OPERATION: FIRESTORM

Multiplayer Balance Changes Jan 31, 2013

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Jan 31, 2013
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The latest patch fixes the bug where Collectors take less damage than they are supposed to from power combos.

OPERATION: FIRESTORM

Operation: FIRESTORM (Feb 1st-3rd)

Event Description: The Reapers have changed their tactics in an effort to prevent us from whittling them down. As they conquer rural areas, their fighting groups are fewer but larger, making them more difficult to assail. Accordingly, we are hitting them in the cities to deliver as much damage as possible before evacuation.

Squad Goal: Earn the “Killstreak 3” squad medal. (As a squad, kill 5 enemies together 3 separate times.)

Reward: Commendation Pack

Mass Effect 3 Patch 1.05 coming today

Hello Mass Effect fans

There is a new Mass Effect 3 patch coming for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 beginning later this evening. The Playstation 3 version is expected at Midnight tonight (between Jan 30 and Jan 31). The Xbox version is expected at 01:00am PST Jan 31. The PC version is expected at 10:00am January 31. All times are approximations.

Content:
Fixed a multiplayer issue where users could have all of their weapons use rocket ammunition.
Fixed an issue with high memory usage when initializing DLCs.

Multiplayer Balance Changes Jan 29, 2013

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Jan 29, 2013
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N7 Valkyrie Assault Rifle
- Encumbrance changed from [1.75-1.25] to [1.5-1.25]
- Head shot damage multiplier increased from 2.5 to 3

Havoc Strike Power
- Base force increased from 600 to 650
- Rank 3 damage and force bonus increased from 20% to 25%
- Evolution 1 damage and force bonus increased from 30% to 35%
- Evolution 5 damage and force bonus increased from 50% to 55%

Scimitar Shotgun
- Encumbrance changed from [1.25-0.7] to [1.15-0.6]

Barrier Power
- Detonation blast damage increased from 350 to 500

What I saw on the Twitter news feed

Casey Hudson and Mike Gamble both tweeted some strange images this morning. What do you make of it?

Casey’s Tweet: http://bit.ly/ViT2Sf 

Mike’s Tweet: http://bit.ly/UxuMyz

OPERATION: BALLISTIC Individual Goal

OPERATION: BALLISTIC

OPERATION: BALLISTIC

Operation BALLISTIC (Jan 25^th-27^th)

Event Description: Recon has new estimates on the number of Reaper creatures, and the news is dire. Each of you must inflict as many casualties as possible, and we must destroy husk-creation mechanisms like Dragon’s Teeth. If we fail to accomplish this, we will be even more outnumbered in the coming days.

Individual Goal: Earn any gold weapon medal (Assault Rifle/Heavy Pistol/Shotgun/Sniper Rifle/Submachine Gun).

Reward: Commendation Pack

OPERATION GERONIMO Goal Success

OPERATION: GERONIMO

Watch "OPERATION: GERONIMO" on YouTube

BSN temporarily down for scheduled maintenance

Mass Effect (@masseffect) tweeted at 5:05 PM on Thu, Jan 17, 2013: The BSN will be temporarily offline tonight beginning at 12:00am PST for scheduled maintenance. Estimated downtime is 15-20 mins. (https://twitter.com/masseffect/status/292075239012179968) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

OPERATION: GERONIMO

Operation: GERONIMO (Jan 18^th-20^th)

Event Description: Reaper units are identifying and targeting our team medics. To counter, we are increasing training in battlefield medicine for all N7 soldiers, regardless of specialty. By ensuring each soldier can deliver emergency care, we will confuse and frustrate the Reapers into abandoning their strategy.

Individual Goal: Earn any first aid medal on any map at any difficulty.

Reward: Commendation Pack

Volus Protector Vanguard video

Watch "Volus Protector Vanguard" on YouTube

Drell Assassin Infiltrator video

Watch "Drell Assassin Infiltrator" on YouTube

Batarian slasher Adept video

Watch "Batarian Slasher Adept" on YouTube

Server maintenance

Mass Effect (@masseffect) tweeted at 4:53 PM on Tue, Jan 15, 2013: Server maintenance scheduled for tonight between 12-3am PST. Impact should be minimal, but just an FYI! (https://twitter.com/masseffect/status/291347420279877634) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

Multiplayer Balance Changes Jan 15, 2013

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Jan 15, 2013
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Raised Guardian point value from 400 to 450, kill bonus from 40 to 45, and the assist budget from 100 to 120.
- These are bronze values.  Silver, Gold, and Platinum difficulties are, likewise, proportionally affected.

Phase Disruptor (Slayer)
Lowered the base barrier drained for Phase Disruptor from 50% to 40%
- Evolution 4 increases the reduction of Phase Disruptor from 25% to 50%

In depth with the Batarian Brawler Vanguard

Batarian Brawler Vanguard

Little is known about the batarian homeworld of Khar'shan or its inhabitants. As a result, the race is judged by those whom the Hegemony allows to travel beyond its borders: organized crime enforcers, pirate boarding parties, slaver gangs, and gladiatorial combatants.

Batarians are large brawlers that use nets and spiked weapons to capture targets...or to bleed them dry on the battlefield. If an opponent gets too close, a batarian enforcer bludgeons them with spiked armor and enforcement gauntlets.

Abilities 

Barrier: 750 / Health: 750 Class: Batarian Enforcer  Biotic Charge  Lash  Blade Armor  Fitness  Enforcement Gauntlets

Heavy Melee and Dodge 

• Enforcement Gauntlets - The Batarian Brawler Vanguard winds up a powerful punch with an omni-tool gauntlet.
• Batarian Brawler Vanguards lack a dodge maneuver.

Player Notes 

General Notes

• As the name might imply, the Batarian Brawler Vanguard excels in melee combat as a skill build. In particular, his long build-up but unmatched melee synergizes flawlessly with Biotic Charge: by starting the heavy melee right after the charge sequence begins, he can be at the point of impact with a stacked damage reduction right out of a charge, essentially meaning he can 'brawl' enemies with a one-two of the Charge-Heavy.
  • With his powers properly evolved, the Batarian Brawler can easily achieve over 100% damage reduction, combining the stacked bonuses from heavy melee, Blade Armor and Biotic Charge.
• With the right timing, when following up a heavy melee on a unprotected target (just health) that has been launched far after a Charge, the Brawler will literally slide along the ground till reaching the target and successfully hitting him with the punch.
• The Batarian Vanguard lacks any direct damage in his abilities except for Biotic Charge, and is therefore not suited to go toe-to-toe with bigger, tougher foes like Praetorians, or Atlas Mechs. Take a powerful, but light weapon, such as the N7 Piranha and equip it with a Shotgun High Caliber Barrel. This will allow you to deal with more powerful foes.
• Lash will stop most of the smaller foes from being able to fight you, but will prove worthless against armored units.
• The Blade Armor ideally should be maxed out, and specced for protection and reflect damage. This will make the Brawler much more difficult to kill.
• A moderately light loadout is highly recommended, to keep Biotic Charge cooldowns fairly low while maintaining weapon dominance are charging. Or if you want to spec yourself for melee damage, take a light shotgun (such as the Piranha) or a close-combat heavy pistol (such as the Talon) with melee mods in order to maximize lethality in hand-to-hand combat.

Cerberus

• Lash will be most useful here, since all enemies except for Dragoonsand Atlases can be affected by Lash. It can stagger Atlases, but that's all it will do and inflicts no significant damage on said mechs.
• Blade Armor will also be most effective here, since you will be charging into enemies more often than not, and the Phantoms and Dragoons main power comes from close quarters. While it can also be used on Atlases, their massive shield and armor levels will make it nearly impossible for a reflect strategy to come to fruition against Atlases.
• Be careful against Phantoms, as charging into them will leave you vulnerable due to the nature of physics vs enemy melee attacks. If you do not have Blade Armor on, they will be able to follow up their attack with an impalement that you wont recover from.
  • However, Biotic Charge will always stun the Phantoms, allowing to successfully follow up with a heavy melee before the Phantoms counter-attack. Just be extra careful to not charge into a group with more than one Phantom.
    • Also, the heavy melee will hit Phantoms even if they use their cloak, since the batarian heavy melee locks onto enemies.

Reapers

• Do not charge into Banshees. As with all bulkier classes, they cannot roll, this will spell your doom if you charge said enemies since you wont be able to immediately pull back like other nimbler classes can. Every other foe is game, Banshees, steer clear.
  • However, while ill-advised, one can charge when they're approaching with biotic jumps, since they will not use any attacks during it.
• Lash will benefit less from the Penetration evolution, and will generally be less useful since only 3 enemies can be affected:Husks, Cannibals, and Marauders. Consider one of the other powers instead of Lash.
• Blade Armor works really well against Brutes because they will always be charging at you. Be careful though as your health and shields are as always in finite supply and you cannot take on several brutes at once.

Geth

• Lash will only affect Hunters, Rocket Troopers, and standard Troopers, and Hunters cannot be targeted until you shoot them and land a direct hit.
  • If thrown at in the right direction, Lash can reveal Geth Hunters even if the aiming reticule is not available.
  • If the Rank 5 (Damage over Time) is taken, the constant damage will expose the cloaked Hunter.
• Blade Armor will help immensely against Hunters, since they will sometimes sneak up on you and melee you in the back. This will stagger them, and give you enough time to either counter-attack, or flee.
• None of the Geth can instantly kill you, so all you need to worry about, is making sure you don't put yourself in a situation you wont be able to get out of. Remember, Geth Rocket Troopers, Hunters,Primes, and Bombers can stun you with their attacks, therefore you should plan your attack and assess the situation, before you literally go charging in.
• Heavy melee can hit Geth Bombers even during their high flights to drop bombs. Just make sure to start the attack before they deploy.
• Every enemy (except troopers) has at least some form of shielding, and therefore an Acolyte is advised to destroy their shields and leave them exposed to Lashes, or other teammates biotics.

Collectors

• Your Biotics will serve little use here, since only 3 enemies once again are susceptible to Lash: Troopers, Captains, andAbominations. Lash is even less useful when you use it against a Possessed Abomination, as the explosive power and radius of said foe can seriously damage you and your squad, or even kill ALL of you outright on higher difficulties.
• Blade Armor is useful against Praetorians since their claw attacks come in hard and fast, but their protection leaves an issue. As well, its no good if you end up getting grabbed and subsequently killed as you cannot reflect damage if it instantly kills you.
• Every enemy has some form of Barrier, except for Scions, Abominations and Troopers when unpossessed. The Acolyte will deal with this problem.

In depth with the Volus Protector Vanguard

Volus Protector Vanguard

The volus homeworld, Irune, has a high-pressure atmosphere that supports an ammonia-based biochemistry. To survive on other planets, the volus must wear pressure suits and breathers or, when facing combat, specially sealed armor.

Abilities 

Barrier: 500 / Health: 150 Class: Volus Training  Charge  Biotic Orbs  Shield Boost  Fitness  Defensive Stance  Combat Roll

Heavy Melee and Dodge 

• Defensive Stance - The Volus Protector Vanguard cloaks to avoid enemies, or while stationary generates a protective shield sphere that damages nearby enemies.
• Combat Roll - The Volus Protector Vanguard rolls to quickly evade incoming attacks.

Player Notes 

General Notes

• With Biotic Orbs evolved for Recharge Speed and Orb Count, the Protector can use Biotic Charge faster than a Human Vanguard under the effect of Nova's Power Recharge evolution. He can quickly travel around the battleground with safety, allowing him to protect the squad by charging, then following up with Shield Boost.
  • Using this tactic, the Protector can effectively "tank" bulky enemies, such as Banshees and Atlases. However, care should be taken as these enemies have instant kill grabs.
• Since volus characters have a Tactical Cloak as their Regular Melee, the Protector can use "stealthy" Charges, which is a useful tactic from getting out of tight situations or dealing surprise attacks.
• With Biotic Charge and Biotic Orbs, the Protector can detonate biotic explosions set by other squadmembers in quick succession.
• Biotic Charge also helps with the volus limited mobility, since they cannot use vault context actions; this means they can reach enemies behind low platforms easily without having to move around.
• The Volus Protector is excellent at supporting allies who fight at close-range. Charge allows them to keep up with faster characters and Vanguards, and their low height and cloaking ability allow them to elude enemies and get into an optimal position to use Shield Boost while other teammates draw the enemy's attention.
• A barrage of Biotic Orbs is an excellent follow-up to a Charge, especially with Charge's Rank 5 Power Synergy evolution. With Biotic Orbs's Rank 6 Expose evolution, this can set any survivors up for heavy damage.

Cerberus

• As with all Vanguards, using Biotic Charge against Phantoms and Atlases can be dangerous, since one can quickly get caught in instant kill attacks.
  • The Protector can use its cloak to get behind Guardians to charge them.
    • However, with the use of regular melee, Tactical Cloak, the Protector can sneak behind Guardians and Charge at them without being blocked.

Geth

• Despite being a Vanguard, the volus is still a very fragile character, and is susceptible to the barrage of stunning fire that geth specialize in. This means a badly-timed Charge can be lethal and prevent the Protector from efficiently using Shield Boost.
• Tactical Cloak followed up by Biotic Charge is an efficient way to stop and/or dispose of Geth Pyros and Geth Bombers.

Reapers

• Using Biotic Charge against Brutes and Banshees can be dangerous, since one can quickly get caught in instant kill attacks.
• Similarly, charging Ravagers with their sacs open is ill-advised, as the pool of acid will quickly deplete the Protector's shields.
  • This can be countered by using a Talon and one or two shots to get rid of the sacs. Caution, however, is still advised as overwhelming numbers of Swarmers can prove deadly.

Collectors

• Using Biotic Charge against Praetorians can be dangerous, since one can quickly get caught in instant kill attacks.
  • The same applies to possessed Abominations, as their powerful and large explosion is lethal.