Twitchy Questioning 16: The Questions of Darktwitch

Sorry for the mix-up with the other thread. Here's the official version with the right title so people can search for it.
Of course the big news is the end of patch support for both SP and MP. (See below for official statement.)
Conal Pierce (community manager) statement on MP support - paraphrased.
No more patches for MEA, so no more SP content, no more SP DLC. (Also means no more MP patches per Bastiaan.) No big updates, no future patches. We do have more MP content that is coming in future months: new characters, new content to be unlocked, Apex missions. More info on that at a later date. As well as plans for N7 Day. For now, can't say too much. Stay tuned.
Store items this week: Multicapacitor, Adaptive War Amp, Warfighter Package, Juggernaut Shield - "unfortunately the roll was for things released previously". [*sigh* This is why RNG is bad for stuff like the Equipment store.]
Conal Pierce (community manager) and Bastiaan Frank on-screen for the stream, with Sean behind the scenes and Fenando (Disco Babaloo) answering questions in the chat.
They are playing this week's Apex mission, Delayed Evacuation. It's 11 Waves on Silver difficulty with three negative modifiers: Dampened Powers, Weakened Assault Teams, Dwindling Supplies.
Conal takes the controller initially. He's using the Turian Agent with the Inferno sniper rifle. And doing pretty well! Saw quite a few headshots.
The tone is fairly down as would be expected given the news. It feels like our spirits have been crushed, much like the body of /u/Salsadips was crushed on May 11 - Never Forget!
There were quite a few times when the video of Conal and Bastiaan dropped out, so we just heard their disembodied voices over the gameplay. Sean worked tirelessly to restore the feed. I also personally had technical problems and eventually had to switch to my phone's wi-fi hotspot, losing my ability to see any video at all!
A little humor to lighten the mood...
Conal: I imagine with food scarcity in the new galaxy there's got to be people who have eaten Fiend.
Bastiaan: It's all muscle. Fiend steak.
At one point the conversation drifted to upcoming characters. Obviously Bioware can neither confirm nor deny what we think we know. However they did note that often characters' powers are changed during the design process. For example, the Batarian Scrapper used to have Flamethrower! (It was unclear whether this was instead of Snap Freeze, or instead of Flak Cannon.)
BSN Questions and Answers
Can you answer what types of issues can still be addressed and what can’t? We don’t want to ask for things that are impossible.
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 np - in general, anything requiring a patch we won't be able to update. we're left with what we can address server side
Cryo Ammo overwrites the underlying debuffs from powers (Snap Freeze & Cryo Beam) and passives (Snap Freeze the passive). Is this correct? Seems like a trap for players who don’t know about the detailed tests done by dedicated fans.
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 @unclemonsterreal we'll see what we can do from server side
Cryo Ammo also has penalties to # of bullets needed to prime some enemies, but Incendiary and Disruptor don’t have such penalties. We’d like Cryo brought up to par with the others.
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 will take a look
Incendiary Ammo does NOT deal bonus damage to armor, despite what the tooltip says. Is this a bug?
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 not sure :/ will check
The damage done by barrels was reduced massively in 1.09. Why?! This was one of the most fun parts of the game!
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 most likely due to balance data
[me] DiscoBabaloo awww well the balance data is wrong, LOL!
Is there a cap or point of diminishing returns with weapon accuracy? Ex: stacking a weapon scope, the Turian Soldier passive tree, Turbocharge, and Fortify accuracy.
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 better question for BASTIAAN but depending on the wp it may have a min which you can't improve past
First Aid Packs: could these please refresh player shield- and healthgate and grant damage + stagger immunity (i-frames)? Would make them more useful for skilled play and encourage more frequent use.
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 not at this point :/ (patch would be needed)

DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 was, we'd need to really look at the balancing but might have been possible
Will you please allow Cobras to bypass shieldgate? Currently they’re the only explosives in the game that do not.
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 might be able to, but we'd need to evaluate the balancing overall
TheyCallMeMann: Rockets really aren't necessary in platinum DiscoBabaloo but the reliance on a cloak character is bothersome because of how unbalanced the hack/uploads are. Those need to be addressed moreso than Cobras. I've come to accept Cobras are not very useful on gold/platinum
DiscoBabaloo: theycallmemann that's somewhat on purpose
[This led to some back-and-forth about Cobras. TL;DR is that Fernando will look into it with the team.]
There’s apparently no upper limit on the number of Consumables a player can own. Will you make one? So we can get Boosters once we have a large supply of all four Consumables.
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 someone asked that a bit earlier - i'm not sure we can w/o a patch :/
Given the Platinum enemy composition is mostly Armor, this reduces considerably the effectiveness of some characters, esp. Biotics and crowd control. Are you willing to revisit enemy composition on Platinum to improve diversity?
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 yep, we're going to be playing with that on upcoming missions
GameFAQs Questions and Answers
courtesy of /u/Biggy_DX
With recent news that singleplayer will no longer be receiving any patches or updates, what does this mean for MP; in terms of bug fixes, balance changes, and updates? Will the team still be able to address existing problems in the game still?
RESPONSE - The devs in the stream said there will no longer be any major patch updates to the game. This includes also includes maps. They did confirm that APEX missions and additional kits and weapons will be released in the future.
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 np - in general, anything requiring a patch we won't be able to update. we're left with what we can address server side
With support for the Andromeda winding down, could players who predominantly play MP get a clear roadmap of what is to come till N7 Day?
RESPONSE - The devs have stated that there will be an outline of what they plan to do in the future within the coming weeks.
Will multiplayer livestreams still continue to be weekly thing till N7 day, or will there be a lull up until N7 day?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx still talking about how frequent we do streams moving fwd, but always good to get feedback for that
Is there still a UI update in the works, or is that not feasible right now?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx no we needed a patch for that
Last week I remember asking you about a lag jolt roughly 30 seconds after dropping into the map (but not again). Is there a means of fixing it?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx still looking into this, if its related to the wave composition we may be able to adjust
Can we still see some changes to weapon variants in the future.
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx depending on what it is, its possible
Does the team still have the capacity to make new APEX modifiers? Also, could things stats like XP, Credits, and Mission Funds be adjusted for them?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx yes, mostly - some things we can't but its pretty flexible system
What is the duration of the damage taken debuff for the Sustained Fire evolution in Munitions Training? There is no description of it in the tooltip. Can this information be added in for better clarity?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx won't be able to add that in at this point, but may be able to get the info and post it publicly so at least it's known
Could we ever see credit boosters in the future?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: will take a look
Have you guys ever felt the series should see more mod support?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx yes.. but it hasn't come out yet
Other People's Questions and Answers
Mahzeeeeeee: DiscoBabaloo Are you able to address weapon balance sever side?
DiscoBabaloo: @mahzeeeeeee some, yes
treksterme: DiscoBabaloo do you know if we might have challenges reset when all challenges are completed?
DiscoBabaloo: @treksterme no, at this point what is there on UI like that will be it
(To me, this implies no more UI updates, ever. Bummer!)
[missing question - was about new maps]
DiscoBabaloo: @bryguy1919 no additional maps however, we do have lots more missions planned (combination of enemies/objectives etc)
BralovSkirata: DiscoBabaloo I had a question about the weapon variants. concussion feels really good when it procs, but it feels realy unreliable, especially off host. is there any chance we could get a weaker explosion on non critical kills? would make it a lot more appealing on guns besides snipers.
DiscoBabaloo: @bralovskirata not at this point :/
Bryguy1919: Will we ever get the ability to create private lobbies where we mix and match modifiers ourselves? DiscoBabaloo
DiscoBabaloo: @bryguy1919 we'd need a patch to provide that
[So therefor: no, this is not possible, even though it's been a frequent request. Sorry. But please stop asking.]
BralovSkirata: DiscoBabaloo I saw some new packs in the play station store that let people buy specific characters and guns in a bundle for cash. Is there any possible world where we see somehting like that available for credits or mission funds? or is that outside the scope of what you guys can commit to/look into.
DiscoBabaloo: @bralovskirata ya, those just released today, we can take a look but for now they are available on the platform stores
[Bastiaan clarified the 'buy an uncommon character' packs in the store are intended for new players, not grizzled veterans like most of us.]
orangejacinto: Hey DiscoBabaloo could there ever be offline Apex missions?
DiscoBabaloo: @orangejacinto no they're updated online only
haloxzealot: DiscoBabaloo Has a decision been made about integrating Deeper Into The Ruins into the regular lineup?
Moderator DiscoBabaloo: haloxzealot yes [and will be done 'soon']
KenjiJU: DiscoBabaloo intended that AR scopeless mod has -stability? card doesn't mention it, and the first rank doesn't have -stab, but every other rank does
Moderator DiscoBabaloo: @kenjiju will need to double check, but i think it is
BralovSkirata: DiscoBabaloo any plans to tweak the bonus stats from extra character ranks? some are perfect, but others feel really bad to get. ie, its impossible for the turian soldier to detonate combos, but he gets 40% combo damage like everyone else.
DiscoBabaloo: @bralovskirata not at this point :/ the stats affect all kits, and some will benefit more than others
solace_uk: Speaking of: DiscoBabaloo Are you able to modify the Variant effects without patches? Is it only numbers you can influence this way, or can you change functionality as well?
DiscoBabaloo: @solace_uk yes, we can mod that
Galebazz: DiscoBabaloo The whole decision seems a bit fishy. many people think that the game require future patches and DLC, there was even a petition. will we at some point get an explanation for the patch support and no DLC?
DiscoBabaloo: @galebazz not sure it would make a difference tbh :/
rubberduckie666: DiscoBabaloo will specific UR weapons and characters be added to the store or will it forever be random?
DiscoBabaloo: @rubberduckie666 still looking into it, but for now we're testing those out
DiscoBabaloo: @rubberduckie666 the issue is how much that would end up costing, in order not to basically undermine everything else we already have
solace_uk: DiscoBabaloo Reminds me, is there a chance that we can maybe get power recharge speed reductions across the board? It wouldn't affect balance too much besides expediting games.
Moderator DiscoBabaloo: @solace_uk not sure, will check
TL;DR:
No more MP patches, which limits what Bioware can do to adjust the game. But there is still some new content coming, and they will make an announcement about what we can expect.