How about no class as an option?Weapons and powers would be chosen according to our preference.We can choose a class or our way.
Why would anyone choose the confines of a class over total freedom? If I could just prime and detonate my own biotic and tech explosions, add layers of defense(like Tech Armor or Barrier) and carry whatever weapons I wanted why would I ever do anything other than that?
Then the game would be less balanced than it is now. Tech armor, biotic charge, and nova combo. No challange everything would die.How about no class as an option?
Weapons and powers would be chosen according to our preference.
We can choose a class or our way.
Meh, I've always kinda felt that classes should only be limited in how many weapons they can take rather than what types of weapons they can take. Not weight, but an actual hard limit on how many slots you can fill. I've always liked the idea of Soldiers having 4, Vanguards and Infiltrators having 3 and the rest having 2. I do agree that having limits helps make each class feel more distinct from each other, I just don't think players should be forced to only use certain weapon types because of what class they went with. That said, I'm open to the idea of class restrictions for a few specific weapons of each type.
I know that multiplayer doesn't follow the same "rules" as singleplayer, but look at the N7 Shadow. She's very clearly a class designed for melee, yet she is also very clearly NOT a Vanguard. She has no biotics, so she's definitely not an adept. She's not a run and gun type or a meatshield, so she's no soldier. Her abilities are much too physical to be an engineer. She's not a jack of all trades sentinel (though I'm pretty sure that BioWare basically forgot what a sentinel was when they made multiplayer...), in addition to not having biotics she doesn't have the in your face fighting style you'd expect from a vanguard. No, this woman is clearly an infiltrator. She looks like one, she acts like one and she's got the powers of one. Nobody's gonna confuse her with anything else. What I'm getting at here is...why does an infiltrator HAVE to be a sniper?
And then there's the squadmates. Tali has a shotgun but she's still clearly an engineer. Samara has an assault rifle but she's still clearly an adept. Ashley only has two weapons in ME3 but she's still clearly a soldier. I just don't think that limiting weapon types is the best way to make each class distinct.
I know that multiplayer doesn't follow the same "rules" as singleplayer, but look at the N7 Slayer. She's very clearly a class designed for melee, yet she is also very clearly NOT a Vanguard. She has no biotics, so she's definitely not an adept. She's not a run and gun type or a meatshield, so she's no soldier. Her abilities are much too physical to be an engineer. She's not a jack of all trades sentinel (though I'm pretty sure that BioWare basically forgot what a sentinel was when they made multiplayer...), in addition to not having biotics she doesn't have the in your face fighting style you'd expect from a vanguard. No, this woman is clearly an infiltrator. She looks like one, she acts like one and she's got the powers of one. Nobody's gonna confuse her with anything else. What I'm getting at here is...why does an infiltrator HAVE to be a sniper?
The N7 Slayer is male. He is very clearly a Vanguard. He has biotic abilities (Charge, Phase Disruptor and Biotic Slash).
I don't see the problem with a pistol being more powerful than a rifle. In a modern firearm, the stopping power comes from the cartridge that's being used, it doesn't matter how big or small the weapon is.
I would agree that for the most part much of the above is not all that relevant to balancing MEA. Pistols in ME series have been dealing more damage per shot than rifles in many cases anyway.
I think botic and tech classes such as engineers, and adepts should be purely ability based as much as possible.
Then the game would be less balanced than it is now. Tech armor, biotic charge, and nova combo. No challange everything would die.
Reload canceling is clearly allowed in ME or else they wouldn't have built in two different reload timers for every weapon. Or stated that it was intended.
The N7 Slayer is male. He is very clearly a Vanguard. He has biotic abilities (Charge, Phase Disruptor and Biotic Slash).
I kind of assume they meant shadow. While they say vanguard like twice, its to say they aren't one both times. I think the point was its a infiltrator that is melee focused so getting pigeon holed into sniper rifle by class restrictions would suck.
Entering combat with both hands tied behind your back is not a viable military strategy. It's bad enough that we have this dunderheaded trope that magicians foolhardily rush into battle in their skivvies, but you're now telling me that highly trained special forces should also be undisciplined imbeciles?
Now either you haven't played Vanguard or, you didn't spec correctly to know the specifics of the charge and nova combo. Charge grants a melee bonus for nova-> heavy melee combo, and nova grants a CD bonus which is nice for charge. After using nova it grants a 25% CD bonus for every biotic ability, which would negate the 20% CD penalty of rank 6 tech armor. So the abilities I chose were Tech-armor, biotic charge, and nova, and out of those charge would be the only ability waiting for a CD given nova CD is dictated by shields. So charge would cool down at It's normal rate after using nova-> heavy melee. Plus both charge and Tech-armor grants a melee bonus, which is just awesome for nova-> heavy melee combo.Tech armor would be worthless due to the CD penalty. It would also not be worthwhile for the active effect, since Nova and Charge both confer damage immunity already. Basically, if you could use Tech Armor explosion, you could have used immunity. Once you remove Tech Armor, you have... well, ME3 Vanguard as it already existed.Plus, you know, those being ME3 skills as they exist which were not balanced around a class system which offered more build variety. You could look at a game like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning for some ideas on how a more freeform system can be implemented without even dropping classes.
The N7 Slayer is male. He is very clearly a Vanguard. He has biotic abilities (Charge, Phase Disruptor and Biotic Slash).
I was thinking of the shadow. Oops.
How about a Diablo 1 system?
There were still "classes" with their own starting selection of spells but you could learn new spells along the way by picking up spell books from Adria and monsters.
I'm not saying to introduce spell books in Adromeda, but the system which allows the player to literally grow stronger the longer he plays.
I know what you mean.
That's what I liked about skyrim. The longer you used a certain playstyle (one handed, blocking, destruction magic, light armor etc.) you've leveled that up, just like you could gain "muscles" in GTA San Andreas. 
But why not? It is "innovative" and you can literally play the game forever and still learn new things, keep progressing, and someday you go "wow, my dude jumps really high, I just noticed 'cause this other player jumps like a dude, that had too much mcdonalds!". But the fat dude might be better at taking cover, charging through frostbite-engine-destructibles, has better damage resistance 'cause he get's shot 24/7 lol. 
What about a tier/hierarchy-class system:
One "signature" power (Charge, Tech Armor, etc.)
Two "main" powers (Nova, Overload, etc.)
Three "extra" powers (ammo, grenades, Pull, Lift, etc.)
One "passive" (one that emphasizes weapon damage, one that emphasizes power damage, etc.)
Or going further, having "basic" powers a bit like ME1, and as you play you find other powers, like omni-tool schematics or biotic implants and such.
Like this sample "Vanguard":
You start with...
N7 Training (passive)
Pistols (weapon)
Biotic Rush (a mild version of Charge, think lunging melee punch at high speed)
First mission, you investigate a comms blackout on the Ark, and you find it's being hacked by pirates, you beat them, save the day, and find "Omni-tool Flash-Forge Data: Incinerate" on one of their omni-tools.
Congratulations, you can now learn Incinerate or teach it to your squadmates.
-------------
Perhaps doing away with set classes entirely, i.e. rather than picking one and sticking with it through the whole game, start basic and then "gain" a class of your choosing, with the option to switch whenever you're on your ship. With the caveat that if you are a level 20 Vanguard and want to try Sentinel, you start as a level 1 Sentinel, and now you have to level up as a Sentinel. You don't lose your Vanguard levels, but that could introduce some interesting gameplay options; do you stick with one super-powerful class, or multiple, less powerful classes?
Going along with that, it wouldn't be a simple "press 'X' to switch", there would be a cost, similar to the power reset in the Normandy's medbay, relevant to the class you are compared to what you wish to change to, and the larger the difference between the two, the greater the cost.
As in, going from Soldier to Vanguard would be comparatively cheaper than going from Soldier to full-on Adept.
I think I've mentioned this in a few threads, but there's so many of them now it's difficult to find them all.
In any event, there's my two cents on the matter.
Why would anyone choose the confines of a class over total freedom? If I could just prime and detonate my own biotic and tech explosions, add layers of defense(like Tech Armor or Barrier) and carry whatever weapons I wanted why would I ever do anything other than that?
Hi Killroy ^^
I understand. Neither all players want to create, they just want something made.
And there would be a limit for what we can choose.
Example:
If a class character have 10 skills, our freedom character will have 10 skills to choose too.
It would not allowed to have all.
If you want to be a soldier with some power skills, you can exchange some weapon skills to have some powers.
It's just a way to customize your character.
Then the game would be less balanced than it is now. Tech armor, biotic charge, and nova combo. No challange everything would die.
I don't think so. Like I said, you couldn't have all.
I don't think so. Like I said, you couldn't have all.
Which in that case I picked Tech-armor, Charge, and nova which would inevitably break the game.How about no class as an option?
Weapons and powers would be chosen according to our preference.
We can choose a class or our way.
Hi 10K ^^
Hi 10K ^^
I referred to the answer I made to Kilroy. Sorry.
If you know this will break the game, so why will choose? Since you do not want that to happen. And we do not know if that combo skills will break in MEA.
And it's not mandatory. You choose.
Well ME2 actually had decent weapon balance, and had clearly defined roles for each category. ME1's balance wasn't too bad, except on the low end. The top AR does better DPS than the best pistol except under the weapon talent. ME3's weapon balance is pretty poor overall.Pistols have also always been overpowered. The only game thus far where pistols haven't utterly outclassed all other (pre-DLC) weapons is ME2, where Soldier-only assault rifles -- and generally only the Revenant -- had some value. I don't think history is really much of a guide here except on how to do things wrong. Pistols in ME1 were a shoddy way of trying to carve out a niche for combat Soldiers by wantonly handicapping "non-combat" (lol) Adepts and Engineers. Design by restriction doesn't produce a complex or entertaining game, it's just a band-aid for the better ideas that you couldn't fit into your game. Come ME2, BioWare needed to fill a combat niche, and pistols already existed from ME1, so they jammed together two polar opposites and came up with the "heavy pistol". Learning from those issues created the best iteration thus far in ME3, but they just haven't gone far enough yet.
Relieving the restrictive weapon categorization would defeat the only reason we have for keeping heavy pistols around. If anyone can put three rifles on their armor, you aren't forced to invent another category to fill combat roles -- just let them carry a different rifle as well. I'm also of the opinion that actively equipped weapon should matter more for cooldowns than what you have on your belt. Wandering around for 3 hours with 3 long guns slung over your back is easy. Holding a weapon out in an aiming posture for 30 minutes is quite difficult. You can argue in favor of some overall effect for loadout weight, but it should be heavily muted compared to the one you've got in your hands at that instant.
However, it's equivalent in DAI, attack animation cancelling, was never authorized/OK'd/allowed by the devs. Everyone just assumed it was OK because it was OK in ME.
Well ME2 actually had decent weapon balance, and had clearly defined roles for each category. ME1's balance wasn't too bad, except on the low end. The top AR does better DPS than the best pistol except under the weapon talent. ME3's weapon balance is pretty poor overall.
Weapons carried or equipped really shouldn't have anything to do with power cooldowns. That paradigm exacerbated the difficulty balancing many weapons, and is a large part of why ME3 balance is poor.
Since the solder class is all about the pew-pew, it needs some kind of weapons-based advantage over other classes. Adrenaline rush is cool and all, but alone it isn't a sufficient reason to choose the class over one of the biotics or tech-based classes.
Agreed, Soldiers should get more abilities and passives to make them more effective with just using guns. Maybe they could take something like the Geth Juggernaut's class power and use that for the Soldier class. Flat weapon damage buffs, extreme weapon stability boosts (basically eliminates recoil, especially on the N7 Typhoon and the Geth Spitfire), ammo capacity buffs (both for thermal clip and overheat-based weapons), and increased carry weight.
But my point is if EAware let the player choose, choices like mine will be picked; resulting in little to no challenge within the game. Classes in a lot of games are there to add balance, so the player in turn won't become a god like character.
Hi Killroy ^^
I understand. Neither all players want to create, they just want something made.
And there would be a limit for what we can choose.
Example:
If a class character have 10 skills, our freedom character will have 10 skills to choose too.
It would not allowed to have all.
If you want to be a soldier with some power skills, you can exchange some weapon skills to have some powers.
It's just a way to customize your character.
So go through the resources-intensive process of making and balancing 6 classes just for lazy people, while also providing the unbalanced option for everyone else? What is the point? And limiting the number of skills wouldn't make this free-for-all class as balanced as actual classes. If I had 10 power slots and could choose any powers I wanted I could break the game and be nigh-invincible 3 times over. Now personally I'm not that concerned with strictly balancing a single-player game, but BioWare clearly is. If I could take all of the best Biotic powers, all of the best Tech powers, and all of the best Soldier powers I would be playing in God Mode.
That's kind of the thing. I think that most players WANT to be god-like.
I don't mind a classless system, Divinity has that system. However, to get certain spells, abilities, armors and weapons you have to meet a certain criteria in your stats. You can either specialize in your starting class, build a hybrid or completely change it as you level. It's a good blend of old-school and modern WRPG, IMO.
I'd love for something like that to be implemented but given how super streamlined ME is and what I assume the general fan base of the series is, I doubt it would happen.
The weapons are prohibitively heavy to use, generally unwieldy and unpleasant to fire. I highly doubt anyone is actually hunting big game with them; they're just novelty items and showpieces. Basically, there's no reason by which a handgun is going to be more powerful than a rifle when designing a weapon and associated ammunition.
The hand gun isn´t used for the actual hunt, but after the shot, when a more dangerous animal (over here only the boar fits the description) isn´t instantly dead and you have to follow its trail. The situation is that you are in heavy undergrowth or an actual corn- or other field and you don´t know with 100% certainty where the boar is. Add some more fun when it´s night. The idea is that the handgun is easier to swivel around and packs enough stopping power at close range in a situation where you need it right now, if the animal has some fight left in it. Could be that the fact that even rural areas are more densely populated also plays a role. You don´t want to fire a shot where you can´t see that far in a stressful situation on a short timer, only to find out you hit someone because the shot traveled quite far. That´s what I heard from hunters in the family. AFAIK using a phased out assault rifle (with auto fire removed for civilian use) with 7.62 Nato gained some popularity as an alternative. Well, could be that the situation is special here. Heavily populated and people here aren´t happy about guns, gun users and especially hunters (with the possible exception of farmers who got their fields devastated by boars having a rich and fulfilling dinner at their expense).
If you read my OP you'd realized I said engineers and adepts would be trained in pistol combat, which means they wouldn't be running into combat with both hands tied.
Now either you haven't played Vanguard
As I said, engineers and adepts wouldn't need heavy fire power because they'd be able to rely solely on their abilities. Rather pistols are underpowered or not is a moot point.I've already stated why it makes no sense for pistols to be anything but sidearms for convenience. Handguns by their very nature are underpowered, inaccurate at longer range, and harder to use effectively than long guns. It takes a hell of a lot longer to learn to use a 9mm auto effectively than a rifle or shotgun (shotguns are a little trickier than rifles due to the amount you have to lead moving targets -- the pellets are deceptively slow). You give up all of these things for portability. Having someone who is "trained in pistols" yet unable to use rifles FAR more effectively flies in the face of all fact and reason, and is not helped in the least by the game's use of pistols for the exact opposite thing they actually do. Heavy pistols are like using a crossbow as a melee-range weapon, or a sword for sniping enemies 400 years away. It makes no sense from top to bottom.Any sensible soldier is going to enter combat with a weapon suited to the situation, and the situation that suits a handgun is emergencies. If you have time to don your combat suit, you have time to grab a better weapon
Firstly, I did not attack your character in any way, so I wouldn't call that an ad hominem attack, given I adressed the subject matter and I only questioned your play style. Which if that offended you I apologize. Secondly, I'd like to say melee bonus and melee is not ineffective. Melee actually creates a small stagger, which bridge that gap of the 7-8.5 second of CD that charge does have. No matter what you say, this CD is there and it's where the the Vanguard is most vunarable. There's so way to by pass it. Of course you'd want to charge right after Nova, that's the combo after all. My reason for picking Tech-armor is to support the Vanguard within that small window, or if trying to find another enemy to charge, or if charge miss fires and you're stuck without shields because of firing off Nova (this happens a bit in SP).I wrote a massive post on the BSN balance forum (now MIA) on how to balance Vanguard back in the day, which I believe likely contributed to the many buffs it got, and I also wrote a guide for top-level play of the most difficult Vanguard class. You just went for the laziest ad hominem in the world, and now that's in the process of exploding in your face.The melee bonus is ineffective for Nova vanguards. Most of your damage would come from Charge and Nova, which would be boosted by the bonus where melee would still be a comparatively small potion. Heavy melee damage reduction without Charge will not nearly reach the required 150% damage reduction with Barrier or Tech Armor applied. Oh, and let's not forget Barrier and Fortification, which can already be taken by single-player Vanguards, or armor powers with Krogan Vanguards, Batarian Brawlers, and (in effect) Turian Cabalists. Additionally, total cooldown bonus is not capped at 200% like weapon weight bonus, so you aren't actually offsetting the penalty with the cooldown reduction buff -- the penalty is still there, making you slower than you otherwise could be.Nova Vanguards do not wait for shields to recover, they use Charge (recovery) -> Nova (discharge) -> repeat. If you have to wait through a vulnerable period, especially if using an attack which leaves you stationary so you can get mowed down by Marauder Shields, you built wrong and should start over. If you want to know how to play Nova vanguard at a high level, check out Achire's old platinum stuff. He used Half Blast and roll cancels to extend invulnerability and survive any amount of firepower. That's what you need to win at high levels, and Tech Armor is doing jack for that. Nova Vanguards are not vulnerable while attacking right now; they are only vulnerable when staggered, disabled by Collector bullshit swarms, or being sync killed.That said, once again, the ME3 ability and skillpoint system was not designed with freeform ability selection in mind. How you organize power selection will differ if you are developing such a system. Since I already mentioned KoA:R, I'll do so again: the highest tier of abilities for one type (Might/warrior, Finesse/rogue, Sorcery/wizard) are only available at the cost of the highest tier of abilities in another grouping. If you specialize into Sorcery, you get Meteor and Winter's Embrace -- but ONLY if you go all the way in. If you go for a Finesse/Sorcery (Shadowcaster) or Might/Sorcery (Champion) build, you can only get as high as the Elemental Rage and Tempest spells. Of course, KoA didn't manage balance too well either, since you became an unstoppable killing machine in every case except choosing the sorry Jack-of-all-trades route, the Universalist destiny. Unsurprisingly, it's the least specialized one which is the least powerful.
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