Mainly because:
- Pistol with Master Marksman has the greatest DPS (Damage Per Second) in the game.
- Adrenaline Burst resets all powers. So you can Pull > Singularity (if you have it) > Throw > Warp, then use Adrenaline Burst to reset your powers and do it again. It makes for greater crowd control than the Adept can manage.
- There is an apparent bug where if you use Carnage (the shotgun skill), it will turn off your Barrier skill if it was activated.
I like using shotguns in ME1, but generally Pistols with Master Marksman wins out. And I never really liked Carnage anyway; I thought it was a lackluster power.
Oh I understand the logic behind it. Pistols are completely OP in ME1 and the hybrid classes are basically better versions of the standard ones. You can make a similar argument for pistol infiltrator vs engineer, for instance, but I just prefer playing the weapons classes using their signature weapons.
Carnage isn't bad other than the bug IMO. I've always fired it from range at the start of engagements, before putting up barrier. A quick overload before usually ensures a dead or nearly dead mid tier mook. It's lackluster on the player compared to MM, Overkill or even Assassination, but IMO it's the best weapon talent for squadmates most of the time (given their derp targeting AI).
. . .Wrex isn't invincible, dies from rockets all the time. ;_;
My team is Wrex and Garrus. Garrus is semi useless as I've specced him for snipers, but Wrex does a good job. . .when not getting hit in the face by rockets.
. . .I just got off the Citadel after derping about and getting lost. I'm now doing the Bring Down the Sky mission:
I love the Mako, but I just got out of it and am fighting all those darn defensive turrets with my shotgun. The XP is juicy.
Melee is fine and dandy in this game, but the stamina is so short that its not worth charging most of the time. . .I Miss the glorious biotic charge and barrier regeneration of it. ;_;
I've just been using Carnage, Barrier, Throw, and the Elbow of Justice to solve everything.
All teammates like to take rockets to the face if left alone. Wrex is best at shrugging them off because he has both barrier and immunity. You just have to micromanage him, which goes for everyone else as well. You should probably spec into spectre training for unity ASAP if you don't like soloing a lot early game.
Given the way the AI just sort of shadows you, as a vanguard you should probably take Tali instead of Garrus, as she has most of the same abilites but early game is a little tankier (armor and spec dependant), can get better cooldowns on tech talents and has a shotgun, thus another source of carnage. Garrus is somewhat better tech specialist to have for a ranged setup, because he'll actually do some damage instead of just spamming shotgun at guys who are 400m away. Kaidan can open boxes/ fix Mako like those two and also rekt things with OP ME1 biotics, but I don't like him as much as muh turian and muh quarian squadmates :3.