Talon Mercenary - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

Talon Mercenary

And so we reach the half way mark, three Reckoning DLC character kits reviewed and three more to go, well technically two after today but you know what I mean lol This weeks article is on the Talon Mercenary, classified as an Engineer, he brings to the fight three brand new powers in the form of Cain Trip Mines, Armour Piercing Arrows and Concussive Arrows. In another first for ME3 MP, every single one of his powers are based on grenade count, so each time you use a power it will consume a grenade (and of course you can only carry a limited number). If you read last weeks character review of the Krogan Warlord, you'll know that he's a melee centric character and that most of your damage output will come from charging his hammer with powers then releasing them via heavy melee. Well if you enjoyed that style of play, I think you're gonna like the Talon Mercenary but unfortunately if you didn't like it that much, this guy might not be your cup of tea either. But having said that, unlike the KW, the TM wasn't designed with purely CQC engagements in mind, I think his powers are just as powerful at point blank range as they are from across the map (though considerably less reliable). Due to the stupid button mapping (and lack of custom options), I'm generally not a big fan of any attacks or character kits that require me to release control of the right stick and dash button more often than not, so at first glance I already have my reservations about the TC. But I've been pleasantly surprised with one or two character reviews in the past, so the question is, does the Talon Mercenary join these select few or does he get dumped on my ever growing pile of "meh" kits?

As always we begin with a brief analysis of the powers. The Cain Trip Mines are exactly what it says on the label, they're placeable mines that detonate once an enemy has interrupted the trip laser and they seriously cane anything that gets caught in the blast radius :P If I'm not mistaken they are the most damaging of any of the explosive based powers currently available in MP, by default each mine has a generous impact radius of 5 meters and does a whopping 1200 points to health, 1800 points to Shields/Barriers and 2700 to Armour! Both the damage and radius of the mines can be increased fairly significantly and if you then factor in the potential for additional damage bonuses via the kits passives, you're looking at some crazy killing potential. You can plant up to three mines at any one time and they'll stay active until an enemy triggers it to go off or you place a fourth mine, which will then cause the first planted mine to explode on it's own. The mines are particularly useful for locking down choke points on a map, doorways and narrow corridors in particular make for excellent mine fields and if you place all three of the mines a couple metres apart, theoretically nothing but a top tier boss should make it through alive (though heavily weakened).

No More Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Balance Changes (Officially Confirmed)

Last week I informed you that Mass Effect 3 Weekend Operations were officially confirmed to be altogether finished, in that same article I predicted that the end might also be nigh, for the weekly balance changes made to multiplayer. Well yesterday, a BioWare developer officially posted on the multiplayer forums and proved that my guess was indeed accurate, there will be no more balance changes for ME3 MP. I've quoted the exact post below for you to read yourself:

Hey everyone, I regret to announce that we will no longer be releasing any more balance updates. There are many things we wish we had time to fix and improve, but as Jonathan Warner mentioned in Bioware’s blog post here, the team is moving on to new and exciting projects.

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Is Officially Winding Down [Updated]

It is with regret that I must inform you that there will not be any more Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Weekend events. Most of us already guessed/assumed that this was the case when Operation: Lodestar went live a couple weeks back but I know a lot of other people were holding out hope, that there might just be a chance the developers would change their minds. Well in an official BioWare announcement today, it was confirmed unequivocally that there won't be any further organised weekend challenges but the post did go on to say that the multiplayer itself would continue as normal. The messages are mostly clear cut but I do provide my own personal mini analysis of it at the end of this article, if you're interested in my thoughts.

The image that I've displayed was released by BioWare last week, I was planning to discuss it in a special article on my time playing ME3 MP but at the moment I'm not sure when I'll be able to get started on that. In any case I think it suits this article very well, it's actually quite interesting to see the numbers that have been divulged and in some cases rather surprising, I never realised the mission fail rate was soo high! Anyway it's all in the picture, so there's no need for me to repeat any of the figures, just be sure to click on it to get the enlarged version.

Hi Everyone,

Krogan Warlord - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

Krogan Warlord

In this third character review of the new Reckoning DLC kits, I'll be discussing the Krogan Warlord, classified as a Sentinel, he brings to the fight the standard Tech Armour and a great big *censor beep* hammer! If you read my previous character reviews of the Cabal Vanguard and Alliance Infiltration Unit (AIU), you'll know that both kits were very mobile and agile, able to traverse maps stealthily and quickly strike at unsuspecting foes. The Krogan Warlord's playstyle on the other hand is about as different as you could get, he's big, lumbering and is about as subtle as a, well, as a sledgehammer [ :P ] Regular readers will again also recall that I'm not a huge fan of slow moving characters because they just don't suit my preferred style of play, that is to say, speed and aggression. To make matters worse he can't take cover or jump over it, combine this with the fact he's about a good half metre taller than any of the current Krogan characters and you can probably guess my thoughts about him already. But obviously I still put the guy through his paces, else this review would be as short as his temper and not particularly detailed lol. The question is, was he good enough to become one of my regular kits or would he simply make me rage?

So let's get started, first up as per usual, a breakdown of the powers. Well the Tech Armour is nothing special, it's the same as any TA for any of the other Sentinels, once activated it stays on until you decide other wise. While it's active you get a damage reduction from all incoming enemy fire but at the cost of your power's recharging at a slower rate, by default these figures are -35% and +50%, respectively. For the most part I never detonate TA once I activate it, even though it has a pretty wide blast radius and can do a decent bit of damage if you choose to invest extra points into it. A little known fact about detonating TA, is that the force generated by the explosion is usually enough to stagger a Phantom, which can be a life saver if you get caught by surprise. Having said this, if you're reckless enough to get close to an enemy unit that can sync kill, you're either prepared to deal with the threat or have a death wish. Until the Krogan Warlord, I've not really had a reason to invest any further than into the first three ranks of TA but I found that the bonus power damage at rank 5 is very complimentary to the kits offensive powers.

Alliance Infiltration Unit (AIU) - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

AIU

This weeks character review will be on the Alliance Infiltration Unit or more commonly referred to as the AIU, hailing from the Infiltrator class (obviously lol), this kit takes the bodily form of a female robot (which you might recognise if you played the SP). First impressions of the AIU is that she's a pretty mobile character by having access to a slick forward and backward flip that can quickly take you away from danger, on top of this she's also got a couple fast and vicious melee moves to keep the enemies at arms length. Now in stark contrast to last weeks character, the Cabal Vanguard and in fact every other new Reckoning DLC kit, she only has one new power.  As with all Infiltrators she gets the standard Tactical Cloak and to go with that she has Snap Freeze, then of course the new addition to multiplayer, Repair Matrix. If you've browsed the ME3 MP section of the BioWare Social Network at all in the last couple weeks, you'll know how much of a crap storm this new power has stirred up amongst the "OMG soo OP, Nerf, Nerf, Nerf, Now!!!" crew *smh*. I'll discuss more about this when I go through the powers in detail, a little further down this article.

Readers of previous character reviews will know that I do like my Infiltrators and that I think they are the most versatile class in ME3. There's already a great variety of character kits within the class but everytime BioWare announce they're releasing a new one, I pay that bit more attention to what they're saying. I first saw the AIU in action during the live stream that BioWare hosted before the new DLC went live and at the time I didn't really understand what Repair Matrix was (despite playing SP) and so the only thing I really took from the demonstration was that she had Snap Freeze. There's only soo much you can glean about a character kit until you actually play with it but the impression I got was; damage bonus from TC and Snap Freeze de-buff implies a CQC playstyle, almost certainly with a Shotgun. Well, I've since spent a lot of time playing with the AIU but the question is, does she follow in the footsteps of her peers or will she be left out in the cold? [Cus you know, Snap Freeze... oh forget it XD]

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Balance Changes - 12th March 2013 (Full List Inside)

I don't usually post Mass Effect 3's weekly balance changes but I think today's set of changes definitely warrant a mention because for one, there's a lot of them and two, it confirms my prediction that last weeks special week-long operation was indeed probably the last ever :( Most of the changes revolve around buffing various components of the new Reckoning DLC kits bar one character. No prizes for guessing correctly who got the nerf sledgehammer; if you're a fan of the Alliance Infiltration Unit (AIU) be prepared for a tough read because she took a major beat down. After the list I'll discuss some of the bigger changes and provide my own personal opinions in general, on what has come to pass in today's "balancing". (Full list after the break)

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March 12, 2013
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Black Ops 2 Multiplayer Patch 1.08 Released (Full Details Inside)

It's funny but I was thinking the other day that Black Ops 2 was probably due for a game update soon and today we get it lol. Anyway, the video talks about two or three topics regarding what's been nerfed/changed but you'll have to read the full list below to learn the rest, there's a lot more than three by the way. In the remainder of the video, David Vonderhaar (game design director) talks about the upcoming CoD championships (the million dollar tournament) and other eSport events that are taking place. If you're a follower of eSports, you might be interested to see some of the teams that have already secured an invite to the CoD championship event taking place in April this year. In other Black Ops 2 news, apparently micro purchases (for real cash) will soon be available in game and the popular Nuketown 2025 map, could soon be made available to everyone for free but as with any DLC, Xbox 360 would get the release before other platforms.

Cabal Vanguard - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

Cabal Vanguard

As you might've heard by now, the last multiplayer offering for Mass Effect 3 has been released in the form of Reckoning DLC and with it came six brand new character kits (one for each class). Originally I had planned to have this first review out earlier this week but because of the special week long Operation: Lodestar, that BioWare sprung on us a few days ago, I've been too busy playing XD Anyway, I've since completed all the challenge requirements and earned all three of my Commendation packs, so now it's time to get back to work and deliver what I promised. Don't worry I won't be reviewing all the kits in this single article, firstly because that would result in a stupidly long read and secondly I still haven't fully tested out all the new characters. At first I was planning on reviewing all the kits in the order that I unlocked them but for one reason or another I inadvertently spent more time using certain kits over the position that I acquired them. However the first character I'll be reviewing was in fact the first new kit that I unlocked, I acquired the Cabal Vanguard in the Gift Pack that was distributed to all players when the new DLC went live. After the Cabal I'll continue to work backwards down the list of classes, so the next review will be of the new Infiltrator kit, then the Sentinel etc.

Righto, so now you're up to speed with my timetable, let's get started. The Cabal Vanguard is the first (and last) Female Turian in ME3 multiplayer and not only is she the first of her kind in MP but she's also the first Vanguard in her class to not have the traditional Biotic Charge as part of her power set [*gasp* lol]. In it's place she has instead Poison Strike, which is then accompanied by Nightshade Blades and Biotic Focus. When I first saw the Cabal Vanguard in action, during the live streaming that Bioware hosted before the Reckoning DLC was launched, my interest was peaked because she's very mobile and has one of my favourite in game abilities, teleportation. Readers of previous character reviews will know that I prefer to play aggressively, hitting enemies fast and hard, which usually means using characters that can get around the map quickly and who are lethal in CQC. The N7 Fury and N7 Slayer can both use teleportation to pass through walls and attack unsuspecting foes before making a speedy exit via the same path, to avoid any potential retaliation. The first thing I noticed when using the CV is that while she can traverse the map, I believe slightly faster than the Fury and Slayer, she's lacking when it comes to killing enemies quickly.

Mass Effect 3 Special Week-Long Operation: Lodestar (5th-10th March 2013) [Updated]

 

As you might be aware Mass Effect 3 will become one year old in a short while and to celebrate BioWare have decided to give the fans a special event. In the first extended operation of it's kind (five days long), there are tiered challenges and the opportunity to unlock three Commendation packs. This means that you could earn three promotional weapons by successfully completing all the individual goals! Unfortunately the wording of the operation hints, to me at least, that these operations may soon be drawing to a close and that active involvement by the developers on multiplayer will now cease entirely. You can read the full details below:

Operation: LODESTAR (Mar 5^th-10^th)

We are coordinating the largest-scale attack in the brief history of this war. N7 unit actions will pave the way for resistance and conventional forces trying to retake the population centers of our homeworlds. There is no retreat. When an objective is finished or a target destroyed, you will immediately focus on the next. Our assets will provide cover to network ships that will update your targets in real-time. Rally points are at your disposal in the event that all space assets meet with catastrophic casualties. From there, you will fight as your CO sees fit or until further orders arrive.

Mass Effect 3 Weekend Operation: Impact (1st-3rd March 2013)

The ME3 Weekend Operation for this week is now live: