Bioware Q&A - What would you ask if they had a session?

1) Why no Pathfinders on the Nexus. Wouldn't it have made much more sense to have the Pathfinders arrive first, check out the worlds so that things could have been more in place when the Arks arrived? They could have already have been looking for alternative planets in case something went wrong, or taking steps towards making the planets viable far before Arks arrived.

2) Why weren't the arks made up of multiple races? That way if only one ark made it all races would still be represented in Andromeda.

3) Why no weapons on the vehicles. I don't think there is a answer that makes sense to this, but I would ask it anyway.

I see a few Qs here that I can take a crack at...

- Was the ability to stow weapons in ME3 removed due to memory issues or was it removed purely for gameplay reasons?
I wasn't on ME3, but from what I've heard from the team, it was 100% a memory limitation.

- There are a number of unused and incomplete maps that have been discovered, is it possible to learn what those levels were going to be?
On both ME3 and MEA, the team tried a variety of different MP map ideas. Sometimes you try something out in the "white box" (very rough geometry and first pass cover layout, no textures) and it proves to just not be any fun at all, so you trash it and try something else. At this stage, often there's no real substance to the level from a narrative/aesthetic standpoint--it's pure layout. So it's not like "we cut the level with the crazy windmill made of guitars over a river a lava*," it's like "we chose not to develop the grey level with the long grey hallways, because everybody hated the corridor fighting."

- Were Hanar and Elcor ever considered options for new MP Characters?
Definitely something that's been talked about, yes. Will it ever happen? I can't say.

- Did each Ark and the Nexus have QEC's that connected back to the Milky Way?
We never directly state this in the game iirc, but the implication is that the Nexus (and perhaps even the arks) did have a QEC link back to the Milky Way but it went dark at some point while they were en route, for reasons that should be pretty clear if you've played ME3.

- Did the Andromeda Initiative bring any mechs with them such as LOKI's and YMIR's?
Yes.

- Was there a long process of redesigning to update the appearances of the original trilogy species or were old designs reused?
We always start with reference from the trilogy, but then there's a whole new round of concepting to see how we want to bring things forward into the next generation. How much concepting is required varies depending on the technical needs (does this species need a custom animation rig?) and how central that species is to the story--the Batarians, for instance, were relatively quick to re-concept, whereas we spent a very long time on the Krogan.

- Will MP weapon balance be ported over to SP?
Probably not. As a rule, behavioural changes to guns and bug fixes apply to both SP and MP when we patch, but raw numerical changes apply only to MP. The primary reason for this is that the balance changes we've made to guns/powers, etc. are generally intended to address MP-specific feedback or done in tandem with other MP-specific changes.

- Have other maps, enemies and objectives been considered for MP?
Tons of things have been considered over time, yes.

- Have you considered adding a more advanced and detailed Codex to your website that is updated frequently with more background lore for both the Milky Way (pre-Reaper War) or Andromeda? I'm thinking along the lines of the Pottermore website or like the Warcraft Chronicles tomes that are being released.
No, but that's a cool idea.

Why weren't the arks made up of multiple races? That way if only one ark made it all races would still be represented in Andromeda.
Because the biological needs of the various species were different, so it was easier/cheaper for the Initiative to optimize each ark around a smaller set of constraints.

- Whose memory is more powerful/precise, a Salarian's or a Drell's?

I see a few Qs here that I can take a crack at...

Ahh, good question.

Rather than just tell you the answer, I recommend you play through the Ryder Family Secrets questline, and when it's over, look back at the scene you asked about and the final scene on Habitat 7. I think things will click.

well that's interesting. But i fear I'd have to start a fourth pt to have it click. But this also makes me think the answer could reveal future spoilers.

Did the team consider including omni-bows and omni-shields as melee weapons?

What planet was the hardest to get right visually?

Why were squad power commands removed? (Mapping squadmate powers to the D pad, not the radial menu)

Why did multiplayer support shift from the expansion pack approach of ME3 to a slower, steadier stream of content?

Will Bioware release an analytics poster like previous games? (% of players picking Scott/Sara, companions and profile/power use)

Would Bioware consider adding area names to multiplayer maps ala ME3 as a quality of life addition to help teams coordinate?

Did the team consider including omni-bows and omni-shields as melee weapons?