In this final follow up article to my A Beginners Guide To ME3 MP, I'll be talking about the transition to a higher difficulty and in particular what you should expect to face when you do so. (If you missed last weeks articles on my personal tips for buying packs from the multiplayer store you can find it here.) First off everyone is different and will have their own pace of learning, so there is no definitive answer to the question "when?" but if you start to find the difficulty you're currently playing on is an absolute cake walk, that might be an indication that you're ready to move it up a notch. Of course there is no obligation for you to change the difficulty but if you're claiming top score every single match by a huge margin and can quite easily carry a sub-par team, then your time will probably be better rewarded playing the next difficulty up. I can't speak for anyone else but I personally like to be challenged, yes the rewards are greater if you play on a higher difficulty but for me Co-Op matches (in any game) that are too easy, generally become repetitive and then that's just boring. That's not to say that I enjoy taking a beating from the AI with no chance of walking away with a win but having a tough fight on your hands and eventually prevailing after getting battered, often makes matches more entertaining and you get that feeling of satisfaction from doing so (especially if you were lucky enough to be in the game with good team players). So if you think you're ready for a new challenge, there's little harm in testing the water and who knows, you might just end up enjoying the game that bit more. It goes without saying that if you move up the ladder and then realise that it's too difficult or you're just not having as much fun because of the changes that occur with a higher difficulty, then by all means you can just move back down again. I understand that some people play just for fun and so if smashing AI enemies into the next galaxy floats your boat, regardless of XP, Credits and unlocks, then go for it.
OK, so you've decided the time is right for you to make the transition to a higher difficulty but before you start searching for a match, there are few things that you should be aware of because upping the difficulty with ME3 MP changes quite a lot about the game. I've played my fair share of Co-Op games and still I was quite surprised at how much changes when you do select a new difficulty to play on. Other games might simply give you lower health values and/or increase the damage you take from enemy fire, with little else changing too drastically but ME3 MP is a different kettle of fish and while a higher difficulty doesn't change any of your health/shield values, that's probably the only thing that doesn't change. Enemy units get roughly twice as much more health/shields (from one difficulty to the next), then there's more of them on any given wave (including bosses), enemies do more damage and their re-fire time is reduced, the wave budget values are larger (hence matches last longer), the delay time of your shields re-charging increases, your health/shield gate times are drastically reduced and the biggest shock is that there are bosses appearing in much earlier waves (e.g. Banshees appear in wave 3 on Gold and in wave 1 on Platinum). Even the objective waves change a bit, I think you upload data/provide power at a slightly slower rate and you get a bit less time for each Assassination target, with each said target being a tougher unit as well. So as you can see, there's a lot to adjust to at a higher difficulty and it's not just a case of lower player health values, which no one explained to me when I made the change lol (but which I'm doing for you :D).
If you haven't been put off yet, it's now time to talk about what you should do when moving up a difficulty level. I personally think the most important thing you need to contemplate is the character kit that you're going to be using, you should note that not all of them are effective on higher difficulties (especially against certain factions) but obviously you won't find that out until you've played a match with said kits. It would be wrong of me to list what I believe to be a weak or strong character kits because I know for a fact that what might work very well for one person, could be awful in the hands or another. Take any of the Asari characters for example, considered to be quite squishy and in the hands of a poor player they'll be eating concrete all match long but for a skilled player and on a good day, you can comfortably get top score on even the highest difficulty. Some character kits will be better than others and I'm not disputing that but what you need to remember is, there's a human player controlling said character and they are the key factor in the kit's performance. Having said all this, I therefore highly recommend that you use a character kit that you're really comfortable with and know how to use very effectively, if it turns out that kit isn't great to use on the higher difficulty at least you confirmed it for yourself. If you're unsure about what kit to use then do what I did and roll with an Infiltrator who's cloak is specced for duration, if you end up not being able to kill enemies very efficiently, you can still help the team out during objective waves and by being the team medic. Then once you're acclimatised to the new difficulty, you can go on to test out how the other kits fair.
The next thing to think about is what weapon/s to use, most of the lobby bootings that I've witnessed come about due to the poor loadout that the player has selected, so it's something that you should have properly sorted before searching for a match. In a sense weapons can be likened to character kits, in that by default some won't be very good at higher difficulties (regardless of the player) but giving a low skilled player a good gun, doesn't automatically mean they'll do well. So again, it's vital to make sure that you pick something you know you can do well with and which compliments the character kit that you're intending to use, experimenting with new setups when you're transitioning to a new difficulty is definitely not a good idea, instead stick with what you know. There is no excuse for using a Common weapon in any match difficulty higher than Bronze (apart for the Mantis sniper rifle), I'm not saying they can't be effective but if you haven't got access to better weapons, this means you probably haven't played enough MP and thus shouldn't be thinking about upping the difficulty. It's worth noting that a level 1 Rare/Ulta-Rare weapon can actually be weaker than a max level Uncommon, so before you dis-miss something I'd highly recommend you check the weapons stats (damage, weight etc) because you might actually be worse off with the low level Rare/Ultra-Rare weapons. In general the higher up the difficulty ladder you go, the higher the rarity status of the weapon you should be using, again this doesn't mean a good player can't efficiently use an Uncommon weapon on Gold but if you're just starting out you'll want to put your best foot forward (obviously).
Sadly players wanting to start on a new difficulty aren't always welcomed with open arms and the main reason for this is that there are too many low level players out there who join higher difficulty lobbies in the hopes of "hitching a free ride" i.e. planning on letting the other people in the lobby do most (if not all) of the work, so that they get easy credits. It's a very selfish and underhand plan but unfortunately it's very common place and as a result genuine players who think they're ready for a new challenge and who would've tried their hardest to successfully complete the match, suffer unjust kickings. Some players know they can probably handle a certain difficulty but simply lack the best character kits and weapons, I'm speaking from experience when I say be prepared to be booted from quite a few lobbies because even if you have things like a decent N7 Rank etc, it will only count for so much. It's sort of ironic in that higher difficulty matches yield more Credits, which are needed for the more expensive packs for better items but if you don't get to play then you don't earn anything (or as much), leading to a sort of Catch-22 situation. If you've got friends who also play ME3 MP, I'm sure they'd be willing to help you out with a few matches but bear in mind that playing with a good team who are very experienced doesn't properly prepare you for public games with randoms XD. As a last resort, if you're absolutely sure you can handle a difficulty but still can't find a match at all, then you can do something else I did back in the day for Gold games and that was to create my own lobby, make it public and then start off solo. I then just played by myself and hoped that I would eventually get players, it's a desperate tactic but it gives you the opportunity to prove yourself to the other players, so when they see your status/setup in the lobby they shouldn't have any legitimate reason to kick you.
As I mentioned above, players who might be suspected of being a free loader are often booted mercilessly from match lobbies, the following are some tips that you might want to heed to avoid getting kicked. The first thing (and quite possibly the most important) is to use a level 20 character (as you should anyway for higher difficulties), having a highish N7 Rank (despite it meaning very little) and having a respectable challenge score, this won't always stop you seeing the door but it definitely does help. It's also a very good idea to add one-use equipment (you should always be using Bonus Equipment) when you first change to a higher difficulty, as it can help to compensate for a low level weapon or provide extra defences to a somewhat squishy character. Not having any equipment selected whilst using a character kit that others might feel is not very good and having a low level weapon, is a sure way to get yourself booted from the lobby because people will simply think that you are under prepared for the difficulty. By putting on some half decent equipment, this shows everyone in the lobby that you're making a serious effort to bring a strong setup into the match and that you're not just hoping to be carried. I didn't like using equipment when I first started, mainly because I didn't have a lot of it to use but looking back now, it can really make games that much easier and turn those weaker weapons into something a bit more effective. Eventually you can end up being in a situation like me, whereby you can comfortably play Gold games with no one-use equipment at all because the weapons you have do enough damage by default but you know, it's still always nice to make something that's already good, even better.
I'm fairly sure anyone taking the time to read an article like this isn't only climbing the difficulty ladder because they want to earn extra XP and Credits from games but like I said there are people like this out there and even if they don't get you unfairly booted from lobbies, they might be trying to leech off your effort. I have my reservations about the kicking mechanic because it's use is based primarily on soo many flaws within the games ranking system and I know how it feels to suffer unjustly from it. None of the stats you can see in a match lobby reliably tell you enough about how good (or bad) a players ability is and how much experience they've had of the multiplayer in general, let's just hope Bioware have learnt lessons for ME4. I shouldn't have to say that if you opt to move up the ladder whilst knowing that you can't handle the difficulty, it's a bad idea and one that will probably hurt your reputation in the long run (as player pools these days are pretty small), if players suspect you of trying to hitch a free ride they will boot you from the lobby (and rightly so). If you know you can't hold your own on a certain difficulty and won't be able to help out in the game, chances are you're gonna get kicked before the match begins but even if people give you the benefit of the doubt and then see your true colours, do you really think you're going get another match with them? Having a weak team drags out the game time, which then reduces the credits you earn per hour and so then what's the point in playing a higher difficulty? o_O Do yourself and everyone else a favour, save precious time and only make the move when you're confident in your ability to perform.
Finally, it's important to remember that first impressions count for a lot and those first few moments when you've just entered the lobby, with a bunch of random players who most likely all have itchy kicking fingers, can determine how your evening gaming session goes. Make a good one and the chances are you'll get at least one or more games, make a bad one and you could end up being tossed out from one lobby to another and getting very little gaming time in the process, so use a good top level kit, decent weapons and be prepared to add equipment. My last tip is to maybe even consider picking a specific map and/or enemy faction that you know can handle very well, this makes it slightly less daunting to tackle then Unknown/Unknown/New Difficulty because there's nothing worse than facing a faction you already struggle against (on your previous difficulty) and playing on a map that your character kit struggles with. Whether you're playing for fun or for a new challenge, you'll always enjoy yourself more if you can physically deal with the difficulty and this in turn will reflect your performance.
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