903 réponses à ce sujet

[Broken Orange]

 I got an idea how they could redo the "mana", sorry if someone has already posted this. There could be 4 or 3 bars that deplete after using powers and they recharge. this could be a hybrid of the powers in ME1 and ME2. The most similar system like this is the health bars for Riddick. And this way we can set up multiple powers that can be use at once. The charged powers could take up two bars.

[Broken Orange]

 I got an idea how they could redo the "mana", sorry if someone has already posted this. There could be 4 or 3 bars that deplete after using powers and they recharge. this could be a hybrid of the powers in ME1 and ME2. The most similar system like this is the health bars for Riddick. And this way we can set up multiple powers that can be use at once. The charged powers could take up two bars.

[yuncas]

I don't really have anything to add. I just don't want to see this one be back on page 40 and getting no visibility. This topic is too well put together to have it fall off the map. Does no one else have anything to add?

[Ravennus]

Very well written!



I agree with pretty much everything

Well, except for perhaps the 'mana' system for powers. Having tech powers and biotic powers use the same 'energy pool' doesn't work well, lore wise, and many players will lament the return to 'mana' pools.

However, I think that having an 'energy pool' system for each category of power; Biotic and Tech... would make the most sense.

Other powers like ammo shouldn't even need a cooldown, as the animation to adjust the ammo types is long enough. Concussive Shot would probably fit in the tech category.

The main problem I see is that having two seperate energy pools might not be as 'steamlined' as some would like. Also, it would give more versatile classes... like Sentinels... even more power in 'spamming' abilities.



However, you could easily balance this with the main class passive ability, kind of like they have now. For example, a maxed out Bastion adept has the highest biotic cooldown reduction of any class... whereas the Sentinel has to split his cooldown reduction between tech and biotics, therefore not getting as high a bonus to each.



With the new system, the respective classes would just get a bonus to the total tech/biotic energy pool.... and/or maybe a bonus to the cooling off period of the energy pool.



Personally, I'd love something like that.

[Ravennus]

Stanley Woo wrote...

Okay, let's Sticky this bad boy.

Agreed!!!

*looks at the front page*

Er, still not stickied.

[Scarecrow_ES]

Ok, I see a LOT of replies since I was last able to check the thread, so I will have a LOT of replying to do myself...



First...



About the current lack of a STICKY... I originally created a series of individual threads that presented much shorter proposals that were localized by topic, in order to keep the discussion more relevant to one subject. I then created this compendium several days later in an effort to provide links to all the individual discussions, in a hope that people who found one discussion enriching would be able to follow the links to other discussions they would like.



Well, several days in, I was approached by the moderation staff here that felt like I had posted too many topics and this bordered on forum spamming. I was given a choice - delete the compendium topic and let the other topics stand on their own, or delete the individual topics and cut/paste their information into the compendium topic. If I kept the Compendium only, I was guaranteed a front-page sticky, which I had been given for several hours.



Once I received my sticky, there was some arguement against the moderation staff regarding the assumed content of my compendium topic being too similar in nature to the "ME3 WIshlist (very thorough)" thread that had previously been stickied. Despite the fact that my posts had come first, and in fact were more "thorough," the moderation staff decided to remove my sticky anyway.



This is how it stands today. Despite the nearly universal praise, and not one real troll or flame post in my topic, I still can't get the sticky re-enforced. We'll see what the future brings. I suggest that if you do enjoy the topic, that you please support the discussion.

[Scarecrow_ES]

Ok... regarding charging evolved powers...



First, I had thought prior to posting the original proposal about using charging evolved powers and how these would work with the face buttons and power wheel. There are easily half dozen ways to easily allow charged powers to interact with the power wheel, and the exact method would be up to the developers to implement and balance.



One suggestion could be to not allow the charged power to be selected from the power wheel. This is likely the most simple suggestion to implement, but WOULD require a degree of hot-swapping in characters with a large number of powers available. I would have to remark, however, that due to the current skill point level limit, it is highly unlikely to level more than 3-4 powers up to the evolved stage, and so a player might be able to have all his evolved powers on face buttons anyway, which would negate any need for hot-swapping.



My suggestion would be to simply place a separate icon in the power wheel for the charged power which can be selected like a regular power. Once selected, the player character charges and unleashes the power on its own. This system would also work for party member charged power useage as well. From a gameplay perspective, it is likely better for the user to simply charge the power himself though, and thus retain more control over the situation. As I said before, most classes get very few active powers they can use... 2 ammo powers, a class specific power, and 2 other powers (not including bonus powers). Realistically, it should be entirely possible regardless of what specific method is used to keep all evolved powers on the face buttons.

[Scarecrow_ES]

Regarding detractions of the "mana pool" concept for power cooldowns...



I personally hate the term "mana pool." It might be similar in concept, but for some odd reason "mana pool" conjures up some negative feeling. In basic concept, the recharging energy system works no different in this case for powers as it would for weapon heat. You essentially have a recharging energy gauge the either fills (for weapons) or depletes (for powers) as the system is used. Once you use the system so much that the gauge hits the opposite end you started from, you can't use that system anymore. The system slowly backs down to the original position, and once it does that enough, you can use the system again, albeit in limited fashion.



Now, one poster went as far as to say that this was a cliched system. That game me a chuckle. I'd have trouble pointing out any systems in Mass Effect that have been entirely novel. Guns that use ammo (argue all you want, this is what the new system is... it even has an ammo counter) - cliched. Cover system - cliched. Recharging shields - cliched. Recharging health - cliched. There are NO new ideas. To lump my recharging energy system amongst a cliched set of systems that has reliably worked for shooters and RPGs alike for years would not seem an insult to me. It works, and it works well. And, one could argue that with the recharging shields, health, and (in my system) weapon heat management... it would only make sense to go this route.



As of this point, in all the topics I've read, not one person yet has come up with a system that more closely adheres not only to the lore and feel of Mass Effect, but actually provides the kind of gameplay that the developers have been trying to implement than mine. And it's just so simple, easy, and cliched that it's going to work. How can you not like that?



As far as having separate bars for biotic and tech powers... while this makes absolute sense from a lore perspective, and can be no other way from a scientific perspective, it gives clear favorability to classes that use both biotic and tech abilities, and would require different user interfaces for different character classes. I think it is far easier, in this case, to come up with a plausible lore reason why there is only one meter, or simply ignore it altogether (how many inconsistancies can you spot already).

[Soruyao]

Scarecrow_ES wrote...

Regarding detractions of the "mana pool" concept for power cooldowns...

I personally hate the term "mana pool." It might be similar in concept, but for some odd reason "mana pool" conjures up some negative feeling. In basic concept, the recharging energy system works no different in this case for powers as it would for weapon heat. You essentially have a recharging energy gauge the either fills (for weapons) or depletes (for powers) as the system is used. Once you use the system so much that the gauge hits the opposite end you started from, you can't use that system anymore. The system slowly backs down to the original position, and once it does that enough, you can use the system again, albeit in limited fashion.

Now, one poster went as far as to say that this was a cliched system. That game me a chuckle. I'd have trouble pointing out any systems in Mass Effect that have been entirely novel. Guns that use ammo (argue all you want, this is what the new system is... it even has an ammo counter) - cliched. Cover system - cliched. Recharging shields - cliched. Recharging health - cliched. There are NO new ideas. To lump my recharging energy system amongst a cliched set of systems that has reliably worked for shooters and RPGs alike for years would not seem an insult to me. It works, and it works well. And, one could argue that with the recharging shields, health, and (in my system) weapon heat management... it would only make sense to go this route.

As of this point, in all the topics I've read, not one person yet has come up with a system that more closely adheres not only to the lore and feel of Mass Effect, but actually provides the kind of gameplay that the developers have been trying to implement than mine. And it's just so simple, easy, and cliched that it's going to work. How can you not like that?

As far as having separate bars for biotic and tech powers... while this makes absolute sense from a lore perspective, and can be no other way from a scientific perspective, it gives clear favorability to classes that use both biotic and tech abilities, and would require different user interfaces for different character classes. I think it is far easier, in this case, to come up with a plausible lore reason why there is only one meter, or simply ignore it altogether (how many inconsistancies can you spot already).

I was the poster you're referring to who thought it was clichéd.  I agree that there are other systems in this system that are also cliché'd.  I understand that there are no new ideas.   I think that if it were shown that the GCD system is so broken there is no way to tweak it into something that works well, and that the other system is good enough that it would be worth the development time to make an entirely different system work, then it would be a good idea to switch.

However, the cooldown system we have now is something that doesn't exist in any other shooter, and in general it works very well.  The only real problem with it is the fact that it encourages people to fall into a rut where they use the same ability in every situation.

I don't think there are any complaints about the GCD system that do not fall into that category.  (If there are any, please let me know.) Here's the question: would it be better to completely scrap the system we have and impliment a new one that may or may not work, or tweak the current system to solve the single complaint that people have with it?

I think that simply having a second GCD for certain classes would solve the problem much more easily and with the same or even possibly better results than the more involved change that a mana bar would entail.    Here are the things my idea would accomplish:

1.  People would use at least two abilities often, since they would not be able to use the same ability for both cooldowns.   At the very least the people who like exploding warps would be able to explode warps a little more efficiiently.

2. People would be encouraged to combine abilities more.  (Lift+pull, Charge+shockwave, singularity+warp.)

The change to a mana/fatigue/focus/energy system would encourage players to spam a single ability even more often.   Min-max play would still decide through math that one ability is better than the others, and it would always be a better choice.   It wouldn't solve what I'm fairly certain is the major problem with the GCD system.   The only way to stop people from spamming a single ability all the time is making it so there are certain times when that ability can not be used but another ability can.  

Charging abilities would compound this issue, since min/maxers would likely decide that a certain ability, when charged, is stronger than any other choice, and players would feel forced to never do anything but charging that ability.  They would feel handcuffed by waiting for their biotic bar to refil until they can charge again.    Either that, or they will decide that charging is always weaker than spamming a fast ability like warp, in which case nobody will want to charge, and they will feel disappointed that they have abilities that look cool but which they cannot use.

The ME1 system didn't have the spam problem because of the seperate cooldowns, but it went too far in the other direction and encouraged players to start a fight by using every ability in their arsenal at once, regardless of how useful any of those abilites are in the situation, since that strategy works for every class in all situations.

Simply adding more seperate GCDs (or simply taking certian skills off the GCD entirely!) would still encourage players to choose an ability specifically because it is the most efficient way to deal with a certain situation, but it would also encourage people who are stuck in the min/max play mindset to use abilities that they might feel are a little less useful anyway.  (For instance, an engineer that loves to spam the drone and incinerate might actually decide to use cryo blast once in awhile.  An adept would use abilities that aren't warp sometimes.  A vanguard will use something other than charge in close range.)

-------------------------
Sorry if that was a little disorganized, but I think the main points are all in there.   The main question is this:  Is the current system broken enough to abandon the most unique mechanic mass effect 2 has for a system that would anger and disapoint many players?  (I can see it now.  There would be 50 topics about "Gears of bioshock 3! I HATE EAWARE!")

I love this topic by the way, lots of intelligent discussion.  I like a lot of your ideas, especially the ones about weapons and armor, I just disagree about this and the overheat one.  :3

[Arijharn]

Scarecrow and others, I'm interested in hearing what you think about my idea of the 'school' global cooldown system (i.e., seperate cooldowns for stuff like Telekinesis, Spatial Distortion etc.)



I have complaints about the concept of the 'mana pool' system because as I see it, it currently disfavours classes that need biotic/tech powers compared to just the Soldier who needs to heat manage. Arguments could be made for and against that it makes the game harder for those classes (such as Adept) because they must innately manage both systems, but the fact of the matter is that the Adept needs to reliably be able to shoot often as well, which I feel rather dilutes the point of the class (I'm not saying that the Adept should totally be able to stomp everything without ever shooting, just that they should be able to perhaps more reliably stomp most things without ever shooting, the difference is not trivial.) I may be alone, but I don't think this detracts from BioWare's vision of the universe, because while things are subjected to change of course, Christina Norman did make reference that the Adept should be able to kill things without taking a shot.

[Scarecrow_ES]

Arijharn... the "mana pool" concept actually favors power users by allowing them to do so frequently. It's actually the least restrictive system available as far as telling the player what powers he can use and in what order, which has the greatest benefit for power users. Ultimately, it ensures that the player will have, at the beginning of a combat scenario, the ability to cast several (2-3) powers in a row of any type before his "mana" is entirely drained. At this point, the player will have to wait until the meter charges with at least enough energy to cast another spell, OR the player can choose to let it continue to charge, by not casting powers, until he has enough for several more casts in a row, or a higher power level attack.



Now, with my charged powers system, a charged power will likely drain the entire meter, but the player would be able to unleast a lower power attack soon after when the meter recharges a little. He would not be able to unleash multiple high power attacks in a row. However, the player could do several smaller attacks, wait, then another smaller attack. Or a big attack, wait, smaller attack. Or small attack, wait, small attack, small attack. The choice is completely up to the player how he wants to use the system.



For a biotic player, this system ensures constantly available powers (with minimal waiting in between), but also the ability to chain powers and use higher power attacks, all at the player's discretion.



If, as Soruyao is concerned, a player simply wants to cast the same low level attack over and over, he can do that. But he's not going to get much out of the system. The real benefit will come from combining powers and using the more powerful charged attacks. However, the system is adaptable to let you handle whatever comes your way in fluid and dynamic fashion. It simply presents you with the options, it's up to your creativity to make the most of it.



Frankly, min-maxers are always going to try to get every little drop out of a system. That's unavoidable. What you can do as a developer, though, is try to make every power different and useful for different things. Luckily, in ME we have a lot of powers that are very different. But they never really progress into very distinct gameplay experiences. My hope is that with charged evolved powers especially, we can offer something that the user can't have otherwise. I'm not talking about just adding an area affect to a power, but really making that power behave differently when charged.



Sure, a smaller fireball attack is going to be great when you only want to worry about one enemy, but an area-explosive fireball attack that can disrupt a small squad of closely grouped enemies is another thing entirely. Will there probably be folks that will want to spam that single fireball? Probably, if you can't give him enough incentive to use something else. It's not his fault you've made an ineffective system.

[Scarecrow_ES]

Possibly the most controversial change for Mss Effect 2 was in the weapon ammo/heat management system. This argument is so polarizing that you can conclude nothing else but that it needs to be changed. If the system had been implemented in a way that actually worked, I would not argue against it in the least. But it doesn’t work. In an effort to fix the few complaints about the ME1 system, they went in the complete opposite direction and created a completely different series of complaints, and in the end the main issues are left unaddressed.

For the ammo/heat management system to be effective for ME3, it will have to do a few key things. Firstly, it will have to empower the player to play as he wants to play. It must impose restrictions that create challenge (and so ultimately reward for skilled play) but not impose limits that prevent a player from playing as he wants to play. Finally, it must work for all players in all situations – it should provide a gameplay remedy for every situation a player is likely to face.

The current system does not do any of that.

The new system does not empower the player to play as he chooses to play. Instead it forces players to use a narrow set of actions. Many people in favor of the new system call it more tactical. If anything it is significantly LESS tactical. The balance of gameplay toward automatic weapons and the severe limit on ammunition supplies for single-fire weapons ensures that a player MUST use the automatic weapons in favor of the others. Further, as most classes are restricted to only a handful of weapons, and many of these use a powerful non-automatic as their primary (as those weapons are restricted in ammo), the new system effectively screws any class that does not use an automatic (read: AR) as their primary weapon. These limits severely affect gameplay and tactics, and ensure the system will not work in every situation.

The system I propose is a common one that WILL work in every situation. It empowers the player to choose his own tactics, imposes restrictions that challenge the player without limiting what he can do, and in the end works in all situations.

With limited thermal clips available to the player we can ensure that he cannot fire continuously for too long before he risks locking out that weapon until finding another thermal clip; however, with the ability to slowly dissipate heat, we can ensure that he can continue to fire in a controlled manner indefinitely. Each style will suit certain situations, and the player will have to do both. He’ll find that the system won’t let him down, whatever he chooses to do. Snipers will have to remain controlled and take time with their aim, but as long as they don’t go crazy and fire whenever they can, they’ll never be forced to stop cuz they ran out of ammo. Pistol and Shotgun users can stay more viable in combat for the same reason, but both will have to worry about those tense situations against overwhelming odds. AR and SMG users will have to marshal their shots and actually aim in most engagement – making every shot count so they can have those clips available when the stuff really hits the fan.

[Arijharn]

I think I understand you now, the energy system seems to read a lot like how a rogue from WoW for example would work (constantly in replenishment, has a number system for total points in the pool, and individual capabilities cost a specific number of points?)



I'm in agreement with the combat system being generally very good but I see issues as much as others.

1) Cover System: I thought, in comparison to ME1, that there was just too much emphasis on using cover all the time, to the point where combat environments felt laid out to specifically cater to combat as opposed to being an organic, living/breathing area.

2) Thermal Clips: I honestly liked the idea in principle, and while I wont go to much into detail here since its such an oft discussed topic the one thing that made it so strange to me was the different amount of rounds each 'universal' clip offered the gun in question. An entire universal clip may provide enough heat absorption for a single sniper round or enough heat absorption for 24 rounds of a SMG. It makes sense, but it just felt so strange after playing a normal fps with different ammunition types for each weapon it was, to me at least, jarring.

[Scarecrow_ES]

Yeah, my system kinda works like you described, except simplified. Cast cost would be in tiers, with charged evolved powers costing the full meter's worth of energy. If we choose the simplest system, then it would just be charged power cost (full) and standard cost (half), or we could have perhaps 3 tiers with standard costing like, 1/3 of the bar and charged costing the whole with perhaps a 2/3 tier for balancing powers you only want the player to be able to use sparingly. It doesn't have to get too complicated. Lot's of people refer to this as a "mana pool" system. I like to think of it as a real global cooldown system.

[yuncas]

Scarecrow_ES wrote...

Possibly the most controversial change for Mss Effect 2 was in the weapon ammo/heat management system. This argument is so polarizing that you can conclude nothing else but that it needs to be changed. If the system had been implemented in a way that actually worked, I would not argue against it in the least. But it doesn’t work. In an effort to fix the few complaints about the ME1 system, they went in the complete opposite direction and created a completely different series of complaints, and in the end the main issues are left unaddressed.
For the ammo/heat management system to be effective for ME3, it will have to do a few key things. Firstly, it will have to empower the player to play as he wants to play. It must impose restrictions that create challenge (and so ultimately reward for skilled play) but not impose limits that prevent a player from playing as he wants to play. Finally, it must work for all players in all situations – it should provide a gameplay remedy for every situation a player is likely to face.
The current system does not do any of that.
The new system does not empower the player to play as he chooses to play. Instead it forces players to use a narrow set of actions. Many people in favor of the new system call it more tactical. If anything it is significantly LESS tactical. The balance of gameplay toward automatic weapons and the severe limit on ammunition supplies for single-fire weapons ensures that a player MUST use the automatic weapons in favor of the others. Further, as most classes are restricted to only a handful of weapons, and many of these use a powerful non-automatic as their primary (as those weapons are restricted in ammo), the new system effectively screws any class that does not use an automatic (read: AR) as their primary weapon. These limits severely affect gameplay and tactics, and ensure the system will not work in every situation.
The system I propose is a common one that WILL work in every situation. It empowers the player to choose his own tactics, imposes restrictions that challenge the player without limiting what he can do, and in the end works in all situations.
With limited thermal clips available to the player we can ensure that he cannot fire continuously for too long before he risks locking out that weapon until finding another thermal clip; however, with the ability to slowly dissipate heat, we can ensure that he can continue to fire in a controlled manner indefinitely. Each style will suit certain situations, and the player will have to do both. He’ll find that the system won’t let him down, whatever he chooses to do. Snipers will have to remain controlled and take time with their aim, but as long as they don’t go crazy and fire whenever they can, they’ll never be forced to stop cuz they ran out of ammo. Pistol and Shotgun users can stay more viable in combat for the same reason, but both will have to worry about those tense situations against overwhelming odds. AR and SMG users will have to marshal their shots and actually aim in most engagement – making every shot count so they can have those clips available when the stuff really hits the fan.

I agree that ME2 felt as if it was designed to constantly push the player forward, always be the aggressor, always fire the first shot. But with semi-auto and single shot weapons being the main weapons of many classes and the global cooldown/less potent powers the gameplay feels limited and too scripted.

Modifié par yuncas, 16 février 2010 - 02:51 .

[SolitonMan]

So why isn't this stickied anymore?

[yuncas]

SolitonMan wrote...

So why isn't this stickied anymore?

It was decided it was too close in topic to the ME3 wishlist thread I believe.

[RinpocheSchnozberry]

I do not ever, ever, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, never, ever, never, never, ever, want to have to loot another enemy body. Ever. I typed all of those. No cut and paste.

[flungmuk]

Great topic.



Ok my 2 credits...



Weapons.

I was thinking, 5 of each small arms.

Each weapon has upgradeable parts.

Number of, type and quality are determined by the weapon.

I was thinking up grade tiers. 10 tiers overall.

Weapon level 1 can use tier 1 and 2.

Weapon level 2 can use tier 1 thru 4



Types of upgrades.

Barrels - increase accuracy and/or damage.

Triggers – increase rate of fire

Capacity – Shouldn’t have to explain this one.

Grips/Stocks – increase accuracy

Ammo types – increase the ability of the ammo types.



Eg: the base pistol can only get a trigger and capacity upgrade.

Eg: tier 1 barrel has 3 options +1 accuracy or +1 damage or +1 damage, +1 accuracy, +2 heat build up.

For the SMG, you might want just +1 accuracy, but would be willing to take the +1 dmg&acy+2Heat for the slowing firing sniper.

By the time you get tier 10 upgrades, you can make godly weapons...but make them hard to get.

This would allow for true customization. 1 player might like adding all damage while another prefers accuracy and yet another the well rounded approach.



Ammo types should contribute to thermal condition in the weapon.

Incendiary should obviously create more heat. Good vs. Armour/skin, but not for shields/barriers

Also has DoT.

Cryo on the other hand, should lower heat build up, but be useless vs. armour/shields/barriers

Disrupter, doesn’t affect heat. Also useless against anything by shields/barriers.

AP, slight heat, good for armour, average for shields/barriers.

Shredder, adds heat, 35% shields/barriers and better damage for organics. (think hollow point)

EM, adds heat, 35% shields/barriers and better damage for synthetics.



Armour

More choices and make them classed based.

Cloak upgrade for the infiltrator

More capacity upgrades for a soldier

Cool down/damage upgrades for biotic/tech types

Helmet toggle when appropriate.



For party members, more and better choices would be good.

I picture upgraded armour for Jack looking like Fallout 3 raider armour.

Quarian to me are the space aged gypsy or tinkerers, their armour upgrades should look like a mix match of stuff made to work.



One thing they need to keep from ME2 that changed from ME1, not equipping weapons you can’t use.

That always bugged me in ME1.

But also watch the cut scenes, there are a few in ME2 that show Miranda and Tali laying down fire with Assault Rifles, yet neither can equip or use them.



The only powers that comes to mind at the moment...

EMP based attack for Techs. With all those synthetics, it kind of makes sence.



I do like the “mana” idea instead of cool downs.

Blue bar for biotics, orange bar for techs, Sentinels get 2 bars, but less of each.

[StowyMcStowstow]

Wow, this is actually... good. I like all of the ideas (although I do like the way the controls are set up as it is). Also, I did like the modular weapon upgrades in ME1. I like the upgrades system as well, but customizing your weapon (no matter how many people are doing the exact same combination) makes it feel like it is "your" weapon, not just some weapon you upgraded.

[Master Smurf]

After reading this thread and absolutely loving it I dont have much really to add so this will act mostly as a BUMP.



What Bioware could have done story-wise to pull off many of the changes were to put us on the other side of the Omega 4 relay; trying to get back as well as uncovering the Reaper plot. Normany would have to do its own research etc, multiple armours/ weapons etc wouldnt have been readily available. The more powerful Collector weapons could have used "ammo". I guess that is hindsight and would have allowed many things we liked in the first game to be reintroduced in the finale.

This is all for just not breaking canon etc.



My 2c

- Every character should have an armour as well as a costume if armours arent to make a return.

- Some Biotic/Tech powers should be able to breach "protections" or maybe the evolved powers do similar heavy weapon.



Also what plays out in a cutscene should be comparable to what can be done in-game - thinking of the introduction to Jack (3-4 heavy mechs)

[Scarecrow_ES]

A few things...



I do not want to make it seem, from the very specific nature of my proposals, that I am against returning to a system that allows for greater customization of weapons and armor through augmentation slots much like those of the previous Mass Effect game, or like that of KotOR. Truth be told, I am like many here in that I get a kick out of making my equipment my own through meticulous augmentation selection. I don't think I favor a system quite like that in ME1, which was largely loot based, where your player character picked up new and better augments off the ground, and thus had tons of useless or redundant items thrown at him continuously.



BioWare, for whatever their reasoning might be, decided to drop individual weapon/armor customization in favor of a global upgrade system. Given that this system works very well, but requires mild tweeks to be truly worthwhile, that was the tone my proposal took.



If I had my way, and could forge my own system for ME3, I think I would go the route many have suggested in allowing some level of custom augmentation through the use of swappable components. I would still keep my basic weapon premise of having a small selection of weapons in each category that the user could purchase, and each of those weapons would have certain characteristic trade-offs that kept them roughly equal in capability but handle differently. From there, individual augments would add useful upgrades that likely were not related to damage, cooling ability, or accuracy. Once you start fudging with those values in augments, the indivudual balance and character of weapons is lost. However, you could add certain effects like, say, knockback power (to push enemies with a chance of knockdown with every shot), explosive shells (splash damage), enhanced targeting abilites (zoom), etc etc.



The current armor upgrade system does a good job of adding all the individual upgrade possibilites from ME1 into the global ME2 upgrade tree. It really does make individual augment slots completely superfluous. If you actually look at all the upgrades you get in ME2 as you progress, there is actually no realistic way you could ever have the same combination in the ME1 system. ME2 basically gives you every armor upgrade, from shield boosts, greater health regeneration, toxin resistance, damage resistance, biotic and tech resistance... everything. In this way, the ME2 system is far more generous than any individual augmentation system could be. For that reason, I'd ask players to be very careful in wishing for a return to armor augmentation, as you'd be greatly weakening yourself if that were to happen.



Master Smurf... my charging evolved power system is in part designed to give the player access to the kinds of abilitiy levels that thus far we have only seen in cutscenes. Perhaps not to the grandios level we see with Jack, but certainly powers that more realistically reflect what we might expect from a master level biotic or tech user. The biotic Barrier Bubble for instance (the evolved form of Barrier) would allow the player to create a bubble field around the player similar to the bubble your biotic user created in the final push at the end of ME2 (though on a much smaller level). In similar fashion, you could use this bubble to protect yourself and any other squadmates in the bubble (they'd have to be very close to you, but still). I mean, that's just one example of how I'd want this system to play out.

[Arijharn]

I'm going to guess that I'm alone here, but on the whole I actually liked the new weapon/armour system in ME2 as it felt streamlined. However, I also don't think enough choices were present, with the exception of the sniper rifle upgrade from Mantis to Viper which I didn't really think was too much an upgrade but more a sidegrade and is what I thought the weapon selection system would be more like.



The worst example to me was the upgrade between the Avenger and Vindicator assault rifles, because at least to me it was a clear and obvious upgrade. If it goes to the extent for the Vindicator to outright mention that it upgrades the Avenger, then what is the point of allowing the Avenger to remain selectable?

[Scarecrow_ES]

That's exactly why I posed the solution that I did. The global upgrade system works great overall. Every upgrade you find or research has a real and tangible result on the overall effectiveness of the series of weapons it applies to. The problem I had with the system, like you, is that there was virtually no difference in the different weapons you managed to get in the course of the game that presented any real choice to you. In most cases, a weapon you got later in the game was always better. In those cases where it wasn't "better," statistically speaking, it offered gameplay options that were more useful, such as greater damage or more rounds per clip. In the end though, is 2 weapons per category really enough when one of them is the "uber" weapon in the group? Clearly not.



The games that best make use of a small weapon selection give you weapons that are ALL useful for different reasons, and are all equal, thus making the choice less one of finding out which is statistically better (since they're all balanced) and more one of finding the one that fits your playstyle. In the end, simply being able to pick the right gun for you from amongst even a small grouping of weapons becomes a much larger issue of customization than it might seem. It's a big deal, especially when it melds with your character.



If BioWare intends to stick with the current system, then my small changes would go a long way to make that system more palatable for most gamers clamoring for a more elaborate system.

[kalpain]

More of my random thoughts as I plow through this game again, repeatedly:

Currently working 3 more playthroughs. 1) Paragon Sentinel imported from ME1 completed ME2 and used in 2nd ME2 playthrough 2) Renegade Vanguard created from scratch & 3) Renegade Infiltrator created from scratch (female Shep as I have never played these games with a female character before)

There are two things I've noticed now that I am 5+ hours into the 2 renegade games. 1) I want to explore more of the hub planets. Omega, Illium, and especially the Citadel since it is being remodeled. I've been reading the comics and `there is a lot more to Omega that I wish I could explore in game. Why can't I go back to the clinic so Mordin can see his assistant again? Or back to the Afterlife VIP lounge for drinks? I'm freakin' Commander Shepard. 2) I want to interact with the NPCs more. I like that I got to have Brandy with the Dr (Why wasn't she an LI? I'm probably the only person that wanted to hit that anyway, lol!) and played poker with the engineers. Why couldn't I do that again? Or have some other interaction with them or someone else on the ship? Just a thought. But I noticed that I enjoyed being able to do all that stuff the 2nd, 3rd time around.

One of the only things that cause me to dread even playing this game again is scanning. Especially with the 2 Renegades that didn't get a resource bonus. I had completely forgotten how much slower the scanner was before you get the upgrade. And starting from scratch is just making it that much more difficult for me to do it. I have unlocked a ton of research and it is all waiting for me to go planet scanning. And at this point I am having too much fun doing everything else to get bogged down with it. Will I do it? Yes, of course I will. But it really is something I dread doing. It will probably take me hours to get all the upgrades. Literally hours. Yes, I know all the tricks to make it go by (a little) quicker. However, this is really the one aspect of the game that I wish I didn't have to deal with at all. Especially, since in the first game it took a button click to scan a whole planet. Thankfully, Paragon Sentinel will be using his resource bonuses immediately for scanner upgrades.

Scarecrow_ES had some excellent ideas for getting around the scanning issues. I wish I could I could interact with NPCs in some way to get resources. Or credits for that matter.

Considering how tight money was I didn't really care for buying fuel or probes. Didn't hate it just seemed unnecessary.