ME3's MP is fucking atrocious.

[Jacco]

Yes, I know I'm late to jump on this bandwagon but I just gotta say, whoever decided it was a good idea to randomize EVERYTHING needs to be shot. Or at the very least, stopped from making games.

I've logged perhaps 150 hours over the last month or so playing with my friends (and thats the ONLY reason) and spent upwards of 5 million credits trying to get good gear. Because everything is randomized, I have decent characters (like the N7 Destroyer) and shitty weapons (like the Mantis and Avenger).

And I think what pisses me off the most is that you can KEEP GETTING THE SAME CHARACTERS AND WEAPONS EVEN AFTER YOU GET THEM!!!! because it is all randomized!! The last 3 Premium Packs I've bought (which are 100k credits each) gave me characters and weapons I already had which only add more useless customization options to them.

Also, it's fucking glitchy as FUCK. I'm constantly running into problems where I can't see my team mates even though they are there and are killing the bad guys. Sometimes the enemies will spawn on top of each other making them impossible to kill. And my personal favorite is when it glitches out and doesn't allow my character to take cover (IN A COVER BASED COMBAT GAME!!! GAH) or climb ladders, etc.


Okay. Rant over.

The gameplay itself is okay I guess. I wish it had more variety in the missions outside of the map hazards. I'd also like to see a trade system implemented where you can trade characters and weapons you don't use with other people for ones you will. If everything is going to be randomized, at least make it somewhat bearable.

For discussion, do you agree? Disagree? Like it or not? What are your thoughts?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I've logged perhaps 150 hours over the last month or so

The gameplay itself is okay I guess.

If everything is going to be randomized, at least make it somewhat bearable.

I'd hate to see your played time on a game you actually liked!

I enjoyed ME3's multiplayer a heck of a lot more than I thought I would. Thought the gambler's boxes were actually a pretty good psychological hook to drive purchases in a mini-game that would otherwise totally fail to inspire spending.

Then again, I didn't play it for 150 hours. It's very rare I play anything for 150 hours without getting tired of it.

 

[Jacco]

I've logged perhaps 150 hours over the last month or so

The gameplay itself is okay I guess.

If everything is going to be randomized, at least make it somewhat bearable.

I'd hate to see your played time on a game you actually liked!

I enjoyed ME3's multiplayer a heck of a lot more than I thought I would. Thought the gambler's boxes were actually a pretty good psychological hook to drive purchases in a mini-game that would otherwise totally fail to inspire spending.

Then again, I didn't play it for 150 hours. It's very rare I play anything for 150 hours without getting tired of it.

Oh, I'm definitely tired of it. But my friends are not and I like playing with them more than I'm tired of the game. ANd 150 might be a bit of a stretch. lol. It's probably closer to 100. Even so. I would probably spend real money to get decent weapons if I knew I was going to get them as opposed to spnding 1.50 on something that will just give me another customization option for an Asari or something.

 

[hazabaza1]

I think it's pretty good.
Random loot does annoy me yeah, but at least they added the more specific-ish boxes.

 

[Nonomori]

I'm not completely against "grinding" (love you, Monster Hunter Tri), but they crossed the line and it spoils the fun.

I'll leave it here...
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/firstperson/9663-Who-Put-The-CCG-In-Mass-Effect-3

 

[the_hoffs_ego]

I played mostly for the Galaxy At War bonuses, but it was pretty fun really. It ranged from meh to intense on the higher difficulties with my squishy engineer!

 

[Jacco]

I'm not completely against "grinding" (love you, Monster Hunter Tri), but they crossed the line and it spoils the fun.

I'll leave it here...
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/firstperson/9663-Who-Put-The-CCG-In-Mass-Effect-3

YES YES YES. That article states me thoughts EXACTLY!!!

 

[Nicolairigel]

I admit, the fact I pretty much started playing the MP so I could play the slayer and of course unlocked him after 3 million credits and had all but four races in the game pissed me off, but I can't deny I do really love the game play and the different characters. Leapign around the battlefield as the shadow or drell is absurdly fun. Honestly, if they some of the mechanics from the MP human characters to Shepard in single player (i.e acrobatics, teleport dodging, the countless extra abilities) I really wouldn't play the MP much, but as it goes being able to play as a biotic ninja or Krogan Warlord makes up for the randomized pack system in my mind. Although again, it did piss me off greatly.

But seriously, I was so immensely disappointed that after the Earth MP they didn't make a "Rio" dlc for SP where Shepard returns to the N7 base and upgrades to one of the N7 classes from the mp. Sure, they would have to tweak the classes, but I think it would have been incredibly awesome.

 

[Mr C]

I had similar problems at first too, there is a method to maximise the efficiency of packs you buy. If you are going to put in that number of hours here's what I'd recommend you do.

1. Sign up here. http://social.bioware.com/n7hq/ This site allows you to see what you have/don't have and groups weapons/characters based on rarity. The packs you buy should be determined by how complete your collection is. Buying premium spectre packs too early is just a waste of credits and is perhaps why you are frustrated.

2. Buy veteran packs until you have maxed out (level 10) your common and uncommon weapons and characters.

3. Now only rare and ultra rare remain buy 'premium spectre packs'. These will give you at least 2 rares.

I welcome the same weapon card, this makes you arsenal better. Plus, you won't get current weapon cards once a gun is maxed at level 10.

If you have been doing all these things anyway, sorry you aren't enjoying it.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Never played it, because of EA's bullshit with having to spend ten dollars to play it. I bought the game for my brother as a gift, not realizing that they were gonna pull that stupid shit. I mean seriously, ten dollars so you can play Co-op multiplayer?

Retarded.

 

[StashAugustine]

First off, I love the multiplayer. It's the only online game I play regularly. A bit of advice: if you're tired of picking up the crappy low-level weapons and mods, spend a few matches' winnings on just recruit and veteran packs- it'll clear up your low-level stuff cheap. Also, weapon upgrades do have a purpose, it's only character upgrades that are purely cosmetic (and there's only 3-4 repeats as opposed to 9 for the weapons and 4 for the mods and gear.) Also, if you're getting lots of weapons and characters you don't like, try switching up your playstyle. A skilled player can make almost any class gold-viable. (If you're concerned about unlocking stuff, play Gold more or less exclusively, it's 3 vet packs or 1 and change spectre packs a match.) I actually kinda like the unlock system, but I do wish that if you're gonna pay money for stuff you can pick what to get, and the extra character slots are kinda stupid.

That said, I really, really like the gameplay. It's your bog-standard 3rd person cover shooter on the surface, but I really like the customization that goes into it. Each class and weapon handles differently, and there's a lot of room for different and interesting builds.

 

[solemnwar]

Never played it, because of EA's bullshit with having to spend ten dollars to play it. I bought the game for my brother as a gift, not realizing that they were gonna pull that stupid shit. I mean seriously, ten dollars so you can play Co-op multiplayer?

Retarded.

Since when did you have to pay to play the multiplayer? I never have, no one I know ever had to, it's been totally free, even the DLC for the multiplayer has been free to purchase.

 

[Therumancer]

Yes, I know I'm late to jump on this bandwagon but I just gotta say, whoever decided it was a good idea to randomize EVERYTHING needs to be shot. Or at the very least, stopped from making games.

I've logged perhaps 150 hours over the last month or so playing with my friends (and thats the ONLY reason) and spent upwards of 5 million credits trying to get good gear. Because everything is randomized, I have decent characters (like the N7 Destroyer) and shitty weapons (like the Mantis and Avenger).

And I think what pisses me off the most is that you can KEEP GETTING THE SAME CHARACTERS AND WEAPONS EVEN AFTER YOU GET THEM!!!! because it is all randomized!! The last 3 Premium Packs I've bought (which are 100k credits each) gave me characters and weapons I already had which only add more useless customization options to them.

Also, it's fucking glitchy as FUCK. I'm constantly running into problems where I can't see my team mates even though they are there and are killing the bad guys. Sometimes the enemies will spawn on top of each other making them impossible to kill. And my personal favorite is when it glitches out and doesn't allow my character to take cover (IN A COVER BASED COMBAT GAME!!! GAH) or climb ladders, etc.


Okay. Rant over.

The gameplay itself is okay I guess. I wish it had more variety in the missions outside of the map hazards. I'd also like to see a trade system implemented where you can trade characters and weapons you don't use with other people for ones you will. If everything is going to be randomized, at least make it somewhat bearable.

For discussion, do you agree? Disagree? Like it or not? What are your thoughts?

It's intentional, remember it's a monetized mode. The idea is to frustrate people so they will try and speed up the process by paying real money for the packs instead of grinding for them.

With things like this it's also been supposed that games use the activity log and tracking to create a profile of your play style. Despite claims to the contrary about it all being "truely random", at a certain point the game stops producing (or very rarely) producing things it's algorirthim tells it your likely to really want based on things like weapon class choices, character choices, etc... until such a time as you spend money, at which time things ease up and things become more truely random for a while.

It's frequently denied by games, but I've heard some people swear by this and claim that there has been evidence in the code, or it's been proven mathematically, or whatever else. Allegedly this all started with asian "Lockbox" games which lure you in by letting you get free boxes or random loot rolls while you play, but still ultimatly want to force you into buying more for money. There is supposed to be a whole complicated system behind it and a bunch of psychological research and so on. Allegedly things like the ME3 Multiplayer are basically companies experimenting with the asian lockbox in western games... some like "Star Trek Online" embraced it whole heartedly, though are admittedly being managed by foreign companies (Perfect World Entertainment is Chinese I believe).

The trick as I understand it is to make it look like you can get anything you want through patience, but to make it so it's secretly impossible, and weight the system so that the more someone plays and tries the more they are likely to pay to speed the process up if nothing else.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Since when did you have to pay to play the multiplayer? I never have, no one I know ever had to, it's been totally free, even the DLC for the multiplayer has been free to purchase.

I haven't touched the game since I beat it shortly after it came out. I bought it for my little brother as a gift, so he activated the multiplayer pass to play the game. An extra pass cost 10 bucks on the marketplace, or at least it did the last time I played the game.

If they made it free since then, I hadn't noticed.

 

[Professor Lupin Madblood]

Never played it, because of EA's bullshit with having to spend ten dollars to play it. I bought the game for my brother as a gift, not realizing that they were gonna pull that stupid shit. I mean seriously, ten dollars so you can play Co-op multiplayer?

Retarded.

That only applies if you get it used, in which case paying the extra ten dollars is often still cheaper than buying it new.

So.

Yeah.

 

[solemnwar]

Since when did you have to pay to play the multiplayer? I never have, no one I know ever had to, it's been totally free, even the DLC for the multiplayer has been free to purchase.

I haven't touched the game since I beat it shortly after it came out. I bought it for my little brother as a gift, so he activated the multiplayer pass to play the game. An extra pass cost 10 bucks on the marketplace, or at least it did the last time I played the game.

If they made it free since then, I hadn't noticed.

I've been playing it since it came out, it was ALWAYS free, I didn't have to pay a single cent more than I spent buying the game, and neither did any of my friends.
Does he have the xbox version by any chance? Because if so that's an xbox thing, you can't do ANY multiplayer shit without paying. Alternatively, is it a used game? Because that's pretty par for the course to encourage people to buy new, so they aren't hit with an unexpected charge.

 

[Mr C]

shitty weapons (like the Mantis and Avenger).

The mantis is good with an infiltrator, especially for the starting sniper rifle. It packs a punch and you can use cloak to speed up reloads.

 

[AD-Stu]

The randomized loot bugged me too, though I found it to be less of an issue after discovering that powers are more important than weapons. Now it's mostly just lacking characters that I find irritating. I haven't logged all that much time in the multiplayer, maybe 50-odd hours, but I probably don't even have half the characters unlocked yet.

Can't say I've really noticed much in the way of the glitches you're reporting - I have occasional lag issues and dropouts that are pretty frustrating, but they're also part and parcel of awful Australian internet infrastructure

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Meh, I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Maybe I was just lucky, but I was well stocked with weaponry at all times.

In terms of the glitches.... Yeah, I'll agree there. Every time I played my Vangaurd, I had to be careful not to use the charge too much lest I begin Yo-yo-ing through the floor and skybox. I just figured it was a way to balance the class...

 

[Xdeser2]

Other than the randomized loot, Its probably the most fun I've had with multiplayer in a LONG time

Sure, when it was announced, I was kind of pissed that it was going to be shoehorned in, and when It came out I relaxed a little and found it pretty fun. After all the (free) DLC, Its pretty fuckin great. I haven't had many glitches at all, really