his skill points are in Shockwave. Sounds like I need to go Biotic Charge > Nova > Fitness.

Yep. Shockwave's nearly worthless when everything is shielded and armored.

Go into Fitness and Biotic Charge first. Nova is pretty worthless without the barrier improvements of Fitness Tier 6.

MannishBoy wrote:

Say I try a build of an Asari Vanguard to focus a bit more on melee than my human Vanguard, taking those higher level upgrades that favor melee buffs. If it doesn't work out in higher levels, can I somehow reset the Asari? There's a button for reset specs, but it's grayed out.

Will my Asari Vanguard always be set up the way I initially set it up? Humans at least you have male/female options for two builds.

I wouldn't build an Asari Vanguard as melee focused. As Luggage mentioned, the recovery period after you melee is really long. Human is they way to go if you want to try a melee focused build, and it works pretty well with your charge/nova/pistol build you were referencing. I did the same thing earlier, and melee fits into that strategy nicely when you want to just spam charge and not actually use your Nova.

I played a Vanguard in Silver today for about 3 rounds with Larrs, Lobster, and Koreep. It does get tougher, but it's still manageable if you're playing smartly. I died a decent amount by just charging recklessly into packs of tough enemies, but if you manage your charge cooldown well and don't charge in the middle of elite packs (or pyros), you should be fine. The asari vanguard seemed more useful on higher difficulties because Stasis is so good, but the human one is more fun.

Dyni wrote:

I played a Vanguard in Silver today for about 3 rounds with Larrs, Lobster, and Koreep. It does get tougher, but it's still manageable if you're playing smartly. I died a decent amount by just charging recklessly into packs of tough enemies, but if you manage your charge cooldown well and don't charge in the middle of elite packs (or pyros), you should be fine. The asari vanguard seemed more useful on higher difficulties because Stasis is so good, but the human one is more fun.

I played Vanguard in Silver, and also found it a bit more challenging, but definitely far from worthless.

What I was thinking with the Asari was to use stasis or the lift grenades to disable on the more difficult enemies, then charge in and melee. I really don't see any other real way to use charge with the Asari as things get harder, but I haven't tried to play the build yet.

I did some Asari Vanguard in the demo. Stasis was very nice. I still got picked up off the floor a lot by you guys though.