This is part two of my 'Beginners Guide To Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer', if you aren't coming here from part one, you can read that article by clicking on this link. Now as a quick reminder for readers of the first part, I'll list the contents of what I've already covered and what I will be talking about in today's article:
---------------------------------- [ In Part 1 ] ----------------------------------
+ Learn To Walk Before Attempting To Run
+ What Is Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer?
+ Credits, Multiplayer Store, XP and N7 Rank
+ Challenges
+ Character Kits
+ Investing Skill Points Into Powers
+ Weapons and Mods
+ Equipment and Consumables
---------------------------------- [ In Part 2 ] ----------------------------------
+ Don't Treat MP Like SP, They Are Different Beasts
+ Wave Budgets (Enemy Re-Spawn Logic)
+ Time To Complete Matches and Potential Credits Earned
+ Multiplayer Etiquette
+ Bugs, Glitches and EA Servers
+ Weekly Balance Changes [Read: Weekly Nerfs]
+ Useful Online Resources For Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer
+ Links To Follow Up Articles
+ What Is Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer?
+ Credits, Multiplayer Store, XP and N7 Rank
+ Challenges
+ Character Kits
+ Investing Skill Points Into Powers
+ Weapons and Mods
+ Equipment and Consumables
---------------------------------- [ In Part 2 ] ----------------------------------
+ Don't Treat MP Like SP, They Are Different Beasts
+ Wave Budgets (Enemy Re-Spawn Logic)
+ Time To Complete Matches and Potential Credits Earned
+ Multiplayer Etiquette
+ Bugs, Glitches and EA Servers
+ Weekly Balance Changes [Read: Weekly Nerfs]
+ Useful Online Resources For Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer
+ Links To Follow Up Articles
- Don't Treat MP Like SP, They Are Different Beasts
I believe the toughness of enemies in MP are similarly represented in SP though I've only heard this from other players (so don't quote me on that), therefore if you've completed the campaign on Veteran, you'll have partially experienced what there is to come in Silver matches. However, I should warn you; DO NOT assume that just because you've beat the campaign on Veteran, it means you can automatically handle Silver matches in MP. For starters you encounter much fewer enemy units in any given SP scenario and secondly you always have two very competent AI teammates at your side, even if you controlled their powers they were the ones shooting their weapons and probably landing more shots on target that you. One might assume that having up to three other human players at your side, might make all co-op games easier as opposed to harder but you'll find that's not always the case. I'm not saying everyone who jumps online is bad, far from it but you should be aware that not all players are good and many aren't going to be as reliable as you'd like (in fact some are a liability). Obviously most people start off in Bronze (as they should), so it's unfair for me to comment on those players but if you move up the difficulty ladder, you'll soon realise that there are quite a few people who are clearly not ready for the difficulty they've selected and who are simply hoping to be carried for easy XP and Credits. I understand that everyone has bad games but when you're playing with people who aren't even within line of sight to the objectives, what the hell are they doing to help the team out? So just to re-iterate, don't automatically expect everyone to be a team player and certainly don't assume everyone can handle the difficulty, I hate to say it but some players are just dead weight and that's why you see lot's of people getting kicked from lobbies if there's even the tiniest bit of doubt regarding their ability.
It's not all draw backs though, having Human players at your side can be great fun, especially if everyone is communicating and working together to take out enemies. Playing with people that actually make an effort to stick together and concentrate their fire on the toughest bosses while also being competent enough to keep themselves alive and actually help out during the objective waves, will make the game go smoother but that's if you're lucky enough to get landed people like that. Good players will always have your back and you should always have theirs, after all it's a Co-Op game and the best path to success is through, surprise surprise, cohesive co-operative gameplay. Unlike in SP, players can be revived when they get downed in MP, obviously you should always be striving to stay alive but on higher difficulties it's sort of par for the course. The best you can do for yourself and the team is not stray away from the pack, if you decide to wander off alone to the other side of the map, don't expect to be rescued if you get into difficulties. Just because there is the ability to get revived in MP, it doesn't mean that you don't have to worry about getting downed. Having a player down means one less person is shooting at the enemy and on higher difficulties this will make everything much more difficult, so try not to take unnecessary risks, as it's not just your fate your messing with.
Additionally there are things that you'll experience in MP that you won't have had to deal with before in SP and I think the most potent difference is the presence of lag, as with all online MP titles, having a bad connection to the host and/or servers can mean you have a horrific game. Unfortunately I don't think ME3 puts together players based on good connections, from what I've experienced, I'm pretty sure they just plonk you into the first lobby that is available or any ongoing match that requires another person. It doesn't help that ME3 is a data heavy game i.e. lots of info being passed between players, so even if you've got a decent connection to the host, be prepared for the occasional lag spike (like when new players join an ongoing match) and just hope that it doesn't occur at a crucial moment in combat. In the worst games you'll find that powers can be very unresponsive and at times will flat out refuse to work, no matter how many times you bash the buttons, I've no idea why this is the case but it will make you rage (believe that). If you do manage to fire off the powers, sometimes you'll realise that while the animation has taken place, nothing actually happened i.e. the enemy wasn't hit with anything, which is always really fun (¬¬). Grenade powers can suffer a great deal when heavy lag is present, I always find it particularly amusing (or rather not) when you toss out a grenade or two and wait for the bang/s to take place, only to hear nothing and then seeing that you still have a full count in your inventory because apparently they didn't even deploy! Also powers that have a flight path are more or less a waste of time when you're lagging because enemies will always somehow manage to avoid them and even if you hit a stationary target, sometimes you'll see the power just go straight through them, having no effect what-so-ever.
The other biggest change between SP and MP, is the way you acquire weapons and powers, it's a silly system but everything gained from the packs will be awarded randomly. You could buy a single pack from the MP store and immediately get the character/weapon that you really liked in SP but at other times, you could buy dozens of packs and get stuff that you hated in SP. Likewise with powers, in SP you could eventually unlock most powers regardless of the class you played as or at the very least you had access to them through your AI teammates, in MP most powers are only available to certain classes and even then some are exclusive to particular character kits. I know from personal experiences it's not fun waiting for something good to come out of the packs and the sad truth is that it may very well take a while for you to unlock weapons and characters that you actually enjoy using but it does give you the chance to test weapons and kits that you might not have spent a lot of time with during SP. You will need to be patient with the store but there is an awful lot of stuff that you can unlock these days, so while you might not get something you were really hoping, you could get something else that is just as good (if not better), to mess around with in the meantime.
I believe the toughness of enemies in MP are similarly represented in SP though I've only heard this from other players (so don't quote me on that), therefore if you've completed the campaign on Veteran, you'll have partially experienced what there is to come in Silver matches. However, I should warn you; DO NOT assume that just because you've beat the campaign on Veteran, it means you can automatically handle Silver matches in MP. For starters you encounter much fewer enemy units in any given SP scenario and secondly you always have two very competent AI teammates at your side, even if you controlled their powers they were the ones shooting their weapons and probably landing more shots on target that you. One might assume that having up to three other human players at your side, might make all co-op games easier as opposed to harder but you'll find that's not always the case. I'm not saying everyone who jumps online is bad, far from it but you should be aware that not all players are good and many aren't going to be as reliable as you'd like (in fact some are a liability). Obviously most people start off in Bronze (as they should), so it's unfair for me to comment on those players but if you move up the difficulty ladder, you'll soon realise that there are quite a few people who are clearly not ready for the difficulty they've selected and who are simply hoping to be carried for easy XP and Credits. I understand that everyone has bad games but when you're playing with people who aren't even within line of sight to the objectives, what the hell are they doing to help the team out? So just to re-iterate, don't automatically expect everyone to be a team player and certainly don't assume everyone can handle the difficulty, I hate to say it but some players are just dead weight and that's why you see lot's of people getting kicked from lobbies if there's even the tiniest bit of doubt regarding their ability.
It's not all draw backs though, having Human players at your side can be great fun, especially if everyone is communicating and working together to take out enemies. Playing with people that actually make an effort to stick together and concentrate their fire on the toughest bosses while also being competent enough to keep themselves alive and actually help out during the objective waves, will make the game go smoother but that's if you're lucky enough to get landed people like that. Good players will always have your back and you should always have theirs, after all it's a Co-Op game and the best path to success is through, surprise surprise, cohesive co-operative gameplay. Unlike in SP, players can be revived when they get downed in MP, obviously you should always be striving to stay alive but on higher difficulties it's sort of par for the course. The best you can do for yourself and the team is not stray away from the pack, if you decide to wander off alone to the other side of the map, don't expect to be rescued if you get into difficulties. Just because there is the ability to get revived in MP, it doesn't mean that you don't have to worry about getting downed. Having a player down means one less person is shooting at the enemy and on higher difficulties this will make everything much more difficult, so try not to take unnecessary risks, as it's not just your fate your messing with.
Additionally there are things that you'll experience in MP that you won't have had to deal with before in SP and I think the most potent difference is the presence of lag, as with all online MP titles, having a bad connection to the host and/or servers can mean you have a horrific game. Unfortunately I don't think ME3 puts together players based on good connections, from what I've experienced, I'm pretty sure they just plonk you into the first lobby that is available or any ongoing match that requires another person. It doesn't help that ME3 is a data heavy game i.e. lots of info being passed between players, so even if you've got a decent connection to the host, be prepared for the occasional lag spike (like when new players join an ongoing match) and just hope that it doesn't occur at a crucial moment in combat. In the worst games you'll find that powers can be very unresponsive and at times will flat out refuse to work, no matter how many times you bash the buttons, I've no idea why this is the case but it will make you rage (believe that). If you do manage to fire off the powers, sometimes you'll realise that while the animation has taken place, nothing actually happened i.e. the enemy wasn't hit with anything, which is always really fun (¬¬). Grenade powers can suffer a great deal when heavy lag is present, I always find it particularly amusing (or rather not) when you toss out a grenade or two and wait for the bang/s to take place, only to hear nothing and then seeing that you still have a full count in your inventory because apparently they didn't even deploy! Also powers that have a flight path are more or less a waste of time when you're lagging because enemies will always somehow manage to avoid them and even if you hit a stationary target, sometimes you'll see the power just go straight through them, having no effect what-so-ever.
The other biggest change between SP and MP, is the way you acquire weapons and powers, it's a silly system but everything gained from the packs will be awarded randomly. You could buy a single pack from the MP store and immediately get the character/weapon that you really liked in SP but at other times, you could buy dozens of packs and get stuff that you hated in SP. Likewise with powers, in SP you could eventually unlock most powers regardless of the class you played as or at the very least you had access to them through your AI teammates, in MP most powers are only available to certain classes and even then some are exclusive to particular character kits. I know from personal experiences it's not fun waiting for something good to come out of the packs and the sad truth is that it may very well take a while for you to unlock weapons and characters that you actually enjoy using but it does give you the chance to test weapons and kits that you might not have spent a lot of time with during SP. You will need to be patient with the store but there is an awful lot of stuff that you can unlock these days, so while you might not get something you were really hoping, you could get something else that is just as good (if not better), to mess around with in the meantime.
- Wave Budgets (Enemy Re-Spawn Logic)
It took me a long time
before I was aware of this information, granted it didn't change much
about the way I played the game but it certainly reinforced the fact
that what I was doing was indeed the correct approach. Unlike other
games which often have a set number of each enemy units spawning per
wave, ME3 has the "Wave Budget" approach, this means that killing a particular unit
right at the start of a wave, for example a boss, doesn't mean you've permanently
neutralised that threat for the rest of the wave because if the budget allows, they will re-spawn. As
you would
expect, boss units have a larger re-spawn value than a basic troop, so
if you're comfortable with taking on bosses, you will deplete the wave
budget much quicker than if you were constantly killing basic troops.
However, if you can kill a dozen basic troops quicker than a single boss
and comparatively they use up the same amount of wave budget, then that
tactic will end the wave quicker (not to mention it'll generally be
easier to do).
Lower
difficulties will always have smaller budgets in any given wave, when
compared to it's counterpart on a higher difficulty and similarly each
progressive wave has a slightly larger budget than the previous. This
means that if you kill a low level troop in wave 1, they probably won't
re-spawn but if you kill the same enemy on wave 9, they could re-spawn a
couple more times before the end of that wave. Similarly when you kill a
top tier boss in a Bronze match they probably won't re-spawn, whether
or not you killed any units before it but if you were to kill that same
boss in a Gold match and on the same wave, the chances are they will
re-spawn. Just in case you're still not following what I'm trying to
say, I'll demonstrate with a short example, please note these numbers
are just for the purpose of this example and are not true to the game:
Let's say Wave Budget = 100 pts, Cannibals = 5 pts, Marauder = 15 pts and Banshee = 50 pts
Killing two Banshees will completely deplete the budget: 2*50 = 100
But you'd have to kill 14 Cannibals & 2 Marauders to achieve the same: (14*5) + (2*15) = 100
You could get any mix in between of course, these are just two possible scenarios.
Objective waves
behave slightly differently, while the task/'s have yet to be completed,
any enemies killed will constantly re-spawn, whether it's basic troops
or bosses. So it's generally advised to refrain from killing any
enemy units that aren't directly stopping you from achieving your goal
and then deal with them after you've completed your task/'s. As far as
I'm aware, enemies killed after the objective/'s have been completed
will not re-spawn, so if you can complete the task/'s quickly, these waves go by relatively fast.
So as you can see depending on the difficulty, it might not always be the best plan to
take out the toughest boss first, especially if you're planning on using
a rocket to do so because the chances are they're going to be able to
re-spawn. By all means, if you feel that they are an immediate threat to
you or the team, then blow them away but otherwise it's probably best
to try and deal with easier troops first. Additionally there maybe
situations where you're in a position to "nuke" a spawn site at the
start of a wave, providing you have the spare rockets and manage to land
the shot you wanted, the wave budget can quickly get a huge chunk
knocked out it from the get go. Also if you're ever in a "hero"
situation, i.e. you're the only player alive and need to complete the
rest of the wave solo, it's best to follow this plan and take out easy
troops to deplete the wave budget, then use a rocket to quickly deal
with the remaining top tier bosses (try to get them bunched together and then smoke the lot in one hit).
- Time To Complete Matches and Potential Credits Earned
You'll instantly notice that ME3 MP games are not exactly short and so I'd highly recommend that you check you actually have time to play a full match before joining a lobby. Games can sometimes drag on for quite a long time, especially if players get sync-killed by a boss or if they're generally not very good, so bear that in mind if you're ever planning on squeezing in a "quick game". Of course you can always leave games that are taking forever to complete but you'll lose all XP and Credits earned up until that point, not to mention you've wasted your own time and will consequently cause the team to be a man down (FYI re-placement players aren't always found). I should also warn you that no-one likes it when a player goes afc/k and as a matter of fact the game will automatically kick you after a period of no activity anyway, so don't expect to come back from whatever and just pick up where you left off. Now, the following numbers are just a rough example of the sort of times you should expect to spend completing each multiplayer match and what you're likely to earn, the figures don't include the extraction bonus nor do they account for a fast or slow completion time of objective waves. The times are based on a full four man squad of average skill being present and mostly alive for the whole of the match. It's also worth noting that the size of certain maps can occasionally increase/decrease the playing time (but not always) and additionally, if you've got rockets to waste, nuking spawn points can generally speed up the time it takes to complete a wave [8 and 9 are ideal for this].
Bronze game: 15-20 Minutes, earning ~15K Credits
Silver game: 20-25 Minutes, earning ~30K Credits
Gold game: 25-30 Minutes, earning ~70K Credits
Platinum game: 30-45 Minutes, earning ~130K Credits
- Multiplayer Etiquette
As with any multiplayer
game, rule number one is to be respectful to your fellow players, you're
not playing offline with AI teammates any more, so be mindful of your
actions. The fact that ME3 MP is all co-op game just further re-iterates
this notion, there is no need to be aggressive towards other players
because you're all on the same team and fighting against a common enemy.
When it comes to killing these enemies, again you're not playing SP any
more, so there's no need to be running around like a nutter thinking
that you have to do all the work alone, as there are usually three other
capable people who are there with you. Bioware didn't include a mute
option for other players, which I think was a terrible decision as do
many others but it's just something we're just going to have to put up
with. You should bear this in mind if you're planning on using a
microphone in a public game because no-one enjoys listening to external
noise when they're trying to concentrate on the match, which by the way
produces enough noise as it is. If you're having a conversation with
someone in the room either turn your mic off or hit the mute button and
for pity's sake don't have music blaring loudly in the background, we
don't care if it's good or not, if we had wanted to listen to music
while playing, we've got our own tunes. I personally don't care if you
swear or not but others might feel differently and you should also take
into account that ME3 isn't an 18 rated game, so try and keep tabs on
the language you do use (often easier said than done, especially when a
Banshee grabs you cross map with her "magnet hands").
Occasionally you'll hear the phrase "kill stealing" bandied about, basically this is a situation where someone purposely waits for enemies to be softened up by teammates before they themselves begin attacking, in order to get the kill registered as one of their own. Despite the fact it is a co-op game, people do like to get a kill registered if they did most of the work, I'm sure everyone can relate to this and so if you think a player has the situation handled i.e. the enemy is near death, then let them deal with it. Unless it's the last standing enemy of the current wave or a boss unit, there's no reason why you can't find a different target to attack, obviously there will be times when the entire team is shooting in a particular direction, in these instances it's perfectly understandable if you finish off an injured enemy. Certain character kits such as Vanguards are often ridiculed for their ability to zoom across the map via their signature power and attacking enemies that are already being targeted by a fellow teammate. Granted sometimes you'll lock onto the wrong target by accident but if this starts to happen more than a couple times in a match, people will begin to get annoyed. Some character kits like to be used solely for their melee abilities, players using these kits might take a bit longer to kill their target but again unless they're making a right pigs ear of it, there's no reason why you need to step in (I mean think about, how would you feel?).
It doesn't matter what anyone else says, objective waves always go much smoother and will be completed much faster, if everyone on the team is working together and focusing their efforts on getting the task/s completed. Don't forget that there is the ability to kick players from the lobby, so if you've been acting like a total muppet the entire game or haven't pulled your weight, don't be surprised if you get shown the door and likewise, you don't need to put up with these players either. Speaking of players in lobbies, we all know that ME3 is one of the slowest loading games ever, so with this in mind you should always be willing to give someone who is just joining the lobby, a bit of extra time to make any adjustments they need to their loadout. Sometimes players will change character kits if a particular enemy faction has been selected or if their current kit goes against what everyone else is doing i.e. if there are three Biotics in the lobby, a considerate player might change from their current Tech kit to something that won't interfere with the Biotic players powers. At the very least you should be affording someone a bit of time to add Equipment to their loadout, it doesn't take more than a few seconds and in the long run it will be beneficial to the entire team to have every player using a strong set up.
- Bugs, Glitches and EA Servers
Disclaimer: The following information is to simply enlighten those who are not aware. I do not condone the use of any game breaking glitches nor am I trying to teach you any. Bioware does not take kindly to those abusing their game and will ban offending players. You have been warned.
Before playing ME3 MP, I have never experienced a game more riddled with bugs and glitches, ranging from character powers being defective i.e. not doing what they're described as capable of, to enemy units being unfairly overpowered i.e. all units from the Collectors faction take less damage from any power combination attack. Now you might be thinking, "oh, he's probably just over exaggerating the issue", well the more you play and the longer you're around the Mass Effect 3 Forums, you'll see that I'm not stretching anything. I could write a whole other article on what wasn't working properly when things were first released by Bioware and what still isn't working properly, weeks and months after the game launched but I've better things to do. There is one bug that I think you should be aware of, sometimes when you fire up ME3 it will get stuck on the "Checking Downloadable Content" page, I've no idea why but if you start up the game from an offline status (in my case not being logged into the PSN), this seems to avoid the problem. One good things about ME3 is that the developers of the game are quite active on the forums, so if you're in need of assistance and the information isn't readily available in an existing thread, you can always create your own topic in the hopes of a response. You'll need to register your game if you want to create your own threads but having done so, will allow you to do much more on the BSN, including the ability to send private messages to staff. As I said you can find out more information on existing bugs and glitches from the BSN and apparently this thread claims to list all current known issues with the game:
As with most games there are number of glitches that can be abused by players who find them, no other existing glitch in ME3 MP is as significant as the so called "Missile Glitch", whereby a player is able to manipulate the game mechanics in order to use a seemingly endless supply of Cobra Missiles. Bioware have tried in vain to halt the use of this glitch, from banning players to altering the way certain weapons operate but still it persists and occasionally you will come across someone doing it. You won't usually find these players in the easier difficulties because they're normally after the big credit payouts of Gold and Platinum. If you've never seen it action before, basically a player appears to be using a normal weapon but every round they fire has the same effect as that of a Cobra Missile. Bioware is very active in their fight against this glitch and openly asks players to report those they believe of using said glitch, I'm not saying you should become a grass but if you feel particularly aggrieved, know that the option is out there.
Not all glitches are game breaking and as such their use is somewhat overlooked, in fact you might even experience one or two yourself, without intentionally doing them. For example, in certain locations on certain certain maps you can get downed and will fall through the ground, causing you to re-spawn back at the initial drop off zone, no-one really wants to get downed in the first place so I don't think these glitches are used intentionally. On other maps you can get onto objects that will effectively put you outside of the maps borders, while you can't be meleed by troops or grabbed by bosses at these locations, you can still be hit by enemy bullets and powers, so they're not that useful (not to mention you will eventually run out of ammo and obviously can't complete objectives from these locations).
Playing ME3 MP was my first taste of the EA servers, well technically that's not true, I do own a copy of Medal Of Honor but I didn't spend as much time in MP on that title as I have done with ME3. Anyway, I've since realised that EA servers are the worst I've ever played on, connection times can be quite long and then once connected you're quite likely to be dropped for no apparent reason. Most matches aren't exactly short either, so you've lost a load of time and anything used in/for the game i.e. consumables and equipment, not to mention all the XP and Credits you racked up. You'd think with all the revenue they generate from sales and the size of their user base, they'd have some half decent gear at EA HQ but no. Be prepared to be annoyed and frustrated by the servers, assuming they're even live and just pray you don't get dropped in wave 11 with less than a minute to go on the clock, yes that has happened to me (more than once). Oh and speaking of wave 11, if you get downed with about 5 seconds on the clock, you won't be counted as having extracted, regardless of whether you get revived or use a Medi-Gel, so you might as well stay down.
- Weekly Balance Changes [Read: Weekly Nerfs]
Every other Tuesday, Bioware updates the game with balance changes. This so called "balancing" mainly consists of nerfs (hence my witty title), applied to various weapons and character powers. On rare occasions things can buffed (ever soo slightly) but it's not just limited to just stuff you as a player would use and by this I mean enemy units can also get an upgrade. As I mentioned in part one, a lot of players in the ME3 community like to whip up a storm over so called "overpowered" weapons and character powers, you'd think people would just play the game for fun considering it's a co-op title but no. So if you're finding a particular character kit or power really good, perhaps even a weapon that seems really efficient in killing, be prepared for people to moan about it and then for the developers to apply a nerf (no joke). While there is supposed be an update every other week on Tuesday, sometimes Bioware doesn't release balance changes for reasons unknown (or delays them) but one assumes it's because they're busy with other stuff (at least I hope that's why). They announce any changes/updates in the MP forum in a dedicated thread:
If
you have a butchers at that every once in a while (say once every other week),
you should be up to date with what's happening and if you feel
inclined, you can even browse how the MP side of things has developed
since it first launched last year by reading previous entries. I did start a thread asking for a
splash screen to be implemented into the game, much like the existing
one for weekend challenges because I think it's annoying that we have to
visit the forums all the time. Not very many players are aware that
there are updates implemented most weeks and the rest have no idea what
exactly has been changed, obviously not all updates are major but when
enemies get buffed and weapons get drastically nerfed, these things should
be known by all. The idea hasn't really taken off but if you want to
show your support for some sort of in game notification, visit here:
- Useful Online Resources For Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer
If you hadn't already
realised there is a lot to learn about the ME3 universe and while I've
provided the very basics of what I think you should know about MP, the
more you play, the more you'll pick up on the way. While everything in
the game is given a brief description, you'll soon realise that these
short paragraphs aren't very detailed nor do they fully explain
everything that you want know. Since I started playing MP there have
been a number of online resources that I've found to be very useful and
I'm certain you will find them enlightening too.
As I mentioned earlier, I've used his site soo many times and when I was unlocking new character kits and/or planning to re-spec existing ones, this was always my first port of call. There are literally hundreds of possible combinations when assigning your skills points to powers, that it can often become annoying trying to figure out the best set up, thus having a resource like this on hand is absolutely fantastic.
As much as I hate having
to visit the forums all the time, I can't deny that some of the
information that is shared and the bugs which are brought to light, have
been quite useful. There's often a lot of rubbish threads that you need
to sift through before you find anything actually worth reading but
generally the hottest topics stay near the top (at least for the first
couple days), so it should be fairly obvious what's making the
headlines.
This link will take you to a thread created by BSN member Cyonan, there you will find further links to data sheets on the health and shield values for each enemy faction and every unit that appears in MP. It makes for an interesting read, especially if you were wondering how the values change as you move up the difficulty ladder.
This link leads to another thread created by Cyonan and here you will find detailed data sheets on all the weapons in ME3, not just for multiplayer but also for single player. While I generally use Narida's class builder to see how much damage a weapon does at any given level, I'll sometimes look at these sheets to find out things like rate-of-fire etc
5) > N7 HQ <
By visiting this site and
searching for your account, you can see everything that you've unlocked
and all your progress so far in the challenges, as well as how you've
currently specced each of your character kits. The site doesn't tell you
anything that you can't already find out when you're in the game
itself but if you ask me, the N7 HQ is a much easier way to view all
that information and of course you don't need to be on your console to
do it.
As with everything these days, if you need additional information on something, it can normally be found on a 'Wiki' site and Mass Effect is no different. Beginners to the franchise can learn a lot about everything Mass Effect from this site but seasoned players can also pick up some nice tips as well. I myself learnt some pretty interesting stuff about the weapons and in particular that certain mods don't actually do anything when applied to certain weapons(!).
- There's More To Come...
So there you have it, my first ever "Beginners Guide To..." article, I hope you managed to pick up a few pointers on the way and maybe even learnt a thing or two you had no idea even occured. Everything I've talked about above (and in part 1) is what I deem to be essential knowledge i.e. I think everyone who's playing ME3 MP should be aware of it. It's sort of funny but I actually seriously underestimated how long it would take to write up this article, so if you found it useful or know of anyone else who might get something out of it, please be sure to share it because I'd hate to think of all this effort going to waste XD Lastly I apologise if this article appears to more of an essay than a brief introduction but as I said there's a ton of stuff in the world ME3 and I've still probably only covered a fraction of it. I will be writing some follow up articles that highlight and discuss other subjects within the area MP, so if you're still hungry for more knowledge, make sure you check back with the blog regularly!
Until next time, thanks for reading :D
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